Biography

Nancy Eaton is a Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematical Sciences at URI and the Director of Data Science, both the undergraduate programs and the graduate certificate. She is a member of the Faculty Senate and active on many University level committees, including IT.Gov, the Research Computing advisory committee, the Faculty Senate Research and Creative Works Committee, and it’s Centers subcommittee, of which she is the chair. She is also on the Undergraduate Committee in the Department of Mathematics.

Her former positions at URI include five years (2014-2017) as Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, six years (2008-2014) as Mathematics Department chair, and one and a half years (Jan. 2011 – May 2012) as Chair of the Faculty Senate. 

She earned her PhD in Mathematics at Emory University and received a Bachelor’s in Mathematics at SUNY New Paltz, along with an associate degree in Computer Science. Before that, she attended art school Her research specialty area is graph theory within the field of combinatorics. In her current research, she is exploring the connections between data science and graph theory. In data science, graph databases are used for their ability to represent complex relationships using nodes and key-value pairs that define linked data items.

Nancy grew up in South Kingstown, RI and after graduate school, moved back home to begin her career as an educator at the University of Rhode Island. Her latest adventure is sailing. She’s always loved everything about the water, whether it be ocean or pond, including swimming and kayaking. But now, she’s finding that moving with the wind, with no sound except the creaking boat and waves, is a new adventure. She loves that there is a lot to occupy your mind while sailing, including physics problems and weather concerns. She has two children – her daughter lives with her husband in Providence and her son lives with his wife in Houston. 

Nancy Eaton CV