MATHEMATICS
Student Newsletter
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Vol.17
Welcome New Faculty Member
The Mathematics Department is welcoming another
new faculty member this year. Here is a little about him,
in his own words.
Dr. Eric Eager: Hi, I’m Eric Eager. I was born and
raised in the Twin Cities and spent my first 18 years
there, attending many Minnesota Vikings and Twins
games. I found interest in mathematics via the evolution
of my favorite players’ batting averages and soon found
myself trying to predict my own (narcissistic, anyone?).
After graduation I moved to Moorhead, MN and
attending Minnesota State – Moorhead on a football
scholarship. I really enjoyed playing football but soon
found that I enjoyed math quite a bit more. I graduated
in 2008 with a major in math and actuarial science. I
then moved to Lincoln, Nebraska to study Mathematics
at the University of Nebraska, where I finished my PhD
in August 2012. While I was at UNL I was involved in
student government and other various organizations (I
was part of the first wave of members of the student
group Students Today, Leaders Forever, which now has
a chapter at UWL!).
My research interest can be broadly described as
Mathematical Biology: I am interested in developing
and solving mathematical problems that arise from
questions in biology. To study these problems I use a
combination of probability theory and functional
analysis, as well as methods from systems and control
theory and the study of inverse problems.
My wife Stephanie and I feel truly blessed to be
welcomed into the mathematical family at UWL. Please
feel free to stop by my office to say hi!
Student Activities
Danny Bero, a statistics emphasis math major, worked
with Melissa Bingham this summer on developing a
permutation test for three-dimensional rotation
data. Danny has written R code to implement the test he
developed and has investigated the power of the test
under various scenarios by performing a simulation
study. Danny presented the results of this research at the
SAH poster session on August 9th. Danny will continue
working on the project throughout the semester to apply
this permutation test to data collected by Tom Greiner in
the Physical Therapy department. Bero's work on this
Fall ’12
project was funded as part of Bingham's National
Science Foundation grant.
Putnam Exam: Several of our students participated in
the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
on December 3, 2011 and got exciting results. Hoang Vo
got 11 points, and Kai Wu, Ryan Esch, Ryan Wilder and
Ali Khalili got 1 point each.
A total of 4440 students from 572 colleges and
universities in Canada and USA participated in the
Competition. Only 1918 participants got positive grades.
Zach Fischer, the Mathematics Department Senior of
the Year for 2011-2012 has landed a position as an
Actuarial Technician at Milliman in Brookfield, WI.
Milliman is among the world's largest providers of
actuarial and related products and services and has
offices in major cities around the globe.
Program in Mathematical Biology Going
Strong!
The
collaboration
between
the
mathematics
and
biology departments
on
undergraduate
research
is
going
strong!
In the past
year, 4 math majors have worked with Drs. Bennie and
Peirce on a host-parasitre system funded through the
Collaboration on Riverine Ecology program. Kacie
VanCalster and Maria Jansen presented research results
at the Joint Mathematics Meeting in Boston on January
6th, 2012 (in addition to 3 other national conferences).
Kacie and her partner in biology created a differential
equation model and experiments designed to investigate
host energy allocation in the presence and absence of
infection. Maria's interdisciplinary team expanded an
existing epidemiological model to include competition
parameters acquired from empirical experiments.
In the Spring and Summer of 2012, two new
mathematical biology projects got underway with Susan
Frankki and Robert Wolf. Susan and her biology
partner further expanded an epidemiological model to
include transmission parameters gleaned from exposure
experiments between native and invasive snails. Robert
was part of a team that used time-lapse photography
to quantified the behaviors of infected and uninfected
snails for use in a game theoretic model. They plan on
presenting their results at next year's National
Conference
on
Undergraduate
Research.
If you are interested in participating in next
year's program, please contact Dr. Peirce before
October 5th.
New Calculus Contest
Funded by a UW-L Foundation Small Grant, the
First Calculus Competition will be held on November
3rd from 9:30am to 11:30am). The contest will be based
on materials of Calculus I (MTH 207) only.
The top four participants will be awarded gift
cards of $70, $60, $50 and $40 respectively along with
certificates.
Anyone interested in participating should send
an email with your name, major and school ID number
to hyan@uwlax.edu or drop by the office 1013 Cowley
Hall by October 5th.
nd
UW-L Team Earns 2 Place in New Data
Analytics Competition
In April six of our
students competed in the first
annual
Midwest
Undergraduate Data Analytics
Competition (MUDAC) held
at Winona State University.
Students worked in teams and had approximately 24
hours to carry out an analysis, provide a written
summary of their findings, and prepare a brief oral
presentation of their results. The UW-L team with
students Stephanie Acker, Kristen Buschke, and Chris
Wagar brought home second place trophies! Also
competing as a team were Danny Bero, Charley
Spanbauer, and Yang Yang. Information about
MUDAC can be found at http://www.mudac.org/.
UW-L Math Teams Earn High Honors in
International Contest… Again
This February, seven teams of UW-L students
participated in the annual Mathematical Contest in
Modeling (MCM). The UW-L teams competed against
over 5000 teams from 17 countries. This year’s
problems involved estimating leaf mass on trees,
scheduling rafting expeditions down a scenic river
canyon, and uncovering a criminal conspiracy using email records.
