Math Department Blog

You may have missed Dr. Calin as Santa

2012-01-12T11:14:00.000-08:00

Dr. Calin was Santa at our holiday party! Math faculty and their families had dinner at La Fiesta Mexicana in Ypsilanti only to be surprised when Dr. "Santa" Calin arrived playing jingle bells on his harmonica.

Jennifer Fox: Featured on EMUs Homepage

2011-12-16T06:19:00.000-08:00

Our own Jennifer Fox is featured on EMUs homepage today.

MATH 319: Student Presentations

2011-12-13T07:18:00.000-08:00

My Math 319 (Math Modeling) class will be giving their final presentations today (December 13) from 1:30pm-3:00pm in Pray-Harrold 520. Topics include

Malaria epidemic modeling
A diabolical scheme to get filthy rich using the stock market
Lesson Plan: Distance Formulas
Lesson plan: paying off college debt
Automated Course Scheduling
Lesson Plan: M&Ms and Statistics
Data networks: Spanning Tree Protocol vs. Minimum Spanning Tree
HiMCM: Hotel Cleaning
PageRank and Social Networks
Cellular Automata models of Forest Fires
Video Analysis of Forces
SZR: Susceptible, Zombie, Removed
Queue Simulation in Python: Warmup Elimination
Regression lesson plan
Comparing Numerical Integration Methods for Bipolar Disease
Lesson plan: exponential growth/decay models
Dynamical System for Money Flow
The Relationship Between Critical Success and Financial Success in American Cinema
Restaurant Staffing
NHL Expansion Draft
MCM Sudoku

And my Math 560, Optimization, class also has their final presentations today from 3:30pm-5:00pm, also in Pray-Harrold 520. Topics include:

Routing Airplanes to Avoid Collisions
Neural Networks for Classification
signal recovery via compressive sensing for radar images with RFI removed
Markowitz Portfolio Optimization: L1, L2, Infinity
Steiner tree optimization
Packing a Box full of Books
Stochastic Programming vs Robust Programming
Designing an Occulting Telescope to Image Extrasolar Planets
Markowitz Portfolio Optimization
Ant-Colony Optimization

Please drop by and help my students celebrate their achievements this semester.

Professor Ross

Listen to recent NPR podcasts about math: big data and then, the Putnam exam

2011-12-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

Last week NPR gave several very interesting broadcasts involving mathematics. The first about big data itself and how we might find and develop mathematicians and statisticians to analyze them. Here are links to their podcasts:

The next podcast is about the first woman ever to be designated a Putnam fellow (one of the very best to take the Putnam exam, the hardest pure mathematics exam given to undergraduates in this country). A link to that podcast:

Putnam podcast

Auto-Owners Insurance will make actuarial presentation at 2pm Nov. 8th in the Math Den.

2011-11-05T04:43:00.000-07:00

Auto-Owners Insurance (http://www.auto-owners.com/) will make its presentation at 2pm November 8th, in the Math Den. They will be describing life as an actuary at A-O. This should be a very good experience for actuarial science majors, and also math majors looking for a job.

Math Modeling Student Presentations Nov 1 and 3 in 520 P-H

2011-11-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone is invited to watch Andrew Ross' Math Modeling (Math 319) student project presentations today and Thursday (and probably Tuesday a week from today, too) in Pray-Harrold 520, from 2:00-3:15pm. A partial list of topics is below. The order of presentations hasn't been decided yet:

Fantasy Football
Fitting a Circle to the Student Center Glass Wall
Great Lakes water levels
Intrusion Detection via Logistic Curve Fitting
Jerks at Amusement Parks
Lesson Plan: Linear, Logarithmic, Exponential, Power
Lesson Plan: Regression
Luge
MCM: Airplane Scheduling for Takeoff
MCM: Global Warming and Flooding Florida
Michigan Colleges: Predicting Student Success
Pennsylvania School District Data Regression
Predicting Final Grades from Midterm Grades
Restaurant Food Demand Prediction
Sub Shop Shift Scheduling

MATH 560 Student Presentations, Tues Oct 25 at 4 pm

2011-10-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

Please join Andrew Ross's Math 560: Optimization class for their mid-semester project presentations this Tuesday, 4:00-5:15pm, in Pray-Harrold 520. Topics include optimal geographic routing, support vector machines, insurance fraud prediction, Kalman filters, audio filters, optimal control of inflation and unemployment, "The Easiest Hard Problem", and banana inventory management.

Teaching Opportunity: Fortis Academy, Ypsilanti

2011-10-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

Fortis Academy (a National Heritage Academy) in Ypsilanti is in need of a mathematics middle school teacher.

Additionally, they could use a few student teachers.

For more information, contact the principal, Mrs. Kathleen Blaesser by phone (734)572-3623 or email KBLASSER@HERITAGEACADEMIES.COM.

Math Party in the Math Den on Oct. 19th

2011-10-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

The math department is having a party to celebrate the reopening of Pray Harrold (in general) and the Math Den (in particular). The party is from 1:30-3:30pm in 501 PH on Wednesday, Oct. 19. There will be food and fun for all. Additionally, various department faculty will talk about upcoming events and opportunities. Be there or C^2 - A^2!

Putnam Problem Sessions Start This Friday 10 a.m. Math Den

2011-09-27T19:10:00.001-07:00

If you're interested in participating in what is usually called the most difficult mathematics test given to math majors nationally, come to the Math Den, room 501 Pray-Harrold, to join Prof. Bingwu Wang in our first fall session of Putnam Problems Training.

Purdue University Open House: ECE PhD Program, Oct 14

2011-09-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

What follows is an invitation to Purdue University's Open House for their PhD program in Electrical and Computer Engineering.......

I am writing from Purdue University to invite your top junior and senior undergraduates to the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Fall Open House on Friday, October 14, 2011. This open house serves as an opportunity to introduce your students to the Purdue University ECE Ph.D. Program.

While I announced this event to the administrator in your department earlier in the month, I thought it would also be helpful to contact you individually to ask you to provide this information to those students you think would benefit from an information session about the ECE PhD program. Our day of activities will include a meet the faculty session, lunch with current students, and a tour of lab facilities.Your students will gain exposure to some of the research being done at Purdue, while they are also given an opportunity to talk with faculty and students to familiarize themselves with the ECE program.

Some of the highlights of the ECE PhD program:

The Purdue University Electrical and Computer Engineering graduate program is ranked number 11 by the U.S. News and World Report.

A wide variety of research is being conducted by over 80 faculty members and their PhD students. Research includes controls, computer engineering, power, VLSI, nanotechnology, biomedical, fields and optics, communications, networks and image processing.

Students with a solid foundation in science and math will find the Purdue ECE program to be an excellent place to apply their skills.

42% of students admitted for the Fall 2011 semester were offered financial support.

To register for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Fall Open House or to get more information about the event, visit our website athttps://engineering.purdue.edu/ECE/Academics/Graduates/FallOpenHouse

Should you have any questions about the Open House or the Purdue ECE graduate program, please feel free to contact Matt Golden, Graduate Program Administrator, at goldenm@purdue.edu or call him at 765-494-3374.

First Math Club Meeting of the Fall 2011 Semester

2011-09-13T02:50:00.000-07:00

With the semester in full swing it is almost time for the first math club meeting.
It will be in the Math Den at 6pm on Wednesday and it would be great if you could
come. We are having a game night and finding out what everyone would like to do with
math club this year. Please tell everyone you know who might be interested

New Location for Math Tutoring

2011-06-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

This fall, the Math Tutoring Center will move to its new location of the fourth floor of Pray Harrold.

Be sure to stop by to see the new center when the semester begins!

If you missed the Buckeye lecture, you can watch it here!

2011-04-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

Dr. Chris Lomont was kind enough to let us record his talk, "The Mathematical Story Behind the iPhone." You can watch it below!

(Note: The the post-lecture question period ends somewhat abruptly because the camera ran out of memory.)

You can watch it in 720p HD if your connection is fast enough, which helps make the powerpoint slides more legible. Underneath the video are links to the presentation itself in powerpoint and pdf form.

Slides: powerpoint:
http://www.lomont.org/Math/Talks/2011/IPhoneTechnologyTalk.pptx

pdf:
http://www.lomont.org/Math/Talks/2011/IPhoneTechnologyTalk.pdf

For more about Chris and his work, visit http://www.lomont.org/

Colloquium talk tomorrow, April 8, 11am: a math modeling mathstravaganza!

2011-04-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

It really is!

Tomorrow at 11am, in the late, lamented ol' McKenny Union (see map below), Room 100: Death rays! Pretty Pictures from Prime-Producing Polynomials! Ecological Lies! Gaps in Number Theory! And the keynote presentation! Drum roll...ham radio.

I know! It's amazing. From 11am-12:30pm, his year's Mathematics Contest in Modeling (MCM) team and selected students from the software survey course and Math 319 will be presenting their work.

Here's a few more details:

Shannon Bourke, Patrick Davis, Michael Ludke (the 2011 EMU MCM team): Say That Again? A Discussion of the Repeater Coordination Problem

two presentations from the Software Survey course:

Riley Ellis: Gap Distribution for Primes and Carmichael numbers

Kishavan Bhola: Pretty Pictures from Prime-Producing Polynomials

and three presentations from Math 319:

Brandon Derfiny: Chess Ratings Systems

Chelsea Duprey: Ecological Fallacy in Regression

Nicholas Bertsos and Lisa Dannemiller : Finding the Center of a Circle Best Fit to a Giant Wall of Glass That Would Otherwise Produce a “Death Ray” Capable of Harm

Math Club - Meeting (4/5/2011)

2011-04-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Can you believe it? We're already only about a week away from finals! Tomorrow (Tuesday April 5th) will be the last meeting of the Winter 2011 semester for Math Club. Like normal, it'll be in the Math Lab (117A King Hall) at 7pm. We'll have a wonderful presentation/game organized by Grace-Ann and Rachel called "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Through Twelfth Grader?" It'll be your chance to match your skills against what today's secondary school-ers are expected to know. It'll be a lot of fun! We'll also have pizza and pop, so come hungry!

