Mathematics Department Newsletter

 


March 2002

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

This should be a fairly newsy newsletter this year.  Since you last heard from us, we have had a number of notable retirements, we have hired many new faculty members, and we regret to report the passing of Brother Joseph W. Stander.

Brother Joe passed away in February 2001 following a long illness.  An obituary for Brother Joe appears in this letter.  I will add that working with Brother Joe has been an honor.  He served as Provost of this university from 1974-1989; I think he is best remembered for supporting faculty initiatives that supported student initiatives.  The Stander Symposium honors Brother Stander and provides an annual forum to celebrate undergraduate research.  It is an exciting two day event every March.  Following Brother’s passing, faculty members in the Department of Mathematics donated funds which were then matched by the department.  These funds were then matched by the Office of the Provost and again by the Honors Program.  These funds will be used to recognize excellence at the Stander Symposium. 

Tom Gantner, John McCloskey, Carroll Schleppi and Ralph Steinlage retired on June 30, 2001.  135 plus years of outstanding service is represented in that previous sentence.  Citations for each will appear in the newsletter, but again, I will add some comments.  This has been a stable department for many years.  Much of that stability is represented in these folks.  It has been a real honor working with Tom, Jack, Carroll and Ralph.  We wish each of them well with their new pursuits; they all drop in often enough with big smiles on their faces to let us know that they are doing just fine.  We are faced with an unenviable task; how do we replace these folks?

To begin to answer that question, we were very active and we were outrageously successful on the hiring trail last year.  We hired five people, Stephanie Edwards, Peter Hovey, Rebecca Krakowski, Darren Parker and Qin Sheng, into tenure track positions.  Short biographies for each person will appear in the newsletter.  Several years ago, anticipating the rapid turnover in the department, a vision subcommittee of the department analyzed our role at the University of Dayton.  In response to the analysis, the subcommittee constructed a vision statement and a hiring plan.  It is a good thing.  We currently have nine faculty members with less than four years experience at the University of Dayton.  In our vision, we recognize the responsibility to deliver a strong major; several of the new

faculty focus on the traditional core areas of mathematics.  Our students will continue to gain admittance to top Ph.D. granting institutions.  We also recognize that the number of majors is small.  In our vision, we continue and strengthen our connections with the applied and professional programs across the campus and in the community.  We have recently hired two statisticians, a specialist in mathematics education, a computationalist, and a combinatorialist.

Transition on campus continues, but in fact this year has been a year of waiting and expectation instead of a year of transition.  We have been awaiting the announcement of the new president.  On February 18, the board of trustees and the Marianists appointed Daniel J. Curran, executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs at Saint Joseph’s University, as UD’s 18th president.  For more details, try the web site, http://alumni.udayton.edu/np_story.asp?storyID=708.  We also await the ground breaking for the building and renovation project in the science complex (Sherman and Wohlleben Halls).  With the renovation will come the dedicated Schraut Memorial Lecture Hall, and so we await.  If you want to keep up with details related to the new construction, try the web site, http://www.shook.constructware.com/fsCurrentProjects.asp?PrjID=18838&DenySiteAccess=0.  Next year should be a year of transition; I anticipate next year’s Message From The Chair will inform you of many of these upcoming transitions.

Next year we intend to organize the 20th Biennial Seminar.  The seminar is not the same without Professor Schraut.  We are looking for ideas to regenerate excitement and enthusiasm in the seminar.  If you have any ideas, please contact me at Paul.Eloe@notes.udayton.edu.  And please feel free to contact me with ideas beyond the scope of the seminar.

Please contact me if you see anything misreported in this newsletter.  The letter is on our departmental website and so, misprints will be corrected.  In an effort to use our financial and material resources wisely, we intend, in the future, to distribute the newsletter electronically.  Please share with us your email address.   Visit the web site, http://www.udayton.edu/~mathdept/newsidx.html, to see the online version of the newsletter.

Thanks. Paul Eloe

 

THANKS !

Thank you for your generous support.  In the past we have relied heavily on your support so we can compete technologically.  This has been no small task as technology challenges mathematics education.  Clearly computation and quantification is a part of the whole of mathematics.  A common perception with which we contend is that mathematics is computation.  For example, your support gives us the flexibility this year to initiate an endeavor in support of the School of Business Administration (SBA).  Beginning in the Fall term, 2002, all incoming SBA students are required to use laptop computers.  This policy goes campus wide beginning with the Fall term, 2003.  Gerry Shaughnessy and Stephanie Edwards will deliver MTH 128, Finite Mathematics, and 129, Calculus for Business, respectively, to groups of first year SBA students in a laptop environment.  The motivation is that SBA students are learning their mathematics in a professional environment.  The challenge for us is to maintain the integrity of the mathematics.  In other endeavors, we continue to develop our online instruction capabilities as well as online tutorial abilities.  With your support we continue to extend our efforts and stay competitive.

