OFF ON A TANGENT
A Fortnightly Electronic Newsletter from the Hope College Department of Mathematics
April 26, 2006 Vol. 4, No. 13
http://www.math.hope.edu/newsletter.html

Congratulations go out to our graduating seniors

Another year, another great group of graduates.  We highlight 16 mathematics majors that will soon graduate from Hope and a couple that graduated last December.  As they head off to graduate schools, jobs, and the unknown, we wish them all well.
Brandon  Alleman received a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research in biophysics at Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest, Hungary.  After his return he will pursue a career in medicine. Daniela Banu will be attending graduate school at the University of Wisconsin to study mathematics.
James Boerkoel will be attending the University of Michigan to obtain a PhD in computer science. Jill Bramos has accepted a job teaching mathematics at Hamilton High School.
Jennifer Crisman will be looking for a job teaching mathematics. Erica Dickinson will be looking for a job teaching mathematics.
Bryan Johnson will return to Hope in the fall to complete two more classes and then will be looking for a job teaching mathematics. Sara Jongekryg will be looking for a job teaching mathematics.
Jack Klunder graduated in December and now is teaching mathematics at McBain Rural Agricultural School. Kristine Krcmar will be looking for a job teaching mathematics.
Megan Noll will be looking for a job teaching mathematics. Kurt Pyle will be attending graduate school at Michigan State University to study political science.
Joseph Schwander will be looking for a job teaching mathematics. Jennica Skoug  will be joining the Peace Corps and will be heading to parts unknown.
Ryan Weaver will be looking for a job in the area that will keep him close to the beach.
 Kyle Williams will be heading to South America to teach English.


Many awards are handed out at the end of the year

During tomorrow night's honors convocation the mathematics department will award the Albert E. Lampen Award in Mathematics to a graduating senior in recognition of his or her outstanding achievement in the study of mathematics at Hope.  The department will also give out the John H. Kleinheksel Award in Mathematics to a number of students for their outstanding achievement in mathematics and promise for future success. After these awards are given out, there will be an announcement of the winners on the bulletin board outside the mathematics department.  Make sure you look for it!

Other awards in mathematics or to senior mathematics majors include the following.

Phi Beta Kappa

On Sunday, April 17, seven mathematics majors were initiated into the Zeta of Michigan chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest scholastic honorary society.  These students are Brandon Alleman, Daniela Banu, James Boerkoel, Kurt Pyle, Jennica Skoug, Ryan Weaver, and Kyle Williams.

Pi Mu Epsilon

Many students were recently invited to join the Michigan Delta chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon.  The purpose of this national mathematics society is to promote scholarly activity in mathematics among the students in academic institutions.  An induction ceremony was held Saturday, April 15.  After the induction ceremony everyone enjoyed our tradition of eating pie.

Those joining this year are Julie Allerding, Jill Bramos, Bill Buckman, Lynn Cargill, Courtney Clum, Jennifer Crisman, Kim Harrison, Katie Hinkle, Brian Holda, Natalie Hoogeveen, Brett Jager, Clinton Jepkema, Bryan Johnson, Rachel Keech, Ustab Khadka, Chip Kleinheksel, Katherine Lynch, Nathaniel Makowski, Patrick Mears, Allison Pautler, Julie Pollock, Abigail Rockwood, Joseph Schwander, Chelsea Short, Jeffrey Shriner, Billy Statema, Emily Wandell, and Luke Wendt.

Sigma Xi

On April 24 Sigma Xi awards were given to science and mathematics students that maintained a high GPA and did scientific research.  Mathematics majors that received these awards were Brandon Alleman, Daniela Banu, James Boerkoel, Jennica Skoug, Ryan Weaver, and Kyle Williams.  All these students also received awards for presenting their research findings at conferences.