Hope to see you there!

Donald Buckeye Lecture this Weds., April 6, at 3pm in 143 Sill Hall

2011-04-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Donald Buckeye Lecture is this Wednesday, April 6, at 3:00 pm in 143 Sill Hall.

Dr. Chris Lamont has a Ph.D. in mathematics from Purdue in algebraic geometry and undergraduate degrees in math, physics, and computer science. He works for an R&D firm, Cybernet Systems Corporation, in Ann Arbor. In his talk, Chris will show how knowledge from every undergraduate math course required for a math major is needed to create this device. He’ll cover audio, video, transmission, security, touchscreens, GPS, gaming, and even battery life, and show how it all ties together.

Below are two maps: one shows the location of Sill Hall (until now presumed to be pure legend), and the other shows the location of room 143.

The Putnam results are in...

2011-03-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

...and we did great!

Alex Quenon, Riley Ellis, Patrick Davis, Kishavan Bhola, Chris Manning, and Brandon Derfiny scored a total of 70 points, breaking our record of 61 points from last year!

As a team, EMU ranked 148th in the nation out of the 546 institutions and 4296 contestants who participated. This is the first time in a number of years EMU has ranked nationally!

Congratulations to the entire team, and thank you for your hard work! Thank you also to Dr. Wang, who ran the Putnam sessions and prepared the team!

Professor Steve Blair receives Distinguished Faculty Award

2011-03-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

Join us in congratulating Professor Steve Blair. He received the 2011 Ronald Collins Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching.

Watch Professor Blair's acceptance speech.

We couldn't be prouder!

Math Club - Math Movie Night (3/31/2011)

2011-03-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

This Thursday (the 31st) at 7:00pm in the Math Lab (117A King Hall), the Math Club will be holding a Math Movie Night.

Come and watch "Between The Folds". The movie is a very interesting documentary about the relationship between mathematics and the art of origami. Plus, one of the featured mathematicians will be giving a presentation at the upcoming 2011 Michigan MAA Meeting at Western Michigan University.

We'll bring the popcorn and pop (and the origami paper)! If you know any cool paper tricks or any origami, this is an awesome opportunity to show off your skills! :)

Check out the IMBD article here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1253565/

Everyone is welcome! Hope to see you there! :)

Math Club - Meeting (3/22/2011)

2011-03-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

Math Club will be holding a regular meeting on

Tuesday, March 22nd at 7:00PM in the Math Lab (117A King Hall).

We'll be talking about end of the semester events and starting elections for the 2011-2012 Executive Board. If you are interested in taking up a leadership position in Math Club, please either come to the meeting or email our current President (Patrick, pdavis16@emich.edu). Voting will take place online from 3/23-4/4. We'll also be continuing our Student Lecture Series with a presentation by this year's MCM team.

Hope to see you there! And, remember both majors and non-majors are welcome to join!

For more information, please contact us at emumathematicsclub@gmail.com.

In 3 minutes, it was over

2011-03-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

Another pi day has come and gone.

If you were late, you missed it!

At 1:59 pm, Professor Folk began reciting 1000 digits of pi.

In 3 minutes, it was over.

If you start now, perhaps you can memorize more digits than Professor Folk for next year's pi day!

Graduate Research Fair: Monday, March 21

2011-03-09T16:45:00.000-08:00

Three of our graduate students are participating in the Graduate Research Fair on Monday, March 21, 2011 in the
Student Center

Tanima Banerjee

Professor Tanweer Shapla

Analysis of a Multivariate Set of Data Using a Logistic Regression Model

A logistic regression model is a widely used analytical tool that allows a person to determine the association between a dichotomous or polytomous response variable and a set of predictor variables. In this technique, the logit transformation of the outcomes is used. Model selection procedures will be used by identifying the small possible set of predictors of the model which will provide the “good” prediction of the outcomes. For the logistic model, Akaike's information criteria, Schwarz Bayesian criterion, and stepwise model selection such as forward and backward with the decision rule based on the Wald statistic will be used. After comparing the effects of above selection models, we have developed a “good” model of the response variable.

Oral Presentation: Room 300, 5:15 p.m.

Xiao Ping Li

Professor Tanweer Shapla

Bird-Keeping and Lung Cancer: A Logistic Regression Analysis

To find out whether bird-keeping is a risk factor for lung cancer, researchers conducted a case-control study of patients at four hospitals in The Hague, Netherlands, in 1985. Forty-nine patients under 65 years of age with lung cancer were compared to ninety-eight community-matched controls. Data were collected on the sex, age, socioeconomic status, years of smoking and bird-keeping status of the subjects. A fitted logistic regression model was selected to analyze the data. It was found that smoking and bird-keeping were significantly related to the incidence of lung cancer. The odds ratio for lung cancer among people who kept birds as pets was estimated to be 4.4 after adjusting for the effect of smoking. The results of this study suggest that there is a strong association between lung cancer and bird-keeping.

Oral Presentation: Room 300, 4:55 p.m.

Jason A. Voss

Professor Paul Howard

The Banach-Tarski Paradox and Weak Forms of the Axiom of Choice

In 1924, Stefan Banach and Alfred Tarski, expanding on work by Hausdorff, proved the remarkable theorem that a solid ball can be partitioned into finitely many pieces and rearranged to form two solid balls, each identical to the original ball. Since the rigid motions used in the construction preserve Lebesgue measure, which is finitely additive, it follows that some of the sets used in this construction must not be Lebesgue measurable. The paradoxical decomposition relies on the Axiom of Choice and is often cited as an example of the counterintuitive results provable using the Axiom of Choice. After explaining the approach of the proof in elementary terms, this presentation will examine whether the result can be proved using various weak forms of the axiom of choice and whether the counterintuitive nature of the paradox is stronger than the existence of sets of real numbers that are not Lebesgue measurable.

Oral Presentation: Room 300, 4:35 p.m.

Math Gems: Liouville's Theorem and Transcendental Numbers

2011-03-09T16:31:00.000-08:00

Join Us for the Math Gems Seminar

Friday, March 11

1:00 - 3:00

1010 Hoyt

with Dr. Bingwu Wang

Liouville's Theorem and Transcendental Numbers

Comp. Sci. Dept. Career fair!

2011-03-07T07:01:00.000-08:00

Attention Computer Science, Information Systems, Accounting Information Systems and Information Assurance, Actuarial Math Students and Alumni:

Please mark your calendars for the 8th I/T Recruiting Fair, scheduled for Friday, April 8, 2011, at Student Center, Rooms 310A&B.

PLEASE RESPOND VIA EMAIL to Taner Erig ( terig@emich.edu ) TO REGISTER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Schedule is as follows:
12:45 pm: Student Sign-in (Students are strongly urged to be on time and in professional attire.)
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm: IT Recruiting Fair
3:30 pm: Wrap-up

Here is the most recent list of firms that confirmed attendance:
Auto Owners Insurance
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan
Compuware
Fry
IBM
Latitude Consulting Group
Neumeric Technologies
ProStep
TechStaff
Quanta

You can also follow it through the Computer Science webpage:
http://www.emich.edu/compsci/IT.html

Please take advantage of the available time before this date to:

* get your resume reviewed and approved by the Career Development Center (located in 200 McKenny Hall and also in College of Business),
** provide Taner Erig ( terig@emich.edu) with a copy of your revised/approved resume as soon as possible.

28th Annual Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Math Conference

2011-03-07T06:46:00.000-08:00

The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, is hosting its annual undergraduate math conference Friday, March 25, and Saturday, March 26. The conference provides students with an opportunity to give and/or hear talks on challenging class projects, expository lectures on interesting math, or research done in an REU or with a faculty member. Looks good on the ol' resume. Plus, housing and food are provided for all students who attend. Thanks to MAA support, there is also a small travel budget to support students who are presenting. Speakers will also get some type of door prize. Submit abstracts by March 21.

The conference will take place on March 25 and 26th, 2011 (a Friday afternoon and Saturday morning). This is a great chance for students to present results obtained in independent studies or senior theses done over the course of this academic year, as well as mathematics done in an REU or other summer research project. What better way to have your student beef up their REU application or their graduate school application than by having them speak at this year’s conference. Housing and food are provided for all students attending the conference. Through the gracious support of the MAA, we have small door prizes for the speakers, plus a very tiny travel budget to help support student speakers.

Registration information can be found at the conference web page: http://www.rose-hulman.edu/mathconf/

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask either of the organizers: Dr. Leanne Holder, holder1@rose-hulman.edu, and Dr. Mike DeVasher, devashe1@rose-hulman.edu.

Free Mathematica cross-discipline seminar at EMU

2011-03-07T06:34:00.000-08:00

Sarah Carter from Wolfram will be giving a free seminar on Thursday, March 17:

"Mathematica in Education and Research"
2-3pm, including Q&A
New Science Complex, Room 215

Read the description below, and if you're interested in attending, please RSVP to Sarah at sarah_carter@wolfram.com.

From Sarah:

My talk is given 100% in Mathematica, and a big part of what I want to discuss is the exciting new free-form input in Mathematica 8. Here's a quick video preview: http://url.wolfram.com/btHVusw/

Attendees with no prior experience report that this talk helps with getting started using Mathematica language and workflow. With improvements like the new free-form input and expanded areas like finance, statistics, engineering, software development, and image processing, even the most advanced users report learning quite a bit from Mathematica technical talks. All attendees will receive an electronic copy of the examples, which can be adapted to individual projects.

Please feel free to pass this invitation on to colleagues and students--please let me know if you or your students plan to attend, so I can make sure we have enough space. I look forward to meeting you!

Pi day!

2011-03-07T06:30:00.000-08:00

This coming Monday, 3/14, is Pi day: and the department's celebration of it is one of the biggest events of the year. It starts at 1pm in the King Hall 1st floor lounge. Come for a little bit of math and a lot of pie (and snacks). The highlight of the celebration happens at 1:59 (3.15 159. We're so clever). You'll hear a piece of pi--1000 digits--recited from memory by our own Dr. David Folk.