Our records, in conjunction with those of the University Advancement Office indicate the following people have donated a total of $4,048.00 to the Department of Mathematics during the year 2001:

 

Stephen L. Adams (73)       

David L. Allen

Timothy P. Bahmer (91)

Jonathan E. Baniak (81)

Alan (55) & Lydia Powers (57) Berens

Ronald L. Beisel (63)

Cheryl A. (Gibson) Bergeon (83)      

Gregory J. Bishop (86)

Gregory Campbell (70)                        

David (93)& Cheryl (92) Prenger Edelmann

Paul & Laura Schneider (84) Eloe     

Kevin N. Fowlkes (92)

Thomas E. Gantner (62)                      

Michael J. Gregory (79)

Dorothy E. (Como) Hafertepen (81) 

Mr. & Mrs. Michael J. Hartke (66)

William J. Huster (78)                                         

Paul S. Judd (82)

John J. McGrath (60)                          

George Morrison III (82)

Edward & Joyce Marie Thomas (74) Ray

Timothy J. Rice (88)

Paula Saintignon (82)

Robert W. Springer (77)

Julie A. Suwalski (92)                         

Kevin A. Thomas (76)

 

The above total includes employee matching gifts from the following corporations and foundations:

 

Cinergy Foundation                           

Nielson Media Research

Hewitt Associates LLC      

The NCR Foundation

IBM Foundation 

Ontario Corporation Foundation

ITW Foundation                                 

Principal Financial Group Fnd.

Lockheed Martin Corporation          

Towers Perrin Co.

 

THE KENNETH C. SCHRAUT

MEMORIAL LECTURESHIP FUND

Thank you also for your generous support of the Kenneth C. Schraut Memorial Lectureship Fund.  Last year Joseph Diestel (64) kicked off the event and this fall (see below) Richard Schoen (72) followed with the second Kenneth C. Schraut Memorial Lecture.  The opportunity to sponsor a major mathematics celebration each year is wonderful.  Thanks.  The following individuals donated an additional $2400.00 to the endowment, which now has market value $24,560.03, during 2001:

 

Philip Charles Aftoora (69)

Richard R. Allen (75)

Eugene Bolzan (69)

Alex Koler (64)

Ronald & Pamela Steinkirchner (76)

Daniel Voss (79)

James T. Wiggenhorn (70)

 

The above total includes matching gifts from the following corporations and foundations:

 

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Motorola Foundation

 

The Second Kenneth C. Schraut Memorial Lecture

On September 21, 2001, Dr. Richard Schoen (72) delivered the second Kenneth C. Schraut Memorial Lecture entitled Geometry in Two and Three Dimensions.  The abstract can be found at http://www.udayton.edu/~mathdept/biennial.html.  Rick was the recipient of this year’s University of Dayton Distinguished Alumnus Award and he received the award at the Alumni Association Awards Dinner during the evening of Friday, September 21.  He spent the day in the Department of Mathematics and we had great fun.  He lunched with our current majors, Christopher Bomba, Michelle Franz and Julia Tosi.  Chikako Mese (91) flew in to join the luncheon and the day’s festivities.  Chikako studied with Rick and earned her Ph.D. at Stanford.  She is now on the faculty at Connecticut College.  Marilyn Schraut Szorc, and her son Greg, joined us for the festivities.  Greg is a senior in high school and he is interested in biomedical engineering.  The Szorc’s took this opportunity to take a recruiting visit to UD and participate in the Memorial Lecture.  We enjoyed seeing Al Berens (55), Hal Schoen (63), Jim Schoen (67), Dan Voss (79), and Joe Huelsman (98).  Rick spoke to a truly diverse audience that day consisting of experts, non-experts, faculty, students, friends and family.

On a sobering note, September 21 follows September 11, 2001 quite closely.  There was still considerable emotion and uneasiness.  Travel was not easy.  Rick, we will always remember and appreciate that you never wavered and kept your commitment to deliver the second Kenneth C. Schraut Memorial Lecture.  Thanks.

