Alma College
[reported by Mel Nyman]Aklilu Zeleke will be leaving us at the end of the academic year to take up a joint faculty appointment in Lyman Briggs College and the Department of Statistics and Probability at MSU. • We are looking forward to hosting the Michigan Section Annual Meeting on April 29 and 30, 2005. • Tim Sipka organized and conducted yet another successful MATH Challenge for college students in the Fall. Tim and Robert Molina continue with their very popular MATH Challenge Problem-of-the-Month for high school students. • Mary Frances Miller, a consulting actuary from Nashville, spent parts of two days visiting the department in January. Ms. Miller gave a colloquium talk on the actuarial profession and met individually with students to discuss the professional opportunities. She is the immediate past-president of the Casualty Actuarial Society. [nyman@alma.edu]Alpena Community College
[reported by Dan Rothe]We are now almost a month into the new semester. We are happy with the enrollment of 16 students in differential equations, which is the largest number in recent memory. Our enrollments in the other math classes Trig and above are at good levels compared to slightly lower numbers for the college as a whole. • We look forward to hosting the Physics Olympics and Regional Science Olympiad for area high schools this spring. [rothed@alpenacc.edu]Andrews University
[reported by Don Rhoades]The Seabird Ecology Team, an interdisciplinary research group funded in part by the National Science Foundation, includes eight undergraduate students in the departments of mathematics and biology. The team is directed by Shandelle Henson from Mathematics, and James Hayward from Biology. Four papers by the team have recently been accepted for publication in The Auk, Journal of Applied Ecology, and Natural Resource Modeling. Clara Logan, a senior mathematics student, is co-author of three of these papers. More information on the Team can be found at http://www.andrews.edu/~henson/seabird/seabirdhome.html. • For the past two years, Keith G. Calkins of the Berrien County ISD Science and Mathematics Center at Andrews, has been keyboarding and editing a manuscript by Edward J. Specht, Prof. Emer. and former Chair of the Mathematics Department. This manuscript is a new treatment of Geometry using independent axioms based on transformations as opposed to side-angle-side congruence. At age 89, Specht, who lives in South Bend, still actively writes and directs the project. Keith expects to complete a Ph.D. in Physics from Notre Dame this spring, under the direction of Carol Tanner. [dhr@andrews.edu]Eastern Michigan University
[reported by Tim Carroll]K.G. Janardan retired January 1. [timothy.carroll@emich.edu]Grand Valley State University
[reported by Paul Fishback]GVSU has been awarded a five-year renewal of its mathematics REU program. Participating in the Summer of 2005 program are Ed Aboufadel, Matt Boelkins, Paul Fishback, and Steve Schlicker. Ed is the PI, and 11 faculty members will be involved as mentors over the grant’s duration. Further program information, including online application materials, may be found at http://www.gvsu.edu/mathreu. [fishbacp@gvsu.edu]Hope College
[reported by Todd Swanson]Janet Andersen has been promoted to Prof. John Stoughton is on sabbatical for the semester. [swansont@hope.edu]Kalamazoo College
[David Murphy]Eric Barth and Michele Intermont are currently on sabbatical, while those who remain are in the midst of a job search to fill a one-year sabbatical replacement position for the 2005–2006 academic year. • In addition to job talks, Tim Pennings of Hope C and Ed Packel of Lake Forest C will give talks in our mathematics colloquium. • John Fink, together with visiting professors Valentina Aguilar and David Hervas from Universidad San Francisco de Quito, is writing a proposal for international funding of a training program for math and science teachers in Ecuador. • Eric Nordmoe has won the C. Oswald George Prize from the Editorial Board of Teaching Statistics for his paper, “Of Poohsticks and p-Values: Hypothesis Testing in the Hundred Acre Wood”. • We are very proud of our Math Team (Richard Gejji, Adam Granger, Alex Guppy) who took First Place in this year’s Michigan Autumn Take Home Challenge. [dmurphy@kzoo.edu]Lake Superior State University
[reported by Brian Snyder]Brian Snyder has received tenure effective August 2005. • Norma M. Agras (Miami-Dade C) presented a workshop on College Algebra Reform March 19 on the LSSU campus. • The Higher Learning Commission has approved a Master of Arts degree: Curriculum and Instruction. The first cohort of students will begin Summer 2005. [bsnyder@lssu.edu]Lawrence Technological University
[reported by Mike Merscher]Robofest 2005, headed by C-J Chung, has expanded internationally, with 14 satellite sites around the world. The finals will be held at LTU on April 23. The 36th Annual LTU High School Mathematics Competition will be held on April 24. The competition author is Mike Merscher. [merscher@ltu.edu]Michigan State University
