MATH 319 (Math Modeling) Final Presentations

My Math 319 class is doing their final presentations on Tuesday, June 23rd from 10:30 to 12:30 in Pray-Harrold room 301. Speakers and topics are included below; the order will probably change. Please drop by if you have some free time!

Thanks,
Professor Andrew Ross

Mike Blissett - Bus scheduling at the U of M

Paul Butzier - Predicting a Rat Plague (Mautam) in eastern India

Jonathan Carter - Pharmacokinetics of Vicodin

Rick Dykes - Acquiring Free Agent Talent in a Salary Cap NHL

Don Ellison - Hubble Deep Field: is it a 2-d Poisson Process?

Todd Hoover - Predicting a Rat Plague (Mautam) in eastern India

Jeff Fletcher - Lesson plan on logs

Byron Heads - Correlations in Solar Power Data

Ian Jurica - Who wrote the original Faust?

A.J. Marry - Simulating who will win a baseball game

Sayre Nesmith - NFL Expansion draft tactics

Meghan Potter - Pricing and Production for Baked Goods at a Farm Stand

Brent Proctor - Circadian advantage in Baseball: flying west vs flying east

Paul Reysz - Predicting a Rat Plague (Mautam) in eastern India

Audelia Wittbrodt - Crater growth underneath a rocket plume

Math Modeling Projects - Student Presentations

On Tuesday (June 2nd) my Math 319 students are giving their presentations from 10:30am to 12:20pm in the PC lab (room 503). Please drop by if you like! The students and topics are listed below; the order will be randomized, though.
Thanks,
Professor Andrew Ross

Mike Blissett - Bus demand at the U of M

Paul Butzier - Choosing players in a fantasy football draft

Jonathan Carter - Paired Kidney Donation policies

Rick Dykes - Retail location models

Don Ellison - Acceleration in an uncomfortable airline flight

Todd Hoover - Acceleration in an uncomfortable airline flight

Jeff Fletcher - Optimal school closings in a district that is losing population

Byron Heads - Modeling the Keeling Curve data for atmospheric CO2

Venus Henley - Google Trends vs Mainstream media

Ian Jurica - Finding the center of an amphitheater

Jennifer Leadbetter - Conference scheduling by Linear Program

Sophana Mao - Hourly temperature data for 3 years

A.J. Marry - Optimizing player selection for a college football team

Sayre Nesmith - IT Support: Deducing service durations from start/end data

Meghan Potter - Optimal spacing and fertilizer amounts for strawberries

Brent Proctor - Loss Prevention at a major retailer

Paul Reysz - Express computers in the Pray-Harrold 3rd floor computer lab?

Matt Wilcox - NHL standings at the end of the season vs. postseason wins

Audelia Wittbrodt - Traffic light timing by realtime reactive policies

Alumni News: David Collins

David Collins emailed Professor Folk that he won Wayne State University's E2 Challenge
Grant with his business proposal. The E2 Challenge Grant provides money and support for students to develop business ideas and business plans through WSU's technology transfer office. "I'm finally getting some momentum on a project I've been working on for about two years", writes David, "they'll fund my work over the summer and if they deem it worthwhile pay a sizable chunk towards a patent." David's research is in the area of solar thermal metering with the goal of providing reports to homeowners who have installed solar hot water pre-heaters. The reports will verify energy produced."

David writes that, "the calculations are based on metered data, my models, and algorithms I've designed to calculate efficiency. Initially, it does not relate to stochastic modeling. However, my master's essay proposes using stochastic differential equations to model daily and annual temperature fluctuations."

Currently, David is in graduate school and the College of Engineering pursuing a Master of Arts in Mathematics and a Graduate Certificate in Alternative Energy Technology. After that he expects to study stochastic partial differential equations and applications to climate modeling enroute to a PhD.

Congratulations, David!

5 Miles to Clean Water Project

Come learn about the need for clean drinking water in developing countries, and what's being done about it on Tuesday, April 21 from 10 am to 3 pm in the Student Center. Members of the "5 Miles to Clean Water" CSIE class run by Professor Ross and Professor Carroll (Physics Department) will demonstrate their hand-built water pumps.

