Table of Contents
- Letter from Dave
Carothers, Department Head
- New Faculty Members
- Liu Gives Madison Scholar Lecture
- The Summer 2005 REU Program
- Shenandoah Undergraduate Mathematics & Statistics
Conference
- Mid-Atlantic Algebra Conference
- 22nd Annual Mathematical Contest in Modeling
- Faculty Get Pied on Pi Day
- Smith Lands Jefress Grant
- Student Awards
- Contributions
- Alumni Info
- Puzzle Corner
- Previous Newsletters
Greetings to all from the mathematics community at JMU.
Many JMU Mathematics and Statistics faculty members have received
national
recognition over the years, and it is recognized around the university and
by those outside the university who are familiar with our department that
it
would be difficult to imagine a group more capable of providing a superior
undergraduate experience for our students. Nevertheless, it is especially
noteworthy that Laura Taalman has been recognized by the Mathematical
Association of America's Henry Alder Award as one of the best mathematics
teachers in North America and someone who has had a national impact early
in
her career. You can read about this and other faculty accomplishments
elsewhere in this newsletter.
Many of the strong initiatives in recent years continued in 2005-2006.
Teacher education continued to be an area of focus, with new courses and
grant supported activity for in-service teachers. Statistics,
mathematical
biology, and other programs continue to develop. Undergraduate research
at
JMU also continues to draw recognition and outside funding.
Recognition from outside the university has been much appreciated, but
in
fact it is the daily interactions with students and their accomplishments
both small and large that have been the best measure of success in the
past
year. A very successful year indeed.
We welcomed three new faculty members to our department this year:
Kane Nashimoto, Anthony Tongen, and Ling Xu.
- Kane Nashimoto:
I first attended Bemidji State University and University of North Dakota
to study psychology. While I was in North Dakota, I realized that my interest
lay more directly in the field of statistics, and I moved to University of
Missouri, where I completed my journey of education.
At James Madison University, I enjoy teaching Elementary Statistics,
which can be quite challenging at times. In my spare time, I ponder about
problems related to multiple comparisons and order restriction and try to
turn them into meaningful projects.
- Anthony Tongen:
I received my Bachelor's degree in 1997 in Applied Mathematics
from the University of Pittsburgh. Along with receiving the distinction
of Phi Beta Kappa, I wrote an honors thesis on modeling financial markets.
I then headed to Northwestern University where I received my Ph.D. in
Applied Mathematics in 2002. While finishing my dissertation, I was an
assistant professor at Trinity International University. Most recently, I
had a postdoctoral appointment in the Program in Applied Mathematics at
the University of Arizona.
Although my dissertation was in computational materials science,
now my research emphasis is in the burgeoning area of mathematical
biology. More specifically, I apply elasticity theory to biological
membranes.
I have really enjoyed my first year at James Madison University!
Outside of mathematics, I am very involved in my church, enjoy playing all
sorts of sports, and spend a lot of time with my family.
- Ling Xu:
I received my Bachelor's degree in Engineering Surveying
from Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping,
China (1984). After the graduation, I taught at China
University of Geosciences until I came to the United States.
I received my Master's degree (2003) and Ph.D. (2005) in
Statistics from the University of New Mexico.
My research interests include computational statistics and
Bayesian hierarchical modeling.
James Liu gave the
2005-2006 Madison Scholar lecture to members of the College of Science and Mathematics.
The Madison Scholar award recognizes the member of the college
faculty who has made outstanding contributions in research and
scholarship.
An abstract of the talk is available.
Congratulations to Professor Liu!
The department's NSF-sponsored Research Experience for
Undergraduates (REU) program was interesting and successful in the
summer of 2005. Eight students were chosen from over 250 applicants
from across the country; the selected students worked on an intensive,
8-week research project in groups of two under the direction of a
faculty mentor.
During the summer of 2005, the four research projects were:
- Hasan Hamdan
directed Amy Jacks (University of Missouri - Rolla) and John Szarka
(JMU)
in
Comparing ratio estimators based on systematic samples.
- Jason Rosenhouse
directed Amber Russell (Mississippi State University) and
Christopher Miller (Fairfield University) in The isoperimetric numbers of
block design graphs.
- James Liu
directed Austin Taylor (University of Alabama) and
Amy Vess (JMU) in Analysis of a Lotka-Volterra competition model with a
non-linear relationship between spaces.
- Elizabeth Brown directed
Justin Palumbo (Rutgers University) and
Andre Kornell (Princeton University) in Size and difficulty of mass
problems.
Five of the eight students traveled to the Joint AMS-MAA Meetings in
San Antonio to present their work at the Special Session on Research in
Mathematics by Undergraduates and at the MAA Undergraduate Research
Poster Session. In addition, Jacks and Szarka traveled to the Young
Mathematician Conference at Ohio State in August to present their
work.
Last November the JMU Mathematics Department hosted its first annual
Shenandoah Undergraduate
Mathematics and Statistics (SUMS) Conference,
organized by Elizabeth Brown and Laura Taalman. Over 230 people attended,
coming from 27 colleges and universities and 6 high schools. The invited
speakers delivered exceptional talks, with Art Benjamin from Harvey Mudd
College giving the opening address and Greg Warrington from Wake Forest
University giving the closing address. Throughout the day there were 18
undergraduate talks, a student poster session, a graduate schools/career
panel, a special American Mathematics Competition workshop for high school
participants, and a great deal of excellent food and conversation. The
second annual SUMS conference will be held at JMU on October 28, 2006.
