2008
newsletter
D E PA RTMENT OF MATHEMAT I C S
EPA
contents
New Faculty & KAPs 2-3
New Postdocs 2-3
Snowflakes 1, 6
Let It Snow Letter from the Chair
Math Outreach
6
4-5
by Andy Fell, Dateline UC Davis
Three-dimensional snowflakes can now Undergraduate News 8
be grown in a computer using a program de- Graduate News 8-9
veloped by mathematicians at UC Davis and
Awards 10-13
the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
No two snowflakes are truly alike, but Life After Davis 7, 15
they can be very similar to each other, said Emeriti News 14
Janko Gravner, a mathematics professor at UC Staff News 14
Davis. Why they are not more different from
each other is a mystery, Gravner said. Being
able to model the process might answer some
of these questions.
Intricate, incredibly variable and beauti-
ful, snowflakes have been puzzling mathema-
ticians since at least 1611, when Johannes Ke-
pler predicted that the six-pointed structure
would reflect an underlying crystal structure.
Snowflakes grow from water vapor
around some kind of nucleus, such as a bit of
dust. The surface of the growing crystal is a
...continued on page 6
New
Faculty
He was awarded the Prize Annales Henri
Alessandro Pizzo Poincaré 2003 for a novel technique intro-
duced in his Ph.D. work. He will be plena-
Matthias Köppe
Alessandro Pizzo earned his Ph.D. from ry speaker at the International Congress on Matthias Köppe joins the UC Davis fac-
SISSA-Trieste, Italy in 2001. During his Ph.D. Mathematical Physics 2009 in Prague. ulty as an Assistant Professor. He received
studies he worked on spectral and scattering His research interests tie nicely with those his Ph.D. from the University of Magdeburg,
problems in quantum field theory. Since then, of our mathematical physics and applied Germany, in 2002, where he graduated with
he has been a postdoctoral researcher at sev- mathematics faculty. He now joins UC Davis a thesis on primal methods in mathematical
eral European institutes: the Departments of as an Assistant Professor, and will be teaching optimization under the direction of Robert
Mathematics at Mainz University, Germany, a graduate Analysis course in Winter and Or- Weismantel. In 2003, Matthias was awarded
and University Paris XI, France; and the In- dinary Differential Equations in Spring. He is the dissertation prize of the German Opera-
stitute of Theoretical Physics at ETH-Zürich, looking forward to becoming part of our strong tions Research Society.
Switzerland. At ETH-Zürich he started a fruit- and active mathematical physics group. After graduating, Matthias stayed at the
ful collaboration with Jürg Fröhlich, provid- Alessandro is excited about starting his University of Magdeburg, working as a re-
ing enlightening mathematical results in QED, new life in Davis. When not working, he relax- searcher and lecturer. He visited the Center
ranging from spectral theory to renormaliza- es with classical music, and he enjoys jogging, for Operations Research and Econometrics in
tion schemes, expansion techniques, and swimming, and playing soccer. As an “indoor Belgium in Spring 2004 on a postdoctoral fel-
scattering theory. His latest research activities sport,” he practices Mediterranean cooking. lowship.
include the mathematical analysis of random In 2006, Matthias was awarded a Feodor
quantum systems. Lynen Research Fellowship from the Alexan-
der von Humboldt Foundation, to continue
his collaboration with Jesús De Loera on ratio-
New Postdoc nal generating function techniques in discrete
optimization. Supported by this fellowship,
Matthias visited our Department for three
months in 2006 and six months in 2007.
Jie Zhu In his research, Matthias is particularly in-
terested in bringing new computational meth-
ods from algebra and geometry to practical
Jie Zhu received his Ph.D. in Physics
use in solving optimization problems. At the
from Washington University in St. Louis in
same time, he looks for challenging new appli-
May 2008. His research interest is biophysical
cations of mathematical optimization methods
modeling. His doctoral research focused on
to problems in the sciences, engineering, and
the growth dynamics and force generation of
mathematics.
actin networks. He is now working with Pro-
Matthias is excited to be part of the faculty
fessor Alex Mogilner on the motility of actin-
at UC Davis. In their spare time, Matthias and
driven biomimetic systems. In his spare time,
his wife, Sabine, enjoy the great weather and
Jie enjoys hiking and fishing.
the beautiful nature of Northern California.
2
New Krener
Assistant Professors New Postdoc
Zhihua
Zhang
David Håkan Zhihua Zhang received his Ph.D. from UC
Widemann Nordgren Davis in 2007. His adviser was Prof. Naoki
Saito. He has won the “Chinese Government
David Widemann received his Ph.D. from Karl Håkan Nordgren received his Ph.D. Award for Outstanding Students Abroad,” and
the University of Maryland at College Park in from University of California, San Diego in is now a postdoc at UC Davis.
May 2008 as a student of John Benedetto. His June 2008. Confusingly, even though his first Zhihua has published 23 papers in
current interests are dimensionality reduction name is Karl, he likes to be known by his the field of wavelet analysis and its applica-
for high dimensional data and applied har- middle name, Håkan, which is pronounced tion, and derived a series of exciting and
monic analysis. His work has been focused on ‘Hawk-an.’ important results. His paper, “Supports of
compression for LIDAR data, dimensionality Håkan’s mathematical interests lie in the Fourier Transforms of Scaling Functions,” is
reduction for hyperspectral data, and analyz- neighborhood of analysis and mathematical the most downloaded paper in Applied and
ing microarray data. He is working with Pro- physics. Indeed, his thesis was concerned with Computational Harmonic Analysis. Recently,
fessor Thomas Strohmer. a free boundary problem for Euler’s equation he presented a method of particular solutions
He enjoys going to the park with his for fluid flow, which was completed under the involving tangential derivatives to synthesize
wife and daughter and talking politics with supervision of Hans Lindblad. At UC Davis, Laplacian eigenvalues/eigenfunctions and ap-
friends. he will be working with Steve Shkoller. plied it to data classification and clustering.
He currently has three non-math interests: Now, he is working with Prof. Naoki Saito and
Alexander His beautiful and talented girlfriend Prof. Tony Tyson to introduce a method of re-
Coward
Amanda. peated symmetry to deblend the galaxies us-
Politics, current events, foreign policy, ing the Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging data.
Alexander Coward has arrived in Davis economics. Håkan believes that there is no This algorithm is expected to work very well
having recently completed his doctorate at better entertainment than current events—and on the future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
Oxford University. His main research interests that current events are at their most entertain- (LSST) imaging data.
lie in the area of 3-dimensional geometry and ing when the U.S. is involved. Recent interests He likes the climate of California and
topology, and overlap with several existing are the Middle East and Russia as well as mac- loves fat squirrels and wild ducks. In his lei-
members of faculty at UC Davis. His doctoral roeconomics and monetary policy. He reads sure time, he likes to travel, drink tea, and
the Financial Times and the Economist. watch TV.
thesis was mainly concerned with building
algorithms to answer topological questions Exercise. He has recently re-discovered
about knots. his love for swimming and is looking forward
In his spare time, he enjoys swimming to checking out the Davis Aquatic Masters
and music. swimming as soon as he has finished moving
into his apartment in Sacramento. He also lifts
weights at the gym from time to time.
