Old Dominion University

Mathematics & Statistics

Newsletter

Inside this issue

Chair’s Message

In Memory of Mark Lesley

JRMF ..........................................2

Candice Gerstner ........................3

Featured Faculty ..........................4

Special points of interest

• RFB Seminars

• JRMF

Chair’s Message: Dr. Hideaki Kaneko

This newsletter is a bit late in going out, but it covers the news from Fall 2019.

I am happy to report to you that the department continues to thrive in the areas of

research and teaching. A new concentration, Mathematics of Data Science, in the MS and PhD programs was approved and we are in the process of updating our graduate catalog. We’ve created several graduate level courses to support this

new concentration. A special recognition should be given to Dr. Yuesheng Xu, who is helping us build a solid group of data scientists in the department. This

new concentration, Mathematics of Data Science, together with our undergradu-ate major, Big Data Analytics, established two years ago, solidify us as a depart-

ment which offers a variety of courses in data science. Some of these courses are application-oriented data science courses such as Machine Learning, Modern Statistical Methods for Big Data Analytics and Genomic Data Science and others

are advanced theoretical courses such as Large-scale Optimization, High-Dimensional Statistics, Applied Functional Data Analysis and Transform Meth-

ods for Data Science.

In the fall of 2019, we’ve had a very successful year in the area of grant acquisi-

tions. The following faculty members are currently supported by grants: John

Tweed, Ruhai Zhou, Li-Shi Luo, Nail Yamaleev, Yuesheng Xu, Guohui Song,

Ray Cheng, Sookyung Joo, Rao Chaganty, Fang Hu, Xiang Xu, Ke Shi, Norou

Diawara, Kayoung Park.

Congratulations to all for your hard work!

The department continues to run several pilot programs. The pilot program for

Math 162: Pre-Calculus I is returning some promising results in improving stu-

dent success. Bob Strozak, Blair Swoope, Andrea Jones and Jeanette Shaw led

this pilot program. Robin Flanagan led the piloting of Math 102: College Algebra

and Math 103: College Algebra with Supplemental Instruction using ALKES.

Robin is assisted by Jeanette Shaw and Lisa Blum. We are expanding the list

of our online courses. Andrea Jones and Jeanette Shaw are restructuring the

curriculum for Math 200: Calculus for Business and Economics and Heather

Kunkel is restructuring Math 205: Calculus for Life Science curriculum.

Recently, online Math 211 – Calculus I was completed. Online versions of Math 212 – Calculus II and Math 205 – Calculus for Life Science are being developed.

We anticipate that the demand for online courses will continue to grow and the department will be adding more online courses in the future.

Fall 2019 Volume 1, Issue 5

Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival (JRMF)

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On February 29, 2020, the Department will host its third annual Julia Robinson Mathe-matics Festival. The festival is meant to nurture the students’ interest in mathematics by letting them work individually or in groups. JRMF emphasizes more on collaboration

than competition and encourages participants to help each other. The events attract large numbers of students from the Hampton Roads area in grades third through eighth. We ex-pect more than 200 students to participate in February.

Some tidbits about Julia Robinson: JRMF is named after Dr. Julia Robinson (1919-1985) who served as Professor of Mathe-

matics at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1975, she was the first female math-

ematician to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences. She is renowned for her

work in solving Hilbert’s Tenth Problem.

At the 1900 International Congress of Mathematicians, held that year in Paris, the Ger-

man mathematician David Hilbert put forth a list of 23 unsolved problems that he saw as

being the greatest challenges for twentieth-century mathematics. Hilbert's 10th problem

is to find an algorithm for deciding whether a Diophantine equation (a polynomial equa-

tion) has an integral solution.

Julia Robinson, along with Martin Davis and Hilary Putman, worked on the problem and she gave a fundamental result which contributed to the solution to Hilbert's Tenth Prob-lem, making what became known as the Robinson hypothesis. She also did important work on that problem with Yuri Matijasevic who gave the complete solution in 1970 that such an algorithm cannot exist.

Benefits of S.T.E.M.

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics is vital to 21st Century in the Hampton Roads region and to the United States of America. It is more important than ever that our nation’s youth are prepared to bring knowledge and skills to solve problems, make sense of information, and know how to gather and evaluate evidence to make decisions. ODU’s MathFestival:L.E.A.P. Math will help students reignite a love of math throughplay.

Join us at the 3rd Annual ODU Mathematics Festival. Thisyear’s theme is “L.E.A.P. Math” Learn, Engage, Accelerate, Prepare. Students will explore math like they have never imagined before. L.E.A.P. Math will be held on Saturday, February 29, 2020 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Old Dominion University Webb Center. To register go to www.odu.edu/mathfestival and registration opens on Friday, January 17,2020.

All Hampton Roads students in grades third to eighth willjump hands-first into an exciting day filled with S.T.E.M.based activities. Each game is designed to build confidence

regardless of the math level your student is on. Special “X”characters have been created to fully engage the attentionspan of each student. Learn and play activities include robots,3-D games, candy conundrum and tower of rings just to namea few.

Monarch excitement is building as faculty, staff andstudentsprepare for this fun filled day of S.T.E.M. There will begiveaways and food provided to each participant. The festivalis a non-competitive celebration of great ideas and problemsin mathematics and computerscience!

Old Dominion University Mathematics and Statistics Department has participated in the Julia Robinson Math Festival since 2018. Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival supports locally organized events that inspire K–12 studentsto explore the richness and beauty of mathematics throughcollaborative, creative problem-solving.