 

FACULTY UPDATE

 

Full Time Faculty

Atif Abueida, 2000                   Glen Lobo, 1999              

Wiebke Diestelkamp, 2000       Joe Mashburn, 1981      

Stephanie Edwards, 2001          Harry Mushenheim, 1965

Paul Eloe, 1980                            Shirley Ober, 1977

Bob Gorton, 1969                      Darren Parker, 2001

Joan Hart, 1999                         Youssef Raffoul, 1999

Aparna Higgins, 1984               Paula Saintignon, 1983

Peter Hovey, 2001                     Qin Sheng, 2001

Muhammad Islam, 1985            Gerry Shaughnessy, 1967

John Kauflin, 1966                    Les Steinlage, 1969

Becky Krakowski, 2000

 

Part Time Faculty

Steve Benintendi, 2000                Don Jurick, 1991

Eric Cheney, 1989         Karen Mickel1992

Cheryl Edelmann, 1999                Scott Mitter, 2001

Robert Finnegan, 1985               Betty Schneider, 1989

Cathy Hundt, 1995

 

Emeriti

Stanley Back, 1998               Richard Peterson, 1998

Bill Friel, 1999                        Ben Rice, 1998

Tom Gantner, 2001               Carroll Schleppi, 2001

Jack McCloskey, 2001         Ralph Steinlage, 2001

                Jerry Strange, 1999

 

NEW FACULTY

 

Stephanie Edwards, Ph.D. 1998, University of Wisconsin, Madison, complex variables.  Stephanie has three years experience as an assistant professor at Bemidji State University in northern Minnesota before coming to UD.  She sometimes complains of the heat but she has yet to complain of the mosquitoes.

 

Pete Hovey, (75) Ph.D. 1980, University of Kentucky, statistics.  Pete has worked as a statistician for UDRI for many years and has three years teaching experience at AFIT.  Welcome home Pete.

 

Becky Krakowski, Ph.D. 2000, North Carolina State University, mathematics education.  Becky was here last year on a one year appointment.  We like to think she stayed due to the great working conditions and great colleagues.  Might it have something to do with working at the scorer’s table at home games or being on a first name basis with Coach Oliver Purnell?

 

Darren Parker, Ph.D. 1998, University of Wisconsin, Madison, algebra.  Darren has three years experience as an assistant professor at Bemidji State University before coming to UD.  He doesn’t complain of the mosquitoes either and he is spouse to Stephanie Edwards.

 

Qin (Tim) Sheng, Ph.D. 1989, Cambridge University, numerical partial differential equations.  Tim spent five years at the National University of Singapore and another six years at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette before joining us at the University of Dayton.  We have delivered numerical analysis for ten years now; Tim adds a new dimension, hard computation, to our ability to deliver numerical analysis.

 

CITATIONS FOR RETIRING FACULTY

 

Thomas E. Gantner, Ph.D.

Tom came to the University of Dayton as a first-year student in 1958 and stayed in the old Gibbons Hotel as a freshman.  Upon completing a Ph.D. in mathematics from Purdue, he returned in 1966 as a first year faculty member in the Department of Mathematics.  Tom has produced a full career in teaching and research; his efforts include developing foundational theory in fuzzy mathematics, writing a textbook and developing volumes of new curricula.  Tom recently completed twelve years as the departmental chair where he served with vigor and vision; he has continued a long line of stable and excellent leadership in the department.

 

John W. McCloskey, Ph.D.

 

John, known as Jack by friends and colleagues, came to the University of Dayton as a first-year student in 1956.  Jack was one of ten incoming first-year students that year recruited to work for Project Globe, the forerunner of UDRI.  Upon completing a Ph.D. in statistics from Michigan State University, he returned in 1965 as a first year faculty member in the Department of Mathematics.  Jack has a long established record as an excellent teacher and he has developed much of the current statistics curricula.  Moreover, Jack has contributed to the long line of excellence and stability in departmental leadership as he served for twelve years as Chair of the Department of Mathematics.  In retirement, Jack will pursue his many projects in numismatics, where he is a nationally recognized scholar.

 

Carroll M. Schleppi

 

Carroll came to the University of Dayton in 1982 as a part-time instructor in mathematics in the School of Engineering; two years later she joined as a full-time faculty member and was a pioneer in the introduction of technology to the calculus curriculum.  In the fall of 1998, Carroll was appointed to a position in the Department of Mathematics where she immediately began to develop as a mathematics education specialist.  She spent the past several years becoming an expert in the NCTM standards and teaching content to future teachers in a hands-on, group learning and student research environment; the experience peaked this past spring when she delivered MTH 205 in the Learning Teaching Center.