More to Explore an update on the Explore Math program
The Explore Math program begins its third 2008, Math Circle attracted over 40 students
full year of activities, continuing full steam from areas as far as 75 miles apart to travel
ahead in bringing outreach to students of all here to the UC Davis Math Department and
ages. The campus recognized the organizers’ learn the mathematics behind such concepts
recent successes, awarding the 2008 Commu- as knot theory, fireflies and perspective draw-
nity Service Award to both the Explore Math ings. The program ended with a day of Puzzle-
Program and the Math Modeling Experience mania in which the high school students par-
subprogram. ticipated in a contest composed of questions
The Math Modeling Experience (MME) about the different subjects they learned in the
Math Circle students respond to Prof. Biello’s
lecture is pleased to be kicking off another quarter program.
with new undergraduate and high school par- This year’s Math Circle topics will be Prob-
ticipants. In addition to undergraduates from ability and Games, Mathematical Graphics
the Mathematics Department, 2008 MME and Visualization, and Explorations in Hyper-
students represent the Ecology, Physics, and bolic Geometry, all of which will be taught by
Computer Science departments. High school graduate students. We are looking forward to
students participating this year will come from another successful year with hopes of reaching
schools as far west as Fairfield and as far north even more students at more schools.
as Esparto. Our American Regions Mathematics
MME research topics for 2008 will in- League team successfully competed in the
clude disease transmission models, dynamic ARML competition. In preparation, during
programming, facial imaging techniques, cell Winter 2008, 30 high school students from
phone communication, and much more! The as far away as El Dorado Hills learned about
Math Circle exploring knot theory outdoors
high school program once again culminated in combinatorics and probability during intense
an Open House poster session in November, as weekly training sessions. During Spring
well as the HiMCM math modeling contest. quarter, a team of undergraduate participants
MME was pleased to have two high school helped sharpen the high school students
teams ranked as Meritorious, and seven teams problem-solving skills in preparation for the
received honorable mention in the 2007 com- lightning-quick rounds of the national com-
petition. Also, of three undergraduate teams petition.
that participated in the February 2008 MCM In May 2008, the students’ hard work paid
modeling contest, one was designated Meri- off as they and their graduate student coaches
torious and the other two teams were ranked traveled to Las Vegas for the two-day competi-
Successful Participants. We look forward to tion. The UCD-trained team joined with a San
another fun and successful season! Francisco Bay Area team and placed 21st na-
Math Circle enjoyed a very successful tionally in the B division! We are planning for
Math Circle students attempting to unknot 2008 and is looking to continue introduc- another successful year and hoping to place
themselves ing new generations of interested high school even higher this time.
students to exciting mathematics. In Winter
The ARML team at the competition in Las Vegas The ARML team posing after the competition
Making Magic
the second annual Math Fest
On July 23, 2008, UC Davis held its sec-
from Math
and year of birth of select kids in the audi-
ond annual Math Fest. This event, an outreach ence. Prof. Benjamin asked several audience
collaboration between the Mathematics De- members for their birthdays and told them on
partment and the COSMOS program, aims to which day of the week they were born. He also
demonstrate the fun side of mathematics. Its explained his algorithm for these calculations.
goal is to increase the popularity of mathemat- Much to the delight of the audience, and es-
ics among the public, in particular among pecially Prof. Benjamin, Hoby Wedler, a UCD
Prof. Benjamin expounds on Mathemagics
young K-12 students. This year the main show student, was also able to determine the day of
was “Mathemagics: the art of mental calcula- the week for birthdays by a completely differ-
tion.” Our invited keynote speaker was Prof. ent method.
Arthur Benjamin, from Harvey Mudd College. During the question and answer session
If anyone can convey the magical qualities of Prof. Benjamin talked about his life experienc-
math and science, it is Prof. Benjamin—he es and stated many times how mathematics
leads a double life, both as a math professor, is not only useful but also fun and beautiful,
and as a professional magician. Prof. Benjamin and urged students to not abandon their con-
holds a bachelor’s degree in applied math- nection to mathematics. Indeed, one goal of
ematics from Carnegie-Mellon University and our Math Department is to attract young peo-
a Ph.D. in mathematical sciences from Johns ple so they will consider pursuing a career in Prof. Benjamin explains “magic squares”
Hopkins University. He has won awards for his mathematics. It is clearly a great subject with
teaching and writing. The COSMOS students fantastic career and job opportunities. For an
were each given a copy of his book, “Secrets of hour after the show, audience members, stu-
Mental Math,” and he was designated “Amer- dents and parents alike crowded around Prof.
ica’s Best Math Whiz.” As a professional ma- Benjamin to ask him questions and even take
gician, Prof. Benjamin has appeared on many photos and get autographs.
television and radio programs. You can listen After this opening show, the public was
to an interview with him in NPR’s July 23rd treated to a wonderful selection of mathemat-
archives for the radio program Insight at: ical puzzles and games, as well as information
http://www.capradio.org/programs/insight/ about careers that use advanced mathematics
Grads explain the math behind bubbles
With over 400 students and their fami- (from the obvious ones like physics and en-
lies attending, there was standing room only. gineering, to archeology and neurology). Kids
The event kicked off with an amazing show and parents played mathematical games, con-
by Prof. Benjamin. Starting with his “invis- structed interesting polytopes and geometric
ible card” trick that surprised us all, the show surfaces, and wrestled with brain-teasers until
dashed into a quick sequence of astonishing darkness fell. The closing of the event was a
math calculation tricks. Prof. Benjamin en- showing of the films “Flatland” and “Shape of
gaged the audience, who, calculators in hand, Space.” The first describes how aliens in a 2-
raced against him as people called out 3-dig- dimensional universe discover there must be
it numbers for him to multiply in his head. more dimensions (It is also an implicit com-
Every time, they verified Prof. Benjamin was mentary on how new ideas are not easily ac- Students try to form specific shapes with limited
blocks
correct, but could barely punch in the num- cepted by society). In the second movie we
bers before he sung out the answers. In fact he learn how mathematics, in particular topol-
can multiply two 5-digit numbers while many ogy, can predict the shape of our universe.
hand calculators cannot (not enough digits!). This event was sponsored by the National
Even better, he explained the mathematics Science Foundation VIGRE grant and COS-
behind his lightning-quick calculations and MOS (the California State Summer School for
taught us all shortcuts and tricks for squar- Mathematics & Science). Many thanks to all
ing large numbers in our heads. Later, he cre- those who attended. A special thank you to
ated “magic squares” (a 4 x 4 grid whose sums the impressive turn-out of volunteers from
along all rows, columns, and diagonals add faculty, staff, MAST, the graduate and under- A volunteer helps kids through a difficult puzzle
to the same number) using the day, month, graduate math students, and COSMOS.
