Mathematics Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Summer 2000
Editor: Russell
Brown,
rbrown@ms.uky.edu
|
Mathematics Department College of Arts and Sciences |
Perspectives
on UK Mathematics
Summer 2000 Editor: Russell
Brown,
|
This year, the Department completed its first periodic review since 1993. In February, a review committee consisting of Gary Ferland, Physics and Astronomy, chair, David Atwood, Chemistry, Jill Pipher, Mathematics, Brown University, and Doug West, Mathematics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign met with the Department for two days. Recommendations of the committee included establishing three research assistant professorships, improving the undergraduate majors program, improving graduate student mentoring, and re-evaluating the University Studies Program mathematics courses. The Department is set to work on these during the next academic year.
Thanks to the generosity of Jim van Meter, M.S. 1963, we have several new programs in the department. This year, the first Raymond Rishel Award in Applied Mathematics was given to Cindy Aossey and Carl Lutzer who finished their Ph.D. studies this year. Our Director of Graduate Studies, David Johnson , is able to offer outstanding new graduate students our new Fugate-Wells Quality Achievement Fellowships. These fellowships are an important tool in recruiting excellent graduate students to our program. The fellowships received matching funds from the Commonwealth's Research Challenge Trust Fund. Finally, Richard Stanley of M.I.T. has been invited to give the first Hayden-Howard lectures during the week of August 27-31, 2000. These new programs will stimulate mathematical activity in the department for years to come.
This issue of our newsletter describes some of the highlights of the UK Mathematics Community from the 1999-2000 academic year. Please feel free to contact me about any item discussed here. This spring marks the end of my four-year term as Department Chair. I wish to thank everyone for their ideas, energy, and support during the last four years. Peter Perry will be assuming the position as of July 1, 2000. I know that he can count on the support of the UK Mathematics community. You may contact him at chair@ms.uky.edu.
Peter Hislop (hislop@ms.uky.edu)
Wildcat Math Celebration . The Department hosted the Wildcat Math Celebration on the weekend of September 22-23, 1999. The conference was in honor of Jim Brennan 's sixtieth birthday and featured talks by Lars Hedberg, University of Linköping, Sweden, Peter Jones, Yale University, and John Wermer, Brown University.
Annual Meeting of the AMS and MAA. On Friday, January 21, 2000 approximately 30 UK faculty, students and alumni who were attending the Joint AMS/MAA Mathematics Meetings gathered at Cafe Paradiso in Washington, D.C. for dinner. Joy Williams Lind, a 1998 alumna, arranged the dinner to provide an opportunity for the UK Mathematics Community to renew acquaintances. Another dinner is planned for the 2001 annual meeting, January 10-13, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Lecture Series . As part of Peter Perry's University Research Professorship, the Department enjoyed a series of excellent lectures centered on Peter's interest in inverse spectral theory. The speakers included Alice Chang, Princeton University, Kate Okikioliu, University of California at San Diego, Martin Olbrich, University of Göttingen, Peter Sarnak, Princeton University, John Toth, McGill University and Steven Zelditch, Johns Hopkins University.
Staff award . Sandra Bradshaw, staff assistant to the chair completed twenty years at UK last year. She was also selected to participate in the UKAdvance Leadership Development Institute in March of 2000.
Staff changes . The Department welcomed Raul Camarillo and Shirley Barnard to staff positions this year. Raul serves as the Staff Assistant to the Director of Graduate Studies and replaces Brian Moses who has taken a position in the Department of History. Shirley Barnard is the new Staff Assistant to the Administrative Officer and replaces Van Johnson who has moved to African-American Studies. Mike Elery now serves as the Staff Assistant to the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Retirements
.
Two faculty members retired this year.
Clasine van Winter in January of 2000 and
John Mack in June of 2000.
Clasine van Winter received her Ph.D. from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands in 1957. She held positions at Groningen, the University of Birmingham in England, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and Indiana University before coming to Kentucky in 1968. At Kentucky, she had a joint appointment in the Mathematics and Physics Departments. Her research is devoted to the study of scattering theory in quantum systems.
| John Mack received his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1959. He taught at Ohio University for six years before coming to Kentucky as an associate professor in 1965. John's area of research is topology. John served as chair of the Kentucky Section of the Mathematical Association of America from 1973 to 1975, chair of the Department of Mathematics from 1975 to 1978 and more recently as Director of Undergraduate Studies from 1993 to 1996. |
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New faculty . This was a banner year for recruiting new faculty. The department hired four outstanding mathematicians. These new faculty fill positions left vacant by retirements and the recent departures of Zhaojun Bai to the University of California at Davis, Craig Douglas to UK's Department of Computer Science and Karen Mortensen to the University of Illinois.
