Cindy Wyels' address at the Fall 2011 Section Meeting

The recipient of the Southern California-Nevada Section’s 2011 Distinguished Teaching Award, Professor Cindy Wyels from California State University, Channel Islands, is well-known to many of the students in the section as the organizer of the Student Poster Session at each Spring Meeting since 2004. This activity is part of a bigger picture: her dedication to introducing undergraduates – especially native Spanish speakers and first generation college students – to research in mathematics. Since 2004, Dr. Wyels has directed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) at California Lutheran University and later at CSU Channel Islands. A total of 63 undergraduates participated in these programs through 2010, with 38 from underrepresented groups. She also played a key role in a CSU Channel Islands summer program to engage local community college students in research.

Professor Wyels is a remarkable teacher who consistently receives excellent teaching evaluations from her students. She thinks creatively and carefully about her courses and the activities that will best lead to student learning. She employs a wide variety of instructional techniques in order to match a wide variety of student learning styles, including lecture, small group activities, self-paced computer labs, problem sets, and projects. As one student put it, "I can honestly say you are the best professor I have ever had!" Another one wrote: “Her passion and energy for teaching inspires and motivates her students, and her manner is both warm and approachable.”

Professor Wyels’ interest in excellence in teaching also extends to mentoring her colleagues. Perhaps most noteworthy is her role as cofounder and co-director of the Critical Friends Group (CFG) at CSU Channel Islands. Faculty from all disciplines meet biweekly for two hours to work on specific teaching dilemmas, to discuss pedagogical literature, and to provide each other with insight and support. Half of the tenure-track mathematics faculty at CSU Channel Islands participate in this group, which has resulted in a cultural shift of the pedagogical attitudes in the math department.

The MAA announced in early August that Dr. Wyels also will receive the MAA’s national award for outstanding teaching, the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics, during the 2012 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boston, Mass., Jan. 4-7.

Student Poster Session Organizer Cindy Wyels announces the award winners at the Spring 2009 MAA Section Meeting at Cal Lutheran.

Cindy Wyels received her Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara in 1994. Prior to joining CSUCI, Dr. Wyels served as chair of the mathematics department at California Lutheran University; her faculty experience also includes Weber State University and the United States Military Academy. She is director of the masters program in mathematics and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program at CSU Channel Islands. Dr. Wyels’ research interests are combinatorial mathematics and linear algebra. Most recently she has focused on questions in graph pebbling, a topic that she has used very successfully in REUs.

Dr. Wyels will give the invited address, “Unexpected Outcomes in Undergraduate Research,” at our Fall Section Meeting, to be held Saturday, October 15, at Cal State Los Angeles.

Our section’s Distinguished Teaching Award honors college or university teachers who have been widely recognized as extraordinarily successful and whose teaching effectiveness has been shown to have had influence beyond their own institutions. Recipients of the section award then become nominees for the national Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. During the past 12 years, we have had seven of our section winners (Art Benjamin, Curtis Bennett, Jaqueline Dewar, Erica Flapan, Judith Grabiner, Jennifer Quinn, and now Cindy Wyels) subsequently receive the Haimo Teaching Award.

This year’s selection committee was chaired by Magnhild Lien (CSU Northridge), with members Scott Annin (CSU Fullerton), Art Benjamin (Harvey Mudd College), Curtis Bennett (Loyola Marymount), and Florence Newberger (CSU Long Beach).

It’s never too early to consider nominating a colleague for the 2012 award or to volunteer to serve on the 2012 committee. Serving on the committee is fun and easy and is a great way to find out how to put together an effective nomination package. Please contact Section Secretary Kathryn Leonard or Section Vice Chair Min-Lin Lo if you are interested in serving.

2011 Cindy Wyels

2010 Erika Flapan

2009 Curtis Bennet

2008 Bruce Yoshiwara

More past recipients

Preliminary nominations for the 21st annual MAA Southern California-Nevada Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics will be accepted in Fall 2011.

The preliminary nomination consists of a one-page form (available at the Section's Teaching Awards Page) and a 1-2 page description of the candidate’s qualities and teaching successes. If you have an eligible and qualified colleague in your department, we urge you to nominate her/him so that s/he may be considered for the award.

From the preliminary nominees, two to three semi-finalists will be chosen by the selection committee. Each nominator will then be asked to complete a full nomination packet for the semi-finalist. The full packet is required only for semi-finalists and will be due by early January. (Click here for full nomination requirements.)

Upon receipt of the full nomination, semi-finalists will automatically become finalists. Each finalist will receive an official letter of commendation from the Chair of the Section, which will be copied to the candidate’s department chair and dean. The selection committee will choose the winner from the pool of finalists. Finalists who are not selected will automatically have their full applications considered the following year for the Section award.

The winner of the award will be recognized at the Spring 2012 Meeting of the MAA Southern California-Nevada Section. The awardee will also be the official Section nominee for the MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. (Click here for greater detail on eligibility requirements for the Haimo Award.)

Successful nominees are individuals who are widely recognized for their extraordinarily successful teaching effectiveness and for teaching that has had influence beyond their own institutions. To be eligible, nominees must be current MAA members who teach mathematical science courses at least half-time during the academic year and have at least seven years experience teaching at the college or university level.

Preliminary nomination deadline is Tuesday, November 1, 2011.

Questions? Contact Kathryn Leonard kathryn.leonard@csuci.edu or 805-437-3127.