The Dawn of a New Century
a letter from the Chair, Bruno Nachtergaele
UC Davis is celebrating a big birthday this of indices (scholarly productivity, research ex- ment than the Department can support.
year. Yes, a university celebrating its first cen- penditures, societal relevance in the local and One way to help celebrate UC Davis’
tennial is an important event akin to a teenag- global context, etc.). This is what we are cel- sweet one hundred is to make a donation (see
er’s turning sixteen. It is customary to throw a ebrating this year. the donation page on our web site for ideas
big party and UC Davis is doing just that, all Not all the news is good news these days. and options).
year long. The UC Davis Centennial is overshadowed by http://www.math.ucdavis.edu/
A university worthy of the name is a mini- the global economic downturn. Remember, And join the fun by attending some of the
universe of the mind. Much more than a mere however, that the country’s best guarantee to many events scheduled this year.
collection of expert scholars and teachers, it curb the negative trends of today is its educat- http://centennial.ucdavis.edu/
is a community of intellectual exchange and ed workforce and a working democracy. There With your support Davis will drive innovation
growth, where much of the activity is centered is always room for improvement in both these for all of the next one hundred years.
on students. It has been said that today’s econ- areas. The UC Davis Mathematics Department
omy is a knowledge economy. Today’s society is committed to do its part.
then is a society of learners. The generation We are always looking to expand options
and dissemination of knowledge is the blood- to financially support our talented students
stream of our civilization, and the university is and innovative researchers. There are always
the heart of the knowledge system. UC Davis more deserving (and often needy) students
has attained a prominent position among the than available fellowships, more interesting
nation’s universities as measured by a variety projects in research and textbook develop-
Let It Snow
...continued from page 1
complex, semi-liquid layer where water mol- or feathery snowflake is relatively rare, both in
ecules from the surrounding vapor can attach the computer simulation and in nature.
or detach. Water molecules are more likely to Gravner and Griffeath also managed to
attach at concavities in the crystal shape. generate some novel snowflakes, such as a
The model built by Gravner and David “butterflake” that looks like three butterflies
Griffeath of the University of Wisconsin-Madi- stuck together along the body. Gravner said
son takes these factors, as well as temperature, there seemed to be no reason these shapes
atmospheric pressure and water vapor density, could not appear in nature, but they would be
into account. By running the model under dif- very fragile and unstable.
ferent conditions, the researchers were able One surprise was that three-dimensional
to recreate a wide range of natural snowflake structure is often important, with complex
shapes. structures often growing between two plates --
Rather than trying to model every water a feature that is difficult to see when observing
molecule, it divides the space into three-di- actual snowflakes, but has been observed in
mensional chunks one micrometer across. The careful studies of real snowflakes with electron
program takes about 24 hours to produce one microscopes.
“snowfake” on a modern desktop computer.
As in the real world, needles are the
most common pattern of computer-generated
snowflake. The classic six-pointed “dendritic”
Life After Davis Catching Up
Ruriko Yoshida
Ph.D. in Mathematics, 2004 Steven T. Abell (B.S. 1979) has had a va-
riety of software development positions with
several companies, mostly in and around Sili-
If I were to give advice to graduate stu-
con Valley. His first job involved designing cal-
dents, I would say two things: meet people The third person, but not the least, is Prof.
culators for Hewlett-Packard, which was far-
and love what you do. Throughout my aca- Bernd Sturmfels at UC Berkeley. Prof. Sturm-
and-away the hardest work he has ever done.
demic career, I have met many nice people fels has been always very kind and helpful.
His favorite job was teaching the Smalltalk
and been very fortunate to meet them. With- Whenever I have to make a big decision in my
programming language to industrial classes.
out their help, I would not have succeeded in career, he has given to me very useful advice
Currently he designs software at brising.com
my career. Here are three people who helped and offered me his help. For example, when
in Fremont, California.
me and gave me great advice for the biggest I learned I got a position at Duke University
While he doesn’t claim to be an active
decisions in my career. Prof. Sturmfels took me to Duke with him
mathematician these days, he still buys math
First is my former adviser Prof. Jesús De and introduced me to many mathematicians
books, mostly about math history. He values
Loera. After I graduated from UC Davis, I got at Duke and NCSU. Then when I moved to
the vantage point into many different subject
a postdoc position at the Center for Pure and Duke, Prof. Sturmfels introduced me to Prof.
areas that his math training provided.
Applied Mathematics, UC Berkeley, under the Jeff Thorne at the Genomic Center in NCSU,
Steven talks about his current favorite
direction of Prof. Lior Pachter. Then I went from whom I have learned many concepts in
pastime:
to the Mathematics Department at Duke Uni- computational biology. Even after I left UC
“I’ve always enjoyed an audience (I was
versity as a postdoc. In these two years at UC Berkeley he invited me to write a chapter in
the 1979 L&S Commencement Speaker), and
Berkeley and Duke I have been fascinated by the book “Algebraic Statistics in Computation-
I did some stage acting for several years, just
applications of combinatorics to statistical al Biology” edited by Prof. Pachter and Prof.
for fun. Then I moved into standup storytell-
problems in computational biology. When I Sturmfels. In late September 2005, Prof. Stur-
ing. I’m currently on the governing board of
was about to leave UC Davis, my adviser, Prof. mfels suggested that I should apply for tenure-
the Storytelling Association of Alta California,
Jesús De Loera, told me that I had to find “new track positions in universities. Back then I did
which is the organization behind the Bay Area
research topics” in a new area during my post- not even know that I could apply because I
Storytelling Festival. Also, I host an open sto-
doc term to expand my research areas. Back had one more year at Duke. Prof. Sturmfels
rytelling group at a bookstore in Oakland.”
then I was not sure that I could find a new helped me to apply for tenure-track positions
“A book of original stories I started off
research topic and be specialized in the area not only by writing recommendation letters
telling and eventually wrote down was pub-
but now I am glad that I took his advice. but also by introducing me to people at a con-
lished recently. ‘Days in Midgard’ is now avail-
The second person who helped me is ference at Clay Mathematics Institute. In fact,
able from the major online booksellers, or out
my former mentor, Prof. Lior Pachter at UC one of the people Prof. Sturmfels introduced
of a box in the trunk of my car. It is based on
Berkeley. When I started working with Prof. to me was a statistician at University of Ken-
Scandinavian mythology, another longstand-
Pachter, I knew very little about computa- tucky, Prof. Arne Bathke. Prof. Bathke told us
ing interest of mine. Whatever that description
tional biology. However, I was very fortunate that they had an open tenure-track bioinfor-
might bring to mind, these stories are prob-
that Prof. Pachter kindly taught me the very matics position at the Statistics Department
ably different. One even requires the reader
basics in statistics and computational biology. which I was offered and accepted.
to do a (very) little math. All of them require
Even after I left UC Berkeley he has been giv- I am very happy to be at the Statistics De-
a kind of reader involvement that will appeal
ing me useful advice, and he has mentioned partment at the University of Kentucky. My
to people who enjoy problems with not-quite-
my name to many people in computational bi- colleagues, including the Department chair,
deterministic solutions.”
ology. We have written several papers together Prof. Arny Stromberg, and a co-PI in my NIH
on the optimality of the neighbor-joining al- grant, Prof. Chris Schardl, are very nice and
gorithm (with K. Eickmeyer, P. Huggins, and very helpful to me. They are helping me suc-
L. Pachter), Algorithms for Molecular Biology, ceed in my career, including my teaching.
Volume 3, Issue 5, (2008), and Beyond Pair- Thanks to their help, my NIH R01 grant has
wise Distances: Neighbor Joining with Phy- been funded over five years (Grant Number:
logenetic Diversity Estimates (with Levy and 1R01GM086888-01 and the total award is
Pachter), Molecular Biology and Evolution, $1.4 million for five years). I am very fortu-
(2006), 23(3) p491 - 498. It has been so much nate that I have met great people in my career
fun to work with him! and that I love what I do for a living!