Alberto Corso received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1995 under the direction of Wolmer Vasconcelos. He held postdoctoral positions at Rutgers University, Purdue University and Michigan State University. His research is devoted to computational and commutative algebra.
Richard Ehrenborg comes to Kentucky from the Royal Institute for Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. He earned his Ph.D. from M.I.T. under the direction of Gian-Carlo Rota in 1993. In addition to his position in Stockholm, he has held positions at Université du Quèbec à Montréal, Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California, Cornell University and the Institute for Advanced Study. Richard's area of research is algebraic combinatorics.
Margaret Readdy comes to Kentucky from Stockholm University in Sweden. She earned her Ph.D. in 1993 from Michigan State University under the supervision of Bruce Sagan. She has held positions at Cornell University and the Institute for Advanced Study. Her area of research is combinatorics.
Qiang Ye received his Ph.D. degree in 1989 from the University of Calgary in Canada. His area of interest is numerical analysis, especially large matrix computations with an interest in industrial applications. Since leaving Calgary, he has held positions at University of Lethbridge and the University of Manitoba in Canada and visiting positions at Stanford University and Florida Atlantic University.
Visitors
.
Jeffrey McGowan of Central Connecticut State University spent his sabbatical at UK and worked with Peter Perry and Peter Hislop.
Luis Oyonarte
of the Universidad de Almería in Spain spent most of the year at Kentucky working with Ed Enochs.
Blas Torrecillas
from Almería visited the department to work with Ed Enochs during the summer of 1999.
Ying Zhang
of the Department of Materials Science at Xiamen University in China visited for the 1999-2000 academic year. Zhang's area of interest is continuum mechanics, and he worked with Chi-Sing Man.
David Shoikhet
of Ort Braude College in Israel visited in October of 1999 to work with Larry Harris.
Career Award.
Ren-Cang Li received a Career Award from the National Science Foundation for the period 1999 to 2003. The Career award is intended to support junior faculty who carry out innovative projects in research and education.
Ren-Cang's research is devoted to computations of eigenvalues and eigenvectors for large matrices. Much high quality general purpose software, such as LAPACK, is available to tackle these problems. Ren-Cang's objective is consider problems that arise in practical applications and attempt to use the structure of the applied problem to gain insight into how to perform computations with greater efficiency than general purpose software can achieve.
As part of this project, Ren-Cang will develop a collection of practical problems to use in courses he teaches in numerical linear algebra. He plans to incorporate these problems into a new course in solving applied, computational problems.
Early testing program. Mathematics faculty at Northern Kentucky University, University of Louisville and University of Kentucky are working to help high school students prepare for college mathematics courses. At UK, David Leep has worked with colleagues at Louisville and Northern to develop the Kentucky Early Mathematics Testing Program. This test is given to high school juniors to help determine how they are progressing in their mathematics studies. We hope that this information will encourage students to take mathematics in their senior year of high school, even if the course is not required for graduation. These students will then be better prepared for college mathematics courses.
A trial version of this test has been given in northern Kentucky for several years. In March of 1999, the chairs of the Mathematics Departments at Louisville and Northern and David Leep testified before a legislative subcommittee in Frankfort in support of a bill to encourage statewide implementation of this test. The result of their work was passed by the legislature as HB 178 and may be found at http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/record/00rs/HB178.htm. Paul Eakin and Carl Eberhart are developing a web-based version of the test. Northern Kentucky University will run other aspects of the program.
Mittag-Leffler Institute . John Lewis , David Adams and Jim Brennan spent the spring semester at the Mittag-Leffler Institute in Sweden as part of a special year on potential theory and partial differential equations. One of the highlights of the semester was a celebration at the institute in honor of the mathematician Sofia Kowalesky. Former Kentucky faculty members, Anders Lindqvist, who is now the chairman at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, and Arne Jensen, who is now at Aalborg University in Denmark visited the institute this semester. Andy Vogel, Ph.D. 1990, who is now at Syracuse University, also visited the institute for a week.