X marks the spot for learning math at the ODU Mathematics Festival: L.E.A.P. Math. For more details about this event contact Blair Swoope at eswoope@odu.edu or Katie Smithk3smith@odu.edu or go to www.odu.edu/sci.

odu.edu/sci

#ODU/SCI

Science

Technology

Engineering

Mathematics

X Marks the Spot at ODU’s L.E.A.P.Math

“The festival is meant to nurture the students’ interest in mathematics byletting them work individually or in groups. JRMF emphasizes more on collaboration than competition and encourages participants to help each other. “ - Hideaki Kaneko, ODU Mathematics &Statistics

“This [Math] Festival exposes young students to the excitement and sheer funof math. We want participants to understand that pursuing math and science can be incredibly interesting.” - Gail Dodge, ODU Dean College of Sciences

____________________

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Dr. Candice Gerstner received her PhD in Computational and Applied Mathematics in 2011. Upon graduation, she joined the National Security Agency (NSA). Recently, at the July 25, 2019 ceremony held at the White House, Dr. Gerstner was awarded a prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for her work at NSA. Awards Information posted on the National Science Foundation Website: In 1996, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) was commissioned to create an award to recognize and honor outstanding scientists and engineers at the outset of their independent research careers. The NSTC was established to coordinate the multiagency science and technology policy-making process, and to implement and integrate the President's science and technology policy agenda across the federal government. The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) embodies the high priority placed by the government on maintaining the leadership position of the United States in science by producing outstanding scientists and engineers and nurturing their continued development. The Awards identify a cadre of outstanding scientists and engineers who will broadly advance science and the missions important to the participating agencies. The PECASE Awards are intended to recognize some of the finest scientists and engineers who, while early in their research careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge during the twenty-first century. The Awards foster innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology, increase awareness of careers in science and engineering, give recognition to the scientific missions of participating agencies, enhance connections between fundamental research and national goals, and highlight the importance of science and technology for the nation's future. The PECASE Award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. The awards are conferred annually at the White House following recommendations from participating agencies. To be eligible for a PECASE Award, an individual must be a U.S. citizen, national or permanent resident. Each Presidential award winner receives a citation, a plaque and funding from their agency for up to five years to advance his or her research. Individuals can receive only one PECASE award in their careers. The agencies participating in the PECASE Awards program are: • Department of Agriculture • Department of Commerce • Department of Defense • Department of Energy • Department of Education • Department of Health and Human Services: National Institutes of Health • Department of Veterans Affairs • National Aeronautics and Space Administration • National Science Foundation Congratulations to Candice for this great achievement! Candice is scheduled to visit the department in April 2020 for a talk.

An ODU Alumnus, Dr. Candice

Course Coordinators:

Math 101M—Shari Davis

Math 102—Lisa Blum Math 103M—R. Flanagan

Math 162M—E. Swoope Math 163—R. Stowe Math 200—Andrea Jones

Math 211/22/312—

P. Bogacki & Gordon Melrose Stat—130M—K. Rafferty

Robin Flanagan

Ms. Flanagan received her MS de-

gree in Education from Old Do-

minion University in 2006. Robin

also completed 15 additional grad-

uate credits in mathematics. She

joined the Department as a lecturer

in Fall 2013. Robin serves as a

course coordinator of Math 103M

since 2014. She is the pioneer of

the pilot program for Math 103M

which uses ALKES in its instruction. Robin has also been in-

volved in First Class activities for incoming freshmen since Au-

gust 2014.

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Sookyung Joo

Dr. Joo received her PhD in Mathematics from Purdue University in 2004. Upon

graduation, Dr. Joo spent two year as a post-doc research associate at Institute for Mathematics and its Applications in University of Minnesota and the following four years as Key Fan Professor of Mathematics at University of California - Santa

Barbara. Sookyung joined the Department as Assistant Professor of Mathematics in 2010. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016. She studies the model-ing of a liquid crystal and Sookyung gave more than 40 invited talks throughout

the world on this subject. Dr. Joo also received external funding from several sources, including the current grant from NSF, “Collaborative Research: Field-Induced Mesophases”.

Featured Faculty

Featured Faculty

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In Memory of Mark Lesley Professor Mark Lesley Some of you may recall, in the spring 2019 edition of this Newsletter, I wrote the passing of Professor Mark Lesley. Mr. Mark Lesley, Associate Professor Emeritus, who retired in 1997, passed away this year. Prof. Lesley received his BS (’58) and MS (’60) degree from American University of Beirut. He joined the Department of Mathematics and Statistics of ODU in 1964 as Assistant Professor of Mathematics. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 1977. He served as Assistant Chairman from 1975 to 1997. He was a passionate teacher who influenced many students to choose a career in mathematics. Recently, his estate erected a bench in his memory. The bench is located near the east entrance of ECSB building. ——————————————————————————————————— Officers Hideaki Kaneko – Chair

Yuesheng Xu – Associate Chair of Research

Gordon Melrose – Assistant Chair of Instruction

Ruhai Zhou – Graduate Program Director

Rao Chaganty—Statistics Program Director

Bob Strozak – Chief Departmental Advisor

Przemek Bogacki – Director of Online Instruction

Yan Peng – Coordinator of the Richard F. Barry Colloquium Series

Richard F. Barry Seminars — Spring 2020:

2/6—Theresa Dayton, AirForce

2/14—Ihsan Topaloglu—VCU

2/27-Joshua Lambert -University of Cincinnati

3/5 - Fred Hickernell-Illnois Institute of Technology

4/24– Yu Chen– University of Florida

Anyone who has suggestions for the fall and Spring seminar speakers, contact Yan Peng at ypeng@odu.edu.