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Dr. Ward Heilman

Professor of Mathematics
Science and Mathematics Center, Room 454

BA, BS, State University of New York at New Paltz
MA, Pennsylvania State University
PhD, Northeastern University

Ward Heilman started his academic career as a Religion and Philosophy major. After dropping out of college a few times he finally finished an undergraduate degree in Psychology at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Extensive experience driving trucks and taxis, unloading railroad cars and working in warehouses led back to a second undergraduate degree; this time in Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science. He worked a few short stints at IBM and then obtained a Master's degree in Mathematics from Pennsylvania State University. Eventually he earned a PhD in Mathematics, with a specialization in Combinatorics, from Northeastern University. He has enjoyed teaching at Bridgewater since 1996.

Professor Heilman delights in teaching courses in Logic, Combinatorics, Graph Theory, Abstract Algebra, Cryptology and Formal Language Theory. He encourages students to engage in undergraduate research and has mentored a Shea Scholar, many honors theses and several Adrian Tinsley Summer Research projects.

Area of Expertise
Dr. Heilman's original interests were in Mathematical Logic and Group Theory. He later became enchanted by Graph Theory and Combinatorics. Most recently he has become fascinated with Cryptology, in particular public key encryption systems, elliptic curve, and other mathematically based cryptography.