Government career fair

2011-03-07T06:14:00.001-08:00

GOVERNMENT CAREER FAIR: A Call to Serve Government Career Fair is scheduled Wednesday, March 9, noon to 3 p.m., Student Center Ballroom. For more information, call the University Advising and Career Development Center at 487-0400 or stop in at 200 McKenny Hall.

Don Buckeye Lecture Series: Dr. Chris Lomont on the Mathematical Story Behind the iPhone

2011-03-05T10:07:00.000-08:00

We are very pleased to announce our speaker for the Don Buckeye Lecture Series

Dr. Chris Lomont
Wednesday, March 30 at 3 pm
The Mathematical Story Behind the iPhone

(More information will follow but please mark your calendar now.)

Chris has a Ph.D. in mathematics from Purdue in algebraic geometry and undergraduate degrees in math, physics, and computer science. He works for an R&D firm, Cybernet Systems Corporation, in Ann Arbor, where he has done quantum computing, explosives modeling, designed NASA image compression formats, and a lot of computer security
work from rootkits to hard drive cracking to USB security issues.

In his talk, Chris will show the tremendous depth of mathematics required to
design and implement an iPhone. This talk will show how knowledge from every
undergraduate math course required for a math major (and even most
graduate math courses, and most physics courses, and computer science
courses, and chemistry courses, and even biology courses … is needed to create this device.

He’ll cover audio, video, transmission, security, touchscreens, GPS, gaming, and even battery life, and show how it all ties together.

So this is where you use math in the real world: to create incredible new inventions!

We hope you will join us.

Math Gems returns for another season!

2011-02-16T06:41:00.001-08:00

Spring is about to sprung, and that's the time when a young math person's fancy turns to...Math Gems! The first one is this Friday, the 18th, from 1-3pm in 1010 Hoyt.

Dr. Wang is kicking it off as usual. The first talk is on dissections of polygonal surfaces:

Given two polygons with the same area, is it possible to cut one into finitely many pieces, and reassemble the pieces into the other? Given two congruent squares, can we cut them to pieces and reassemble them into one bigger square? How about the case when the two squares are of different sizes?

Either the answers will surprise and delight you or this wouldn't be the subject of a Math Gems talk.

Faculty candidate lecture this Monday, Feb. 14

2011-02-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

Anne Marie Nicoll Turner will be presenting at 3pm in the Student Center, room 352, on Monday February 14. Please join us!

Math Modeling Team Hard at Work this Weekend

2011-02-11T17:13:00.000-08:00

The 2011 Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) Competition has begun.

Our team is hard at work:

Shannon Bourke
Patrick Davis
Michael Ludke

Good luck! The solution to their problem is due on Monday, February 14 at 8 pm !

Faculty candidate giving lecture tomorrow

2011-02-10T11:58:00.000-08:00

Did you know the department is hiring a new professor? One of the candidates, Dr. Nadia Gal, will be coming on Friday February 11. She will be giving a talk about her research at 3:00 pm in the Student center, room 330. It would be awesome if some of our students came.

Hope to see you there!

Secondary ed position at Edsel Ford High School

2011-02-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

From Deana Kinter (dkinter@emich.edu):

There is a secondary math position available at Edsel Ford High School. It is a .8 position, arrive at 2nd hour, then two algebra 1 courses and two algebra 2 courses.

Email Christine Rosbury for more information at rosburyc@dearborn.k12.mi.us.

Bard College REU: Summer Research in Mathematics & Computation

2011-02-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

From Bard College:

Deadline: February 28, 2011
Application: MathPrograms.org
Web: http://math.bard.edu/reu/
Email: mathreu@bard.edu
Poster: http://math.bard.edu/reu/poster.pdf

Bard College is pleased to announce our 2011 REU: Summer Research in Mathematics & Computation. Projects are available in discrete geometry, supersymmetric physics, computational neuroscience, environmental science, and theoretical computer science. The program is for eight weeks starting on May 31, 2011. Review of applications will begin February 28, 2011 and will continue until all positions have been filled

We welcome applications from both current sophomores and juniors, including students who have decided to major in mathematics as late as their junior year and students who are undecided about a career in mathematics. Applicants must not yet have graduated with an undergraduate degree at the time of the REU. Women and members of underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged to apply.

Long term secondary ed math and sub needed

2011-02-09T08:02:00.000-08:00

Shannon Luppino, principal of Melvindale High School, is looking for a long-term math and science sub. If you're interested, email her:

Luppins@melnap.k12.mi.us.

Feel free to mention that you heard about it from the EMU math dept.

Math Club - Math Movie Night

2011-02-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

This Thursday (the 10th) at 7:00pm in the Math Lab (117A King Hall), the Math Club will be holding a Math Movie Night.

Come and watch Proof. It is a movie about the daughter of a famous mathematician who goes crazy (what famous mathematician doesn't? haha). If you haven't seen it, it's a great movie!

We'll bring the popcorn and pop!

Check out the IMBD article here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377107/

Everyone is welcome! Hope to see you there! :)

Snow day! EMU is closed from 5pm today, the 1st, and all day tomorrow.

2011-02-01T11:16:00.001-08:00

Classes will resume on Thursday, the 3rd, as normal. Stock up on groceries, generators, math textbooks, flashlight batteries, paper for doing math problems, and do all your googlin' before the snow hits. Stay safe and warm!

A series of web videos teaching math and science, endorsed by Bill Gates!

2011-01-31T09:01:00.000-08:00

Khan Academy, which began in 2006, is a free Web site that currently features more than 1,600 short (10-20 minute) videos that teach a variety of subjects, especially in math and science. Users may browse by topic using the headings Math, Science, Humanities and Other (consists of the subdivisions History and Finance), Test Prep, and Talks and Interviews.

Louisiana-born creator Khan, a former Silicon Valley investment manager with an MBA from Harvard, hopes that Khan Academy will enable a free "world-class education." Khan narrates all the videos using a blackboard and colorful writing. Endorsed by Bill Gates, whose children use the videos, and featured on CNN, NPR, and PBS, Khan Academy is used worldwide each month by more than 200,000 students.

The videos are deliberately brief and concise. For example, the calculus module is divided into nearly 200 parts--very useful for students who want to review a concept or for those who need more repetition for mastery. The simple format is refreshing when compared to those of other graphics-dense educational sites. This site is excellent for supplementary instruction for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students and educators at both the high school and college levels. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty, two-year technical program students, and general audience.

From what I've seen, it lives up to the hype.

Job opportunity for individual math/statistics master's

2011-01-31T08:44:00.000-08:00

From Joseph Bonner, MSU Informatics Core Manager:

The MSU Biomedical Research Informatics Core is seeking a master' trained professional to apply for a part time/ temporary position. Please have your interested alumni forward their resume to bonnerj5@msu.edu. For info about the Informatics Core, go to https://www.bric.msu.edu.

We would also consider an internship for a promising student.

The job description:

Knowledge equivalent to that which normally would be acquired though a four-year college degree program in a related research field, preferably in a science, social science, statistics, computer science, or similar discipline
Initiation, execution, testing, and validation of data management plans for clinical research proposals;
responsible for integrity of research datasets including edit/validation checks,
discrepancy management and resolution,
coding guidelines
procedures and security of personally identifying information;
trains and supports field staff in data collection methods,
interaction with subjects and quality control measures;
leads meetings and conference calls with research sponsors and/or investigators;
independently writes sections of reports, research papers, posters and presentations, including the writing of analytic programs for data preparation and analysis;
designs and executes a variety of testing
Validation
Documentation
Maintenance instructions
acts as honest broker for Electronic Medical Record data delivery.
Master's degree in science, social science, statistics, computer science, or similar discipline;
five or more years of experience in a biomedical or social science research support capacity; experience with complex query writing and demonstrable knowledge of procedural languages (e.g. T-SQL, PL/SQL, or macro writing)
testing and validating of computer software (output and functionality) used in the delivery of data management functions
identification and abstraction of health information from electronic medical records
gathering customer service and equipment needs for client applications, hardware and software products, network infrastructure equipment, or telecommunications software or hardware
excellent communication and interpersonal skills necessary to facilitate interactions with faculty, investigators and/or staff, outside agencies, sponsors, and research participants
selected individual might be required to satisfy United States Department of Defense project security requirements.
practical knowledge of human or biomedical research procedures;
client support;
management systems software support;
writing programs for data preparation for analysis;
coordinating overall data management and other informatics support;
training staff in the use of informatics tools;
Clinical Data Warehousing
QA/Evaluation/Research
Elicit needs from users
Data Recording Forms
What steps to write a query

That's it! You can contact Joseph Bonner for more information about the position. When preparing your resume, an excellent resource is this guide from Berkeley: https://career.berkeley.edu/Guide/ResumeLetterWriting.pdf. I’ve gotten jobs based on resumes I’ve put together with it. Also, feel free to mention in your cover letter that you heard about the opportunity through our department.

Job opportunity for an individual with a secondary ed certificate

2011-01-31T06:51:00.000-08:00

COPE, a non-profit alternative education program serving at-risk students in Washtenaw county, is seeking a Michigan certified secondary math teacher. COPE serves students who are struggling in a traditional school setting, our goal is to address academic deficiencies, teach skills that will allow success in a public school setting and eventually return our students to their home school.

This is a full time position and will start immediately. This position includes excellent health care benefits, disability insurance, life insurance. Note: this job is a school year position, the salary is $29,517 (Annualized -BA/BS degree).

If interested, submit your resume to employment1@cope1.org.

(Please do NOT apply if you do not have a current/valid Michigan Secondary Math Teaching Certificate, individuals without this credential cannot be considered for this position).

For more information about COPE, visit http://www.cope1.org. When preparing your resume, an excellent resource is this guide from Berkeley: https://career.berkeley.edu/Guide/ResumeLetterWriting.pdf. I’ve gotten jobs based on resumes I’ve put together with it. Also, feel free to mention in your cover letter that you heard about the opportunity through our department.

Renita Frasier - M.V.P.

2011-01-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

EMU Men's Basketball Team and Department of Athletics
have a program called

M.V.P---Most Valuable Professor.

Renita Frazier was identified by a member of the men's basketball team as his favorite instructor at EMU and M.V.P. !

