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MATHEMATICS & COMPUTER SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT NEWS
November, 2009
| Dr. Leo Schneider and Dr. Tom Short accompanied eight JCU students to the annual undergraduate mathematics conference at the University of Dayton on November 7. Sophomore Mathematics major Bob Short contributed a paper titled "Taking the Geometry of Flatland to the Limit," and graduate student Marie Dailey presided at one of the sessions of undergraduate papers. Other JCU students attending the conference were Pam Castricone, Sarah Donnelly, Mike Joseph, Anthony Lanese, Luiyi Liu, and Leigh Matthews. |
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October, 2009
Mr. Jerry Moreno was invited to give four presentations in data analysis and probability at the Colorado Council of Teachers of Mathematics (CCTM), October 8-9, 2009, in Denver. Jerry is one of the authors of the American Statistical Association’s Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (better known as the GAISE Report), a pre k-12 curriculum framework designed for various stakeholders to use. (www.amstat.org/education/gaise) For example, those in Colorado who are revising their state’s grades k-12 mathematics standards are basing their Data Analysis and Probability Standard on the GAISE Report. Jerry’s first CCTM presentation (2.5 hours) articulated the GAISE model across grades k-12. His three hour-long presentations focused on each of grades k-5, 6-8, and 9-12. |
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The Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics (OCTM) gives the Kenneth Cummins Award for Exemplary Mathematics Teaching to a mathematics educator at the post-secondary level. This award is in memory of one of Ohio’s exemplary university professors, Ken Cummins of Kent State, who was an inspiration to many students particularly those who chose teaching mathematics as their career path. Jerry Moreno is one of two recipients of this year’s award along with Barbara Moses of Bowling Green. The award will be presented at OCTM’s annual meeting in November in Cincinnati. |
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| The October meeting of the Math Club featured a screening of the spoof The United States of Mathematics Presidential Debate. In the 45-minute film, mathematician/comedians Colin Adams and Tom Garrity played the characters "Figure-Eight Knot" and "Euclidean Algorithm," the candidates of the Topology Party and the Algebra Party. Figure-Eight Knot represented the new, progressive mathematics, while Euclidean Algorithm represented tried-and-true, traditional mathematics. Near the conclusion, the film was paused while the student and faculty audience cast their votes for their favored candidate. To everyone's surprise, the students voted unanimously for Euclidean Algorithm, while the faculty voted unanimously for Figure-Eight Knot! Go figure! |
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Three members of the department attended the Fall Meeting of the Ohio Section of the Mathematical Association of America, held at Kenyon College, on October 30-31. Dr. Leo Schneider presented a contributed paper on "Four-digit Year Numbers with Interesting Properties." |
September, 2009
The September Math Club event was a repeat of last year's successful "Game Night." Math Club members and faculty enjoyed a variety of games, mostly with a mathematical or logical basis. Click here for some pictures.
| Dr. Linda Seiter has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure, effective with the 2009-2010 academic year. Linda's teaching responsibilites are in the area of computer science, and her research has centered around aspect-oriented programming. Congratulations, Linda! |
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August, 2009
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Dr. Barbara D'Ambrosia was an invited panelist on "The Faculty Member as Teacher and Scholar" at the meeting of the 2009-2010 Project NExT Fellows. Project NExT is a national program for new Ph.D.'s in mathematics that is intended to ease the transition from graduate study to professional participation as a faculty member in a college or university. This summer's meeting of Project NExT was held in conjunction with MathFest, the national summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America, in Portland, Oregon. |
| The JCU Department of Math & CS was well represented at the 2009 Joint Statistical Meetings held in Washington, DC in early August. Dr. Tom Short, Mr. Jerry Moreno, and undergraduate Mathematics major Sarah Downing all attended the conference.
At JSM, Sara and Tom presented a poster titled "Student Analysis of 'Favorite Datasets from Drug Research'" in the session "Contributed Oral Poster Presentations: New Statistical Developments Advancing Biopharmaceutical Research." The poster included work representing projects completed in the Spring 2009 version of MT 422. In addition to Sarah, JCU students Mike Joseph, David Kuzma, and Rachel Widman all had samples of their work included on the poster. (Click here for a photo.)
Tom served as a panelist in a panel discussion titled "Words from the Wise: Mu Sigma Rho Education Award Winners Tell All!" and also presented a session titled "Logistic Regression" at the Beyond AP Statistics (BAPS) workshop for experienced teachers of Advanced Placement Statistics.
