Department of Mathematical Sciences Spring 2007 Newsletter
Department of Mathematical Sciences Newsletter
- Spring 2007 NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)
By Ken Wolff, Mika Munakata and Mary Lou West
classroom co-teaching courses with an
experienced teacher. Other project activities
include designing and delivering curriculum
units, preparing and participating in science and
mathematics field experiences, leading a
math/science day at MSU, and presenting cutting
edge research results and methodologies to
groups of students. Fellows and teachers will
also have opportunities to engage in research and
educational
endeavors
at
international
institutions, further enhancing middle school
students' understanding of research.
Through this program, fellows will bring their
content knowledge and research experiences to
the classroom, enhancing instruction and piquing
students' interest in science and math. Project
activities are expected to raise the achievement
level of middle school students and develop a
vested interest in the public education system in
the graduate students. For each year of their
participation in the project fellows receive
 $30,000 in stipends and
 $10,500 for tuition and related expenses.
Eight
capable
students,
four
from
Mathematical Sciences and four from other
CSAM departments, were chosen as fellows. In
our department the students are: Daniela
Kitanska who will work with Dr. Bogdan Nita
in the area of Applied Computational Analysis,
Kasia Sieminska who will work with Dr. Arup
Mukherjee in the area of Analysis, Steven
Spero who will work with Dr. Linda Tappin on
Statistical Applications and Marie McCrary
who will investigate Nonlinear Dynamical
Systems in Mathematical Biology with Dr. Lora
Billings. For additional information about the
grant see http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/gk12/ .
Drs. Ken Wolff,
Mika Munakata and
Mary Lou West are the
PI’s for a 5-year, $2.85
million
NSF
grant
project that began on
March 1st this year. The
project, titled GK-12
Fellows in the Middle: Partnerships for Inquiry
and Interdisciplinary Middle School Science and
Mathematics matches CSAM graduate students
(fellows) from Montclair State University with
middle grade teachers in five school districts—
Kearny, North Arlington, Rutherford, East
Rutherford, and Lyndhurst. The project’s main
goals are
 enhancing graduate students' communication
skills
 strengthening teachers' content knowledge,
and
 improving science and mathematics
achievement in the middle school.
Each year the project is expected to involve
more than twenty CSAM faculty members and
staff, of which at least eight will be from the
Department of Mathematical Sciences. Eight
graduate students – four from our department
and four from other CSAM departments together with their CSAM research advisors, will
conduct research and share those research
experiences with middle school teachers and
students. During the summer, fellows and their
partner teachers will participate in training
activities that promote inquiry- and standardsbased teaching, especially as they relate to
raising the achievement of students with Limited
English Proficiency and Specific Learning
Disabilities. During the school year, fellows will
spend two days per week in a middle school
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Department of Mathematical Sciences Spring 2007 Newsletter
Research Opportunities for Commuter Students (ROCS)
By Diana Thomas (originally appeared in CSAM Newsletter)
CSAM’s Research Opportunities for Commuter
Students (ROCS) was established in 2003 to
encourage
and
enhance
undergraduate
mathematics students’ research, publication and
presentations skills and experiences. During the
summer and fall of 2006, seven undergraduate
students were mentored by faculty of the
Department of Mathematical Sciences. Each
student prepared a technical report and poster
presentation on a topic mentored by a ROCS
faculty advisor.
Participants included:
- Carmine Cantalupo, Probabilities in Nim
Games – Dr. Michael Jones, advisor.
- Dimitriadis Alexandaros, Comparison of
Numerical Methods for Partial Differential
Equations – Dr. Phil Yecko, advisor.
- Cihan Karabulut, Theory and Simulation of
Fluid Flow Equations – Drs. Arup Mukherjee
and Phil Yecko, advisors.
- Amir Golnabi, Numerical methods for solving
partial differential equations using MATLAB –
Dr. Bogdan Nita, advisor. Amir will attend the
Graduate Program at Dartmouth College starting
Fall 2007 where he will work towards his Ph.D.
in Biomedical Engineering.
- Susan Shernce, Predicting Birth Weights
through a Fetal Energy Balance Equation – Dr.
