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Undergraduate Research
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The department of Mathematics and Statistics has identified several learning outcomes for our
mathematics majors. Two of the most important outcomes are that
all students should participate in undergraduate mathematical research
and all students should
be able to communicate difficult mathematical ideas in written
form and verbally. We attend to these goals in many ways.
- All mathematics majors at YSU must complete a senior project. The project should be typed and presented to the
faculty and university community before graduation. I have advised senior projects
- 2001-2002, Robert Shuttleworth
- 2002-2003, Carla Liguore, "Group Theory of the Rubik's Cube."
- 2002-2003, Sarah Shevetz, "Statistical Analysis: Fitch High School Placement."
- 2003-2004, Cris Daniluk, "Principles of Elliptic Curve Cryptography."
- 2003-2004, Allison Pfaff, "The Rubik's Cube Group and Some of it's Subgroups."
- 2004-2005, Maria Salcedo, "Knots!".
- 2004-2005, Melissa Marshall, "Dividing it Fairly..If you Can."
- 2006-2007, Scott Hunter, "Continued Fractions."
- 2006-2007, Leah Aulizia, joint with Dr Neil Flowers, "Finding the Group of Symmetries of the set of 4x4 Sudoku Boards."
- 2007-2008, Carrie Davis, joint with Dr George Yates, "Modeling Basketball Free Throws."
- 2007-2008, Tom Zetts, joint with Dr George Yates, "How should you throw a football?"
For more information on undergraduate mathematics research, read the excellent article
But How Do I Do Mathematical Research?”
by Jeff Suzukih, available at MAA on-line.
- The YSU chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon hosts an annual
Pi Mu Epsilon Regional Mathematics
Conference
for undergraduate mathematics majors on the third Saturday of
February. The purpose of the conference is to give undergraduate mathematics
majors a chance to give
presentations without being intimidated by the presence of faculty. It
also allows students to meet others with similar interests and share in the wonder of mathematics.
More than 100 students from colleges and universities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia attend and give presentations.
High school students interested in mathematics are also invited
to attend. We again have generous sponsorship by NSF Grant DMS-0241090. If you are interested in
planning a conference yourself, or would like to attend our conference, please do not hesitate to email me.
For other information on the conference, read my article
The Youngstown State University
Undergraduate Mathematics Conference at MAA on-line.
- We have a long tradition of bringing students to professional mathematics meetings. Each spring we
take between 5 and 10 undergraduate students to the
Ohio Section of the
Mathematical Association of America (MAA) spring meeting. This year the meeting
will be at the University of Akron,
March 31-April 1, 2006. All students attending will give a presentation. Interested students should
contact me for details.
- Every summer we bring undergraduate students to the National meeting of
Pi Mu Epsilon and the annual summer meeting of the
Mathematical Association of America (MAA) .
It is at this meeting that our students
really shine. YSU has had more national speaker winners than any other university!
The National organization of Pi Mu Epsilon typically
gives 7-10 awards at this annual meeting.
- In 2002 (Burlington, VT) we had 3 National PME Speaker Awards, including one for Best Undergraduate Research.
- In 2003 (Boulder, CO), we had 2 National PME Speaker Awards.
- In 2004 (Providence, RI), we had 3 National PME Speaker Awards, including one for Best Undergraduate Research.
- In 2005 (Albuquerque, NM), we had 3 National PME Speaker Awards, and 2 National MAA Speaker Awards.
- In 2006 (Knoxville, TN), we had 5 National PME Speaker Awards.
- In 2006 (San Jose, CA), we had 4 National PME Speaker Awards.