 

Ralph C. Steinlage, Ph.D.

 

Ralph came to the University of Dayton as a first-year student in 1958; upon completing a Ph.D. in mathematics from the Ohio State University, he returned in 1966 as a first year faculty member in the Department of Mathematics.  Ralph serves as an excellent example for the teacher/scholar model; his efforts include developing foundational theory in fuzzy mathematics, writing several textbooks, developing volumes of new curricula, winning varieties of grant money to fund both technology labs and innovative teaching methods.  He is internationally recognized in the fuzzy mathematics community.  In 1982, Ralph’s university colleagues recognized his excellence as the teacher/scholar and awarded him the Faculty Award in Scholarship.

 

Awards

 

Paul Eloe won the College Award for Outstanding Scholarship for the year 2000.  The citation read:  Dr. Paul W. Eloe has distinguished himself by his scholarly achievements in mathematics. He has made significant contributions in a number of areas within mathematics.  Dr. Eloe is recognized as one of the leading experts in multi-point boundary value problems.  His work is recognized within the United States and internationally.  Dr. Eloe frequently collaborates with several mathematicians in the theory of boundary value problems and related concepts and is a major participant in this group of outstanding analysts. He has made impressive and influential contributions in the area of positive solutions for ordinary differential equations.  In addition he has contributed to the area of applied problems in mathematics with graduate students at the University of Dayton.  From 1998-2000 Dr. Eloe contributed to 31 articles which he co-authored with colleagues from other institutions, the University of Dayton, and graduate students. He has a sustained record of scholarship over many years having previously been awarded the Alumni Scholarship Award back in 1988.  In addition to Dr. Eloe’s contributions to the literature, he has given many invited talks, currently serves on the editorial boards of four journals, referees numerous manuscripts, has organized conferences and special sessions at meetings, and serves as the Chair of the Mathematics Department at the University of Dayton.  It is clear that Dr. Eloe has a love of mathematics that has translated into significant research and diverse contributions to the discipline.

For his many accomplishments during a career of notable scholarship, the College is very pleased to award the 2000 College Outstanding Scholarship Award to Dr. Paul W. Eloe.

 

FACULTY ACTIVITIES

 

Publications:

Paul Eloe:  (with Boon Yi Soon (00) and D. Kammler) The Fast Fourier Transform Method and Ill-Conditioned Matrices, Applied Mathematics and Computation, 117 (2001), 117-129; (with J. Ehme and J. Henderson) Existence of Solutions for 2nth Order Nonlinear Generalized Sturm-Liouville Boundary Value Problems, Mathematical Inequalites and Applications, 4 (2001), 247-255; (with M. Benchohra) On Nonresonance Impulsive Functional Differential Equations with Periodic Boundary Conditions, Applied Mathematics E-Notes, 1 (2001), 65-72.

Paul Eloe and Muhammad Islam:  Lidstone Boundary Value Problems for Ordinary Differential Equations with Impulse Effects, Communications in Applied Analysis, 5 (2001), 113-120; (with J. Davis) Existence of Triple Positive Solutions for a Nonlinear Impulsive Boundary Value Problem, Proceedings of Dynamics Systems and Applications, Vol. III, (2001), 163-168.

Paul Eloe and Youssef Raffoul:  (with D.T. Reid and W.K.C. Yin) Positive Solutions of some Nonlinear Functional Difference equations, Computers & Mathematics with Applications, 42 (2001), 639-646.

Muhammad Islam and Youssef Raffoul:  Uniform asymptotic stability in linear Volterra difference equations, Pan-American Mathematical Journal, 11(2001), 61-73.

Darren Parker:  U(g)-Galois Extensions, Communications in Algebra, 29 (2001), 2859-2870; Forms of Coalgebras and Hopf Algebras, Journal of Algebra, 239 (2001), 1-34.

Youssef Raffoul:  Stability of the zero solution of Volterra systems of the second kind, Lebanese Science Journal, Volume 2, No. 2, (2001), 89-100.