Diana Thomas, advisor.
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Department of Mathematical Sciences Spring 2007 Newsletter
Research Opportunities for Commuter Students (continued)
ROCS students, Amir Golnabi and Susan
Shernce, have also participated in the
Undergraduate Research Poster Competition
sponsored by the Mathematical Association of
America. Past ROCS students have conducted
interdisciplinary projects with mentors from
other sciences. Students from all disciplines are
encouraged to apply for ROCS by contacting Dr.
Diana Thomas by e-mail at thomasdia@
mail.montclair.edu.
-Edme Soho, A Mathematical Tuberculoses
Model – Dr. Baojun Song, advisor.
Dean Robert Present
discussing her research.
and Susan Shernce
-Michael Wilson, Linear Models of Certain
Discrete Time Series – Dr. Aihua Li, advisor.
Department of Mathematical Sciences Seminar
The Mathematical Sciences Seminar
welcomed a variety of speakers this
semester:
Demetrios
Papageorgiou
(NJIT) - “Mathematical Problems in
Interfacial
Electrohydrodynamics”,
Jonathan
Cutler
(University
of
Nebraska-Lincoln) - “On the number of
complete bipartite subgraphs of a graph”, Mike
Ferrara (University of Colorado at Denver) “Two Variants of the Turan Problem”, Amy
Myers (Saint Joseph's University) - “Bad
Squares on Board Games”, Rachael Welder
(Montana State University) - “Pre-service
Elementary Teachers Mathematical Content
Knowledge of Prerequisite Algebra Skills”,
Allison McCulloch (Rutgers University) “Teddy bear or tool: Students' perspectives on
graphing calculator use”,
Jason Williford
(WPI) – “On the independence number of the
Erdvs-Rinyi graphs and related graphs”,
Iwan Elsta (OSU) – “College students'
understanding of rational exponents“, Jim
Kennis
(Columbia
University)
–
“Probabilistic Misconceptions Across Age
and Gender”, Michael Siegel (NJIT) –
“Calculation of complex singular solutions
to the 3D incompressible Euler equations”,
Derek Habermas (SUNY Potsdam) - Triangular
Factorization and Symmetric Spaces or How to
disassemble a sphere with matrices and Joseph
Brennan (Florida Central University) –
“Differential and Diophantine Equations”.
One of the speakers (Derek Habermas)
graduated in 2000 from MSU with a MS in Pure
and Applied Mathematics (Advisor Dr. Michel
Jones). He then attended U of Arizona (Tucson)
where he earned his Ph.D. in 2006.
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Department of Mathematical Sciences Spring 2007 Newsletter
New Doctoral Program in our Department
by Ken Wolff
At the Friday January 26 meeting of
the New Jersey Commission on Higher
Education the members unanimously
approved Montclair State Universities
petition to exceed its mission and offer its
fourth doctoral program, an Ed.D. in
Mathematics Pedagogy, housed in
CSAM’s Department of Mathematical Sciences.
The establishment of this new doctoral degree
recognizes the maturation of the existing
specialization in Mathematics Education within
the Ed.D. in Pedagogy. The Specialization in
Mathematics Education was one of two
specializations within the university’s first
doctoral program approved in 1998. Since then
seven candidates have successfully completed
the degree. Currently there are fourteen active
degree candidates at various stages of their
doctoral studies.
Having the new degree housed in the
Department of Mathematical Sciences
establishes a closer affiliation with the
department’s other programs thus
increasing its visibility and the
department’s other programs. It is
expected that this increased visibility will
result in an enlarged pool of potential candidates
in all department programs.
Students enrolled in the Ed.D. in Pedagogy
with a Specialization in Mathematics Education
have the option to continue in that program or
transfer to the new degree. The new degree
combines coursework and research preparation
from both CSAM and CEHS. Thus we will
continue to work cooperatively with of our
colleagues in CEHS on all aspects of both Ed.D.
programs.
Student Achievements and News
Equation” (advisor Dr. Diana Thomas)
respectively.