News from the News from the
Undergraduate Program Graduate Programs
by Andrew Waldron, by Thomas Strohmer, Vice Chair for Graduate Matters
Vice Chair for Undergraduate Matters and Naoki Saito, Chair of the Graduate Group in Applied Mathematics
The Department awarded 66 undergradu- Both our graduate programs keep grow- ence was held on January 12, 2008. Accord-
ate degrees this past academic year. Of those ing. This Fall, we welcomed 18 new students, ing to conference coordinator Joseph Biello
66 students, two graduated with high honors 11 in the GGAM Program and 7 in the Math and GGAM Chair Naoki Saito, the conference
and another four graduated with highest hon- Program. This is a distinguished group of stu- manifests what GGAM is all about: a coming
ors. Congratulations to all of our degree and dents, including a recipient of a prestigious together of our students with faculty from
award recipients. National Defense Science and Engineering across campus in order to facilitate fruitful col-
The Department of Mathematics is con- Graduate Fellowship (Juliette Zerick), and laborations. In an informal, day-long forum,
tinually striving to improve its undergradu- a UCD Graduate Scholar Fellowship (Owen 10 faculty members described their research
ate program. As a research department of the Lewis). The Math Program now has 70 stu- interests, giving our students an opportunity
highest caliber and recipient of a renewed VI- dents and 41 faculty members, while GGAM to experience the many directions available
GRE grant we are able to offer undergraduates has 60 students and 80 faculty members. to them in applied mathematics. The depart-
a mathematical education grounded in the lat- For 2007-08, GGAM welcomed 11 new ments represented at the conference included
est mathematical advances as well as unique faculty members: Matt Bishop (CS); James Agricultural and Resource Economics, Applied
opportunities for undergraduate research. Bremer (Math); Mark Goldman (Neurobiol- Science, Computer Science, Electrical and
In the past year, in addition to the ongoing ogy, Physiology & Behavior); Robert Guy Computer Engineering, Mechanical and Aero-
evaluation of syllabi and textbooks, we care- (Math); Thomas Harter (Land, Air, and Wa- nautical Engineering, Mathematics, Neurobi-
fully examined our undergraduate program ter Resources); Matthias Koeppe (Math); John ology, and Physiology and Behavior. A record
through the five-year undergraduate program Lagier (Bodega Marine Laboratory); Kather- number of guests (59) attended the dinner at
self-review and a calculus summit. ine Pollard (Statistics); James Sanchirico (En- the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, which
The self-review involved a large body of vironmental Science and Policy); Sebastian was another opportunity for faculty and stu-
survey data of students and alumni provided Schreiber (Evolution and Ecology); and Becca dents to get to know each other. The fourth
by the 2006 UC Undergraduate Experience Thomases (Math). Annual GGAM Mini-Conference is scheduled
Survey. They found that math majors were Our continuing students received nu- on January 10, 2009.
uniformly very pleased with their degree ex- merous awards and honors, some of which On May 2-3, 2008, the UC Davis SIAM
perience and opportunities for careers and are featured in this newsletter. In addition, Club held its first Annual Davis SIAM Student
postgraduate studies. Eva Strawbridge was awarded the MPS Dean’s Research Conference. More than 50 confer-
The calculus summit was held in March Graduate Student Prize in the College of Let- ence attendees from UC Davis and CSU Sac-
and gathered together faculty and advisers ters and Science. She, together with David Si- ramento saw over 20 presentations on ap-
from departments across campus whose stu- vakoff (GGAM), Mohamed Omar (Math), and plied topics ranging from atmospheric science
dents are served by our lower division cours- Rohit Thomas (Math) also received the Com- to mathematical biology to plasma physics.
es. There were lively discussions on ways to munity Service Award. Furthermore, Deanna Keynote speakers Professor Joe Keller of Stan-
improve student learning and outcomes. As Needell has won the UC Davis Humanities ford and Professor Raissa D’Souza of UC Da-
a result, a joint committee of mathematicians Graduate Research Award again this year, her vis (GGAM member) gave great talks on the
and biologists have been working together to fourth time over four years. mathematics of games and sports and graph/
refashion the MAT 17 Calculus for Biology For the academic year through Sum- network theory. The conference was support-
and Medicine syllabus. Our Partial Differential mer 2008, we granted 18 Ph.D.’s (10 Math, ed by SIAM and an NSF VIGRE mini-grant.
Equations courses are also being re-examined 8 GGAM), 17 M.A. degrees, 3 M.S. degrees, More information on the UC Davis SIAM Club
to create opportunites for engineers who need and 2 MAT degrees. A Ph.D. recipient, Brandy can be found at SIAM Club webpage:
to study this fundamental area. Wiegers (Angela Cheer’s student), received the http://siam.math.ucdavis.edu/
Once again, our mathematics majors ex- Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Diver-
celled both at their coursework and research sity and Community. Note that she was the
endeavours, and produced several very in- third graduate student in our Department to
teresting undergraduate theses. Their accom- be honored with this award (Momar Dieng
plishments were celebrated at last June’s De- (Math) and Yvonne Lai (Math) were previous
partmental Awards Ceremony. recipients).
The third Annual GGAM Mini-Confer-
8
2007-08 Graduate Degree Recipients Peerless Advice
William Breslin, Ph.D., Math : RTG Assistant Professor, Univ. of Michigan
“Curvatures of Surfaces in Hyperbolic 3-Manifolds” under Hass
from the Peer Adviser
Brendan Farrell, Ph.D., Applied Math : Research Scientist, Technical Univ. of Berlin
“Analysis of Noncommutative Operator Classes in Info. Theory & Harmonic Analysis” under Strohmer Allison O’Hair is very excited to be join-
Eli Goldwyn, Ph.D., Applied Math : Postdoc. Fellow, Univ. of Chicago ing the Department of Mathematics as its
“When Can Dispersal Synchronize Oscillating Populations?” under Hastings Peer Adviser for the 2008-09 year. Entering
Raymond Guan, Ph.D., Applied Math : Intern, Intel Corporation her final year as an undergraduate mathemat-
“Advanced Equalization Techniques for Wireless Communications” under Strohmer ics major, she has much to offer after having
Andrew Hodge, Ph.D., Math : Applied Research Mathematician, Dept. of Defense experienced and completed many upper divi-
“The Degree of the Logarithmic Extension of the Contangent Bundle to the Moduli of Pointed Curves
and Hitchin Systems, Spectral Curves and KP Equations” under Mulase sion mathematics courses including Modern
Yvonne Lai, Ph.D., Math : RTG Assistant Professor, Univ. of Michigan Algebra, Real Analysis, Combinatorics, Topol-
“An Effective Compactness Theorem for Coxeter Groups” under Kapovich ogy, and Advanced Linear Algebra.