Also at JSM, Jerry served as a panelist in a discussion titled "From Evidence to Policy: ASA Members in Public Office," and also organized and chaired a session titled "ASA and NCTM Collaborations on a Shared Vision for the Role of Statistics in Schools." Jerry also presented to K-12 teachers at the "Meeting Within a Meeting" workshop. |
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Dr. Leo Schneider was featured in the Summer 2009 issue of the John Carroll newsletter Magis, in an article titled Musings of a Mathematical Mind. Click here to read the article.
As Secretary-Treasurer of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national honor society for college mathematics majors, Leo was head over heels in work at PME's annual national conference, which included 53 undergraduate speakers. The conference was held in conjunction with MathFest in Portand, Oregon, on August 4-6,2009. |
June-July, 2009
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Dr. Dan Palmer will be participating in the Ingenuity Festival, Cleveland's festival of art and technology, which will be held at Playhouse Square Center in downtown Cleveland on the weekend of July 10-12. Dan will be demonstrating concepts of swarm research by involving the audience in human swarm activities on July 11 and 12. In conjunction with these presentations, Dan will be featured in a pre-activity discussion in Science Cafe
Cleveland on June 29. A follow-up discussion will be held on July 13.
Click here for more information. |
| Undergraduate Mathematics major Sarah Downing was one of 20 students selected nationwide to participate in the Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics (SIBS) program from June 8 through July 17 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sarah earned the equivalent of six transfer credits for two courses completed as part of the program. The first course was "Introduction to Concepts in Biostatistics" and the second course was titled "Practicum in Basic Biostatistics." The SIBS program gives students exposure to analyzing data from basic science experiments, clinical trials and observational studies.
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| Undergraduate Mathematics major Nicholas Hermez received a Huntington and Codrington Foundations summer research grant to work with Dr. Tom Short on a project to explore bootstrap estimation of cut values in determining predicted group memberships for binary logistic regression models. Nick hopes to have manuscripts based on his research ready to be submitted for publication during the Fall semester. |
May, 2009
Congratulations to the graduating senior Mathematics and Computer Science majors who won Department awards for their outstanding academic performance:Marie Dailey, Lester Eliazo, Harrison McCall, Louis Paumier, Jason Shifflet, Ricky Svoboda and Sara Sweeney. Click here for some photos.
At the Department award ceremony on May 1, four mathematics students (two undergraduates and two graduate students) were inducted into Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honor society: Brian Benander, Liuyi Liu, Brenda Stotesbery and Kaylee Sutton.
April, 2009
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On April 3-4, three JCU mathematics faculty members and six students attended the annual spring meeting of the Ohio Section of the Mathematical Assoociation of America. Two of our students presented talks: Sophomore Kaylee Sutton spoke on "Pell's Equation and Hyperbolas," and freshman Bob Short spoke on "Flatland Geometry." Click here for a photo of the JCU contingent at the meeting. |
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The Cleveland Geometry/Topology Seminar
is still going strong in its 34th year. The seminar
meets weekly at JCU, with faculty participants from
JCU, Case Western Reserve and Cleveland State. This
year, our series centered around the topic of "Toric
Manifolds," a recent development which straddles the
areas of topology, algebraic geometry and combinatorics.
Dr. John Oprea of CSU delivered the Fall semester talks,
looking at the geometry and topology of toric manifolds.
The Spring talks were given by Dr. Paul Shick of JCU on
the algebraic topology of quasitoric manifolds,
culminating with the compuation of their K-theory. |
Dr. Leo Schneider was in charge of the Power Question grading room, and conducted the Tie Breakers at the recent New York State Mathematics League meet held this year on April 24-25. In addition to the "Power Question," which is a series of proof-type questions on a single topic, there are the Team Round of Questions, the Individual Round of Questions, and the Relay Questions, all of which are short-answer. Leo writes all the questions for this contest each year. About 30 teams of 15 students each from all over New York state participate annually. Leo has been writing this contest for NYSML since 2001, and a book about the contest including all the questions from 2001 to 2009 is his work for his sabbatical leave this semester.
Dr. Schneider gave a one hour address "The Wronskians and their Struggle for Independence" for mathematics majors, faculty, and others at the University of Findlay on April 16. This talk was given on the occasion of installing a new Chapter, the Ohio Tau Chapter, of the Pi Mu Epsilon Honor Mathematics Society at the University of Findlay. Leo has been the national Secretary-Treasurer of Pi Mu Epsilon since 2002.