A year in Belgium . Jon Lee has been on sabbatical and scholarly leaves at the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics, Universite Catholique de Louvain in Belgium. He holds a CORE Fellowship at Louvain.
Former faculty member promoted. Joel Cunningham, former UK mathematics professor has been elected Vice Chancellor and President of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.
The department awarded nine Ph.D. degrees from August 1999 to May 2000. The students, their advisor, area and current position are listed below.
Stephen Aldrich, ( Ed Enochs , algebra) will begin at St. Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota in the fall of 2000.
Cindy Aossey, ( Kristina Vuskovic and Carl Lee , graph theory) has decided not to look for a position this year.
Anthony Bevelacqua , (David Leep, algebra) will begin at North Dakota State University in Grand Forks, North Dakota in the fall of 2000.
Leanne Faulkner, ( Don Coleman , algebra), is at Western Kentucky University.
Carl Lutzer, (Peter Hislop, partial differential equations) will begin at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the fall of 2000.
Douglas Riley, (Peter Perry, partial differential equations) began teaching at Birmingham Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama in the fall of 1999.
Daphne Skipper, (Jon Lee, discrete mathematics) began working at U.S. West's Advanced Technologies Group in Colorado in the summer of 1999.
Jeffrey Sykes, (Russell Brown, partial differential equations) began teaching at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, West Virginia in the fall of 1999.
Naveed Zaman , (Ed Enochs, algebra) completed his Ph.D. in May of 2000.
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Royster Award
.
This year's Royster award goes to Chris Morgan . Chris is a Ph.D. candidate working with Ted Suffridge in complex analysis. His area of research is harmonic mappings. Chris was nominated by the department for the Chancellor's teaching award. |
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Raymond Rishel Award
.
This year marked the inauguration of the Raymond Rishel award in applied mathematics. The first two honorees are Cindy Aossey and Carl Lutzer. Cindy's research is in graph theory and in her thesis she showed a certain class of graphs is perfect. Carl studied the spectrum of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map. These students receive a cash award in recognition of their achievements. The award is named for Ray Rishel , who recently retired from the Mathematics Department. It will be awarded in alternate years by the Departments of Mathematics and Statistics in recognition of Professor Rishel's close ties with both departments. |
Masters degrees awarded
.
Mary Bond ,
Holly Boone ,
Angela Chappell ,
Anna Davis ,
Marcie Davis, William Farmer,
Daniel Foley ,
Jianbo Li ,
Kathryn Lybarger ,
Michael McCraith ,
Stacey Mueller ,
Andrew Mertz ,
Matthew Ragland ,
Danny Thorne,
Ian Winokur ,
Naveed Zaman and
Erin Zink earned Master's
degrees during the past year.
Russell Brown served as the faculty advisor to the Undergraduate Math Club this year. Highlights of the year included a visit from Chuck Groetsch of the University of Cincinnati who spoke about some mathematical problems in medical imaging. Also, T.C. Christopher, B.S. 1973, of Eastern Kentucky Power Cooperative spoke to our undergraduates about modeling problems arising in the power supply business. For the first time in several years, students participated in the Virginia Tech mathematical competition. This year's team included Chris Cunliffe, Charlotte Ochanine and Darren Tapp. In the spring, several students attended the Kentucky Section of the Mathematical Association of America. John Scoville, an undergraduate math major, gave a talk titled "Introduction to Dendronimoes" at the meeting. John Scoville, Constantine Budovsky and Courtney Burch have agreed to serve as math club officers for 2000-2001.
Graduating seniors . During the past year, the Department awarded Bachelor's degrees to Pamela Dawn Ard, Michael Bass, Joseph Buschmann, Kian Hui Chai, Christopher Cotterill, Jennifer Davison, Jason Gault, Stephanie Getz, Jennifer Gibson, Karen Gillispie, Larisa Goloborodko, Brad Harris, Angelee Hubbard, Matthew Igyarto, Angela Keith, Andrew Leathers, Daniel Ledford, Stephanie May, Brian Oberg, Garrett Otto, Lance Pearson, Vinh Phan, Jennifer Phillips, Karyn Rasche, Jennifer Rice, Jessica Scott, Darren Tapp, Eric Tucker, Brand Wade and Douglas Yozwiak.
Carolyn S. Bunyan Awards . This year's Bunyan Scholarship for outstanding mathematics majors was awarded to Christopher Cunliffe and Christopher Manker.