Jaejeong Lee, Ph.D., Math : J. Willard Gibbs Assistant Professor, Yale Univ. “There are many things I love about
“Fundamental Domains of Convex Projective Structures” under Kapovich mathematics, including the wide range of ap-
Dan Li, Ph.D., Applied Math, Financial Modeling Analyst, Moody Wallstreet Analytics plications and disciplines that it provides. In
“Differential Expression Analysis for Proteomics Data by 2D Gel Electrophoresis” under Rocke
almost all of our daily activities, we are able to
Yung-Ta Li, Ph.D., Applied Math : Postgrad. Researcher, National Chiao Tung Univ.
experience the beauty of mathematics. With-
“A Krylov Projection Method for Model Order Reduction of Parameterized Linear Dynamical Systems”
under Bai out hesitation, I would definitely come to UC
Shuang Liu, Ph.D., Applied Math : Senior Financial Mathematician, SLCG, Inc. Davis again as an undergraduate. I have had an
“Improving the Classification of Microarray Data: Supervised & Unsupervised Methods” under Rocke amazing experience here, including the classes
Fabiola Manjarrez-Guiterrez, Ph.D., Math : Lecturer, UC Davis, Mathematics I have taken, the friends I have met, and just
“Thin Circle-valued Morse Functions for Knots in S3” under Thompson being immersed in the overall environment.”
Spyridon Michalakis, Ph.D., Applied Math : Research Assoc., Los Alamos Nat’l. Labs Throughout her undergraduate studies,
“Entanglement and Ground States of Gapped Hamiltonians” under Nachtergaele
Allison has made the most of the opportunities
Kei Nakamura, Ph.D., Math : Visiting Research Asst. Professor, Oklahoma State Univ.
“Some Results in Topology and Group Theory” under Hass that have come her way. As a freshman, she
Daniel Rutherford, Ph.D., Math : Assistant Research Professor, Duke Univ. participated in the Integrated Studies Honors
“Relationships Between Legendrian Knot Invariants” under Fuchs Program where she enjoyed taking classes in
Chan-Ho Suh, Ph.D., Math : Fellow, Univ. of Victoria, Pacific Institute other disciplines. She has also enjoyed partici-
“Modified Normal Surface Theories” under Hass pating in both the Math Modeling Experience
Brandy Wiegers, Ph.D., Applied Math : Math Circle Coordinator, MSRI and Math Circle programs in Explore Math.
“A Model for Water Relations During Primary Plant Root Growth” under Cheer
Most recently, she took part in a Research Ex-
Michael Williams, Ph.D., Math : Postdoctoral, UC Santa Barbara
perience for Undergraduates (REU), working
“Lens Space Surgeries on Tunnel Number One Knots” under Thompson
alongside Math faculty and others in her co-
Constance Wilmarth, Ph.D., Math : Assistant Professor, Northwest Christian College
“Projections of Singular Vectors of Verma Modules over Rank 2 Kac-Moody Lie Algebras” under Fuchs hort.
Roy Wright, Ph.D., Applied Math : Visiting Asst. Research Prof., Truman State Univ. This year, she plans to continue taking
“Spatial and Temporal Heterogeneity of Host-Parasitoid Interactions in Lupine Habitat” under Hastings math classes while also enrolling in some
Pengchong “Mike” Yan, Ph.D., Applied Math : von Karman Instructor, Calif. Inst. of Tech. computer science courses. After graduation,
“Broadband Detection and Imaging of Multiple Targets in Clutter” under Fannjiang Allison hopes to continue her education in
Robert Gutierrez, M.A., Math : Instructor, Reedley College graduate school.
Robert Gysel, M.A., Math : Continuing Ph.D. in Computer Science at UC Davis When asked what she expects to gain
Corrine Kirkbride, M.A., Math : Instructor, Solano Community College from being the Department’s Peer Adviser, she
Julianne Kopriva, M.A., Math : Continuing as Credential Student in Education, UC Davis stated, “I am very excited to be the mathemat-
Shawn Lanier, M.A., Math : Instructor, Pioneer High School ics peer adviser, not only because I think it will
Dustin Pluta, M.A., Math be a great experience, but also because I enjoy
Michelle Stutey, M.A., Math meeting other math majors and fellow under-
Diana Webb, M.A., Math : Instructor, Santiago Canyon College graduate students. Please come visit me if you
Yuting Yang, M.A., Math : Pursuing Ph.D. in Mathematics, Univ. of Michigan have any questions or concerns that I could
help you with. I would love to meet you!”
Keyvan Hassan Alekasir, M.S., Applied Math : Quantitative Equity Analyst, T. Rowe Price
To contact the peer adviser, send email to:
Mohamed Ebeida, M.S., Applied Math : Postdoc. Fellow, Carnegie-Mellon Univ.
peer@math.ucdavis.edu
Katy Marchand, M.S., Applied Math : Educator, Woodland Christian High School
Chengwu Shao, M.S., Applied Math : Pursuing Ph.D. at Stanford Univ.
Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award
For the second year in a row we have had
three of our students receive the Outstanding
Graduate Student Teaching Award. We contin-
ue to be impressed by the caliber of our stu-
dents and are proud to see so many of them
receiving campus recognition.
Diana at the grad welcome hoe-down Patrick at the first annual Math Fest
Diana Webb, M.A., Winter 2008 Patrick Dragon, Ph.D. Candidate, 2008
Diana began her studies in Fall 2006. She Patrick began his Ph.D. studies in Fall
held a number of Teaching Assistant position 2006. He has had the chance to teach as an
as well as an Associate Instructor position. Di- Associate Instructor as well as serve as a Teach-
ana was nominated by Professor Jack Milton ing Assistant. Patrick’s nomination was led by
with several supporting recommendations. Professor Jesús De Loera and supported by
Below is just a taste of the comments received multiple students. Here are a few of the many
on Diana’s behalf. noteworthy comments received on Patrick’s
Eva M. Strawbridge, Ph.D. Candidate, 2008 “Diana Webb is an exemplary graduate behalf.
Eva began her Ph.D. studies in Fall 2004. student both in her dedication to the students “Patrick’s teaching is truly revolutionary.
Eva, who has been a major contributer to the who are fortunate enough to have her for a Not only can I honestly say that I have never
success of the Explore Math Program, was teacher and in her efforts to become a better had a better teacher in mathematics, I can
nominated for this teaching award by Brandy teacher.” honestly say I have never had a better teacher
Wiegers, the 2006-07 coordinator. To follow “While I meet truly remarkable Professors in any course, at any point in my academic
are just a few of the many noteworthy com- and instructors here on campus every year, career.”
ments received on her behalf. Diana had inspired the best in me. She has an “I loved absolutely everything about Mr.
