Hi,
I am currently directing a very talented high school senior in a sort of REU
experience for high schoolers. Although he is not a college student, he is
certainly doing some interesting work on reaction-diffusion systems and
pattern formation in chemical oscillators which is at least junior level
undergraduate work. Would he be eligible to submit a paper to your journal?
Of course, I would be his faculty "sponsor".
Thanks for your reply,
John
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Dr. John Davis
Office: 336-K Sid Richardson Building
Dept of Mathematics Phone: 254.710.4883
Baylor University
Fax: 254.710.3569
Waco, TX 76798
WWW: http://www.baylor.edu/~John_M_Davis/
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On 5/31/01 1:27 PM, Roger Lautzenheiser said:
> John,
> No problem. We accepted and published a paper on topology last year by a high
> school senior. We would be glad to look at the paper whenever he has it
> ready.
>
> Thanks for your interest in our journal.
>
> Roger Lautzenheiser, Editor
Thanks! The work is still in progress, but we hope to get it written up by
the end of July. We'll submit it then.
Regards,
John
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John Davis
Office: 336-K Sid Richardson Building
Dept of Mathematics Phone: 254.710.4883
Baylor University
Fax: 254.710.3569
Waco, TX 76798
WWW: http://www.baylor.edu/~John_M_Davis/
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Dear Editor(s):
I directed a high school student this summer in the Baylor High School
Summer Science Research Program. His name is Casey Gray, he is from Port
Lavaca, Texas, and is currently a high school senior. He is very talented in
mathematics and chemistry and wanted to work on something at the
intersection of these fields.
He wrote a survey paper on the Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction which involves
the applications of differential equations to this chemical reaction. Of
course, this work is not original research in the traditional sense, but I
feel it is a perfect fit for the RHIT Undergrad Math Journal. The paper is
entirely Casey's work, although I provided guidance and proofread as he
wrote. I think that you will find it an interesting and well-written paper,
especially for one done by an high school student.
Casey doesn't have the greatest email access now that he is off our campus
so he asked me to forward the "letter" below for him. I hope this is
acceptable.
> I would like to submit my paper ³An Analysis of the Belousov-Zhabotinskii
> Reaction² to the RHIT Undergraduate Mathematics Journal. I completed the
> work for this paper during the Summer of 2001. During this time, I was
> participating in the High School Summer Science Research Program at Baylor
> University. The following is a brief description of myself.
>
> In the fall of 2001, I will be a senior at Calhoun High School in Port
> Lavaca, Texas. I have always had an interest in mathematics and science.
> That interest led me to the High School Summer Science Research Program at
> Baylor University where, during the summer, I was advised by Dr. John Davis
> on how to use mathematics to analyze the oscillations and pattern formations
> occuring in the Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction. The experience was very
> exciting and thought provoking. In my spare time, I enjoy playing racket
> ball, and watching hockey games. I am still unsure were I would like to
> attend college.
>
> The mathematician that will be acting as a reference for my paper is Dr.
> John Davis. He will be emailing you a letter as well.
>
> Thank you very much for your attention. Please feel free to contact either
> me (graycrjj@tisd.net) or Dr. Davis (John_M_Davis@baylor.edu) by email. We
> look forward to your response.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Casey R. Gray
You will find the paper (in MS Word format) attached. Let me know if you
have any difficulties with the figures, etc. in the paper. There is at least
one movie included as well.
The abstract needed is taken directly from the paper and is included below:
ABSTRACT
The Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction is one of many oscillating reactions. It
produces spiraling waves of magenta and blue originating at a point or
points that move outward in a target pattern formation. The reaction is
autocatalytic and demonstrates a sudden change known as a Hopf Bifurcation.
Because of this, it is referred to as the prototype oscillator, and is the
most widely studied oscillating reaction. The information that is gained
can aid in the understanding of other such oscillators such as the beating
of the heart. Because the reaction is so complex, it is difficult to
analyze using only physics or chemistry. We therefore must use mathematics
to explain the unexpected pattern formation and investigate its underlying
structure to shed some light on the behavior of the system under certain
assumptions.
Hopefully, we have included everything mentioned in your "Guide for
Authors". You may list my name as "John M. Davis, Department of Mathematics,
Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798, Email: John_M_Davis@baylor.edu" in the
acknowledgement.
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us.
You may find that email is best done through me rather than Casey as I
described above.
Thanks for your attention.
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John Davis
Office: 336-K Sid Richardson Building
Dept of Mathematics Phone: 254.710.4883
Baylor University
Fax: 254.710.3569
Waco, TX 76798
WWW: http://www.baylor.edu/~John_M_Davis/
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Dear Casey,
I finally have comments concerning your paper from two referees (one in
math and one in chemistry). They both agree that it would be a nice
paper for our journal and have made a number of suggestions. Please
send me a postal address so I can send their comments (they made the
comments on hard copies of the paper).
One of the referees writes "The prose is awkward in places but more
importantly the mathematical level of the paper changes rapidly.
Occasionally, trivial results are worked out in unnecessary detail
(e.g. bottom of pg.11), and often results that are not obvious are
simply asserted (e.g. pg.12-13). The entire paper seems to be an
exercise in the application of the Hopf Bifurcation Theorem, yet this
theorem is never clearly stated in the paper. This prevents the reader
from being able to appreciate the mathematics that is being used by the
author. "
These comments leads me to believe that it may take a while for you to
make the appropriate revisions, so may I suggest that we plan to put
your paper in the spring issue of our journal. We try to go on line
with the spring issue sometime in April.
I can send the referees' comments to Professor Davis at Baylor if that's
more convenient. Just let me know.
Roger
**********
Dear Roger,
If it is possible, could you please send the suggestions to both
Professor Davis and me?
Professor Davis's Address is: John Davis
Dept of Mathematics
Baylor University
Waco, TX 76798
My address is: Casey Gray
51 N Seakist Ln
Port Lavaca TX, 77979
Thank you,
Casey Gray