The Mobius Trefoil Tribune - University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

The Möbius Trefoil Tribune
A Publication of the Mathematics Student Affairs Committee
Issue XXIII http://www.uwec.edu/math/Labs/mtt.htm October 2010
My Experience at Sandia National
Laboratories: By Mark Bauer
This summer I had the opportunity to intern
for Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque,
NM through a Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) Scholarship. My internship
was with the National Infrastructure Simulation
and Analysis Center (NISAC), which
is a modeling, simulation, and analysis program
within the Department of Homeland Security.
NISAC came into existence to serve as a
“source of national expertise to address critical
infrastructure protection” research and analysis.
I worked with other DHS interns as well as
full time employees.
While in Albuquerque, I was put on a team
in NISAC who work with Complex Adaptive
Systems. We were laying the foundation for
an exchange based model, driven by ordinary
differential equations, which would eventually
serve as a multi-purpose model. An application
of interest to me was the fact that when completed,
the model would be able to effectively
model the interbank transactions that drive the
health of our economy. This model had many
other applications that we were preparing to
model in the future.
The internship was an experience greatly
beneficial to my academic career. I enjoyed
being in New Mexico for the summer, as the
weather was great and there was much to do
in the city. I would highly recommend this internship
to anybody considering it and I have
even considered going back to the national laboratory.
My Summer at Wabash College
REU: By Tristan Williams
For 8 weeks last summer I lived in Crawfordsville,
Indiana. I was participating in an
REU (research experience for undergraduates)
at Wabash College. Thirteen students from
across the country, including myself, formed
5 research groups, two focused on commutative
ring theory (an area of abstract algebra),
and three focused on various topics in applied
math. As far as the research went, we were
mostly on our own. There were several professors
who guided us, but the theorems we
proved and the papers we wrote were truly our
work. It was an awesome experience! But even
though the focus was mathematics, we spent
plenty of time enjoying the summer. I made
12 new friends and learned a lot about myself,
the world, philosophy, and even picked up some
Mandarin. I would highly recommend participating
in a summer REU to anyone who loves
mathematics and is looking for a great summer
experience!
New Faculty
The Department of Mathematics is pleased
to welcome a new colleague this fall. Dr. Chris
Ahrendt has accepted a faculty appointment
as Assistant Professor of Mathematics and is
currently teaching two sections of Math 114
and a section of Math 324. Chris moved to
Eau Claire with his wife, Carol, and their new
daughter, Michelle, in August of 2010 after
completing his doctorate at the University of
Nebraska - Lincoln. His general area of interest
is analysis, and his research is in time
scales, a relative new branch of mathematics
that attempts to unify continuous and discrete
analysis.
Old Faculty
Professor Don Reynolds has announced his
retirement at the end of Fall Semester. He
came to UWEC in 1992 as Dean of Arts and
Sciences. In Fall 1995, he became a full-time
faculty member in the Department of Mathematics.
His area of expertise is that of “general
topology”
Dr. Reynolds is one of the most talented
advisors in the Department, having given guidance
and consul to many undergraduates. He
is also one of the Department’s most talented
instructors, and enjoys teaching Calculus I,
Calculus II, Introduction to Point Set Topology,
and Introduction to Real Analysis. Each
Fall he taught his Calculus I sections as First
Year Experiences. He also taught a very popular
seminar titled “Probability and Inferential
Logic.” In this seminar, students learned fundamentals
of probability and logic by learning
to play bridge.
Research collaborations with students include:

Chaos Theory and Equicontinuity (Scott
Larson) Markov Chains and Student Academic
Progress (Jessica Porath)
Exceptional service to the University includes
serving on the PEEQ Evaluation Team.
Exceptional service to the Department includes
chairing the Recruitment Committee for several
years.
Professor Reynolds will be dearly missed.
(Excuse me Don, I meant “will be missed dearly.”)
New Classes
Two new courses have been added to the
actuarial science curriculum beginning in the
2010-2011 academic year. Math 460: Contingent
Payment Analysis is a three credit course
offered for the first time in the spring semester
of 2011. Math 470: Mathematical Models for
Financial Economics is a four credit course that
is being offered in the fall semester of 2010.