Initial nominations may be sent electronically or mailed to:
Kathryn Leonard
CSU Channel Islands
1 University Dr.
Camarillo, CA 93012

The California State University - Fullerton (CSUF) Mathematics Department has hired two new statisticians.

Kamal Hamidieh earned his Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and comes to us after completing a post-doc at Rice. His research interests include statistics of extremes with applications to risk management in finance and weather.

Kevin Nichols just completed his Ph.D. in statistics at UCLA and has research interests in spatial statistics with an emphasis on application to earthquake and wildfire data.

Mathematics educator Martin Bonsangue was chosen as CSUF’s 2010-11 Outstanding Professor, the highest honor bestowed by the university. Marty is a longtime champion of developing better mathematics teaching skills for teachers at all levels from elementary school through college.

On May 4-6, the CSUF Mathematics Department hosted the first in a series of workshops jointly organized by Zair Ibragimov of CSUF and Bakhrom Abdullaev of Urgench State University in Uzbekistan. The aim of the workshops is to establish research collaborations between mathematicians from Uzbekistan and the United States. Bogdan Suceava is organizing the Fullerton Mathematical Circle for students in grades 7–9 to nurture young mathematicians and to help prepare them for mathematics competitions. The inaugural session will be held at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, September 24.

California State University – Los Angeles (CSULA) is pleased to welcome Liming Wang as our newest faculty member. Liming received her PhD from Rutgers University in 2008 and was a Visiting Professor at UC Irvine for the last three years. Her area of expertise is in Applied Mathematics. In other news, Anthony Shaheen has received tenure and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. P.K. Subramanian has retired after a long and distinguished career, and we wish him well in his retirement.

At Claremont Graduate University (CGU), John Angus stepped down as Dean of the School of Mathematical Sciences on June 30, 2011. He has been replaced by Emeritus Professor Ellis Cumberbatch, who will serve as Interim Dean for the 2011-2012 academic year. Professor Angus joined CGU in 1990 as an associate professor of mathematics, becoming full professor in 1993. Prior to that, he was a senior scientist with Hughes Aircraft Company in Fullerton, California. His systems engineering career at Hughes spanned 15 years. In 2001, he became chairman of the CGU mathematics department. He led efforts to elevate the math department to the status of a school, the School of Mathematical Sciences (SMS); to create the Master of Science program in Financial Engineering (MSFE); and to establish the Joint Ph.D. program in Computational Science with San Diego State University.

El Camino College – Compton Center welcomed three new full-time faculty members in Spring 2011. They are Patricia Stoddard, Abigail Tatlilioglu, and Ruth Zambrano.

The Loyola Marymount University (LMU) Mathematics Department is extremely pleased to welcome three new faculty members beginning Fall 2011.

Anna Bargagliotti, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, is interested in nonparametric statistics, mathematics education, and statistics education. Her nonparametric statistics work focuses on how ranked data structures affect nonparametric test outcomes. Her education work aims to understand how teaching practices and technology affect the teaching and learning of mathematics and statistics. Dr. Bargagliotti received her Ph.D. in mathematics from UC Irvine and her M.S. in statistics from UCLA.

Angela Gallegos, Associate Professor of Mathematics, is interested in biological modeling and she has used differential equations to do so. Dr. Gallegos received her Ph.D. from UC Davis in 2005 and her B.A. from New York University in 1999.

Yanping Ma, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, is interested in applied mathematics, especially biomathematics. Dr. Ma received her Ph.D. in applied mathematics with a minor in statistics from Pennsylvania State University in 2011 and her B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2006.

Pierce College welcomes Jacob Veiga as a new full-time math faculty member this fall. Jacob, although originally from California and with a Master’s degree from UCI, comes to us via New York, where he was a full-time math instructor at Bronx Community College.

Mihai Putinar of the University of California – Santa Barbara (UCSB) received the National Order of Merit of Romania, which was awarded by the President of Romania in recognition of his outstanding scholarship.

At the University of Redlands, Joanna Bieri received the university’s Outstanding Teaching Award and Beth Doolittle was named Mortar Board Professor of the Year.

At the University of San Diego (USD), Dr. Lynne Small retired from the USD Department of Mathematics & Computer Science after many devoted years of service to our students, our department and our university. We already miss her wisdom and dedication.

John Lopez and Cameron Askew, both undergraduate computer science majors at USD, competed and placed second in the 2011 Data Mining Cup competition. The competition was open to both undergraduate and graduate students, and this year it attracted 104 teams from 83 universities and more than 20 countries. Data mining is a growing area of computer science that involves extracting and analyzing patterns from large data sets – often millions of records – by combining methods from statistics, artificial intelligence and database management. The field has many applications in business, finance, national security and other areas.

In the main phase of the six-week competition, the teams were asked to sift through millions of records from a shopping web site and find an accurate way of recommending products to a user, based on products that s/he has already examined or purchased. USD’s team finished in the top 10 and was invited to a two-day conference in Leipzig, Germany, where the winners were announced in June of 2011. They will share a prize of 1500 Euros, approximately $2,150. A team from Germany finished in first place.
“I’m very proud of our students,” said Eric Jiang, USD professor of computer science and mathematics who taught the data mining class where Lopez and Askew entered the competition as their final research project. “They put in a lot of time and effort and have a bright future ahead of them.”

Please submit news items from your campus or company to Janet Beery, Section Newsletter Editor janet_beery@redlands.edu