Congratulations Renita!

Colloquium talk Friday: Ovidiu Calin on Heat Kernels

2011-01-25T06:20:00.000-08:00

Hi, all.

This Friday, Jan. 28th, from 11-noon in 300 Halle Library:

The math department is continuing our series of talks in which our faculty will discuss their original mathematical research. Again, let me encourage anyone with an interest in pursuing graduate research (or just an interest in what our faculty are up to when they aren't teaching) to attend. It's also a chance to hobnob with your professors in a more collegial setting than the classroom. So please! Come! Listen! Ask questions! We'll all be delighted to see you there.

This Friday's talk will be given by Dr. Calin on heat kernels. Dr. Calin Explains:

"I will talk about my last book Heat kernels for Elliptic and Subelliptic Operators Methods and Techniques, which just appeared this October being published by Birkhauser. The monograph is a unified presentation of several theories of finding explicit formulas for heat kernels for both elliptic and subelliptic operators. These kernels are important in the theory of parabolic equations because they describe the distribution of heat on a given manifold as well as evolution phenomena and diffusion processes. The solution of an initial value problem for a parabolic partial differential equation depends on its heat kernel, which is the fundamental solution of the associated parabolic operator. Even if these might not say much, I hope all the students will get enlightened in the field after coming to the talk."

But wait! There's more: we'd like to send out an open invitation to any students who have engaged in research--whether with professors here, as part of an REU, or in your mom's basement--to talk about what you did in a future talk. Just send a friendly email with a little bit of info about your research to Dr. Liu at jliu@emich.edu.

--Andrew

The Park City Mathematics Institute Summer Program (!)

2011-01-18T13:36:00.001-08:00

If you do one thing this summer, consider making it attending the Park City Mathematics Institute (PCMI) summer program.

PCMI is a program affiliated with Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study which brings together undergraduates, grad students, secondary ed teachers, undergraduate faculty and research mathematicians from around the world for three-week workshops and lecture series in Park City, Utah. The mathematicians and math educators who present at PCMI are always at the leading edge of their fields, sometimes recipients of the Fields Medal or other prestigious awards.

The focus of this year's mathematics program is Moduli Spaces of Riemann Surfaces and the focus of the math secondary ed program is Making Mathematical Connections. Don't worry if those mean nothing to you. Each workshop is tailored to the knowledge and skill level of its audience. The undergraduate workshop, for instance, has sessions for those who have at a minimum completed Calculus, and other sessions for those who've completed some upper level math courses. (Proofs is not required for the introductory sessions, but it's strongly recommended.) The idea is to introduce students to topics they haven't encountered before. EMU students who have gone to past PCMI summer programs have enjoyed the experience and made friends and connections among some of the brightest students from the US and abroad. To get a feeling for this year's subjects go to http://pcmi.ias.edu/program-index/ and click on the program that applies to you.

Links to the online applications are on the same page. The program runs from July 3 - July 23 and applications are due January 31. Not all applicants can be admitted, so contact your professors to get letters of recommendation. If you want to talk to someone who's been to get a better feel for what it's like, you can email Katie Ballentine, alumnus and former PCMI attendee, at kwillia7@emich.edu.

Jobs in applied mathematics.

2011-01-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

Here's an example job of what you can do if you start with a Bachelor's in math. In this case it's applied math, so you could start with math modeling courses (319 and 419), then optimization (560), then on to a PhD program in operations research at a larger university in Washtenaw county that you might have heard of.

The University of British Columbia
Department of Civil Engineering
Postdoctoral Fellow Position in Stochastic Hydropower System Optimization

Applications are invited from outstanding individuals for a postdoctoral fellow position in stochastic hydropower system optimization within the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia. The successful candidate will be expected to hold a Ph.D. in civil engineering, electrical engineering, operations research or a related field. Ideally the successful candidate will have experience in developing and implementing stochastic optimization methods and algorithms in practice using modeling languages such as AMPL and solvers such as the IBM Ilog Cplex, and computer programming languages, such as C, Fortran or other languages. Applicants should also have an interest in operations planning of large scale power systems in electricity markets and with particular emphasis on hydropower systems and clean and renewable sources of electric energy. The successful candidate will be expected to be heavily involved in achieving the main tasks of a research program that is sponsored by BC Hydro and by a Collaborative Research and Development (CRD) grant from NSERC to carry out research on testing and evaluating a number of stochastic optimization methods, and to implement the most promising techniques to solve the problem of long/medium term operations planning of the B.C. Hydro’s reservoir systems while addressing the main uncertainties in the operations planning problem: river inflows, market prices, demand and intermittency of renewable sources of energy. The candidate will be expected to participate in delivering a number of course lectures on modeling and optimization of large scale system and to serve on the supervisory committee of the graduate students involved in the research project. The research team includes faculty members at UBC, a number of Ph.D. and MASc students and staff members form the department of Generation Resource Management at BC Hydro. The position is for two years with the possibility of extension for another year if additional funding opportunities are made available. To attract high quality applicants, the salary will be supplemented by BC Hydro ( www.BCHydro.com )

Kalamazoo Public Schools looking for a high school and a middle school math teacher ASAP

2011-01-13T06:41:00.001-08:00

Here's the posting. Get to it!

High School Math Teacher

Minimum Qualifications:
1. BS or BA degree
2. Valid Michigan certificate with Math (EX) endorsement
3. Must be Highly Qualified in the content area
4. Possess technology skills

Preferred Qualifications:
1. Successful experience working with a diverse population in an urban setting
2. Successful classroom teaching experience

Middle School Math Teacher

Minimum Qualifications:
1. BS or BA degree
2. Valid Michigan certificate with Math (EX) endorsement
3. Must be Highly Qualified in content area
4. Possess technology skills

Preferred Qualifications:
1. Successful experience working with a diverse population in an urban setting
2. Successful classroom teaching experience

Interested applicants should complete the on-line application process at www.kalamazoopublicschools.com. Please be advised that in order for the review process of your application to be initiated, all of the required documents must be uploaded and Polaris Interview completed.

Free statistics software workshops.

2011-01-11T11:54:00.000-08:00

The Ann Arbor chapter of the American Statistical Association is offering a series of lectures designed to provide an introduction to the stats software packages SAS, SPSS, Excel and MS Access, R, and Stata.

The first of these, on SAS, is being held today from 7pm-9pm in computer lab B in Angel Hall on the University of Michigan main campus. To register, email:

barrydmailbox-asa@yahoo.com

The full workshop schedule is available here:

http://sites.google.com/site/annarborasa/

Thinking of a Career in Applied Mathematics?

2011-01-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

...is the title of a very interesting page on the SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) website. It's full of really good content. For example, from the Advice from Professionals section, comes this quote from a former Ford Motors mathematician:

“Learn the language of other disciplines by ‘going to where they hang out,’ especially during junior and senior years of college. For example, attend seminars sponsored by other academic departments to gain awareness of their nomenclature and topical issues. Attend professional conferences and trade shows to view the latest technologies and applications. Engage in conversations with the other attendees and listen to how they describe their processes and problems."

And from an IBM engineer:

“Choose your first subject of research carefully, so it is not too competitive but also not too obscure. Definitely learn to write code to demonstrate usefulness of your algorithmic ideas.”

There's a lot more good stuff here:

http://www.siam.org/careers/thinking.php

Worth attending: Auto-Owners Insurance IT and Actuarial Career luncheon 2/4/11

2011-01-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

Auto-Owners is hosting an Information Technology & Actuarial Career Opportunity Day on February 4, 2011. They are inviting all Juniors, Seniors and Recent Graduates majoring in Computer Science, Information Systems, Actuarial Science, Math and Computer Engineering to come and see how their degree is utilized in the insurance industry.

In case you haven't heard, being an actuary is a pretty sweet gig. It ranks among the highest-paying jobs you'll never need an advanced degree for, with salaries for bachelor's degree-holders starting in the $50,000s and topping out above $160,000. It also consistently ranks among the highest jobs in terms of satisfaction.

Location: 6101 Anacapri Blvd., Lansing, MI 48917

Date: Friday, February 4, 2011

Registration: 9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Event: 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Dress: Professional Attire

dl.recruiting@aoins.com

Student Projects: MATH 319

2010-12-20T08:11:00.000-08:00

Students presented their final projects in Math 319 class for the fall semester 2010.
The students and their topics are listed below.

Andrew Ross

Mark Price Jr and Rebekah Pummill : Analysis of wind power data
Lora DeCaria and Megan Rice : Bottleneck in the STEM pipeline
Eric Polenz and Michael Wisne : Bracketology
Nicholas Bertsos and Lisa Dannemiller : Finding the Center of a Circle Best Fit to a Giant Wall of Glass That Would Otherwise Produce a “Death Ray” Capable of Harm
Richard Swift : Lesson plan: case study on Michigan bird counts
Andrea Illescas : Lesson plan: Optimization in Excel
Zahraa Mazeh and Lanice McGuire : Lesson plan: regression
David Telega and Steven Thomas : Lesson plan: regression
Michael Priestley and Christina Waszak : MCM emergency facility location
Caroline Horste : MCM Redistricting
Michael Harris : MCM Velociraptor
Osman Ahmed and Oluwatobi Odeleye : MCM water tower
Niesje Dowell and Hilary Fenton : pharmacokinetics
Ashley Albright and Eric Robinson : Puzzlor, Connected and Infected
Mariano Marks and Naseem Rayyan : Rocket Thrust Cratering
Angela Durham : Wind power in Washtenaw County

Math Club - Holiday Party !!!

2010-12-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

Come join the Math Club on Thursday (12/9/2010) at 7:00pm in the Math Lab (117A King Hall) and enjoy some holiday festivities and take a break from the stress of the end of the semester!

At this party, there will be:
*Sugar cookies
*Math games and prizes
*Delicious food
*Snowflake making
*Awesome people

You don't want to miss this! It's going to be awesome!