The team of Cody Hunt, Ali Khalili, and Hoang
Vo earned a “Meritorious‟ ranking for their submission,
“Timetable for a Water Table,” which addressed the
rafting problem. This placed them among the top 200
papers in the world and top 27 in the nation (out of 2100
who chose the same problem).
Additionally, two UW-L teams placed in the top
40% of submissions: Maria Jansen, Michael Sumption,
and Kacie Van Calster for “The Big River Theory”
(rafting problem) and Nate Hildebrand, Brett Rosiejka,
and Bill Schumacher for “Make Like a Tree and Leave”
(tree problem).
Other students participating in the contest were
Susan Frankki, Brandon Groth, Sara Kamoske,
Douglas MacFarland, John Nehls, Molly Nerison,
Josh Peanasky, Adam SanFelippo, David Sloan, Mitch
Spano, Veronica Tibbetts, and Zach Tully.
Only three schools in the country fielded more
teams than UW-L, and only five schools placed more
teams in the top 40% of papers (out of 171 US
institutions).
Faculty advisors for the contest were Robert
Allen, Barbara Bennie, James Peirce, Ted Wendt, and
Huiya Yan. Contact any of the advisors if you’re
interested in competing in the 2013 MCM Contest.
UW-L to Host Annual Mathematical
Modeling Contest
On October 20th, 2012, the University of
Wisconsin-La Crosse Department of Mathematics will
host the Fourth Annual Wisconsin Mathematical
Modeling Challenge (WMMC). This regional math
contest gives undergraduate students the opportunity to
apply their math skills to real world problems. In teams
of three, students have 23 hours to develop and test a
model and write a one-page summary of their findings;
teams have one additional (24th) hour to finalize a 10
minute presentation explaining their results. Soon after
preparing their presentations, teams present their
findings to other student WMMC participants. This
year’s contest, sponsored by CenturyLink, will include
cash prizes for winning teams, door prizes for
participants, and plenty of math.
If you’re interested in competing in this year’s
contest, contact Ted Wendt.
NCUR Coming Back to UW-L
The National Conferences on Undergraduate Research
(NCUR), established in 1987, is dedicated to promoting
undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative
activity in all fields of study by sponsoring an annual
conference for students.
NCUR was held at UW-La Crosse in 2009 and it was such a
big success, that we will be hosting it again this year. The
27th National Conference on Undergraduate
Research will be held at UW-L on April 11-13, 2013.
Students wishing to present at the conference should be
aware of the December 4, 2012 deadline for abstracts. All
students are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity
to attend whether or not they are presenting research. If you
have any questions about the conference, be sure to ask a
faculty member for more information, or check out the 2013
NCUR website at http://www.cur.org/ncur_2013/
Be Informed…Check Out the Website
The Mathematics Department website has lots of
information and resources available for students. The
site is located at:
http://www.uwlax.edu/mathematics/dept/index.htm
On this website you will find links to the most up-to-date
information on various topics including
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Tutor Center and Tutor Schedule
Math Coffees
Upcoming talks
Internships
Faculty Web pages
UW-L Math Majors/Minors Guide
UW-L Math Club
Statistical Consulting Center
And MUCH MORE. Be sure to check it out on a regular
basis!!
Math Club & Math Coffee Happenings
The Math Club is a recognized student academic club
that offers social and educational activities. Anyone
interested in mathematics, computer science, or statistics
is encouraged to become a member. Activities in the
past have included interesting mathematical talks
(presented at a level appropriate for undergraduate math
majors) by invited speakers (referred to as Math
Coffees), math modeling contests, outdoor activities,
trips to student mathematics conferences, and friendly
sporting contests with faculty and other academic
clubs. Membership and participation are very casual.
Everyone is welcome. Watch for flyers indicating time
and location for future Math Club meetings.
We are always looking for new students to help out! If
you are interested in helping with the Math Club, have
any suggested topics for a Math Coffee or you are
interested in giving a talk, contact Drs. Peirce, Wendt, or
Allen. More information can be found at
http://www.uwlax.edu/mathematics/mathclub.html
Employment Opportunities For You
Do you enjoy helping your friends, roommates,
classmates, etc. with their math homework? Would you
like to get PAID for doing it?! The Mathematics
Department has several opportunities for you to do just
that. We are always on the lookout for good tutors to
work in the Math Tutoring Center, but you may not be as
aware of some other positions that are available. The
Math Department hires students as:
• Tutors for the Math Tutoring Center
• Peer Graders
• Peer Teaching Assistants
You can also put your name on the Department’s Private
Tutor list which is given out to students looking for
additional individual help. For more information on any
of these programs, please ask your instructor or anyone
in the Math Department. We’re ALWAYS looking for
good help!
400Level Course Offering For Spring 2013
In order to help you begin to plan your schedule for
Spring 2013, we thought it might be helpful to give you
some information on the schedule for next semester.
MTH 408 – Analysis II
MTH 413 – Topics in Linear Algebra
MTH 442 – Mathematical Statistics II
MTH 446 – Analysis of Variance and
Design of Experiments
MTH 448 – Operations Research
MTH 461 – Mathematical Physics