Dr. Craig Erickson

Dr. Craig Erickson is a Research Scientist with Amazon’s Alexa AI - Web Information team. Prior to joining Amazon, he was a Visiting Lecturer in the Mathematics Department at Hamline University in Saint Paul, MN and an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa. Dr. Erickson taught courses in both Mathematics and Computational Data Science, which he helped to develop and launch. His mathematical research interests include combinatorial matrix theory (the intersection of matrix theory and graph theory)—especially what the locations of the positive, zero, and negative entries in a matrix can say about various properties of matrices with that structure—and also problems related to the minimum rank and inverse eigenvalue problems for graphs.

Teaching Style

Whether it’s calculus, statistics, or computer programming, the best way to learn is by doing. With this philosophy, Dr. Erickson’s classes spend most of their time working and discussing examples. One of the wonderful things about mathematics and statistics is that we can find applications relevant to your interests, whatever you are majoring in, and so Dr. Erickson tries to learn his students’ interests so that he can include applications that will be of interest to each student. Dr. Erickson also recognizes that students bring a wide range of experiences and backgrounds to his classes and he works to meet students where they are and bring them all up to meet his rigorous standards.