A Fortnightly Electronic Newsletter by the Hope
College
Department of Mathematics
January 15, 2003
Vol. 1, No. 7
Student Summer Research Grant Funded!
The Department of Mathematics has just received word that its NSF-REU
Summer Research Grant Proposal has been funded. The $145,050 grant will
fund four years of collaborative faculty-student research in
mathematics. This coming summer, professors Aaron Cinzori, Tim
Pennings, and Darin Stephenson will be the research mentors.
Although students apply from all over the country, Hope students
are given special consideration. So if
you are interested, see the web site at http://www.math.hope.edu/reu.html
for more details. (Application is fast - no letters of
recommendation are needed for Hope students.) Feel free to talk
to Cinzori, Pennings and Stephenson as well. See article below.
The Perfect Summer
So you're enjoying your college career at Hope College? If dreams
came true, how might you make it even better? How about: 1) no
tests, 2) work hard and learn a lot during the day, but have evenings
totally free for relaxation and recreation, 3) be surrounded by other
students who have similar interests, and 4) instead of paying for it,
GET PAID INSTEAD!
Sound too good to be true? Not only is it true, but over 100
science students take part in it every summer at Hope College,
including about 10 -12 in mathematics. Many of them are your
classmates. They have done things which normally students do not
experience until well into their graduate careers. Some have
presented their research papers at professional meetings (ask Clay
Cressler, Lee Kiessel and Christian Van Slooten about
San Diego last January), others have their names on research papers
which
have been published, and others have submitted their own individual
paper
for publication (talk to Clay).
Hope College was just acknowledged in U.S. News and World Report as
being fourth in the nation in its undergraduate research opportunities.
By being at Hope College, you have unique opportunities.
Take full advantage! Carpe Diem!
Surfing the Web
From basic Platonic solids to polyhedra inspired art created out of
forks and oranges, Virtual Polyhedra: The Encyclopedia of Polyhedra
web site contains lots of interesting information about these three
dimensional geometric figures. The site, located at http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vp.html,
was developed by George Hart who is currently a research professor at
SUNY Stony Brook in the computer science department. It is his
work with polyhedra, however, both as a mathematician and sculptor,
that is of interest here. This site includes images of virtual
reality polyhedra, background information on many different categories
of polyhedra, historical information on polyhedra and art, pictures of
his sculptures, and ideas for the classroom. The most amazing
part of this site is the sculptures that this artist has created.
These sculptures can be found not only in galleries
and museums, but also in mathematics and computer science departments
around the country.
Where's my Prof?
If you can't seem to find your mathematics professor this week, it may
be because he or she is out of town at a conference. Professors
Andersen, Cinzori, Pennings, and Stephenson are attending the Joint
Mathematics Meetings in Baltimore this week. All four of them
will be interviewing candidates for two positions that are open in the
department. In addition to
this, Professor Andersen will be giving a talk titled, "Teaching
Quantitative
Skills in a Geoscience Context" and Professor Pennings will be giving a
talk titled "Dirac Attack: The mystical marriage of mathematics and
nature."