“Mrs. Strawbridge’s participation in the uncanny ability to stir the interest of math- Dragon’s teaching style and philosophy. He
program and performances as a Explore Math ematics in others.” should serve as a model of a good instructor.”
fellow can only be described as exceptional.” “Diana was an excellent teacher and was “In all my career I have never seen such a
“Eva is an excellent teacher who has used very responsive to student concerns and ques- natural teacher. Patrick is truly full of enthu-
her teaching skills to lead a course for under- tions. I would highly recommend her to other siasm and love for communicating mathemat-
graduates, to train those undergraduates to students.” ics. His abilities to teach are beyond anything I
work with high school students to participate From Diana, “I am living in Orange, CA. have seen before and he is getting better every
in the MCM. Beyond her success with this After receiving my M.A. in March, I am teach- day!”
course, Eva has guaranteed the future suc- ing full time at Santiago Canyon College in From Patrick, “I’m starting my third year,
cess of the MME program through her work Orange. Next year, I have hopes of moving and finally understand the meaning of ‘hitting
recording and transferring the MME program to Hawaii with my boyfriend and finding a the ground running.’ This year, my research
over to her successor.” teaching position there.” with Prof. Schwarz is kicking into gear while
Catching Up
I try to finish up coursework and schedule
THE QUALS. I look forward to teaching next
summer, as my fellowship prohibits this dur-
Tyler J. Evans (Ph.D. 2000) and Bori Karen (Peterson) Nelson (B.A. 1968 in ing the school year. I was also the recipient
Mazzag (Ph.D. 2003) are enjoying life on the Math) completed her M.S. at Cal State Hay- of the Departmental W. K. Schwarze fellow-
Pacific North Coast with their two children ward in 2004. She spent a year of lecturing at ship for 2008—the application for which was
Miska, age 6, and Izabella, age 2. They both Hayward, and another year as adjunct facul- greatly augmented by the OGTA. Overall, life’s
miss living in Davis, especially the “B Street ty at Las Positas Community College. She is good—just never slowing down.”
House” and the Farmer’s Market. Tyler is pres- presently a part-time lecturer at Maui Com-
ently an associate professor at Humboldt State munity College in Kahului, HI on the scenic
University, where he has worked since 2001. island of Maui.
0
A New Math Model for the Community Catching Up
This year Brandy Wiegers received the tionally-renowned Mathematical Sciences Re- David W. Birdsall (B.S. 1976) has spent
UC Davis Chancellor’s Achievement Award search Institute as their National Math Circle 30 years in the computer industry working on
for Diversity and Community for 2007-08 in Coordinator and the Director of the outreach operating systems, compilers, and communi-
the Graduate Student category, as well as the program Oakland/East Bay Math Circle. In the cation networks. The last 25 have been spent
2007-08 Outstanding Graduate Student Com- university community, she created and chaired on relational database engines. From 1988
munity Service Award. These the Graduate Student Com- through 2006, he was part of Tandem, Com-
awards recognize Brandy’s munity Service Committee, paq, and HP’s NonStop SQL™ group working
contributions to enhancing which has provided vol- on the runtime engine, catalog manager, and
inclusiveness and diversity at unteers to more than 40 utilities. Most recently, he has been an archi-
the University of California, events since its founding; tect for HP’s Neoview product, with a focus on
Davis. More specifically, they and she co-founded the manageability, but contributing to all areas of
recognize Brandy’s work cre- Graduate Student Leaders the product.
ating and leading the Depart- Committee, which has fa- His daughter, Sarah, is now a freshman at
ment of Mathematics’ Explore cilitated coordination and UC Davis majoring in Dramatic Arts, and he
Math program, founding and communication among and keeps encouraging her to take some calculus.
leading the UC Davis Gradu- provided a peer support David is interested in hearing what his
ate Student Community Ser- network for student lead- former professors are up to. Profs. Borges,
vice Committee (GSCSC) and ers across campus. She met Barnette, Milton, Cutler, Banks, Chakarian,
her work in developing and with and convinced higher Sallee, Silvia, Norton, Glauz and Tamura all
directing the Oakland/East Bay Math Circle administration to have UC Davis join the na- stand out in his mind as people he enjoyed
and Circle for Teachers under the umbrella of tional Campus Compact community service and learned greatly from. He also likes to hear
the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and civic engagement organization. about contemporary alumni.
(MSRI) in Berkeley. Brandy is the third gradu- Brandy’s phenomenal commitment to out-
ate student in our Department to be honored reach efforts is exemplified by the variety of
with this award (Momar Dieng and Yvonne Lai people who have benefitted from her actions: Seth Adam Stevelman (B.S. 1998 in
were previous recipients). pre-college students in the Sacramento and Math/B.A. in Poli. Sci.), after a stint at Har-
Brandy has demonstrated an incredible Bay Area, her Department, her fellow graduate vard, has moved on from his position as attor-
drive to improve the community around her. students, and the university as a whole. ney at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp. He has
She created and ran a multi-week Professional Having completed her dissertation this become counsel in labor relations for ABC in
Development Seminar that brought together summer, Brandy accepted the position at the Burbank, California. He is still married to his
faculty and older students to share collective Mathematical Sciences Research Institute as wife, Jennifer, and his daughter Chloe contin-
job market advice with younger students; she their Math Circle Coordinator. In this role ues to grow.
has served for several years as Member-at- Brandy will lead their effort to create a na-
Large of the math Graduate Students Associa- tional organization of Math Circles and similar
Are You Alumni?
tion; and she even hosted (in her own home) a programs, while also directing the Oakland/
student-run reception for new recruits! East Bay Math Circle and Circle for Teachers
If there is one theme that unites Brandy’s and serving as the associate director of the San
We want to hear from you! Please send
work, it is a dedication to reach out to all Francisco Math Circle and Circle for Teach-
us information about yourself so that we can
community members and to inspire others ers. Brandy looks forward to living in the San
stay in touch and share in your experiences
to share their expertise with each other so as Francisco Bay Area, continuing to be involved
outside of UC Davis.
to benefit the community as a whole. When with Math Circles and other mathematical
Brandy joined the Explore Math program, she outreach programs while also maintaining her Please complete our Alumni Questionnaire
improved its structure so the directors of its mathematical biology work. If you’re inter- under “Contact Us” at:
constituent activities worked as a cohesive ested in finding out more about any of these http://www.math.ucdavis.edu/
team. Under her leadership, the Explore Math programs you should contact Brandy:
or send e-mail to:
program has received national recognition. brandy@msri.org
mso@math.ucdavis.edu
She was subsequently named by the interna-
We will do our best to include it in the next
newsletter.
2007-08 Department Awards Ceremony
On June 11, 2008, the Department honored award Alice Leung Scholarship in Mathematics
recipients among the faculty, staff and students.