CSIE (http://www.emich.edu/csie) is a program that combines various courses like Calculus and Physics with a one-credit seminar that explores some applied topic common to the two courses.

Advanced Math Modeling Class: Final Presentations

Everyone is invited to the final project presentations of Professor Andrew Ross' Advanced Math Modeling class (MATH 419/592), on Tuesday April 21 from 5:30 to 6:45 pm in Pray-Harrold room 305. The students and their topics are listed below ( the order of presentations will likely vary):

William Klann:
Predicting Section Enrollments in EMU Math classes
Ervin China:
Approximations to Brownian-Motion-like processes
James Dalrymple:
Calculating the probability of an insurance company going broke ("Insurance Ruin")
Charles Beightol:
Reversals of the Earth's Magnetic Field: a renewal process?
Nick Conti:
Repeating a grade vs. the risk of dropping out of high school
Bryan Barhorst:
Tactics in the sport of Curling
Gaber Burnik and Jason Blanchard:
Nonlinear versions of the Capital Asset Pricing Model
Gary Duma:
Constructing Levy processes using Wavelets
Andrew Livingston and Katie Ballentine:
Multiserver Retrial Queues and variance so low it's illegal

Scholarships and Awards Ceremony, 2009

The Department of Mathematics hosted the 2009 Scholarship and Awards Ceremony to recognize and honor outstanding students in our department. Professor Barbara Britton got us off to a magical start with her math magic show - Professor Dave Folk served as emcee.
(Pictured are Mike Wilson, Don Buckeye, Joan Jones and Laura Weakland)

Congratulations to the following students.

Bradley M. Harris Scholarship for Excellence in Mathematics
Gregory Oyafuso

James L. Eisele Scholarship for Excellence in Mathematics
Riley Ellis

Hilton G. Falahee Scholarship for Excellence in Mathematics
Patrick Davis

Sandra J. Lobbestael Scholarship for Excellence in Mathematics
Alexander Quenon

Carl M. Erikson Scholarship for Excellence in Mathematics
William Wright

Donald A. Buckeye Scholarship for Excellence in Mathematics Education
Michael Wilson

Richard Marshall Scholarship for Excellence in Mathematics
Gaber Burnik

Mabel Jarvis Leib Scholarship for Excellence in Secondary Mathematics Education
Jason Keeney
Grace Ann Manes
Tanya Wright

Mabel Jarvis Leib Scholarship for Excellence in Elementary Mathematics Education
Sarah Dugan
Susan Fisher

Outstanding Achievement Award for Excellence in Elementary Mathematics Education
Laura Weakland

Huron Valley Printing and Imaging Scholarship for Excellence in Mathematics
Kishavan Bhola
Sarah Richards

Award for Success in Mathematics
Tyler C. Schulmeister

Putnam Mathematics Competition Participation Award
Ashley Cotten
Riley Ellis
Kaleigh Lange
Andrew Livingston
Sarah Richards
William Wright

Award for Outstanding Service as a Graduate Assistant
Katherine Ballentine
Ervin China
Roxanne Katus
Eliza Lee
David Lubke
Layla Potts
Leigh Soltis
Li Sun
Gary Duma

Award for Outstanding Service as a Mathematics Tutor
Eleazar Arce
Katie Ballentine
James Blaha
Katie Bordner
Cortnee Brennan
Tiran Burrell
Ervin China
Ashley Cotten
Guy Downs
Gary Duma
Roxanne Katus
Eliza Lee
Louis Lello
Josh Lopez
Dave Lubke
Dave Lucas
Chris Manning
John McKinnon
Layla Potts
Sarah Richards
Chris Sucher
Jessica Tucker

Award for Outstanding Service as the Graduate Assistant Tutor Coordinator
Leigh Soltis

Congratulations to our Math Majors Graduating with Honors

Below are students who are graduating with Honors in April 2009:

Ashley Cotten
Departmental Honors in Mathematics
University Honors (Math Major; Women & Gender Studies Minor)

