Author: jasonc

Math alum Sharon Freshour ’16 will begin the Human and Statistical Genetics Ph.D. Program at Washington University in St. Louis this fall where she’ll receive full tuition and a generous stipend. She was also accepted to Ph.D. programs with similar offers at UT Southwestern and Baylor College of Medicine.

Math major Antoine Chamoun-Farah, a 3+2 Math/Engineering student, was awarded the 2018 Harold P. Brown Engineering Fellowship. The Brown Fellowship provides full tuition at Washington University in St. Louis for two years of engineering study as part of the dual degree program.

Math major Andy Barnes ’18 was accepted into the Master of Science in Applied Statistics and Data Analytics (MASDA) degree program at Southern Methodist University.

Math major Ayesha Gonzales was accepted into two Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs in physics and will be at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) this summer.

Math alum Gilbert Rivera ’17 also began a Master of Science Program in Physics at California State University, Los Angeles this past spring.

In celebration of Pi Day (March 14, or 3/14), Math Club posted the digits of pi (3.14…) down the JBWS stairs — photos below!

Math major Omar Dominguez and faculty Drs. Jason Callahan, Kaitlyn Phillipson, and Michael Saclolo attended the Geometry of Redistricting Workshop at The University of Texas-Austin February 3-4.

This was a regional workshop of the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group, a Boston-based team of mathematicians launched by Dr. Moon Duchin of Tufts University, whose mission is to study applications of geometry and computing to U.S. redistricting under the belief that gerrymandering of all kinds is a fundamental threat to our democracy.

In our MATH 4157 (Research) seminar on February 9, Omar, under the mentorship of Dr. Callahan, then presented a recent paper entitled “A Formula Goes to Court: Partisan Gerrymandering and the Efficiency Gap” by Dr. Duchin on the efficiency gap as a measure that has successfully been used in court to show gerrymandering in Wisconsin and is now headed to the Supreme Court.

Omar plans to continue research on this topic with Dr. Callahan over the next two years, and Dr. Duchin is now helping redraw gerrymandered voting districts in Pennsylvania, making this a timely and important research topic.

Math majors Maria Mota, Amira Mahler, and Stephanie Thrash earned Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Student Travel Grants to present their research at the Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) Student Poster Session in San Diego on January 12, 2018. JMM is the largest mathematics meeting in the world. Maria and Amira conducted their research with Dr. Jason Callahan, and Stephanie conducted her research with Dr. Mitch Phillipson. All three were partially supported Dr. M. Jean McKemie Endowed Student/Faculty Fund for Innovative Mathematics Summer Scholarships and NSF grant #1525490. Dr. Michael Saclolo also presented at JMM in the MAA Session on Mathematical Themes in a First-Year Seminar on January 11.

On December 2, organized by Dr. Edward Early with the help of Dr. Matthew Shirley, Monica Cicciarelli, and Sarah Reyna, a record-breaking twelve SEU students participated in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, the preeminent mathematics competition for undergraduate college students in the United States and Canada:

Grace Akomezogho
Jacob Belmares
Elias Bocanegra
Antoine Chamoun-Farah
Brianna Collins
Omar Dominguez
Sarah Goldrup
Ayesha Gonzales
Amira Mahler
Agnes Mirando
Ivan Mota
Skyler Young

The Putnam Competition occurs annually on the first Saturday of December. The competition consists of two three-hour sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. During each session, participants work individually on six challenging mathematical problems.

The Putnam began in 1938 as a competition between mathematics departments at colleges and universities but has since grown to be the leading university-level mathematics examination in the world. Although participants work independently on the problems, there is a team aspect as well. Prizes are awarded to participants who score the highest and to the departments whose teams rank highest. Congratulations to all our students who participated, and thanks to Dr. Early for organizing it!

One of our recent math alumni, Alex Johnson ’13, visited campus on September 1, 2017, to speak with current math majors about his experiences as a procurement analyst for SpaceX in California, where he currently works, and as an actuarial analyst at Houston Casualty Company (now Tokio Marine HCC), where he worked for three years after graduating from SEU in 2013.

Math major Maria Mota presented her research on solving Scramble Squares puzzles without repetitions conducted with Dr. Jason Callahan this summer at the Young Mathematicians Conference August 11-13, 2017, at the Ohio State University. The conference fully funded Maria’s travel, lodging, and meal expenses and accepted only 52 of 120 abstracts submitted by 160 students nationwide judged by twenty faculty from universities across the nation, including Dr. Callahan, who did recuse himself from judging Maria’s abstract. Maria’s summer research with Dr. Callahan was funded by our National Science Foundation (NSF) Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) grant #1525490. Congratulations to Maria on these honors and for taking advantage of these wonderful opportunities to conduct and present research this summer!

Dr. Jason Callahan met with Drs. Richard Rebarber of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Eva Strawbridge of James Madison University, and Shenglan Yuan of the City University New York-LaGuardia Community College July 31 to August 4, 2017, at James Madison University to continue collaboration that began at a Research Experiences for Undergraduate Faculty (REUF) workshop July 22-26, 2013, at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM) and continued in a meeting here at SEU August 11-15, 2014. All three meetings were fully funded by the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM), and the one here at SEU yielded the publication “Analysis of a Coupled n-Patch Population Model with Ceiling Density Dependence” in the International Journal of Difference Equations along with presentations at the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings and 2016 Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Texas Section Meeting. Dr. Callahan is excited for what all the most recent meeting will yield.

This summer (May 30-July 28), math major Antoine Chamoun-Farah, who is also Vice President of our Math Club, completed the Washington University Summer Engineering Fellowship (WUSEF) program designed to encourage exceptional students from diverse backgrounds to participate in engineering research by engaging in an independent research project under the guidance of a faculty member in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis. This past winter, Antoine also completed a J-Term Course in Engineering Mechanics at Washington University in St. Louis. Congratulations to Antoine for participating in these opportunities at one of the top universities in the U.S.!

 

This fall, math alum Harris Greenwood ’14 will begin a master’s program in mathematics at the Laney Graduate School at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, and recent math graduate Crisel Suarez ’17, who was also a McNair Scholar, will start the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s to PhD Bridge Program for physics in which she will earn a master’s degree at Fisk University with full funding support followed by fast-track admission to a PhD program at Vanderbilt University with full funding. Congratulations, Harris and Crisel, and best wishes in graduate school this fall!