Q. Sheng:  (with A. Khaliq) Linearly Implicit Adaptive Schemes for Singular Reaction-Diffusion Equations, Chapter 9 of Adaptive Method of Lines, edited by W. Schiesser, A. Vande Wouwer and Philippe Saucez, CRC Press, ISBN:  158488231X, New York and London, 2001; (with A. Khaliq) Adaptive Algorithms for Convection-Diffusion-Reaction Equations of Quenching Type, Dynamics of Continuous, Discrete & Impulsive Systems, Series A, 8 (2001), 129-148; (with R.D. Sudduth, P. Yarala and K. Nichols) Measurement and Simulation of the Crystallinity Distribution in Injection Molded Syndiotactic Polystyrene, DNE/LES Progress and Challenges, Greyden Press, Columbus, 2001, 637-646; (with A. Khaliq and E. Al-Said) Solving the Generalized Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation in Quantum Mechanics via Quartic Spline Approximations, J. Comput. Physics, 166 (2001), 400-417.

 

Presentations and conferences attended:

Atif Abueida delivered a colloquium at Youngstown State University.  Wiebke Diestelkamp delivered  colloquia at Wright State University and at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (the latter as part of the Lecture Series in Experimental Design.)  Paul Eloe delivered a talk at an AMS Special Session in Chattanooga.  Joan Hart delivered a colloquium at the Southern Wisconsin Logic Colloquium at the University of Wisconsin and she delivered a talk at an AMS Special Session at the University of Kansas.  Aparna Higgins was the featured speaker at a Pi Mu Epsilon initiation ceremony at Western Michigan University, the meeting of the Pacific Northwest Section of the MAA, and at the Sixteenth Annual Pi Mu Epsilon Regional Undergraduate Math Conference held at St. Norbert’s College.  She also presented a colloquium at the United States Military Academy.  Aparna conducted minicourses on undergraduate research at the AMS/MAA meetings in New Orleans (co-presented with Joe Gallian and Stephen Hartke (99)), at the Pacific Northwest Section of the MAA meeting, at the Project NExT workshop in Madison, Wisconsin, and at a Preparing Future Faculty workshop at SUNY, Binghamton.  Muhammad Islam and Youssef Raffoul presented talks at an International Conference on Dynamics of Continuous, Discrete and Impulsive Systems held in London, Ontario, Canada in July 2001 and again at the 20th Southeastern-Atlantic Regional Conference on Differential Equations at Wake Forest University, North Carolina.  Becky Krakowski obtained a grant from the Ohio Board of Regents to develop inquiry-based, team taught mathematics and methods courses for in-service teachers seeking middle childhood licensure in mathematics in Ohio.  Qin Sheng presented colloquia at Wright State University and at the Air Force Institute of Technology.  He also delivered The Ellis B. Stouffer Colloquium at the University of Kansas.

The faculty of the Department of Mathematics continue to serve the mathematical community in various ways.  Tom Gantner served as President-Elect, and later in the year, as president of the Ohio Section of the MAA, Bill Friel continued his term as Secretary-Treasurer, Aparna Higgins completed her term as Past President, chaired the Nominating Committee and served on the Teaching Awards Committee, Wiebke Diestelkamp continues to serve on the Committee on Curriculum.  Aparna Higgins continues to serve the MAA as Co-Director of Project NExT, and as a member of several committees related to the national meetings, in particular, site selection and selection of invited address presenters.  She continues her term on the subcommittee on undergraduate research; recently she served on a panel of the National Science Foundation.

 

SABBATICAL:  Aparna Higgins

 

 I had the privilege of spending my 2000-01 sabbatical at the Department of Mathematics at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY.  My husband Bill and I shared a one-year appointment, where we both taught in the fall for USMA and spent the spring pursuing professional development and research activities.  I taught plebes (first-year students) the first course of a four-semester sequence of mathematics courses that is required for all cadets (regardless of major!) at the Academy.  The course is highly structured and taught by about twenty instructors in several sections.  Each section has at most eighteen students in it, and each class is student-centered, with students working at boards for some part of each class.  USMA is well suited for trying out pedagogical innovations, and almost all the mathematics courses there incorporate writing, projects, gateway exams, modeling and technology in addition to lectures and tests.  I enjoyed the safety of being able to experiment with these different forms of learning and teaching in a setting where such innovation was expected and not considered so experimental.  I found the dedication of the faculty to be remarkable.  The department consists of about sixty-seven members, about two-thirds of whom are military officers, most of whom are on a three-year rotation.  The department pursues faculty development for all its members vigorously, and successfully persuades its members to conduct research and present at mathematics conferences, in addition to hosting several mathematics conferences on post.  I had the opportunity of advising two senior projects, and appreciated the department’s willingness to let me work with both their beginning students and their graduating students.  I came back from West Point full of respect for a curriculum that imparts good mathematics to all students enrolled there, full of admiration for a group of faculty who teach with enthusiasm, but with a definite sense of relief at being able to plan my own classes for the fall at UD!      