Katherine Miller
Departmental Honors in Mathematics
University Honors (Early Educ: Math & Integrated Sciences, Major)

Sarah Richards
Departmental Honors in Mathematics
University Honors (Math major; Physics Minor)

Amanda Shrom
Departmental Honors in Hotel & Restaurant Management
University Honors (Hotel & Restaurant Management and Mathematics, 2 Majors)

Paul Burkander
University Honors (Econ & Math Major)

Kathryn Summerford
University Honors (Early Educ: Mathematics Major; El Child & Int Stud Minor)

Congratulations to the Modeling Team

We just got the results of the MCM (Mathematical Contest in Modeling), and our team's project was ranked Meritorious.

The ranks and typical percentages are, in order,
1% Outstanding
13% Meritorious
30% Honorable Mention
55% Successful Participant

So, our team is in the top 14% or so in the contest!

Congratulations to the team members Paul Burkander, Riley Ellis, and Sarah Richards
and their coach, Professor Andrew Ross.

Congratulations, Professor Barbara Leapard

Professor Barbara Leapard was awarded the Outstanding Faculty in Classroom Instruction Award by the University in conjunction with the Holman Learning Center. To win this award, you first have to be nominated by student(s). Professors Kathy Chu, Tanweer Shapla, Tim Carroll, Gisela Ahlbrandt, Xiaouxu Han, Paul Howard, Randy Keller, and Mary Jo St. Louis were also nominated for this honor by their students!

Congratulations Dr. Leapard !!!!

EMU Undergraduate Research Symposium, Friday March 27, 2009 in the EMU Student Center

Congratulations to students with mathematics presentations and posters at the EMU Undergraduate Research Symposium, Friday March 27, 2009 in the EMU Student Center.

Ashley Cotten
Professor Jayakumar Ramanathan, sponsor
The Group Theoretic Rubik’s Cube

Michael Crowley
Professor Xiaoxu Han, sponsor
RSA Ciphers with Digital Signatures

Christopher Szybisty
Professor Ken Shiskowski, sponsor
Unsolved Conjectures in Number Theory

William Wright
Professor Jayakumar Ramanathan, sponsor
Conway’s Game of Life

Hannah Burandt
Professor Andrew Ross, sponsor
Decision Support Tool for Assigning Swimmers to Events

Amanda Horka
Professor Carla Tayeh, sponsor
Spatial Skills in Middle School Mathematics

Bryan Barhorst
Professor John Curran, sponsor
Farkle Explained

Shanna Simpson-Singleton
Professor Ken Shiskowski, sponsor
History of Cryptology

Graduate Research Fair - March 23, 2009

This is a reminder that the Graduate Research Fair is this
afternoon in the Student Center. We have 5 presenters: 4 talks and one
poster. If you can make it over there, please do, and show some support
for our excellent grad students and their sponsoring professors.

Here are the math student presentations:

Katherine Ballentine
Professor Jayakumar Ramanathan
Pólya’s Urn and Martingale Convergence

Gary Duma
Professor Jayakumar Ramanathan
A Formal Construction of Brownian Motion with Computer Simulations

David Lubke
Professor Andrew Ross
Low-Variance Retrial Times in a Multiserver Queueing Model

Leigh Ann Soltis
Professor Andrew Ross
Grid Shapes for Sensor Placement in Two Dimensions for Distributed
Signal Detection

Christine Trombetta
Professor Xiaoxu Han
Software Development for RSA and AES Encryption and Decryption

Donald Buckeye Lecture Series Begins with a talk by Dr. Arthur Benjamin

Dr. Art Benjamin will be our first speaker of the Donald Buckeye Lecture Series.
Dr. Arthur Benjamin is both a professor of mathematics and a magician. He is best known for his presentation called "Mathemagics," where he demonstrates and explains his secrets for performing rapid mental calculations faster than a calculator. Reader's Digest calls him "America's Best Math Whiz".

Dr. Benjamin has appeared on many television and radio programs, including: The Today Show, CNN, Amazing Discoveries! and National Public Radio. He has been profiled in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Scientific American, Discover Magazine, Omni Magazine, Esquire Magazine, People Magazine, and Reader's Digest.