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| The April meeting of the Math Club featured a talk by Dr. Dan Palmer on "Celtic Knots." As part of the presentation, the group split into two teams to lock horns in a game of "Tara," an abstract strategy game based on formation of Celtic knots. |
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March, 2009
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Dr. Barbara D'Ambrosia and Dr. Carl Spitznagel attended the Twenty-First Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics in New Orleans, March 13-15. At the conference, they delivered a paper titled "Using the TI-Nspire CAS Software as a Classroom Demonstration Tool." |
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Three undergraduate computer science majors presented their research projects in JCU's annual Celebration of Scholarship. Jason Dengler, Anthony Lanese and Lester Eliazo were advised in their research by Dr. Marc Kirschenbaum, Dr. Dan Palmer and Dr. Linda Seiter. Based on Ernest L. Boyer's Scholarship Reconsidered, the event celebrates the four general views of scholarship: teaching, discovery, integration, and application. The annual campus-wide Celebration for students, faculty, and other University community members features workshops, panel discussions, poster sessions, paper presentations, and other activities. Click here for pictures.
| In the March meeting of the Math Club, students and faculty were treated to a screening of the film The Great Pi/e Debate, in which mathematician/comedians Colin Adams and Thomas Garrity debate, in hilarious fashion, the relative merits of everyone's favorite transcendental numbers. Which is your personal favorite?
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February, 2009
On February 21, JCU math majors Leigh Matthews, Bob Short and Kaylee Sutton, accompanied by faculty members Leo Schneider, Barbara D'Ambrosia and Tom Short, attended the annual Pi Mu Epsilon undergraduate conference at Youngstown State University. Two of the students, Kaylee and Bob, presented talks. Click here for pictures.
The February Math Club event, "Game Night," featured a variety of games--some mathematical and some not so much. But everyone agreed that it was a lot of fun! Click here for pictures.
January, 2009
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Dr. Tom Short has instituted an on-campus statistical consulting service, the John Carroll Statistical Services lab, located in Dolan E224. During the Spring semester the lab will be open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 AM until 12:00 Noon. Staff members include Dr. Short and JCU student Sarah Downing. JCU Faculty and students in need of statistical advice for their research are encouraged to make use of this facility. Walk-ins are welcome, or you can call Tom (1626) for an appointment. |
| The JCU Math Club's first spring event featured a hands-on presentation by Mr. LaMoyne Porter on "Mathematical Origami." Origami paper and pizza were provided, making the presentation both intellectually and gastronomically fulfilling! Click here for pictures. |
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Dr. Leo Schneider is using the sabbatical provided by his Grauel Fellowship this spring semester to write a book, "New York State Mathematics League Contest Book Volume V -- Contest Years 2001-2009." Leo has been writing this annual contest since 2001. Unlike the previous volumes in this series which simply gave a historical record of the problems and their answers, Leo's book will include commentary, alternative solutions, and references to higher level mathematics to which some of the problems lead. NYSML is a league of high school mathematics teams, many from the Long Island and Manhattan area, but with some as far away from the Big Apple as Buffalo and Ithaca.
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| Sophomore mathematics major Kaylee Sutton attended the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics at the University of Nebraska on the weekend of January 30 - February 1. At the conference, Kaylee presented her research in a talk titled "Using Hyperbolas to Approximate Square Roots." Kaylee's research was supervised by Dr. Leo Schneider. Kaylee is third from the right, in the front row of the picture. |
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November, 2008
On November 1, Dr. Leo Schneider took students to the University of Dayton for the annual Kenneth C. Shraut Lecture given this year by Dr. Robert Bolz, a vice president in the Lockheed Martin Corporation. The talk was followed by a panel discussion on careers in the mathematical sciences, followed by about a dozen breakout sessions where students could speak one on one with professionals in various careers who were undergraduate mathematics majors once upon a time.
October, 2008
The JCU Mathematics Club is off to a great start. The inaugural meeting, on September 19, featured a talk titled "The Mathematics of Voting" by Dr. Barbara D'Ambrosia. On October 10, math students were treated to a screening of "Flatland: The Movie," a 2007 animation featuring Martin Sheen as Arthur Square. Dr. D'Ambrosia, the moderator of the club, has planned a different activity for each month of the year.
On October 1 and 2, Dr. Leo Schneider visited the campus of St. Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana. He discussed possible math club activities with groups of mathematics majors, and with individual mathematics faculty members about academic and co-curricular opportunities for mathematics majors. He also gave an undergraduate colloquium lecture titled "A Reflection on a Study of Patterns -- Mathematics in Action at an Elementary Level."