 

UNDERGRADUATE ACTIVITIES

 

Elizabeth Brooks, Joel Helton, James Goodman and Chris Bomba participated in the 61st Annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition in December 2000.  Chris Bomba and Michael Grote attended the Annual Pi Mu Epsilon Student Conference in September 2001 at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio with their advisor Dr. Joan Hart Also, Dr. Hovey and some of his students in Probability and Statistics II attended.  Tom Filloon (81), who now works for Procter & Gamble, talked to the Math Club members about what he does as a statistician and career opportunities for math majors in statistics.  Julia Tosi worked as a statistician/programmer with Tom Filloon at Procter & Gamble during the summer.  Chris Bomba represented the UD chapter in the MathFest that was held in August 2002 in Madison, WI.   In the pring of 2002 Math Club hosted the 6th Annual UD High School Math Competition. Due to the incredible financial success of last year's High School Math Contest, Pi Mu Epsilon/Math Club raised enough money to give back to the University Community in the form of a $200 donation to the UDSAP service program for Summer 2001.

 

Elizabeth Brooks won the Faculty Award of Excellence in Mathematics.  This award goes to the senior who has demonstrates outstanding achievements in mathematics.  Mike Grote won the Pi Mu Epsilon Award for excellence in the Sophomore Class.  This award recognizes excellence in mathematics.

 

GRADUATE ACTIVITIES

 

Rachael Kenney obtained a Master of Science (MS) degree in applied mathematics in August 2000.  In 2001 five students, Scott Mitter, Yang Gao, Touhid Khandaker, Chad Bhatti, and Yang Wang obtained MS degrees in applied mathematics.  For their Math Clinic projects, Scott Mitter studied “A One Day Workshop’s Effect on Teacher Attitude Toward Technology” with Janet Herrelko, a faculty member in the School of Education.  Yang Gao studied “The method of quasilinearization and a three-point boundary value problem” with Paul Eloe, Yang Wang studied “Compound Orthogonal Array” with Gerry Shaughnessy, Touhid Khandaker studied “Stability Properties of Linear Volterra Discrete Systems with Nonlinear Perturbation” with Youssef Raffoul, and Chad Bhatti studied “Monotone Methods and Higher Order Boundary Value Problems with Impulse Effects” with Muhammad Islam.  The work of Touhid’s Math Clinic has resulted in a research article, which will appear in the Journal of Difference Equations & Applications. The work of Gao’s Math Clinic has resulted in a research article, which will appear in the Journal of the Korean Mathematical Society. The Math Clinic work of Chad Bhatti, also resulted in a research paper and was presented in a special session at the International Conference on Dynamics of Continuous, Discrete and Impulsive Systems held in London, Ontario, Canada, July 2001.  The paper is currently under review for publication in the proceedings of the conference. Scott Mitter holds a teaching position at Fairmont High School in Kettering, Ohio.  Yang Gao, Yang Wang, Touhid Khandaker, and Chad Bhatti are all pursuing Ph.D. degrees in mathematics or statistics; Gao is at North Carolina State University, Wang is at Penn State University, Khandaker is at Southern Illinois University, and Bhatti is at Rice University.

 

RECENT GRADUATE ACTIVITIES

 

Liz Brooks is enrolled in the Ph.D. program in mathematics at Ohio State University where she is a teaching assistant.

 

Dan Shepherd entered the Lalanne Service Program and teaches high school level mathematics in the Cleveland area.

Curtis Schultz and Erin Wietmarschen had a busy summer with their marriage planned in June 2001.  Curtis is an actuary with Ernst and Young in Indianapolis and Erin teaches mathematics at a Cardinal Ritter High School.

 

Mike Silas entered the graduate program in statistics at Miami University.

 

Annette Lindsay lives in Shizuoka, Japan where she teaches English conversation at Kendai University and Shizuoka University through a Christian nondenominational program called Navigators.

 

Scott Lewis recently passed his Ph.D. candidacy exams in physics at the University of Denver.  He is currently seeking research opportunities in environmental physics.