Join us on Friday, March 27,2009 at 3pm
Dr. Benjamin will speak on Combinatorial Trigonometry
Student Center, Room 352

Pi +.02 Day on Monday, March 16 at 1:59

We'll continue our tradition of celebrating Pi Day with fun and pie!
This year, Pi Day is on Saturday, though, so we are celebrating
Pi + .02 Day (3.1659926....) on Monday, March 16 at 1:59 in the Math Den on the 5th floor of Pray Harrold.

Join us for an afternoon break of fun and food.

Math Modeling Projects

Students in Professor Ross' Advanced Math Modeling class will be presenting their mid-semester projects on the Tuesday after break, March 3, from 5:30-6:45 in room 305 Pray-Harrold. The topics are shown below, in roughly the order they will be presented in. Please come if you are interested in any of the talks (5-10 minutes each).

William Klann: MEAP Score trends
Ervin China: Student performance in South Carolina
James Dalrymple: Production Scheduling in a Metalworking Job Shop
Charles Beightol: Paying truckers to sit around: queueing at a loading dock
Nick Conti: Processor-sharing queues for retail research queries
Bryan Barhorst: Beating the Banker in Online Deal-Or-No-Deal
Gaber Burnick: Life Table construction (incl. a very short movie?)
Jason Blanchard: Finding Fraudulent Car Insurance Claims
Amarpreet Kaur: Stock Price Data Analysis
Gary Duma: Generating Brownian Motion (and other stuff we don't even know what it is) via Wavelets
Katie Ballentine and Andrew Livingston: Negative Probabilities

Numb3rs Club and Video Screening

Professor Andrew Ross will be re-starting Numb3rs Club the
week after break.
He and JP are adding a second weekly math-video
screening: The Joy of Mathematics, by Art Benjamin

Here is the schedule:
Numb3rs: Tuesdays at 12:30 in Pray-Harrold room 217
The Joy of Mathematics: Thursdays at 12:30 in Pray-Harrold room 217

Both are brown-bag lunch.

Please join us!

Gems Seminar with Professor Wang

The Math Gem Seminar Series is starting up for the winter semester 2009
on Friday, Feb 6th from 3:00 to 5:00 in the Math Den, on the 5th floor of Pray Harrold.

Seminar topics range from the Traveling Salesman Problem,
to Continued Fractions,
and an elementary proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra.

Professor Bingwu Wang welcomes all.

News from Grace-Ann

Grace-Ann is studying abroad this semester - She is at the University of Oslo in Norway. You can follow her blog and read about her adventure. Grace-Ann writes, "studying here at the University of Oslo is amazing! I don't think I'll have another experience like it! I just started my math class (Abstract Algebra) on Monday. " Grace-Ann is one of our mathematics majors. The Department of Mathematics says "hi", Grace-Ann.

News from Audelia at NASA in Florida

Hey!
I've been
busy. Florida is fantastic, and the internship is the coolest thing I've ever done. I'm really having an amazing time down here and learning a lot. I'm working in the granular mechanics lab in the applied physics department. I'm sandblasting lunar simulant to quantify the damage it does to various materials. I'm having an amazing time. I attached a few pictures - me at the hatch of the shuttle while it's on the launch pad - me in a fighter jet!
It's not much, but it'll give you a feel for how awesome the internship is.

Audelia

Scary Math Party

Scary Math Party on Thursday, October 30, 2008 in the math den on the 5th floor!!!

TI-73 and TI-Nspire Workshops

Great opportunity for future teachers!
Barbara Leapard, EMU and Christine Browning, WMU, will offer a TI-73 calculator workshop
and
Ron Carlson, EMU, along with Denny St. John, CMU will offer a TI-Nspire workshop

Both workshops are at the EMU Student Center on
Friday, October 24 from 2 - 6 pm and Saturday, October 25 from 8:30 - 12:30

The workshops are sponsored by Texas Instruments and Eastern Michigan University