Math for America: teaching fellowships for recent graduates with "substantial coursework" in mathematics

2010-12-07T18:55:00.000-08:00

Hi, all. The semester is drawing to a close, and those of you graduating this year may be wondering what you're going to do with yourselves. Here's one option. Sent to one of our esteemed faculty members:

Dear --------------,

I hope this message finds you well. As our application deadline approaches, I wanted to remind you about Math for America’s ( MƒA) generous fellowship that is available to your math students. As you might already know, MƒA is a private nonprofit organization with a mission to improve math education in US public secondary schools by recruiting, training and retaining outstanding mathematics teachers.

The M f A Fellowship is a five-year program where recent college graduates make a commitment to teach math in public secondary schools. M f A Fellows are mathematically sophisticated individuals who are new to teaching and use their talents to make a difference in students’ lives.

M f A New York Fellows Receive:

· A full tuition scholarship for a master's degree in mathematics education from M f A NY partner universities Bard College, New York University or Teachers College, Columbia University.

· Earn Initial certification for New York State.

· A stipend of $100,000 over five years, in addition to a full time teacher's salary.

· Extensive professional development support and mentoring.

· Guidance from a community of highly qualified math teachers.

Application Deadline: January 21 st , 2011

Please feel free to share this information with students and do not hesitate to contact me if you would like additional information/materials or have any questions.

Best regards,

Kate

Kate Mancuso

Recruitment and Outreach

Math for America

160 Fifth Avenue, 8th floor

New York, NY 10010

www.mathforamerica.org

kmancuso@mathforamerica.org

P 646.437.0943

F 646.437.0905

Fall 2010 Colloquium

2010-12-03T06:23:00.000-08:00

Dec 10, 2010, 11:00 am - noon
301 Student Center.
Professor Han will present his recent work in machine learning and
proteomics. The title as follows:
A novel biomarker discovery algorithm for heterogeneous serum
proteomic profiles

Congratulations, Professor Andrew Ross

2010-11-30T15:32:00.000-08:00

Join us in congratulating Professor Andrew Ross.

He was awarded the Mathematical Association of America - Michigan Section Distinguished Teaching Award .

We couldn't be prouder !

2011 Fairfield REU Announcement

2010-11-27T16:45:00.000-08:00

This announcement was sent in by Dr. Shawn Rafalski, a graduate of EMU:

The Fairfield University (Fairfield, CT) Mathematics and Computer Science Department announces a new Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program in Mathematics and Computational Science for Summer 2011. Sponsored by a three-year grant through the National Science Foundation, we will host our 2011 program from June 13 to August 5. The three research groups for our first program will engage in original mathematics projects in the following areas:

>> One-Dimensional Combinatorial Dynamics
> Chris Bernhardt, Professor of Mathematics

>> Three-Dimensional Hyperbolic Geometry
> Shawn Rafalski, Assistant Professor of Mathematics

>> Nielsen Theory for Generic Maps on Surfaces
> Chris Staecker, Assistant Professor of Mathematics

We would like to encourage as many talented undergraduate mathematicians as possible to apply, and so we hope that you will keep our program in mind when advising your most active and enthusiastic students. We plan to provide a poster announcement for the program in mid-November.

Stipends, housing and travel funds will be provided. Fairfield University is located on Long Island Sound in southwestern Connecticut about an hour from New York City. The deadline for applications is March 2, 2011. For more details, please visit or direct your students to our webpage:

www.fairfield.edu/reu

Questions? Please feel free to contact Dr. Shawn Rafalski, the Fairfield REU 2011 Program Coordinator, by email at:

srafalski@fairfield.edu

Thanks for your interest -- we hope to hear from your best and brightest in the near future!

New course offers an alternative to COSC 111: Java, for the mathematically inclined. It's math modeling in Matlab.

2010-11-24T07:41:00.000-08:00

Hello math majors and minors!

Would you like to learn Matlab instead of Java? Together with the computer science department, we have changed the requirement so you don't have to take COSC 111; you can now take a course about programming in Matlab. It's offered this winter. Here are the details:

COSC 179, CRN 27156 : "Computational Principles for Math & Sciences", Tue/Thu.

The only downside is that it's at 8am.

If you have any questions, please e-mail me at aross15@emich.edu.

Prof. Ross

Math department/Math Club end o' semester party, Fri. Dec 3, 1pm

2010-11-24T07:22:00.000-08:00

Those of you who have been to a department end-of-semester party know what it's all about, and I'm sure you'll be there. For the uninitiated, here's what goes on--and I'm not going to sugar-coat this: It's all about goodies, goodies, goodies. Food of all types and varieties from a selection of exotic local supermarkets will be served in plenty. There will be drinks, there will be laughter and cheer, and there will be camaraderie and fellowship.

As a special bonus this year, the Math Club has graciously offered to help make the party full of win with their own contribution(s). What sort? I'm not at liberty to say: maybe games, maybe a raffle, maybe a grand and elaborate prank involving Dr. Tayeh and a water balloon. Only they know, and they're not telling!

Can't you feel the excitement? So, again, here's the details, because, let's face it, if you don't know where and when to show up, you won't make it to the party:

Friday, December 3rd from 1-4pm in the second floor lounge of King Hall.

Be there or square the circle using a compass and a ruler. No, wait: that's impossible. So you'd better be there. Email me at alivings@emich.edu if you want help finding king hall or want me to reiterate how full of win this party will be. Also, if you're not up on your internet lingo, feel free to ask me what it means to be "full of win."

Math Club - Meeting (11/16/2010)

2010-11-14T12:22:00.000-08:00

Math Club will be holding a regular meeting on

Tuesday, November 16th at 7:00PM in the Math Lab (117A King Hall).

We'll be talking about some of our upcoming events. The meeting also will feature a Math Auction (an awesome friendly math competition)! It's going to be a lot of fun!

Hope to see you there! And, remember both majors and non-majors are welcome to join!

For more information, please contact us at emumathematicsclub@gmail.com.

Summer internships and grad programs in statistics at NC State

2010-11-08T21:36:00.000-08:00

NC State Statistics is one of the largest, oldest and best departments
of statistics in the US. I am writing to let you know about two
opportunities for undergraduate students who are interested in statistics.

1. Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics (SIBS). SIBS is a
6-week program to give undergraduate students majoring in or with
background in the quantitative sciences the opportunity to explore a
career in biostatistics or statistics. Summer 2011 will be NC State's
8th year of SIBS! Applications are accepted beginning December 1, 2010:
http://www.stat.ncsu.edu/sibs/

2. Graduate School. Deadlines are approaching for graduate school
applications. Do you have students who are interested in graduate study
in Statistics? Only about one-third of our successful applicants have a
degree in Statistics. However, many have degrees in mathematics,
engineering or other areas. We are looking for students with a strong
mathematics background, regardless of the actual major. Visit
http://www.stat.ncsu.edu/ and click on the For Prospective Students tab
at the top. Students can also contact me (pam_arroway@ncsu.edu)
directly with questions. I'm happy to talk to seniors in the process of
applying or younger students who are thinking ahead.

Thanks for forwarding to your students and colleagues!
Pam

Positions open in Benefits/Retirement at Towers Watson

2010-11-08T21:26:00.001-08:00

To an unnamed faculty member at this VERY university:

Good Afternoon,

As a faculty member of your Mathematics department, you may have students
that are looking for opportunities that challenge them to make an impact in
today’s changing business environment. At Towers Watson, we help the
world’s largest multinational corporations tackle their most pressing
business issues. Towers Watson is currently recruiting for positions within
our Benefits - Retirement business segment in Southfield (Detroit), MI.
Please direct any interested students to our website, where they can find
out more about our full-time entry level positions and internship
opportunities to make thier mark at Towers Watson.

For more information on these opportunities, or to apply, students should
visit our careers website at www.towerswatson.com/careers and search for
Job ID # 6873.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Towers Watson University Recruiting Team

Math Club - Game Night !!!

2010-11-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

Math Club will be holding a game night on

Thursday, November 11th at 7:00PM in the Math Lab (117A King Hall).

Join us for pop, pizza, and a ton of cool games! We'll have everything from cards to Pit to classic board games - and even a few icebreaker-type games!

Hope to see you there! Everyone is welcome!

Featured Math Link

2010-11-03T06:49:00.000-07:00

http://plus.maths.org/content/

This internet magazine has great articles specific to math topics, such as
limits, differential equations but are interesting for students to read,
about ordinary topics and how calculus is applied.

Math Club - Meeting (11/2/2010)

2010-11-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

Math Club will be holding a regular meeting on

Tuesday, November 2nd at 7:00PM in the Math Lab (117A King Hall).

We'll be talking about some of our upcoming events. The meeting also will have the third presentation of our Student Lecture Series. Jack Miller will be presenting.

Hope to see you there! And, remember both majors and non-majors are welcome to join!

For more information, please contact us at emumathematicsclub@gmail.com.

MATH 319: Student Presentations

2010-11-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Everyone is invited to my Math 319 class's midterm project presentations,
Monday and Wednesday, November 1 and November 3
from 11:00am to 12:15pm in
Boone hall, room G05.
The presenters and topics are listed below. We haven't decided which days or what order the presentations will go in.

Thanks,
Andrew Ross

Osman (Ben) Ahmed : Predicting one engine sensor from others
Ashley Albright and Eric Robinson : Tollbooth planning
Nicholas Bertsos and Lisa Dannemiller : MCM composting problem
Lora DeCaria and Megan Rice : MCM rising seas
Niesje Dowell : MCM criminology
Angela Durham : Retail staff rostering
Hilary Fenton : Lesson plan on influence diagrams
Michael Harris : Math 319 textbook chapter on regression
Caroline Horste : MCM airport wheelchairs
Andrea Illescas : Swim team assignments
Mariano Marks and Naseem Rayyan : Rocket jet cratering of soil
Zahraa Mazeh and Lanice McGuire : School district data regression analysis
Oluwatobi Odeleye : MCM grade inflation
Eric Polenz and Michael Wisne : Fantasy football
Mark Price Jr and Rebekah Pummill : Ikea staffing
Michael Priestley and Christina Waszak : MCM network transfers
Aaron Schacht : Movie and staff scheduling
Krista Strong : MCM grade inflation
Richard Swift : NBA fantasy team
David Telega and Steven Thomas : Superbowl forecasting
Travis Walker : Football offense play calling

Math Club - Math Movie Night

2010-10-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

This Thursday (the 28th) at 7:00pm in the Math Lab (117A King Hall), the Math Club will be holding a Math Movie Night.