Alice Siu-Fun Leung received an M.A. in Math in
G. Thomas Sallee Mathematics Teaching Award 1975 from UC Davis. She spoke very highly of her
experience at UC Davis. In her will, Ms. Leung gener-
The G. Thomas Sallee Mathematics Teaching
ously provided an endowment to award scholarships
Award was named in recognition of Professor Emeri-
annually to graduate students in Mathematics. This
tus Tom Sallee’s 40-yr career with the Department. Re-
Prof. Ali Dad-del award is given to students who have shown excep-
cipients of this award are drawn from instructors who
tional promise in all aspects of mathematics, including
have taught the Department’s lower-division courses
research, scholarship and teaching.
over the past year. Associate instructors, visiting in-
Deanna Needell won, and lived up to the promise
structors, lecturers, and regular faculty are eligible.
of math research that is essential for this award. She
This year’s award went to Professor Ali Dad-Del,
has already begun to master techniques of the newly
who was selected by the Department’s Awards Com-
developed and competitive research area of signal pro-
mittee after having reviewed course evaluations and
cessing called Compressed Sensing. As testament to
student comments.
her knowledge, she has been a guest speaker at the
Spring Mathematics Contest 2007 SPIE Computational Imaging Conference and
Adam Sorkin and G. Thomas Sallee Prize Winners the 2008 SIAM Imaging Science Conference.
Deanna has also worked diligently alongside her
Held annually and funded through two endow-
faculty mentor, Professor Roman Vershynin, studying
ments, the Spring Mathematics Contest and the G.
Geometric Functional Analysis. Professor Vershynin
Thomas Sallee Prize are open to all undergraduate
remarked, “It should be quite hard even for a bright
students enrolled at UC Davis. Winners of these com-
student to master two completely different fields in
petitions are determined after having completed an
two years, but that is what Deanna successfully did.”
exam designed by the Department’s Mathematics Con-
Deanna approaches research with care and atten-
test Committee. Awards for these categories went to
tion to detail. Her long list of accomplishments in-
George Barnett, Andy Huang, and Adam Sorkin.
cludes being four-time recipient of the UC Davis Hu-
Henry L. Alder Prize for Excellence in Teaching manities Graduate Research Award, two-time recipient
Andy Huang of the Graduate Student Mentorship Award, and an
Professor Henry Alder was an active member of
E.W.B. Math and Science Scholarship.
our Department from 1948 to 1994. Even in retire-
Deanna is a very talented scholar who shows a
ment, Professor Alder continued to teach and be a
great deal of depth, originality, productivity, and an
strong advocate for quality teaching almost until his
unequalled independence in mathematical research.
death in 2002. Part of his legacy is an endowment
known as The Henry L. Alder Graduate Fellowship in Evelyn M. Silvia Scholarship
Mathematics, providing support for our graduate stu- for Future Mathematics Teachers
dents through the Henry L. Alder Prize for Excellence
This scholarship was established through gener-
in Teaching. This prize is given each year to the person
ous donations from family and friends of the late Pro-
George Barnett deemed the top teacher among all graduate students
fessor Evelyn Silvia. Evelyn was hired in 1973, just
in mathematics.
following receipt of her Ph.D. from Clark University.
This year’s recipient was Julie Blackwood. In Sum-
During her career at UC Davis, she served as a role
mer 2007, Julie taught 16C, earning an evaluation rat-
model for female faculty. She was extremely generous
ing of 4.9 for overall teaching knowledge and 4.8 for
with her time whether it was as a campus committee
overall quality of the course. These ratings were the
member or an adviser assisting a student.
highest of all classes taught by graduate students for
This scholarship honors Silvia’s memory by recog-
the 2007-08 academic year.
nizing a junior or senior with a major in mathematics,
Even more remarkable, she taught the course at
applied mathematics or statistics who has shown an
the end of her first year. Her accomplishment has not
interest in teaching mathematics through their aca-
gone unnoticed by her teaching mentor, Professor Tim
Julie Blackwood demics and application materials. This year’s prize
Lewis, who described her as “a natural teacher.”
went to Courtney Dostie.
2
Robert Lewis Wasser Prize Skills Center to learn the Socratic method of teaching,
Robert Lewis Wasser was born in 1973 in Sacra- which emphasizes teaching by asking questions.
mento. He excelled in all that he did and was selected “It’s things like this that make my job the best job
as a National Merit Scholar in 1991, and a participant in the world,” Patrick stated. “I’ve found something
in the Academic Decathlon. In 1991, Robert began his I’m good at, something I’m appreciated for and can
studies at UC Davis where he quickly became one of devote myself to. Something I love.”
the few students in our Department who had already
taken as a sophomore some of our most challenging Departmental Citations
upper-division courses. These citations recognize the very top graduates
Deanna Needell
After his tragic death in an automobile accident of our undergraduate program, who have taken a very
in 1993, his grandmother initiated the Robert Lewis strong selection of mathematics courses, distinguished
Wasser Endowment in his memory. Its goal is to ben- themselves with exceptionally high grade point aver-
efit promising mathematics students at UC Davis. The ages, and received enthusiastic endorsements from
Department was pleased to award this year’s prize to the faculty. Joshua Burkhart, Shu-Yu “Philip” Chang,
Matthew Vicksell. Kathryn Crawford, Luis De La Torre, Andrey Goder,
Matthew Holden, Amanda O’Rourke, Pamela Patter-
Eric C. Ruliffson Scholarship in Mathematics son, Shad Pierson, Adam Sorkin, and Amanda Young
Eric Ruliffson attended UC Davis from 1964- were among this year’s winners.
1968, loved the study of math, and excelled in it. After
graduation, he joined the actuarial department of Pa- Galois Group Award Matthew Vicksell
cific Mutual Insurance. After serving in the Navy, Eric Known as “the official voice of the graduate stu-
attended graduate school in demography at UC Berke- dents in Mathematics,” the Galois Group is how grad-
ley. He later was a benefits consultant at Coopers and uate students in mathematics communicate with the
Lybrand. He became a partner with the firm, achiev- Department. Every year, the Galois Group presents
ing the status of Fellow in the Society of Actuaries. He an award to recognize outstanding service or commit-
was elected to the Board of Partners for Coopers and ment to the Group. This year’s award went to Perry
Lybrand, the first actuary to be so honored, and served A. Gee, one of the Department’s staff advisers with the
on the Board of Partners for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Student Services Office.
the world’s largest consulting firm.
