Math at SU

Ransel Coggins, a December 2009 applied mathematics graduate, returned to SU to present his senior research poster during the School of the Sciences January poster session.   Ransel is preparing to take the first actuarial examination.  Good luck, Ransel!

Applied mathematics majors Kelly Witte (left) and Jennifer Barrick are all smiles at the School of the Sciences January poster session.  Presenting their posters was the final requirement of their senior capstone courses, clearing the way for May graduation.   Congratulations!

Adam Trendell, a senior applied math major, will be completing his senior capstone course this semester.  Adam will be conducting research with Dr. Susan Slattery on organic food price trends using data obtained from the USDA’s Economic Research Service. 

The photo shows most of the 55 students who presented their research and internship posters at the School of the Sciences January poster session.  These students completed the work for their posters during the summer and fall of 2009.   The poster session was open to the public and attendees included SU students, faculty and staff as well as the mentors who guided these students in their research and internship experiences.  Congratulations – the posters were great!

The mathematics department is busy planning for Mathematics Awareness Month (April).  The theme for 2010 is Mathematics and Sports.

“Sports offers a multitude of instances involving data, strategies and chance, each of which is perfectly suited to mathematical analysis. Beyond the obvious uses of mathematics for things such as rating baseball players and football quarterbacks, mathematics is used to design the dimple patterns on golf balls and the composition of racing tires; it is used for scheduling tournaments and for ranking teams; and it is used to determine tactics and to predict the ultimate limits in sports records.”  (quoted from www.mathaware.org where you can find out more about Mathematics Awareness Month).

Mark Golueke, a senior interdisciplinary studies major (math and information systems) has landed an internship at WBAL-TV for the spring semester. Mark will be using both his computer and math skills as he works alongside sportscaster Gary Sandusky. Mark is using this internship to complete the experiential portion of his senior capstone. Congratulations Mark!

Ransel Coggins has completed his Bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics this month with a focus area in actuarial science.  As part of this focus area, Ransel completed two courses in economics, two courses in accounting and two courses in finance.  He plans to pursue a career in the actuarial science field.  Congratulations to Ransel and good luck in the job market!

Matthew Toepfner is all smiles at the recent December 2009 graduation.   Matt began at Stevenson as a chemistry major but switched to applied mathematics.  Matt finished his applied mathematics degree program with a focus area in economics, graduating a semester early!  He has interviewed with the US Census Bureau and is waiting to hear about interviews from several other jobs for which he has applied. Congratulations, Matt and good luck in the job market!

Melissa Betz is a junior Interdisciplinary Studies major with focus areas in Biology and Mathematics.  Melissa completed an Independent Research project involving the statistical analysis of data collected from dogs in congestive heart failure studies.  Dr. Christopher Barat of SU and Dr. Diana Scorpio of Johns Hopkins University mentored Melissa in this bio/math project.

Matt Toepfner, a senior applied math major, is graduating in December 2009.  In his final semester at SU, Matt explored simulation and learned a bit of Matlab in order to complete his Independent Research project titled “Google’s Stock Price as a Gregarious Random Walk”.    Mrs. Eileen McGraw served as his project mentor.