On October 3, Dr. Schneider gave a talk on Pi Mu Epsilon, its purpose and ideals, in conjunction with installing a new Chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon at Olivette Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Dr. Schneider is the Sectretary-Treasurer of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honorary society. |
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On October 16-17, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics held one of its three annual regional meetings at the Convention Center in downtown Cleveland. JCU mathematics faculty members Jerry Moreno and Brendan Foreman presented talks at the meeting. Brendan's talk, a 60-minute "session," was titled "Using Vygotsky's Concept of Identity to Foster Critical Thinking in Precollege Mathematics." Jerry's presentation, a 90-minute "gallery workshop," was on "The Really Fun Part of Math: Data Analysis and Probability." |
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August, 2008
| The Department welcomes Dr. Tom Short, who is joining us with the rank of Professor. Tom received his B.S. in Mathematics from JCU in 1986, and went on to earn a master's and Ph.D. in Statistics from Carnegie Mellon University. Tom taught at Villanova University and at Indiana University of Pennsylvania before returning to John Carroll. His main teaching responsibilities are in statistics, replacing Mr. Jerry Moreno, who retired at the end of the 2007-2008 year. |
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Congratulations to the nine Mathematics and Computer Science majors who have been awarded scholarships by the Department for the 2008-2009 academic year! The Frank and Frances Guinta Scholarship recipients are Matthew Eliazo, Christine Gittinger, Sara Haldi, Craig Martin and Kaylee Sutton. Receiving Brother Raymond F. Schnepp scholarships are Marie Dailey, Greg Nachman, Irene Paparizos, Kaylee Sutton and Ricky Svoboda.
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Dr. Barbara D'Ambrosia has assumed the three-year position of Newsletter Editor for the Ohio Section of the Mathematical Association of America. That post had previously been held by Dr. Carl Spitznagel. |
July, 2008
Dr. Leo Schneider attended the quadraennial International Congress on Mathematics Education [ICME] in Monterrey, Mexico, July 4 to July 13, and presented a paper discussing sample problems from the New York State Mathematics League contests in ICME's special interest group called the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions. WFNMC is the group of those worldwide who are interested in regional and national mathematics contests. This was Leo's second talk at WFNMC, the first being a keynote address at their 1990 meeting in Waterloo, Ontario. |
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Mr. Jerry Moreno has been honored as "Outstanding Educator" in 2008 by the Greater Cleveland Council of Teachers of Mathematics. In presenting the award, the GCCTM cited Jerry for being instrumental in developing strong programs for teachers in quantitative literacy and advanced placement statistics. |
June, 2008
Mr. Jerry Moreno has retired after forty years on the faculty. Although no longer teaching a full course load, we expect to see a lot of Jerry around the Department, as he will be teaching a course in the fall, and also devoting considerable time to workshops and other outreach activities for teachers.
Dr. Leo Schneider and Dr. Barbara D'Ambrosia were among the many mathematicians and teachers serving as Readers for the Advanced Placement Exam in Calculus. The AP Reading this year took place in Kansas City, from June 8 through June 15. During this time, approximately 900 readers were responsible for reading and scoring over 300,000 AP Calculus exams!
May, 2008
Congratulations to the graduating senior Mathematics and Computer Science majors who won Department awards for their outstanding academic performance: Gina Antonelli, Sarah Donnelly, Rodney Gallaway, Sandra Gliga, Anne Rollick, Pete Strada and Scott Zimmerman. Click here for a photo.
April, 2008
Dr. Leo Schneider spent the weekend of April 4-6 in Rochester, NY, judging the New York State Mathematics League annual meet, for which he writes the problems each year. Leo is also on the problem committee to write the annual American Regions Mathematics League contest. ARML opened a fourth site at the University of Georgia this year, and Leo was invited to assist and set the mathematical precedents for running the new site the weekend of May 30 to June 1.
Dr. Schneider visited Centre College in Danville, KY, on April 9. While at the college, he gave a colloquium talk titled "From an Arithmetic Curiosity to Three Proofs and a Generalization," and also officiated at the installation of Centre College's new chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon. Dr. Schneider is the Secretary/Treasurer of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honor society, a post he has held since 2002.
March, 2008
| Dr. Barbara D'Ambrosia and Dr. Carl Spitznagel attended the Twentieth Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics in San Antonio, March 7-9. At the conference, they delivered a paper titled "Exploring Polar Coordinates with The Geometer's Sketchpad." |
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February, 2008
Undergraduate math majors Marie Dailey and Anne Rollick spent the weekend of February 8 to 10 at the annual Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics at the University of Nebraska. Both gave talks, and their travel was funded by the National Security Agency. |