With the addition of these courses, the UW-
Eau Claire actuarial program includes course
work that prepares students for the first four
professional exams sponsored by the Society of
Actuaries (SOA) and Casualty Actuarial Society
(CAS). In addition, the program meets all
three validation by educational experience categories
as specified by SOA and CAS. There
are currently 17 actuarial programs worldwide
that are designated as Centers of Actuarial Excellence
(CAE) and these curricular additions
move the UW-Eau Claire program closer to
achieving CAE designation.
Class schedule for Spring 2011.
It is time to register for next term. Here are the
upper division mathematics courses for the Spring
Semester of 2010.
• Diff. Eq. & Lin. Alg. (mth 312), 4 cr. 12-1
p.m. MWRF, Ahrendt.
• Discrete Mathematics (mth 314/514), 3 cr.
1-2 p.m. MWF, Riehl.
• Intro to Real Analysis (mth 316/516), 3 cr.
10-11 a.m. TuTh, Tong.
• Intro to Complex Variables (mth 318/518),
3 cr. 8-9 a.m. MWF, Smith.
• Abst. Alg. for Teachers (mth 322), 3 cr. 4:30-
5:45 p.m. TuTh, Serros.
• Linear Algebra and Matrix Theory (mth
324/524), 3 cr. 2-3 p.m. MWF, Riehl.
• Modern Geometry (mth 330/530), 3 cr. 2-
3:15 a.m. TuTh, Giamati.
• Number Theory (mth 341), 3 cr. 10-11 a.m.
MWF, Schoen
• Mathematical Statistics (mth 347/547), 4 cr.
11-12 a.m. MWF & 11-1 a.m.& 1-3 p.m. Tu,
Kraker.
• Intro to Financial Math (mth 350), 4 cr. 10-
11 a.m. MWRF, Whitledge.
• Numerical Analysis II (mth 352/552), 4 cr.
10-11 a.m. MWF, Elgindi.
• Math Modeling (mth 354/554), 4 cr. 9-10
a.m. MTWF, Schoen.
• Patterns of Prob Solving (mth 365/565), 3
cr. 11-12 a.m. MWF, Masarik.
• Abstract Algebra I (mth 425/625), 3 cr.
12:30-1:45 p.m. TuTh, Howe.
• Abstract Algebra II (mth 426/626), 3 cr.
12:30-1:45 p.m. TuTh, Duffy.
• Digital Image Processing (mth 440/640), 3
cr. 6-7:15 p.m. MW, Walker.
• Survey Sampling (mth 445), 3 cr. 2-3:15 p.m.
MW, Kraker.
• Teach Math with Technology (mth 451/651),
3 cr. 4-5 p.m. MWF, Hlas.
• Cont. Payment Analysis (mth 460/660), 3
cr. 10-11 p.m. MWF, Presler.
• Special Topics (mth 491), 1-3 cr. Time TBA,
Serros.
• Capstone Seminar (mth 493), 1 cr. Time
TBA, Serros.
Ping-Pong Balls
You are given nine ping-pong balls—
identical in appearance and feel, though one
is slightly heavier than the rest. You have a
simple balance scale (two arms with a pivot in
the middle) to help you determine which ball
is the heavy one. How can you find it using the
scale only twice?
Ask Dr. Math.
Dear Dr. Math
My math professors seem to constantly
be giving examples that have nothing to do
with the real-world. Do all mathematicians
sit around creating hypothetical situations
with little real-world application? Or
are there some who can just kick back with
a nice beer every once and a while?
I. Tursty
Dear Tursty,
Of course mathematicians enjoy a good lager as
much as the next chap. In fact, not too long ago
an infinite number of my mathematician friends
stepped over to a bar. The first went up to the bartender
and said, “I’ll have a pint of lager, please.”
Each next one said, “and I’ll have half of what he’s
having.” The bartender was a bit rude: he replied,
“You’re all idiots,” and grabbed two pints and set
them on the bar.