Sallie E. Pence Awards . Each year, the Department awards a membership in the National Council on Teachers of Mathematics to graduating seniors with an interest in mathematics education. This years winners are Elizabeth Attig, Benjamin Donahue, Michael Haake, Shasta Meece, Renea Milec, Jessica Scott and Nika Wilcox.
Please send notes for this section to rbrown@pop.uky.edu or to Russell Brown, Department of Mathematics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0027. Alumni may also visit the alumni directory at http://www.ms.uky.edu/~math/Alumni/database/alumni.html to add their name to the department's database for graduate alumni.
Albert Bronstein , Ph.D. 1995, received the Harriet S. Gilliam Award for Excellence in Teaching in the College of Arts and Sciences at Vanderbilt for 1999.
Jahi Chikwendiu , B.S. 1996 works in Lexington as a photographer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He still appreciates his mathematical training in his work as a photographer.
Ricky Collis , M.D., B.S. 1987, is an anesthesiologist specializing in pain management. He lives in Louisville with his wife Anne.
Richard Detmer , B.S. 1966, is the Chairperson of the Department of Computer Science at Middle Tennessee State University.
Bud Glunt , Ph.D. 1991, is in the mathematics department at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. He visits Kentucky regularly to work with his Ph.D. advisor, Tom Hayden. Bud may be contacted by e-mail at bud@ms.uky.edu.
Kim Harrison , M.A. 1997, will be a program manager at Microsoft in Seattle, Washington beginning in the summer of 2000.
Ann Heard , M.A. 1966, Ph.D. 1967 retired from teaching at Georgetown College in May of 2000. She is looking forward to traveling, gardening, visiting with her grandchildren, helping at her church and reading.
Zohair Issacs , M.S. 1992, received the Harriet S. Gilliam Award for Excellence in Teaching in the College of Arts and Sciences at Vanderbilt University in 1998.
Suzanne Lenhart , Ph.D. 1981, has been selected President-elect of the Association for Women in Mathematics. Her term as President will begin in January of 2001.
Christine Leverenz , Ph.D. 1982, has received the Don and Chris Cawthorne award for excellence in teaching at Georgetown College. While at Georgetown College, Christine developed an innovative curriculum for elementary school teachers as part of Kentucky's education reform.
Joy Williams Lind , Ph.D. 1998, will be joining the Mathematical and Statistical Modeling group at Advanced Technologies in Boulder, Colorado. In February of 2000, Joy visited the University of Kentucky to serve on a panel at the UK Conference on Preparing Future Faculty in the Natural and Physical Sciences.
Mark Morgan , B.S. 1994, received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1999 and is now employed at the Center for Computing Sciences in Bowie, MD.
Sangwon Park , Ph.D. 1992, is at Dong-A University in Pusan, South Korea. He is visiting the University of Kentucky in 2000. He will be promoted to Associate Professor in the summer of 2000.
Bob Robertson , Ph.D. 1996, took a position at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama in May 1999.
Makhmud Sagandykov , is finishing his graduate work under the direction of Ed Enochs. He has taken a position as an actuary at Western Southern Life in Cincinnati, Ohio.
James Stepp , Ph.D. 1968, is in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Houston.
Rose Ann Stepp (nee McGinnis) , M.S. 1965, teaches mathematics at St. Agnes Academy in Houston, Texas. Rose Ann and her husband James are the parents of three girls including Liz who entered the graduate program in Mathematics at the University of Kentucky in the fall of 1999.
Elizabeth Yanik (nee Greenwell) , Ph.D. 1982 is a professor in Division of Mathematics and Computer Science at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. She is working on programs to attract young women into mathematics and science.
Joe Yanik , Ph.D. 1979, is a professor in the division of mathematics at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. Among his current activities, he is using Java to create mathematical activities for the web. Visit http://www.mathcsjava.emporia.edu to see his work.
Mary Beth Brookshire Young , B.S. 1990, is working as law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court during the 1999-2000 term.
Todd Young , B.S. 1985, is an assistant professor of mathematics at Ohio University and will spend most of the year investigating chaotic dynamical systems as a visiting researcher at the University of Maryland. Todd and his wife Mary Beth have two children, Donald, 9 and Emily, 5.
S. Vincent Zink , B.S. 1972, has been elected vice president and chief financial officer of U.S. Financial Life Insurance Co.