Come and watch Fermat's Room. It is a math-based thriller movie where "four mathematicians who do not know each other are invited by a mysterious host on the pretext of resolving a great enigma."

We'll bring the popcorn and pop!

Check out the IMBD article here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016301/

Everyone is welcome! Hope to see you there! :)

Job Posting: Kalamazoo Public Schools

2010-10-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

High School Math Teacher

Minimum Qualifications:

BS or BA degree
Valid Michigan certificate with Math (EX) endorsement
Must be Highly Qualified in the content area
Possess technology skills

Preferred Qualifications:

Successful experience working with a diverse population in an urban setting
Successful classroom teaching experience

Interested applicants should complete the on-line application process at www.kalamazoopublicschools.com.

Please be advised that in order for the review process of your application to be initiated, all of the required documents must be uploaded and Polaris Interview completed.

Math Club Photos

2010-10-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Math Club is having another great year! For all of you interested, here are some photos from some of our events since the start of the semester:

Michigan Undergraduate Mathematics Conference
Saturday, October 9th, 2010
Grand Valley State University

Our whole group!

Patrick Davis - Modeling the Effects of Cannibalistic Behavior in Zebra Mussel
(Dreissena polymorpha) Populations

Alexander Quenon - Case Closed: The Evaluation of Hypergeometric Sums

Corn Maze !!!
Friday, October 15th, 2010
Dundee, MI

At the start of the maze!

Rachel Perfetti and her sister

Yay! Another marker found! :p

Summer Internship in Planetary Science

2010-10-22T06:17:00.001-07:00

Summer Internship Opportunity in Planetary Science

The 10-week program runs from June 7, 2011–August 13, 2011. You will receive a $5,000.00 stipend plus $1000.00 U.S. travel stipend, or $1,500 foreign travel reimbursement for foreign interns.

The LPI is located near Johnson Space Center, on the south side of Houston, Texas. The LPI provides, on NASA’s behalf, leadership in the scientific community for research in lunar, planetary, and solar system sciences, and linkage with related terrestrial programs.

For more information:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpiintern/

DACTM Conference: Saturday, Nov 13

2010-10-19T05:19:00.001-07:00

DACTM/MDSTA Joint Fall Conference
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Lamphere High School

DACTM/MDSTA Joint Fall Conference

After 10 years, DACTM and MDSTA are proud to once again offer mathematics/science educators in Southeast Michigan a combined professional development event! Conference and registration information for this year's joint math/science conference is available NOW! Take a peak at our schedule of presentations -- over 170 sessions/workshops will be offered at this one day event as well as a wide variety of vendors and the opportunity to network with other education professionals! Sessions address math and science topics at elementary, middle and high school levels as well as many that focus on math/science connections! There is also a special statistics strand supported by the ASA (American Statistical Association).

This year there is special pricing that includes membership in both DACTM and MDSTA if you choose. ALL who register by October 30th are will be entered in a raffle for wonderful grade-level appropriate products from sponsor Texas Instruments! Attendees will also receive a registration gift and a bag from Gold sponsor Pearson! A raffle of items kindly donated by our vendors will also take place and every attendee will receive a raffle ticket (must be present to win)!

We want to invite YOU to be a part of this exciting, valuable and energizing professional development opportunity. Visit the conference page at www.dactm.org for additional information. The complete on-site program and information regarding SB-CEUs are scheduled to be posted by October 18th.

We look forward to seeing you there!

DACTM Conference Committee

Math Club - Meeting (10/19/2010)

2010-10-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

Math Club will be holding a regular meeting on

Tuesday, October 19th at 7:00PM in the Math Lab (117A King Hall).

We'll be talking about some of our upcoming events. The meeting also will have the second presentation of our Student Lecture Series. Rachel Perfetti will be talking about new methods in elementary mathematics education.

Hope to see you there! And, remember both majors and non-majors are welcome to join!

For more information, please contact us at emumathematicsclub@gmail.com.

Math Club - Corn Maze !!!

2010-10-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

This Friday (the 15th), the Math Club is headed out to the corn maze in Dundee (near Cabelas)! Check out the website here:
http://www.cornmazefun.net/worldrecordcornmaze/farmer.html

It's going to be amazing! The maze is huge and award winning and generally just going to be a blast! Everyone is welcome!

Cost is $10 and we'll meet at 4:30pm in the Student Center parking lot.

Hope we see you there! :)

Not everything that happens in Vegas stays there.

2010-10-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

If you build a hotel with a parabolic curve to it that focuses sunlight on guests, scorches their hair, and melts plastic bags, the news is going to get out!

http://www.lvrj.com/news/vdara-visitor---death-ray--scorched-hair-103777559.html

A similar problem with the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA a few years ago had to be rectified with strategic sanding of the offending polished surfaces:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_Concert_Hall#Reflection_problems.

Math Club - Meeting (10/5/2010)

2010-10-04T06:49:00.000-07:00

Math Club will be holding a regular meeting on

Tuesday, October 5th at 7:00PM in the Math Lab (117A King Hall).

We'll be finalizing our plans to attend the 2010 MUMC at GVSU, as well as discussing some other events. This meeting also marks the start of our Student Lecture Series. Patrick Davis will be presenting the research he did on local population dynamics of zebra mussel populations this summer while at Texas A&M University as part of the REU program.

Hope to see you there! And, remember both majors and non-majors are welcome to join!

For more information, please contact us at emumathematicsclub@gmail.com.

A different partition of mathematics

2010-09-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

You often hear people talking about the distinction between algebraists and analysts. One professor puts it this way (I hope I'm not misquoting): algebraists were the kids who climbed the monkey bars to get a good view of the playground while the analysts were the kids digging in the mud for bugs and other treasures.

But sigfpe, on his blog "The Neighborhood of Infinity," partitions math differently, and not along branches. Rather, he classifies theorems as either "structural" or "content." While he argues that both exist in most branches of mathematics, I can see that some people might be more attracted to the endeavor of proving one type or the other. Check it out.

http://blog.sigfpe.com/2006/05/two-kinds-of-mathematics.html

(He mentions theorems and branches of math many people will know little to nothing about, but it isn't important to his argument.)

Math Club - Ultimate Frisbee Event !!!

2010-09-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Come and join the EMU Math Club for a game or two of Ultimate Frisbee!

Thursday, September 30th at 6:45PM.

Meet us across from the Student Center Information Desk. We'll walk over to the field together so that we can start playing by 7:00PM. If you're joining late, our plan is to play in the area in between the First Year Center buildings towards the north end of campus.

Amateurs and long-time players both welcome! Hope to see you there! :)

In defense of the most boring theorem in Calc I

2010-09-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

Bruce Peterson demonstrates why you shouldn't be quick to pass judgement on the the Intermediate Value Theorem in a recent Math Horizons article, The Intermediate Under-Valued Theorem. (If you want to bone up on the IVT beforehand, the excellent PatrickJMT from YouTube has a video on it: http://youtu.be/6AFT1wnId9U.)

I was searching the web for more applications of the IVT, and, to my surprise, the most interesting I found was on Wikipedia: Implications of the theorem in real world. The page also gives a counterexample that shows why the converse of the theorem is false.

DACTM Conference, November 13, 2010

2010-09-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

DACTM/MDSTA Joint Fall Conference

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Lamphere High School - Madison Heights , MI

(45 miles from Ypsilanti; 35 miles from Canton; and 4 miles from Royal Oak

We want to invite YOU to be a part of this exciting, valuable and energizing professional development opportunity. Visit the conference page at www.dactm.org for additional information.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Putnam Problem Sessions Begin!

2010-09-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

When: 2:30-3:30, Every Friday (starting from 10/1/2010)
Where: 4th floor lounge in Hoyt
It is time to prepare for the Putnam Exam, which is a classical annual college mathematics competition in North America. Every year the EMU mathematics department builds a team to take the exam with good results.

We are inviting you to participate in this exciting event.

The competition date is December 4th, and we welcome you to join our 2010 Putnam Team.

To prepare for the exam, we are going to run the Putnam Problem Session each Friday from 2:30 to 3:30 starting from 10/1/2010.
The location for the problem session is the Lounge Room on the 4th floor of Hoyt Hall (just aside the elevator).

The problem session is organized by Professors Bingwu Wang and Dave Folk this year.
Please contact us immediately if you want to join the team.
We look forward to your support and participation!

Bingwu Wang
bwang@emich.edu

Dave Folk
dfolk@emunix.emich.edu

Tutor professors for two days, get paid.

2010-09-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know that Drs. Ross and Curran are involved in Reacting to the Past with EMU's history department, and even wrote a game in which students take part in the debate over the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935. The history department runs games for faculty once or twice a year to expose people in other disciplines to the methodology. Here's where you come in. Take it away, Dr. Ross:

On October 22nd and 23rd (Fri/Sat), we will need two EMU undergrad students to help a conference of faculty. The faculty will be playing a game based on the trial of Galileo by the Catholic church. Many of them will need help with the astronomy arguments--evidence for and against the earth going around the sun, etc. Math and science majors/minors would be especially good at this, I think. The pay is somewhere between $100 and $200 per person, total for the 2 days. Please let me know if you are interested.

Thanks,
Prof. Andrew Ross
andrew.ross@emich.edu

Things you didn't know you could do with math.

2010-09-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

The CDC is looking for operations analysts, and they're willing to pay quite a bit to find them. Find out why, what for, etc., here: http://bit.ly/bSr3fq.

Math Club - First Meeting of the Semester

2010-09-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

The first meeting of the EMU Mathematics Club will be held:

Tuesday, September 21st at 7:00PM in the Math Lab (117A King Hall).

Come out and meet the other students on campus interested in the same things you are! We'll be discussing this semester's schedule of events, including all of the student lectures and all the fun stuff, too! We'll also have some information regarding a trip to the Michigan Undergraduate Mathematics Conference at GVSU on October 9th.