 

Todd Sarver majored in applied mathematical economics and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in economics at Boston University.  The major in applied mathematical economics is a joint effort with the Department of Economics to prepare students for graduate study in economics.  Todd wrote recently and suggested we require more analysis and linear algebra.

 

ALUMNI NEWS

 

Robert Lewand (66) has written a new text Cryptological Mathematics (Mathematics Assoc. of America, Washington, 2000).  The text is an introduction to cryptological mathematics from the branches of number theory, abstract and matrix algebra, probability and statistics.  Robert is a professor at Goucher College in Baltimore where he has earned numerous teaching and research awards, including a Fulbright Faculty Exchange Award to Great Britain.

 

Tom Crellin (67) recently retired from his civilian position with the Department of Defense after 32 years of service.  He also retired as a Navy Captain from the Naval Reserve.  He and his wife Cynthia continue to live in Avon Lake, Ohio where he provides real estate services through Realty One.

 

Margaret Hoile Thomas (74) is a math/science consultant for Prentice Hall Publishing.  She and her husband, Robert, live in Indianapolis with their three children:  Jennifer, Katherine and Robert.

 

Teri Trimbach Dean (79) and her husband Jim announce the birth of Rebecca Teresa who joins her five siblings Julie, Jenny, Steve, Amy and Kristin.  The family lives in Hamilton, Ohio.  Teri celebrates her 20th year with Procter and Gamble this year.

 

Johnathan Baniak (81) and wife Natalie announce the birth of Jessica Kristen Baniak.  Michael is big brother.

 

Roberta Jaskolski (82) and her husband, Sandor Halasz, live in Toledo, OH where they care for her mom.  Roberta teaches developmental mathematics and is working on organizing a Catholic Student Organization at Owens Community College.

 

Sean Donohue (84) and his wife Janet Loch-Donohue (BIO) are both physicians in Nashville, TN.  Sean, an associate professor in Ophthalmology with joint appointments in pediatrics and neurology is the medical director for the outreach program of the Lions Eye Center for Children at Vanderbilt University’s Children’s Hospital in Nashville.  Sean developed an International Lions Foundation Program for China and traveled there with his wife to help implement the screening of 1,600 children under 4 for diseases that often go undetected.  Sean and his wife Janet have four sons.

 

Brian Donahue (85) and his wife, Ann, live in Franklin, TN with their two children Nicole Ann and Bennett James.  Brian is a medical doctor and an assistant professor in the Anesthesiology Department at Vanderbilt University.  His time is mostly devoted to genomics research, funded by the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research and the Vanderbilt Physician Scientist Development Program.  He writes that he will be soliciting research funds from the national Institutes of Health this year.

 

Tom Britt (85) dropped in to chat.  Tom lives in Columbus and works as an Investment Life Actuary for Nationwide.

 

Dave (90) & Lisa Diller (90) announce the birth of their second child Nathan John.

 

Eric Kaufmann (91) and wife Yihong announce the arrival of Alida Guang Kaufmann  Big brother Ryan finds his new little sister very fascinating.

 

Joe Luckey, Ed.D. (91) went to Austin Peay State University in 1992 after finishing a master’s degree at Indiana University in Sports Administration.  He married the volleyball assistant coach, Melissa in 1998.  Joe finished his doctorate in Educational Administration from Tennessee State U in 1999.  His current position at Austin Peay is Asst. AD. for Academic Services.  They had their first child, Adam Kenneth, December 4, 2000.  Joe writes he still uses his math degree to help tutor many of the athletes when he has extra time.  He writes “I wanted to say thanks to everyone I had at UD even though I have taken a different career path with my mathematics degree.”

 

Chikako Mese (91) attended the 2nd Schraut Memorial Lecture.  She is on the faculty at Connecticut College.  This year she is enjoying a pre-tenure sabbatical and has recently won two grants, one an NSF grant and the second supported by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.

 

Daniel Simon (91) and his wife, Linda, announce the births of their fifth and sixth children, twins Alexandra Lyn and Zachary Thomas, who join big sister Shannon and big brothers Daniel, Jr.; Jacob; and Kyle at home in Old Bridge, NJ.

 

Cheryl Prenger Edelman (92) and her husband announce the birth of Nathan Andrew who joins brother Anthony at home in Troy, OH.  Cheryl has been teaching an evening statistics course at UD in the fall semester every year.  She also does periodic consulting work from home.

