Axel Brandt

Courses for Fall 2022

• MT 130 - 51       Applied Calculus
• MT 135 - 52       Calculus & Analytic Geometry I
• MT 242 - 51       Introduction to Linear Algebra  

Biography

After starting undergrad as a mathematics education major, the "maths after calculus" was so fascinating that I switched paths in favor of one leading toward mathematics graduate programs. During my master's I was introduced to the mathematical field of Graph Theory and liked it so much that it became the focus of my doctoral studies. Topics in this area are understandable by students as early as middle school and offer ample opportunities for students to gain experience with mathematical research; let me know if you're interested!

Through teaching responsibilities at Davidson College, Northern Kentucky University, and now John Carroll University, I have taught courses at all levels of the curriculum from general education, through Calculus, and up to advanced topics. Additionally, I have helped facilitate mathematics enrichment activities for K-12 students through a regional math club, mathematics festivals, and visits to K-12 classrooms.

I hold memberships in the Association for Women in Mathematics and the Mathematical Association of America. At the section level of the MAA, I have served as a newsletter editor and helped organize student activities at section meetings. At the national level, I am a 2017 Project NExT Fellow.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family, being out in nature, and have trained up for a few marathons and a half Ironman triathlon.

Where are you from?

I grew up on the west side of Cleveland in Rocky River, and referred to Cleveland as home through graduate school in Colorado and previous academic appointments in North Carolina and northern Kentucky.

Research interests, publications, and/or awards you would like to highlight:

My formal mathematical training focused in an area of mathematics called graph theory, which overlaps areas in theoretical computer science. Since completing my dissertation, my scholastic efforts have emphasized facilitating meaningful learning experiences for students. Aligning with my formal training, I have three publications with undergraduate co-authors and am wrapping up two more projects to submit. In focusing on improving the retention and success of students from populations historically excluded from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), I served as a co-PI on a National Science Foundation grant examining the benefits of a summer bridge program aimed at solidifying the mathematics skills of incoming STEM majors.

What is the most memorable college course you took and why?

From a general standpoint: Philosophy of Religion. As the last course I took to fulfill core requirements, this course helped me connect and better value the various "ways of knowing" about the world that had been explored across previous scientific and humanistic courses. From a professional standpoint: Introduction to Topology. As a junior taking a graduate-level mathematics course, I was consistently behind in understanding the topics of the course. As a result, I entered the final exam with a 64% in the course. The combination of both how negatively I felt throughout the semester and also how I understood all of the content well enough to nearly ace the final exam have helped inform key aspects of my teaching.

Selected Publications

* indicates co-author was an undergraduate at the time of research

• "Tic-Tac-Whoa!" in M. Capaldi (Ed.) Teaching Mathematics Through Games. AMS/MAA Press Classroom Resource Materials (2021)
• "Planar Graphs with Girth 20 are Additively 3-Choosable" with *N. Tenpas and C. Yerger in Discrete Applied Mathematics (2020)
• "Stability and Turan numbers of a class of hypergraphs via Lagrangians" with D. Irwin and T. Jiang in Combinatorics, Probability, and Computing (2017)
• "I,F-Partitions of Sparse Graphs" with M. Ferrara, M. Kumbhat, S. Loeb, D. Stolee, and M. Yancee in European Journal of Combinatorics (2016)
• "Local Gap Colorings from Edge Labelings" with *B. Moran, K. Nepal, F. Pfender, and D. Sigler in Australasian Journal of Combinatorics (2016)