Hope to see you there! And, remember both majors and non-majors are welcome to join!

For more information, please contact us at emumathematicsclub@gmail.com.

Flushing Community Schools - HS Math Teacher Needed

2010-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

I’m writing from Flushing Community Schools.
We are in a situation where we are about to lose our newest high school math hire.
We would like to get a good math teacher to start working as a substitute teacher for us with the intentions of possibly turning into a full time position.

Thanks for the help,

Barb Konuszewski

810-591-1186

Biostatistics at UM - Open House, Oct 2, 2010

2010-09-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

The Department of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan invites you to
Prospective Student Information Day
which will be held on Saturday, October 2, 2010.
The purpose of this event is to provide information to students who may be interested in graduate study in biostatistics. We expect this will include undergraduate and masters students who have identified biostatistics as their interest area, as well as students who are completing an undergraduate degree in math, statistics, biology, or some related discipline, and have not yet decided on their future plans.

At the event, presentations by students, faculty and alumni will focus on what biostatistics is and what biostatisticians do, on the outstanding job opportunities in biostatistics, and on the admissions and financial support opportunities in our Department.

For more information, directions to Open House and to pre-register, visit our website at http://www.sph.umich.edu/students/prospective/information_day.html .

If you should have any questions about our department or this event, please feel free to contact our Student Services Coordinators Nicole Fenech (fenechn@umich.edu, 734-615-9817) and Fatma Nedjari (fned@umich.edu, 734-615-9812)

Sincerely,

Trivellore Raghunathan, PhD

Chair, Biostatistics Department

Professor Joan Jones completes work on her book

2010-09-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

Professor Joan Jones completed work on her book,
"Visualizing Elementary and Middle School Mathematics Methods".
The sample chapter is being field tested now and the entire book will be field tested in January 2011 with an online edition. Print edition available Fall 2011.

Belleville High School: Immediate Need for HS Math Teacher

2010-09-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

Belleville High School is in immediate need of a high school math teacher.

The contact info is as follows: Abdul Madyun: 734-883-1093.

Just Published by Professor Ken Shiskowski

2010-09-18T04:36:00.000-07:00

Professor Ken Shiskowski along with Karl Frinkle have co-authored, Principles of Linear Algebra with Maple, published by Wiley. They have been working on this book for several years and it has just been published this fall. Congratulations, Dr. Shiskowski.

NEW COURSE: CSIE 377 Synthesis & Evaluation of Scientific Literature

2010-09-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

There is a CSIE course offered this semester that provides training in literature searches and general paper-reading skills for any students who are doing an individual project (indep. study, senior thesis, etc.) with an individual advisor. It is:

CSIE 377: Synthesis & Evaluation of Scientific Literature
CRN 17792
meets Fridays from 9:30-10:20 in Rackham 220

It is interdisciplinary, co-taught by Anne Casper (bio), Harriet Lindsay (chem), Nina Contis (chem), and Paula Storm (librarian), with students from many STEM disciplines.

Please encourage your students to sign up! Or ask me for more details.

Thanks,
Andrew Ross

Math Tutors Needed: Gear UP at Ypsilanti HIgh

2010-09-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

My name is Caleb Boswell and I am the Site Coordinator for the EMU GEAR UP Program at Ypsilanti High School. GEAR UP is a federally funded pre-college program offered by the U.S. Department of Education . GEAR UP stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. It is designed to follow a cohort of students, the class of 2012, complete high school, and prepare for college. EMU is the host institution for GEAR UP at Ypsilanti High School. We strive to give our students as much preparation, to allow them to be exposed and prepared for all of the opportunities that will assist them in their ambitions of obtaining a college education and life after high school.

The EMU GEAR UP Program is looking for student volunteers to work after school 2:30pm-5:00pm, Monday-Thursday, at Ypsilanti High School. We are looking for students who are strong in all areas of math to work in our math lab. If you know of any qualified students in education, math, or competent tutors who would like to volunteer please have them contact me at 313-516-9760 or via email at boswell.gearup@gmail.com. Thank you for your time and assistance in this matter.

Best regards,

Caleb S. Boswell
GEAR UP Ypsilanti High Site Coordinator
Eastern Michigan University
203 Boone Hall
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
734-487-0372 EMU Office
734-714-1246 Ypsi High Office

Free, online Mathematica training.

2010-08-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

The friendly folks over at Wolfram sent us this, entirely unsolicited:

"Hands-on Start to Mathematica" is a free, two-part online
screencast that introduces Mathematica basics to get you started
with your first calculations, visualizations, and interactive
examples. If you haven't already, be sure to check out Part 1
here:
http://url.wolfram.com/51hwe~-/

And, if you like that, for a price, there's this:

Many students have asked for more in-depth training, so we now
also offer "M10: A Student's First Course in Mathematica," a
self-paced video training course providing step-by-step
instructions on the basic features of Mathematica for students.
Through the included videos and practice exercises, students
learn how to navigate the user interface, build calculations,
create graphics and dynamic models, work with data, and more--for
under $30:
http://url.wolfram.com/5U97S6Y/

13th Annual Michigan Undergraduate Mathematics Conference at GVSU

2010-08-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

On behalf of the Department of Mathematics at Grand Valley State University (GVSU), it gives us great pleasure to invite you and your students to participate in the 13th Annual Michigan Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, to be held on
Saturday, October 9th
at DeVos Center on the GVSU Grand Rapids Campus.

This year's conference will feature a variety of presentations by students and graduate program representatives. In addition, Professor Daniel Kalman of American University will deliver the keynote address, entitled ``The Most Marvelous Theorem in Mathematics.'' Dan is a highly-regarded mathematician who speaks regularly at undergraduate conferences and who has received numerous MAA writing prizes, including the Ford, Polya, Allendoerfer, and Evans Awards.

We hope that you will help us spread the word regarding this conference and that you will encourage your students to attend and give presentations. Fifteen minute talks may focus on original research or be expository on material that most students to not encounter in the undergraduate curriculum.

Conference registration is free!

A webpage for this year's conference can be found at www.mumc2010.org . It provides up-to-date information, as well as online abstract submission and registration forms. (A conference flyer is also attached with this message.) Please note that the registration and abstract submission deadline for all student presenters is 5 PM, Monday, September 27th. The registration deadline for all other attendees is 5 PM, Friday, October 1st.

Questions should be directed to any member of the organizing committee: Firas Hindeleh (hindelef@gvsu.edu ), Akalu Tefera ( teferaa@gvsu.edu ), or Paul Fishback (fishbacp@mail.gvsu.edu ).

We are very excited about this event, which has become an annual tradition for undergraduate mathematics students in Michigan, and we look forward to seeing you on October 9th.

Sincerely,

Firas Hindeleh, Akalu Tefera, Paul Fishback

Department of Mathematics,
Grand Valley State University,
Mackinac Hall,
Allendale, MI 49401

Math Career - US State Department

2010-08-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

The US State Department is recruiting mathematicians to apply for some of these positions with the United Nations and other international organizations. While many of these require 5 or more years of work experience and an advanced degree, they indicate one kind of career route for a math major.

http://www.state.gov/p/io/rls/iva/2010/145251.htm

108: BUSINESS ANALYST; Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO); (VA 2390-CSA); Rome, Italy
(AdvDeg: CompSci/Math/BusAdm/Fin; 7 yrs exp; Fr/Sp); P-4; $104K Closing date: 08/06/10

112: PROGRAM OFFICER (Business Analysis); UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); (VA 10/059/SDM); Bonn, Germany
(Deg: CompSci/Math/IT/InfoSys; 5+ yrs exp); P-3; $81K Closing date: 08/07/10

127: ASSISTANT PROGRAM SPECIALIST; UN Edu, Sci & Cult Org (UNESCO); (1FRSC 0204OS); Toulouse, France
(AdvDeg: Physic/Math/Engin/Ocean-AtmosSci; 2 + yrs (1 yr int’l) exp); P-1/P-2; $72K Closing date: 08/10/10

128: PROGRAM OFCR (Business Analysis); UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); (VA 10/060/SDM); Bonn, Germany
(AdvDeg: CompSci/InfoSys/Math/Stats; 7+ yrs comp info sys dev exp); P-4; $97K Closing date: 08/10/10

131: ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS OFFICER; UN Int’l Computing Center (UNICC); (ICC/10/GVA/491); Geneva, Switz
(Deg: Comp-InfoSci/Math; 5 yrs exp); P-3; $104K Closing date: 08/11/10

197: INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY OFFICER; Food & Agriculture Org (FAO); (2442-CIO); Cairo, Egypt
(Deg: CompSci/Engin/Math; 7 yrs exp; Arabic/Fr); P-4; $97K Closing date: 09/01/10

198: INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY OFFICER; Food & Agriculture Org (FAO); (2443-CIO); Budapest, Hungary
(Deg: CompSci/Engin/Math; 7 yrs exp; Rus/Fr); P-4; $91K Closing date: 09/01/10

208: FINANCE ASSOCIATE; Int’l Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); (2010/086); Vienna, Austria
(AdvDeg: Fin/Math/Stats; 2+ yrs exp); P-2; $73K Closing date: 09/05/10

220: PROG SPECIALST, Regional Sci Bureau/Asia & Pacific; UN Edu, Sci & Cult Org (UNESCO); (AS/RP/INS/SC/0010); Jakarta, Indonesia
(AdvDeg: Biology/Chem/Math/Physics; 7+ yrs exp); P-4; $104K Closing date: 09/08/10

Andrew Ross

Alumnus: Kevin Kingston

2010-07-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

What you may remember about Kevin Kingston is that he loved calculus in particular, taught in the Math Lab for 2 years, competed in the math modeling competition 2 years, took the Putnam exam twice, and was awarded both the Carl M. Erikson and Dr. Marshall scholarships.

What you might not know is that he ended up in Taiwan!
Kevin wrote,
" It is a bit of a long story so I will try to be brief. In addition to math, I majored in Graphic Design. I was working for the EMU Campus Life office designing promotional materials before graduating. When I graduated I was unsure whether to look for a job teaching math or continue in graphic design. Since my campus life boss hired me on a contractal basis after graduation, I just kept doing that. They kept renewing my contract but that would only last as long as their budget didn't get cut, so when another design firm found me and offered me a job I accepted.