Crystal K. Dahlhaus presented her
work on “The Mathematics of
Refinancing” at the Joint AMS/MAA
Meetings in New Orleans in January
2007. The talk was given in a special
session organized by her advisor, Dr.
Youngna Choi, on How to Start and Develop
Undergraduate Level Financial Mathematics
Programs.
George R. Grover presented his
research with Dr. Diana Thomas at the
at the Joint AMS/MAA Meetings in
New Orleans in January 2007. Hi talk, “Minimal
Periods of Closed Curves in Rn” was presented
in the AMS Session on Analysis and Ordinary
Differential Equations.
Amir Golnabi was admitted into the graduate
program at Dartmouth College where he is going
to pursue his Ph.D. degree in Biomedical
Engineering. Amir will have full financial
support in a form of a fellowship for the first
semester and then a Research Assistantship for
the length of his studies.
Laura Panella worked, together with her
advisor Thomas Devlin, on a project entitled
"Ginger Ale and Old Lace? A Statistical Design
and Analysis of a Scientific Experiment in Plant
Growth," which has been submitted to the
Student Research Symposium at MSU sponsored
by CSAM and Sigma Xi.
Amir Golnabi and Susan Shernce, have
presented their ROCS projects at the
Undergraduate Research Poster Competition,
sponsored by the Mathematical Association of
America, at the AMS/MAA Joint Annual
Meetings in New Orleans. The titles of their
projects were “Numerical methods for solving
partial differential equations using MATLAB”
(advisor Dr. Bogdan G. Nita) and “Predicting
Birth Weights through a Fetal Energy Balance
Brittany Shelton was among the MSU
students who was awarded the Outstanding
Student Employee Award. Brittany has worked
in the Math Lab and her supervisor Patricia J.
D'Emidio nominated her for the award.
Michael Wilson, a junior mathematics major,
presented his research at the New Jersey “Garden
State Undergraduate Math Research Conference”
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Department of Mathematical Sciences Spring 2007 Newsletter
Student Achievements and News (continued)
held in Glassboro, New Jersey, in March, 2007.
The title was “Linear Models of Discrete JordanLike Time Series” and the faculty advisor was
Dr. Aihua Li.
Services, and College of Sciences and
Mathematics. Fifteen awardees from New Jersey
were selected from 41 applications based on their
description of innovative teaching methodologies
including the use of technology, inquiry-based
lessons, authentic real-world applications, and
meaningful assessments. The $1000 award will
be used by the teachers to purchase science and
mathematics classroom materials and to
participate in professional development. The
awards dinner for the selected teachers and their
principals will take place on May 31st, and will
include poster presentations by each recipient.
Six students in the Masters of Arts in Teaching
Middle Grades Mathematics, Erin Devor,
Deidre Flannery, Nicole Kievitt, Asha
Meadows, Tracey Phalon, Margaret Saraco
were each awarded a “Middle School ‘STEM’
Teaching Excellence” grant.
The awards
program is sponsored by Roche and was
developed jointly by MSU’s Development
Office, College of Education and Human
Faculty Activities
same meeting he also presented “The
Geometry Behind Paradoxes of Voting
Power” under the MAA Session on
Applications of Discrete Mathematics
Dr. Lora Billings had one paper
appear. One of the co-authors, Marie
McCrary, was a student at MSU.
- Lora Billings, Ira B. Schwartz, Leah
B. Shaw, Marie McCrary, Donald S.
Burke and Derek A.T. Cummings,
"Instabilities in multiserotype disease
models
with
antibody-dependent
enhancement", Journal of Theoretical
Biology, 246 (2007) pp. 18–27.
Dr. Mark S. Korlie presented the
talk “Mathematical Modeling of
Elastic Snap Through” at the at the
Joint AMS/MAA Meetings in New
Orleans in January 2007.
Dr. Youngna Choi organized the MAA
Session on How to Start and Develop
Undergraduate Level Financial Mathematics
Programs at the Joint AMS/MAA Meetings in
New Orleans in January 2007. Under this
session, she presented “Starting a B.S. in
Mathematics-Mathematics
of
Finance
Concentration Track: case of Montclair State
University” and her student Crystal K.
