UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Mathematics

UP Robotics Team Hosting Lessons

The University of Portland Robotics Team is hosting asynchronous Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) lessons which will be posted every other week, according to Stephanie Salomone, mathematics. Through this program, we aim to encourage more students to engage in STEM education and expand a love for STEM in kids in grades K-12. The UP robotics team is a group of undergraduate students which competes yearly in the NASA Robotics Mining Competition (RMC). 

If you want to register fill out the form at this link.

Woot Woot, Aaron Wootton!

Mathematics professor Aaron Wootton has been awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award for the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Pacific Northwest Section. Winners of the section award are automatically nominated for the national MAA Deborah & Franklin Tepper Haimo Award, given to nominees who are widely recognized as extraordinarily successful in their teaching, who have had an influence in their teaching beyond their own institution, and who foster curiosity and generate excitement about mathematics in their students. The Pacific Northwest Section includes all institutions of higher education in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and the Northwest, Nunavut, and Yukon territories.

Wootton has been teaching math classes spanning the entire undergraduate curriculum for 21 years. The success of his teaching comes down to his willingness to listen carefully to his students and colleagues and adapt his teaching methods accordingly. He teaches classes offering students multiple formats to help in their learning, creating a safe and comfortable learning environment, and by regularly communicating with them to learn about their individual needs and concerns. For example, he requires that every student picks up each of their tests from his office in person. Though these meetings take up a tremendous amount of time (200+ meetings per semester), every minute is time well spent as it allows him to build an honest and trusting relationship with his students, and it provides him with the opportunity to identify and help students who are struggling.

Outside of the classroom, to pique student interest in mathematics, Wootton created a course in cryptography and drafted an accompanying 200-page textbook. Nationally, Aaron is recognized as the founder and series editor of the book series Foundations for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics (FURM, published by Springer Verlag). To date, FURM has released one volume with two further volumes in press. He is a member of the Mathematics Calculus Consortium, a group of educators ranging from high school teachers to faculty from world-renowned research universities. Since joining the Consortium, he has been involved in the completion of four new edition textbooks, all of which are published by Wiley, and are strong sellers throughout the world.

Retirement Party for Carol Bruce, June 20

After 22 years of exemplary cheerful service, Carol Bruce is retiring from her position as office manager and de facto den mother for the mathematics and communication studies office. A farewell party for Carol will take place on Thursday, June 20, from 3 to 5 p.m., in the Pilot House. All are invited to come by and wish Carol well and thank her for all she has done as a faithful University of Portland employee.

For more information contact Andrea Egger, College of Arts & Sciences, at x8310 or egger@up.edu.

Sigma XI Outstanding Researcher Award for Hannah Highlander

Hannah Highlander, mathematics, has been awarded the 11th Annual Sigma Xi Outstanding Researcher Award, given annually by the Columbia-Willamette Chapter of Sigma Xi, the international scientific research honorary society. She will be honored at a ceremony on May 28. College of Arts and Science dean and mathematics faculty member Herbert Medina points out that this is the second consecutive year that a UP mathematics faculty member has won the award (with Aaron Wootton winning kin 2018).

Highlander’s current scholarship lies in the area of mathematical biology. She has 22 peer reviewed scholarly articles spanning a career of 12 years, a rate which rivals those of some of the most productive mathematicians in the United States– while at the same time teaching three classes per semester. Five of these publications include undergraduate authors – almost one quarter of her published articles include collaboration with undergraduates.

Highlander’s work is tied to topics of deep importance to the UP community, including work on mathematical modeling of the Green Dot Bystander Intervention data to prevent sexual assault. Her summer 2019 undergraduate research project, Mathematical Modeling of Suicide Risk and Assessment of Preventative Measures could add considerably to the literature on risk factors of suicide among a vulnerable population. She is also a key contributor to the new Applied Mathematics program (and B.S. in Applied Mathematics major) at UP.

Please join the mathematics department in offering congratulations to Dr. Highlander. For more information contact Stephanie Salomone, mathematics, at salomone@up.edu.

 

Plenary Lecture Open to All: Carlos Castilo-Chavez, April 12

The mathematics department is hosting the 2019 Pacific Northwest Section of the Mathematical Association of America (PNW MAA) conference on Friday and Saturday, April 12-13. Friday’s plenary lecture is open to the UP community and will feature Carlos Castillo-Chavez of Arizona State University. He will present the Distingushed MAA Pólya Lecture, “Role of social dynamics and individual decisions on the spread of infectious disease” at 8 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium.
For more information contact Hans Nordstrom, mathematics, at x7295 or nordstro@up.edu.