Since I started taking graphic design classes I was dating a classmate who is originally from Taiwan. I started learning Mandarin so that I could speak with some of her family who still live in Taiwan and can't speak English (and because I wanted to learn). About 3 years ago we moved to Taiwan where I began studying Mandarin at a university.

Now that I have finished the Chinese language program and have come to enjoy living here I started looking for a job so that I could stay here. Most foreigners teach English, but I saw this one opportunity to teach Calculus so it seemed like if could be a perfect fit.

So that's the quick version. I attached some photos of me in Taiwan, and a few others that show a little bit of the area. Also, for about 2 months I went balloon crazy and started twisting balloons. Its turns out I have a real knack for it. I think it has something to do with my ability to imagine a linear tube shape and transformed it into a 3D shape. Again, it combines creativity with sort of a logical way of thinking. "

You can see more photos of Kevin's balloons on facebook.
You will be amazed!

Register for Fall Classes

2010-07-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

Hope you are having a great summer!

Fall semester is fast approaching - Be sure you've registered for your math classes!

Math advisers available over the summer if you need help deciding what class to take.

Student Presentations: Math 319 Mathematical Modeling

2010-07-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

My Math 319 class is giving their mid-term project presentations.
Everyone is welcome to come watch on
Thursday July 29th at 1:00pm-3:00pm in Mark Jefferson 122 (and then continuing on Monday August 2)

(the order of presentations has yet to be determined)

Ian Dougherty and Deana Kinter - Automated Goal Detection in Soccer
Stephanie Hall - Automated Heart Rate Measurement from ECG data
Jennifer Moote - Automotive catalyst performance regression
Stephanie McFarland - Call Center Staffing
Rachel Thompson - Clusters of Vaccine Refusal
Jennifer Leadbetter - Conference scheduling with integer programming
Chelsea Duprey - Ecological Fallacy in Regression lesson plan
Aric Edwards - Firefighter time-of-day demand curves
Kyle Zachrich - Handicap analysis in the game of Go
David Champion - High School Dropout Data
Adrin Wagner - Hydraulic hybrid garbage trucks?
Whitley Lester - Lesson plan on choosing functional forms
James Dickert and Robert Unis III - Linear Regression Lesson Plan (Algebra 2)
Brandon Derfiny - Maximum Traffic Flow through various systems
Malik Ameziane and Lindsay Cary - MEAP scores: improvement in time and demographics
Joshua Lambright - Multiserver Retrial Queueing Systems
Aziza Ulaby - Non-Profit Payday Loans
William Kahn - Ranking Systems in Sports
Shannon Bourke and Ransom Brown - Regression to find a non-ideal gas law
Megan Osborn - Snow Day Policies
Nina Robles - Success/Relapse Rates for Alcoholics, Maintaining Abstinence
Russel Bonsall Jr - The Effects on Bead Height in Arc Welding

Thanks,
Andrew Ross

Patrick Davis: Summer Research at Texas A&M

2010-07-26T18:37:00.000-07:00

The Department of Mathematics at Texas A&M is hosting an eight-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) from June 7 to July 30

and our Patrick Davis is one of the participants.

Patrick recently wrote:
"It has been a rather amazing experience. It's at Texas A&M, which has been just absolutely wonderful (although dreadfully hot!). My project is on stage-structured zebra mussel populations. Specifically, I'm looking at a model proposed by an Italian mathematician in 2007. His work is really outstanding; however, I've been doing a bit of playing around with it myself and have come up with some improvements and some new stuff, too.

With the mussels being a major problem in the US, it's actually surprising how little has been done to model their local population dynamics and not just the costs associated with them. So, the topic has been really enthralling, but also kinda relevant to the field."

We're proud of you! See you in the fall, Patrick.

NEW COURSE: CSIE 377 Evaluation of Scientific Literature

2010-07-23T07:26:00.000-07:00

CSIE 377 will be offered this Fall term 2010 on Fridays from 9:30-10:45 am.
The CRN is 17242.

The seminar will include skill development activities, interdisciplinary discussion, sharing of research, and an opportunity to visit active research labs both on and off campus.
It is for all math, science, and technology undergraduate students who are ready to step into undergraduate research, who are at least at the sophomore level, and who are in good academic standing.

This looks like an exciting opportunity!

Sign up for this new special topics course for Fall 2010
For any questions about this course, or issues with registration, contact Anne Seaman at aseaman@emich.edu or call the CSIE Office at 487 0281.

TI Feature Article on Ron Carlson

2010-07-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

Texas Instruments online journal for educational technology
features our very own Ron Carlson in the June/July issue

In the article, Ron Carlson describes his course (MATH 305), Using Technology as a Problem Solving Tool for Secondary Teachers and says,
“During a recent job fair held at EMU, recruiters told me that technology know-how is extremely important in potential math teachers they might consider hiring. A couple of them said their districts had technology put into all classrooms and they want new teachers to come in ready to use it. My students are aware of what school districts are expecting, and it’s important for them to get a head start.”

Ron Carlson plays a key role in helping our secondary teaching graduates to become outstanding high school mathematics teachers.

Congratulations, Professors Curran, Han, Leapard, and Ross

2010-06-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

Congratulations are in order for our faculty receiving promotions this year!

Professor Barbara Leapard was promoted to Professor
Professor John Curran was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor
Professor Andrew Ross was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor
Professor Xiaoxu Han was promoted to Associate Professor

Congratulations to our colleagues!

Welcome Home Professor Calin

2010-06-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

Professor Ovidiu Calin just returned from Japan where he has spent the last year writing and teaching at the Science University of Tokyo and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He taught ordinary differential equations in addition to two courses in finance, Financial Mathematics Futures Options and Other Derivatives and Asian Options.

Additionally, Professor Calin completed his book with colleagues in Japan,
Heat Kernels for Elliptic and Sub-elliptic Operators: Methods and Techniques (Applied and Numerical Harmonic Analysis), a four year endeavor.

Welcome home, Professor Calin.
Your EMU colleagues and students missed you.

Math Department Blog

You may have missed Dr. Calin as Santa

Jennifer Fox: Featured on EMUs Homepage

MATH 319: Student Presentations

Listen to recent NPR podcasts about math: big data and then, the Putnam exam

Auto-Owners Insurance will make actuarial presentation at 2pm Nov. 8th in the Math Den.

Math Modeling Student Presentations Nov 1 and 3 in 520 P-H

MATH 560 Student Presentations, Tues Oct 25 at 4 pm

Teaching Opportunity: Fortis Academy, Ypsilanti

Math Party in the Math Den on Oct. 19th

Putnam Problem Sessions Start This Friday 10 a.m. Math Den

Purdue University Open House: ECE PhD Program, Oct 14

First Math Club Meeting of the Fall 2011 Semester

New Location for Math Tutoring

If you missed the Buckeye lecture, you can watch it here!

Colloquium talk tomorrow, April 8, 11am: a math modeling mathstravaganza!

Math Club - Meeting (4/5/2011)

Donald Buckeye Lecture this Weds., April 6, at 3pm in 143 Sill Hall

The Putnam results are in...

Professor Steve Blair receives Distinguished Faculty Award

Math Club - Math Movie Night (3/31/2011)

Math Club - Meeting (3/22/2011)

In 3 minutes, it was over

Graduate Research Fair: Monday, March 21

Math Gems: Liouville's Theorem and Transcendental Numbers

Comp. Sci. Dept. Career fair!

28th Annual Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Math Conference

Free Mathematica cross-discipline seminar at EMU

Pi day!

Government career fair

Don Buckeye Lecture Series: Dr. Chris Lomont on the Mathematical Story Behind the iPhone

Math Gems returns for another season!

Faculty candidate lecture this Monday, Feb. 14

Math Modeling Team Hard at Work this Weekend

Faculty candidate giving lecture tomorrow

Secondary ed position at Edsel Ford High School

Bard College REU: Summer Research in Mathematics & Computation

Long term secondary ed math and sub needed

Math Club - Math Movie Night

Snow day! EMU is closed from 5pm today, the 1st, and all day tomorrow.

A series of web videos teaching math and science, endorsed by Bill Gates!

Job opportunity for individual math/statistics master's

Job opportunity for an individual with a secondary ed certificate

Renita Frasier - M.V.P.

Colloquium talk Friday: Ovidiu Calin on Heat Kernels

The Park City Mathematics Institute Summer Program (!)

Jobs in applied mathematics.

Kalamazoo Public Schools looking for a high school and a middle school math teacher ASAP

Free statistics software workshops.

Thinking of a Career in Applied Mathematics?

Worth attending: Auto-Owners Insurance IT and Actuarial Career luncheon 2/4/11

Student Projects: MATH 319

Math Club - Holiday Party !!!

Math for America: teaching fellowships for recent graduates with "substantial coursework" in mathematics

Fall 2010 Colloquium

Congratulations, Professor Andrew Ross

****2011 Fairfield REU Announcement****

New course offers an alternative to COSC 111: Java, for the mathematically inclined. It's math modeling in Matlab.

Math department/Math Club end o' semester party, Fri. Dec 3, 1pm

Math Club - Meeting (11/16/2010)

Summer internships and grad programs in statistics at NC State

Positions open in Benefits/Retirement at Towers Watson

Math Club - Game Night !!!

Featured Math Link

Math Club - Meeting (11/2/2010)

MATH 319: Student Presentations

Math Club - Math Movie Night

Job Posting: Kalamazoo Public Schools

Math Club Photos

Summer Internship in Planetary Science

DACTM Conference: Saturday, Nov 13

Math Club - Meeting (10/19/2010)

Math Club - Corn Maze !!!

Not everything that happens in Vegas stays there.

Math Club - Meeting (10/5/2010)

A different partition of mathematics

Math Club - Ultimate Frisbee Event !!!

In defense of the most boring theorem in Calc I

DACTM Conference, November 13, 2010

Putnam Problem Sessions Begin!

2011 Fairfield REU Announcement