The Mid-Atlantic Algebra Conference was held at the Department of
Mathematics and Statistics James Madison University from April 29-30. The
format consisted of two hour long talks by a plenary speaker, and thirteen
20 minute contributed talks. The plenary speaker was J. Maurice Rojas from
Texas A&M University. He spoke on the topic "Understanding Polynomial
Equations: Complexity and Reality". Speakers of contributed talks traveled
from as far north as Cornell University and as far south as Georgia State
University. Two of our own, Gary Peterson and Jason Rosenhouse, gave
contributed talks at the conference. Opening remarks were delivered by CSM
Dean Brakke. Approximately 35 people attended the conference over the two
days. More information can be found at the conference website.
The Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) is an
international contest for high school students and college
undergraduates. There are two problems, Problem A
(continuous) and Problem B (discrete), and teams of three
students have from 8pm Thursday night until 8pm the
following Monday to work on the problem of their choice.
748 teams submitted solution papers, representing nine
countries. JMU has had teams entering the competition since
1990. Our best ever result was achieved in 2001 when JMU
was the only institution to have two teams each do a
different problem and both be awarded Meritorious. In
addition, there is also an Interdisciplinary Contest in
Modeling (ICM), which is in its eighth year. In this
contest, there is just one problem; otherwise, the format is
the same as the MCM. This year, 224 teams from six countries
entered.
In 2006, one team from JMU entered the 22nd Annual
Mathematical Contest in Modeling, and two teams entered the
8th Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM). The teams
were Jennifer Canatsey, Jason Fox and Joshua Krause
(advisor: Caroline Smith) Kyle Bradford, Stephanie Pearson
and John Szarka (advisor: Hasan Hamdan - ICM) Sarah
Shahmoradian and Shirley Druetto (advisor: Brian Walton -
ICM ).
The work submitted by the team consisting of Kyle Bradford,
Stephanie Pearson & John Szarka(ICM) and Sarah
Shahmoradian & Shirley Druetto(ICM) obtained Honorable
Mentions, and Jennifer Canatsey, Jason Fox and Joshua Krause
received a Succesful Participant. Congratulations to them
for their good work and thank you to all of the teams for
participating!
This year the JMU Department of Mathematics and Statistics
celebrated "Pi Day" with its Second Annual Pi-Throwing
Charity Fundrasier. 
The Math Club did a fantastic job organizing this event that was
extremely well-attended and enjoyed by all, even by those people whose
misfortune it was to leave the event covered in whipped-cream pie.
Fourteen faculty members bravely volunteered for the event, and one
donation jar for each faculty member was placed in the student lounge.
The four faculty whose jars collected the most money at the end of
the week were "pi-ed" on the big day. Students and faculty alike
contributed generously to the jars.
Carl Droms, Chuck Cunningham, Peter Kohn, and Leonard Van Wyk
donned protective goggles and garbage-bag shirts,
lined up in the sun in front of a growing crowd outside Burruss Hall,
and endured a seemingly endless barrage of whipped-cream pies thrown
at them (mostly) by students. The event raised a total of $180 for
future student lounge renovation.
Professor Caroline Smith was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Jefress
Trust for a project entitled "The Aeroacoustics of Turbulent
Coanda Wall Jets". This is in addition to the $50,000
already received from the Trust. The money is being used to
buy equipment and hire research students to work in her
Anechoic Chamber. The chamber was moved from Miller Hall to
its new location in Burruss Hall (room 9), where it will
hopefully stay for the forseeable future.
Every spring the department recognizes the achievements of some of
our outstanding students at an awards ceremony sponsored by the
College of Science and Mathematics.
The award recipients for 2006 were:
- Ikenberry Award: Amy Vess Crider
- Faculty Award: Courtney Schultz
- Mathematics Research Award: Michael Albert, Amy Vess Crizer
- Metron Applied Mathematics Award: Tom Wainwright
- Thomson Learning Future HS Teacher Award: Christopher Babb
- Math-Stat Award: John Szarka
- Applied Statistics Award: Stephanie Pearson
- Statistics Minor Award: Kimberly Dusebout
- IDLS Award: Michelle Harden
How would you like to help support the programs in the Department of
Mathematics and Statistics? You can help by contributing to our student
scholarship fund, or by making an unrestricted contribution to the
department's JMU Foundation fund. Unrestricted funds can be used, for
example, to support student activities or to bring student-oriented
speakers to campus. Funds may be sent to: The JMU Foundation MSC 8501
James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA 22807 Mark the donation "Greater
University Fund" and designate it for the Department of Mathematics and
Statistics.
Tell us what you are doing! We'd love to hear from you. Fill out
our on-line
alumni information form.
This special sudoku puzzle comes from Laura Taalman and Phil Riley,
who founded Brain Freeze Puzzles:
Fill in the cells with the integers 1-9 so that each
9x9 grid, each row, each column, each 3x3 block, and each main diagonal
contains no repeated entries.
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