Dahlhaus presented her work on “The
Mathematics of Refinancing”.
In January 2007, Dr. Aihua Li was invited to
be a panelist in the MAA panel discussion on the
“Mathematics and Mathematicians in Emerging
Nations” during the AMS/MAA joint annual
meeting held in New Orleans. She also gave a
presentation in the MAA session on “Getting
Students to discuss and to Write about
Mathematics”. The title of her presentation is
“Projects that Encourage Students to Talk and to
Write about Mathematics”. In the same meeting,
she judged the MAA Student Research Poster
Competition.
Dr. Li co-supervised two master theses by two
students of the University of Science &
Technology Beijing: Xiaona Pan, “Algebraic
Methods in Modeling Discrete Time Series” and
Xiangjuan Min, “Algebraic Applications in
Multi-variable
Polynomial
Interpolation
Problems”. Both students defended their theses
in March 2007 and will graduate May 2007.
In March Dr. Li was invited to give a
colloquium presentation in Beijing Jiaotong
University. The title is: “Tracing Space Points - a
View of Discrete Time Series Modeling”. She
Dr. Thomas Devlin had one paper accepted
for publication.
- Thomas Devlin, “Why Aren't They Called
Probability Intervals?” to appear in Mathematics
Teacher.
Dr. Michael Jones presented his joint work
with Dr. Youngna Choi at the Joint AMS/MAA
Meetings in New Orleans in January 2007. The
talk entitled “Portfolio Selection as a Nash
Bargaining Game” was presented in the AMS
Session on Applications of Mathematics. At the
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Department of Mathematical Sciences Spring 2007 Newsletter
Faculty Activities (continued)
- Bogdan G. Nita, “Forward scattering series and
Padé approximants for acoustic wavefield
propagation in a vertically varying medium” to
appear in Communications in Computational
Physics special issue on "Computational
Geophysics” edited by Lianjie Huang and
Michael Fehler from Los Alamos National Lab.
Dr. Nita also gave a talk at the Joint AMS/MAA
Meetings in New Orleans in January 2007 on
“Imaging conditions in depth migration
algorithms”.
also spoke at the China University of
Geosciences on “Development and Applications
of Modern Mathematics – College Mathematics
Education in the United States”.
Dr. Li also participated in the MAA-NJ Spring
2007 Meeting and graded the student team
competition. She was also presided the Plenary
Speech by Dr. Peter Sarnak from Princeton
University on “Primes and Orbits”.
Dr. Li was awarded a Sokol Faculty/Student
Research Award for 2007/2008 for the research
project “Polynomial Modeling of Discrete Time
Series" with the undergraduate math major,
Michael Wilson. She recently received a CURM
(Center for Undergraduate Research in
Mathematics) mini grant to support mathematics
research of four undergraduate students during
the academic year 2007/2008.
The work of Dr. John G. Stevens and his
colleagues, L. Liang, J.T. Farrell (of
ExxonMobil) and P.T. Huynh, I.P. Androulakis,
and M. Ierapetritou (of Rutgers), on "An
Adaptive Approach for Coupling Detailed
Chemical Kinetics and Multidimensional CFD"
was presented at the 5th U.S. National
Combustion Meeting in San Diego, March 2528, 2007.
Dr. Arup Mukherjee presented “Analysis of
a simple sheared Ferrofluid” at the Joint
AMS/MAA Meetings in New Orleans in January
2007. The talk was based on joint work with
Drs. Mark Korlie, Bogdan G. Nita, John
Stevens and Philip A. Yecko. At the same
meeting, Dr. Mukherjee also co-organized two
AMS Special Session on Numerical Relativity.
Dr. Diana M. Thomas presented “Research
Opportunities for Commuter Students” at the
Joint AMS/MAA Meetings in New Orleans in
January 2007. The project is co-authored by Dr.
Michael A Jones and it was presented in the
MAA Session on Research and Other
Mathematical Experiences for Students Outside
the Classroom.
Dr. Bogdan G. Nita had an invited paper
accepted for publication.
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