One last colloquium is scheduled for this semester

Eleven groups of students from Math 310 will be giving brief presentations of their research findings in a one hour colloquium this Friday.  Most of these presentations will be based on the results of an April 2006 survey of over 1200 full-time, degree-seeking Hope College students.  All to these should be accessible to all students.  The following topics are being presented


From the Margins of My Textbook
A Math Major’s Musings 

By JENNICA SKOUG | Senior Staff Scribe

There are several reasons why I became a math major – the variety of career opportunities, the down-to-earth nature of the field, and the unencumbering ease of calc II were obviously all factors.  Yet strange as it sounds, I found myself asking many times what on earth I was going to do with math, or how any of it might apply to what I considered ‘real life,’ or moreover, how I was going to finish the whole homework set when I was stuck on the first problem.  However, among my sometimes-surging sea of frustration or doubt, there was always one unambiguous constant: the faculty.   As the end of the semester approaches and you sit scratching your head over your exam while your professor sits smugly up front reading a book, seemingly enjoying the struggle they have caused you, take time to reflect. 

Reflect on how many times they have paused lecture or stayed late after class to answer extra questions, or held extra office hours or review sessions to the same end.  Perhaps this is a phenomenon particular to Hope College or to small colleges in general.  If so, be glad you are here.  Be glad that your professors think you are brainy enough to be challenged, but human enough to need help. 

Discovering early that I was no math-genius – but was still strangely attracted to the discipline – I have taken advantage of this extra help quite often over the past four years.  This meant spending a lot of time in VanderWerf's “math hallway,” and uncovering another math-professor trait (and this, I think, is true of a great number of mathematicians): they are crazy.  It is their willingness to throw off the bench of normalcy and indulge in esoteric math jokes or seemingly irrelevant topics of conversation that so endears them to me.  What I mean to say is, I enjoy spending time with people who love what they are doing and are not afraid of the dorkiness that often results, but who don’t take their work so seriously as to be unable to have a bit of fun with it.  I’ve often thought that perhaps this is some sort of defense mechanism against the separation that math can afford from the rest of society.  Once you’ve gotten so engrossed in a topic or project that most people will never hear nor care about, well, you have to laugh about it – especially among people who also understand it – or you might just go stark raving mad.  (Which is several steps above “crazy.”) 

If you happened to see the Klein Four Group sing this week, a group of math PhD students from Northwestern who sing about – well, what else – math, you will know what I am talking about.  I got a chance to spend some time with the singers after the concert, where the conversation switched from bits of homotopy theory to which animals-sounds elicit the most natural response when used as a greeting (we agreed on “moo”) as if these were the most natural things to talk about.   And I suppose, in a sense, they were.  This is the stuff that mathematicians are made of – a blend of puzzles, speculation, and laughter. 

There is one more thing that I genuinely appreciate about the Hope math faculty: their humanness.  So many times I think we see professors, especially math and science professors, simply as agents of information and are surprised when, underneath all that analytical knowledge, we find a real person.  (I suppose this is somewhat akin to realizing that your elementary teacher does not really live at school.)  It’s this human connection that has many times kept me from walking away from mathematics shaking my head in frustration or defeat.   So for all the times I have gone in for math help and walked away instead with an encouraging word or good advice or an interesting conversation…thank you, Hope math professors.  To me, at least, that really made a difference. 


Problem Solvers of the Fortnight

Congratulations to Robyn Anderson, Jenny Birkenholz, Carrie Brandis, Fletcher Carlson, Jeremiah Clements, Courtney Clum, James Daly, Robert Dody, Jay Gibbs, Forrest Gordon, Mark Humberstone, Chip Kleinheksel, Jackie Lewis, Dan Lithio, Karen Nordell, Matt Paarlberg, Stephanie Pasek, Tim Pennings, Jennica Skoug, Chad Rector, Paul VanderVelde, Linda Warner (Frost Center), Kyle Williams and Kristi Wu for triangulating their way to the answer of the square root of 65 for the final Problem of the Fortnight. 

Thanks to all of you who submitted solutions this year.  We received an astounding 359 submissions throughout the year!  The Problem of the Fortnight will be on vacation until the fall.


You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go.

Dr. Seuss