Colby Long

Colby Long is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at The College of Wooster, with affiliations in Statistical and Data Sciences. He joined Wooster in Fall 2019 after a postdoctoral fellowship at the Mathematical Biosciences Institute (The Ohio State University) and a stint as a data scientist. His research spans algebraic geometry, algebraic statistics, and discrete mathematics, primarily applied to phylogenetics. He teaches courses such as Foundations of Advanced Mathematics and Applied Data Science.

• B.A., Mathematics, St. Mary’s College of Maryland (2008)
• M.S. and Ph.D., Mathematics, North Carolina State University (2013, 2016)

His research focuses on developing algebraic methods to analyze phylogenetic networks and trees, with applications in genomic sequence analysis, coalescent theory, and agent-based modeling. Recent publications address identifiability of networks, rank conditions in hypothesis testing, and software tools like the Macaulay2 PhylogeneticTrees package.

His 15 most recent publications highlight trends in phylogenetic algebraic geometry, tropical geometry, and computational biology, with specific subfields including network invariants, gene flow modeling, and Markov process analysis.