[reported by Peter Lappan]New faculty this year are Fengbo Hang (Ph. D. from N.Y.U., postdoc at Princeton) and Xiadong Wang (Ph. D. from Stanford, postdoc at M.I.T.), both Assist. Profs. The following faculty are on leave this year: Selman Akbulut (at MSRI), Efstratia Kalfagianni (at the Institute for Advanced Study), Karen King (at NSF), Kenning Lu (at Brigham Young U), George Pappas (at the Institute for Advanced Study), Joel Shapiro (at U Hawaii), and Alexander Volberg. A visitor is Gerard Venema, on sabbatical from Calvin C. David Blair and Peter Lappan have retired. • The Richard Phillips Memorial Lectures were given by Noam Elkies, from Harvard, in January, on the subject of “Error Correcting Codes and Algebraic Geometry”. [plappan@math.msu.edu]Oakland University
[reported by Jerry Grossman]Neil Sloane, creator of the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences), gave a fascinating colloquium talk on February 15. • Our Engineering School is asking that we revert to the curriculum of 30 years ago, where rather than having separate courses in Linear Algebra and Differential Equations, we have one course treating both topics (necessarily somewhat less in depth, because we'd be going from 6 credits to 4). Are other universities also taking this approach? They claim that it is ultimately driven by certain requirements of their accrediting body. [grossman@oakland.edu]Saginaw Valley State University
[reported by Tom Zerger]Jan Hlavacek (Ph.D. Ohio State U, Complex Analysis) and Amy Hlavacek (Ph.D. Ohio State U, Topological Graph Theory) join us as Instructors. Jan and Amy came to us from the U of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana. • Cyrus Aryana received tenure and has been promoted to Assoc. Prof., and Steve Sepanski has been promoted to Prof. • Patrick Pan is acting Assistant Dean in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology this year. • Nancy Colwell was elected Secretary/Treasurer of the Michigan Section for 2004–2006. • Gretchen Mooningham received a grant from the AWM for the support of a Sonia Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day, which was held December 10 with about 300 area high school girls attending. The Sonia Kovalevsky Day is supported by Elizabeth City State University and the National Security Agency. • A new course, The Mathematical Foundations of Actuarial Science, is being offered this semester. [Zerger@svsu.edu]Schoolcraft College
[reported by Randy Schwartz]Department Chairperson Janina Udrys retired in Summer 2004 after an outstanding 34-year teaching career at Schoolcraft. Lois Bearden succeeded her as Chairperson in the Fall. [rschwart@schoolcraft.edu]University of Detroit Mercy
[reported by John O’Neill]John Dwyer was recently honored for 35 years service to the school. • We now have Maple 9.5 on the computers in all of the Computer Labs on Campus. • In April we will hold weekend Enrichment classes for some 600 students, grades 4–12, to interest them in Mathematics and Science. In May and June, along with Ford Motor Co. and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, we will sponsor a number of hands-on activities for high school students, geared toward interesting them in Engineering and the Sciences. [oneilljd@udmercy.edu]University of Michigan-Flint
[reported by Steven C. Althoen]We will host the Lower Michigan Mathematics Competition on Saturday, April 2, 2005. Teams of up to three students compete in this state competition solving ten challenging problems. • UM-F will host the Michigan Undergraduate Mathematics Conference on Saturday, October 22, 2005. Preparations are well under way. We encourage faculty to work with undergraduate students in research projects so that students can present their results at this popular conference. For more information about either event contact Ricardo Alfaro at ralfaro@umflint.edu. [salthoen@umflint.edu]Wayne State University
[reported by Daniel Frohardt]The department’s Undergraduate Research Group has expanded to a dozen students working with four faculty members. • John Ewing, Executive Director of the AMS and former Editor of the American Mathematical Monthly, spoke to a group of mathematicians and librarians on “The Future of Journals” here on January 11. • The department's colloquium schedule can be found at: http://www.math.wayne.edu/research/seminars/colloq.html. [danf@math.wayne.edu]Western Michigan University
[reported by Paul Eenigenburg]Chris Hirsch was awarded the James H. Powell Professor of Mathematics named Professorship. • During the past year, the department awarded five Ph.D. degrees: Archara Chaiyakarn, Ralucca Gera, and Pariwatana Pacheenburawana in mathematics; Jihwa Noh and Kathryn Shafer in mathematics education. [paul.eenigenburg@wmich.edu]
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