Rumble in the Jungle: Reading and STEM Fair, Feb. 24

The University’s annual Reading Fair will take place on Sunday, February 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Chiles Center. “Rumble in the Jungle” will be a reading fair and family STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) day hosted by Kappa Delta Pi and the UP STEM Education and Outreach Center. The fair is freeand open to all children from preschool through 8th grade.

There will be crafts, a principal reading, hands on-experiments, and a robotics demonstration. In addition to these activities, there will also be fun games, and opportunities to win prizes. Students will leave the event with a free book and gift from both organizations as a thank-you for attending.

This is a new combined event you do not want to miss. If you have any questions, please reach out to Reading Fair chair Surabhi Joglekar (joglekar20@up.edu) or STEM director Stephanie Salomone (salomone@up.edu)). Please like the “University of Portland’s Reading Fair” FaceBook page for more updated information.

Stephanie Salomone: An Outstanding Educator

The Oregon Academy of Science has selected Stephanie Salomone, mathematics, as a winner of the OAS 2019 Outstanding Educator: Higher Education award.

Nominees for this award have a demonstrated record of outstanding teaching in any of the subject areas encompassed by the Academy; nominees are judged on the unique contributions made by the candidate to teaching excellence in higher education science and/or mathematics classrooms.

Salomone will be presented with her award at the 2019 annual meeting of the OAS at Linfield College on Saturday, February 23, at 1 p.m., in Graf Hall 100. Colleagues from UP are invited to attend without registering for the conference but are asked to register if they wish to attend the full conference and lunch.

For more information go to this link or contact abaggett@linfield.edu.

New STEM Innovation Fellows Announced

The following science, technology, engineering, and mathematics faculty members have been selected as STEM Innovation Fellows and will participate in the first REFLECT institute in May, funded by a National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) grant, according to Stephanie Salomone, mathematics. The REFLECT project stands for “Redesigning Education for Learning through Evidence and Collaborative Teaching,” and will develop and facilitate training workshops to expose faculty to highly effective evidence-based resources and pedagogies at UP.

New STEM Innovation Fellows:

  • Niki Schulz, engineering
  • Cara Poor, engineering
  • Ryan Kenton, Bbiology
  • Laurie Dizney, biology
  • Christine Weilhoefer, biology
  • Kristin Sweeney, environmental science
  • Buck Taylor, chemistry
  • Elliot Mylott, physics
  • Eli Goldwyn, mathematics
  • Tammy VanDeGrift, computer science
  • Jen Symons, engineering

For more information contact Salomone at salomone@up.edu.

New Boundless Horizons Speaker Series: Tommy Pham, April 12

The University of Portland’s STEM Education and Outreach Center is sponsoring a new speaker series to encourage students to think outside the box about career possibilities, according to Tisha Morrell, education. The speaker for the premiere session will be Tommy Pham ’09, ’11, lead patent strategist at NIKE.  He will speak on his experience in the worlds of entrepreneurship and science, and his work in global innovation. His talk will take place on Thursday, April 12, 7 to 8 p.m., in Franz Hall room 120.  Refreshments will be served. For ADA accommodation requests or questions, please contact filbert18@up.edu.

Ron Smit Memorial Mass, March 22

Ronald “Ron” Smit, who retired from the mathematics faculty in May 2005, passed away on February 20, 2018, in Vancouver, Washington, at the age of 77. Please join the University community at his Memorial Mass on Thursday, March 22 at 4:30 p.m., in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher. For questions, please contact campus ministry at x7131 or ministry@up.edu.

Ron joined the UP faculty as an instructor in 1965 and was an assistant professor from 1969 to 1972, when he achieved the rank of associate professor. He earned the University’s highest faculty honor, the Culligan Award, in 1971. From 1970 to 1972 Ron was chair of the Academic Senate, and he served as chair of the mathematics department from 1974 to 1979. In 2009 the Ron Smit Senior Award in Mathematics was established by the mathematics department, awarded annually to a math major who makes a major contribution to UP’s mathematical community.

Ron Smit was an unfailingly congenial but sometimes curt man who expected nothing short of excellence (or at least earnest effort) from his students. He was renowned as a crack shot in the classroom, able to deliver a hunk of chalk to within centimeters of a sleeping or daydreaming student’s cranium with great precision. He loved the University wholeheartedly and was revered by his mathematics students. When he taught his final class in 2005, over 100 current and former students packed into his classroom, all wearing shirts with “Smittisms” printed on them: “Well, cover me in buttermilk,” or “Use a pencil. The last person who didn’t make a mistake lived 2,000 years ago,” or “Oh, nice of you to show up,” or “That’s a social sciences answer. Math is not a spectator sport.”

He is survived by his wife, Marti; sons Nick and Jeff, daughter Kathy, and 11 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Our prayers and condolences to the family.