Zhixu Su joined the department as an acting assistant professor in Autumn 2020. Before coming to the UW, Zhixu was a senior lecturer at Indiana University Bloomington. She has also taught at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and University of California Irvine. Zhixu received her BS degree in mathematics from Beijing Institute of Technology in 2003 and her doctoral degree at Indiana University in 2009, under the supervision of Jim Davis. Her research interests lie in the area of geometric topology and high dimensional manifolds. In her work, Zhixu studies the existence of manifolds realizing prescribed rational cohomology or Betti numbers. She uses rational surgery theory, applying elementary number theory to answer topological questions.
Zhixu has experience teaching all levels of undergraduate math, ranging from Calculus to Topology. She enjoys teaching and is looking forward to working with students inside and outside of class.