 

Kristen Toft Lampe (93) and her husband announce the birth of Kaitlyn Anne.  They live in Mukwonago, WI.  Her husband, Peter is at U Wisconsin Whitewater, Kristi is at Carroll College.

 

Taan Said ElAli (93) is an Associate Professor of Engineering & Computing at Wilberforce University.  Recent publications efforts include “Continuous Signals And Systems With Matlab”, CRC Press, January 2001 and T. ElAli, “Solutions Manual for Continuous Signals and Systems with Matlab, CRC Press, January 2001.

 

Peter Pelter (94) and Alicia Streff Pelter (95) announce the birth of Makalia Paige who joins brother Adam Christian at home in Charlotte, NC.

 

Amie Gill Wood (96) and husband, Michael, announce the birth of Ryan James who joins them at home in Wadsworth, OH.

 

Michael Hoch (97) and wife Nicole Skelly Hoch announce the birth of Caleb Michael who joins them at home in West Chester, OH.  Caleb has already toured the campus of UD at the tender age of 1 month when helping his uncle Doug Skelly (’03) move into campus life.

 

Meer M. Hossain (97) is a Sr. Staff Software Engineer at Motorola, Inc. in Alpharetta, GA.

 

Leanne Voos (97) teaches math and science in the Baltimore County Public Schools in Maryland.

 

Joe Huelsman, (98) is working as a statistician at WPAFB.  He got married this April.

 

Kevin Johns (98) married Krista Tilley July 14 in St. Louis, witnessed by a long list of UD alumni.  Kevin is a graduate assistant with the Northwestern University football team.  They live in Glenview, IL.

 

Stephen Hartke (99) is in his third year of the mathematics Ph.D. program at Rutgers University.  He passed his qualifying examinations and will work on a dissertation in graph theory under the direction of Fred Roberts.

 

Ryan Reinhart (99) is working on a Masters in Higher Education with a focus on Student Affairs Administration at Loyola University of Chicago.  He works as a Graduate Hall Director; he is responsible for three apartment complexes with 400 students and he supervises nine RAs  and six staff members.

 

Geoffrey D. Dietz (00) has co-authored an article with Dr. Dobbs of the University of Tennessee which was accepted for publication by Applied Mathematics Letters.  This paper was written while Geoff was an undergraduate at UD.  He has passed algebra and topology qualifying tests at the University of Michigan and now has the choice of either passing the analysis exam taking another analysis course.  He married Amber Mohr (UD graduate) on Memorial Day weekend.

 

UD LUNCH IN SAN DIEGO

 

We enjoyed a reunion luncheon recently at the winter MAA/AMS meetings in San Diego in January 2002.  The food was pretty good and the company was fantastic.  We enjoyed seeing Joe Diestel (64), George Lang (66), David Gebhard (91), Colleen Hoover (91), Eric Kaufmann (91) and his family and Stephen Hartke (99). We missed Paul Campbell (67) and Tom Bohman (91) who were unable to join us.

 

IN MEMORIAM

 

Brother Joseph W. Stander, S.M. passed away on February 1, 2001.  He earned his BS degree in mathematics at the University of Dayton in 1949, and began his teaching career at Hamilton Catholic High School in 1950.  He then spent five years teaching mathematics at Colegio Ponceno, in Ponce, PR, after which he entered the graduate program at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned the MS degree in mathematics in 1957 and a PhD in mathematics (algebra) in 1959.  Brother Joe began a long career at the University of Dayton in 1960 as a mathematics professor.  He then moved into administration, serving as Assistant Dean (1967-69), Dean of Graduate Studies and Research (1969-1974), and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs (1974-89).  During these years, he usually found time in his busy schedule to teach one mathematics class per semester, and he also assumed many important roles in his religious community, the Society of Mary.  In 1989, he returned to full-time teaching in the department of mathematics until his retirement in the spring of 2000.  Shortly before his retirement, Brother Joe was promoted to Distinguished Service Professor in Mathematics.

 

Lawrence A. Jehn, PE age 80, of Parker, CO, passed away October 5, 2001 in Denver, CO.  He was born August 7, 1921 in Dayton, OH, the son of Arthur and Alice (Galagher) Jehn.  In 1943 he graduated from the University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, with a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering.  In 1949 he received his Masters in Mathematics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.  In 1955 he received his Doctorate in mathematics from the University of Michigan.  He was a member of the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Dayton for 42 years.  He also served as the Chair of the Department of Computer Science.  He was a licensed Professional Engineer in both Ohio and Colorado.