Natalie Priebe Frank
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
VASSAR COLLEGE---BOX 248
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY  12604

NAFRANK@VASSAR.EDU
OFFICE:(845) 437-5680   FAX: (845) 437-7544


I am an Assistant Professor in the department of mathematics at Vassar College.    I received my B.S. in Mathematics from Newcomb College of Tulane University and my Ph. D. in Mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  My husband, Scott Frank, is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Marist College.    We live here in sunny Poughkeepsie, New York, with our two boys Jeremy and Ethan.

My research is primarily about tessellations of the plane and the tiling dynamical systems associated with them.  This field combines the use of geometry, topology, combinatorics, and analysis.   I am particularly interested in tiling substitution rules, like those that generate the famous Penrose tilings.   You can find some of my favorite tiling substitutions here.  I've written some introductory pages about tilings:
 There is an "Encyclopedia" of tiling substitutions, along with lots of information about their properties.  If you want to find out more about my research,  check out my

Papers and Preprints!



Back before I was producing tiny humans, I was producing a lot of beautiful tiling images (including the background for this page).    Check them out below, and if you want to try your hand at making some, use the Tiling Generator 3.1 (for Matlab).
Tiling Art
 

Here are some images I've created from self-similar tilings:



  VC LogoLet's go VC!
 

bluebird1.jpgbluebird2.jpegbluebird3.jpg

Try to figure out the relationship between the birds in this flock!

dollar.jpgdollarmix1.jpgdollarmix2.jpgdollar-r.jpg

Who says mathematicians don't make money?
Did you like those tilings?  Do you have Matlab?  Then get
Tiling Generator 3.1,  (April 2008)
by Natalie Priebe Frank and Billie J. Rinaldi!





  1. Download the Manual first.  This contains instructions for using the Tiling Generator 3.1.
  2. Download the zipped file TilingGenerator3-1.  Open Matlab, get to the path TilingGenerator3-1/colors.
  3. Typing tiles at the Matlab prompt from TilingGenerator3-1/colors will launch the software!


The fourier transform of a tiling:

snow.jpg

 One more thing you can make with the tiling program!

The background image of this page is also an example

of a Fourier transform of a tiling.


go tarheels!

Page last updated April 26, 2007.