For academic accomplishments and the Awards Special Departmental Recognition Patrick Dragon
Committee’s evaluation of his potential for future A very special Department award was given to
achievement, the award was given to Ying Wang. Yvonne Lai for her exceptional contributions to the
Galois Group, her generous service to the community
William Karl Schwarze Scholarship of graduate students in the Department of Mathemat-
In honor of William Karl Schwarze, a Mathemat- ics, and for her tireless efforts to establish better com-
ics student with the Department and a lifelong hu- munication between the students and the faculty.
manitarian, this award is given to graduate students
in Mathematics who have demonstrated outstanding Acknowledgements of Other Campus Awards
mathematical scholarship and exceptional promise of The Department congratulates Mohamed Omar,
making a strong professional contribution as a math- David Sivakoff, Eva Strawbridge, and Brandy Wiegers Perry Gee
ematics teacher and educator at the pre-college or col- for receiving the 2008 Community Service Award from
lege level. the UC Davis Community Service Office. We’d also
The award went to Patrick Dragon, who began like to recognize Matthew Holden for being named a
his graduate studies in Fall 2006. In that short time, University Medal Award winner, and Chelsea Hertz-
he made significant contributions as a teaching assis- og for being named this year’s Mary Jeanne Gilhooly
tant and associate instructor, devoted to helping oth- Award winner.
ers understand material they are learning. Professor Lastly, we congratulate Karen Chipman, Allison
Ali Dad-Del commended, “His interest and dedication O’Hair, Justin Sunu, Larissa Fitchett, Kurtis Keller,
to teaching and his talent in communication with stu- Trevor Jha, Christy Holl and Valarie Rothfus. Each
dents make him a very competent teacher.” of these students served on a team during the recent Yvonne Lai
Always looking for ways to improve, Patrick has Mathematical Contest in Modeling and received Team
been working closely with Rick West at the Learning Distinction Awards for their efforts.
Focus on Emeritus Kurt Kreith
Freshman seminars and COSMOS con- some catalog from this exposition that col- himself assigned to an army intelligence unit
tinue to provide outlets for Emeritus Professor leagues are welcome to examine. with operations in what was then West Berlin.
Kurt Kreith’s interests in classroom instruc- Erlangen was the site of a rather different Unwilling to engage in some of the practices
tion. During 2007-08 his freshman seminars exposition entitled “Jewish Mathematicians in called for by such information gathering, he
dealt with arithmetic, human migration, and German-speaking Academic Culture.” Some was assigned to a unit housed in the IG Farben
cryptography, while his 2008 COSMOS course painful episodes in German mathematics are building in Frankfurt. Here he used his 2-fin-
was “An Introduction To Discrete Dynamical explored and a range of books displayed. No- ger typing skills to process intelligence data.
Systems.” table was Otto Toeplitz’s Von Zahlen und Fig- In the fall of 1956 Kurt was able to re-
Engaged by the fact that the German Min- uren, an expository work on which Peter Lax turn to Berkeley to resume his graduate stud-
istry of Education had designated 2008 as the and John von Neuman are said to have cut ies. One of the first people he encountered
“Year of Mathematics,” Kurt also attended the their milk teeth (Our COSMOS students now there was Derrick Lehmer who asked the ob-
2008 Jahrestagung of the German Mathemati- encounter this book in English translation). vious question: “So, was your serial number
cal Society in Erlangen. This meeting was ac- Kurt expects to receive a catalog from this ex- prime?”
companied by expositions throughout Ger- position in October.
many, including one entitled “Zahlen, Messen, Travel to Erlangen involved a layover in
Rechnen” at the State Library in Bamberg. Berlin, a city filled
There, in an eerily darkened room, one en- with vivid reminders
counters books going back to the 8th century for many people. In
from which our computational mathematics 1955, having been
evolved. Included are the books of Christoph obligated to interrupt
Clavius (a native of Bamberg) and a copy of his graduate studies
Gregorius Reisch’s Philosophica Mathematica for a stint with the
with its famous woodcuts. Kurt has a hand- military, Kurt found
Kreith, at far left, with part Kollegienhaus der Universität
of his COSMOS Cluster Erlangen, Germany
Staff News
by Jessica Potts, Department Manager
This year brought several transitions. Our leave. With over 20
Department Manager, Tracy Ligtenberg, went merit and promotion
to Vet Med. Business Manager Richard Ed- actions, Carol is sure
miston moved to the Univ. of Arizona in his to stay busy!
hometown of Tuscon. After 14 months away, Anchoring our
I have returned, now as Department Manager. Student Services unit From left to right: Jessica Potts, Zach Johnson, Leng Siakkhasone, Marianne
In June 2008, Jessica Goodall and Tina are Celia Davis and Waage, Celia Davis, Karen Beverlin, Jessica Goodall, Connie Dani, Tina Denena,
DeAnn Ronning, Perry Gee, Carol Crabill, Alla Savrassova
Denena were promoted to team Business Man- Perry Gee. This year
agers. Connie Dani transitioned to a hybrid they’re busy with the site visit for the Graduate Academic Personnel
Student/Business Services position. After sev- Program Committee. Carol Crabill, DeAnn Ronning
eral office moves everyone seems to be settling Karen Beverlin continues as Assistant Business Services
Tina Denena, Jessica Goodall, Alla Savrassova
into their new jobs nicely. Editor for the Journal of Mathematical Phys-
Department Manager
Our staffing in the technical area has ics. Karen also publishes our quarterly Plus or Jessica Potts
stayed steady. We continue to automate ad- Minus e-newsletter. Student Services
ministrative tasks and are thankful to have In 2007 we hired POP candidate, Alla Connie Dani, Celia Davis, Perry Gee
such a great technical team. The computer Savrassova, as our Department Assistant. Alla’s Technical Services
team completed an online decision archiving position was extended this year and she con- Zach Johnson, Leng Siakkhasone, Marianne Waage
tool as well as an online voting tool for use by tinues to learn more about our Department. Journal of Mathematical Physics
Karen Beverlin
Academic Personnel. We hope to have an on- I was excited to return and am truly
line graduate annual review tool in 2009. thrilled to be working with such an amazing
Carol Crabill is flying solo during the Fall team. Here’s to another great year.
while DeAnn Ronning is out on maternity
Life After Davis
Jason Brown
B.A. in Mathematics, 1988
Attending UC Davis was a wonderful ex- cassette tape).
perience. I was away from family, experiencing I chose to continue
college life, going to a great school and study- teaching and research. I
ing a subject I dearly loved and found “easy.” I felt if I did not do this now, I would not have IT for quite a
was in a fraternity and on the golf team (2 time another opportunity. I went to Columbia and few years, learn-
All-American and teammate of current Aggie headed up their computer lab, teaching Sto- ing more about
Golf Coach Cy Williams). chastic Processes and Business Statistics. I computers, leadership, managing projects and
I was fortunate to get a job in the Math continued my research, received some grants, people, and most importantly learning about
Department grading papers and tutoring cal- and started running. I eventually ran the St. business politics.
culus. I loved teaching and tutoring. I got paid Louis Marathon in 3:21. I throw myself into I continued to learn at my next series of
for doing something fun! During summers I anything I do. I was taught to give 110% in jobs, and, in the end, becoming Chief Tech-
worked for the Agriculture Division of Shell whatever you do. After a year and a half, I re- nology Officer for an online payroll company,
Oil Company in Modesto as a field techni- ally missed programming and, though I was Allectis, that also offered all types of telecom-
cian. Field technician is short for a guy who doing well at teaching, it was not to be my munications offerings (dial-up, DSL, T1s,
measures corn stalks with a caliper on hands passion. etc.). We built the first online payroll appli-
and knees in 100+ degree heat wearing a full- I moved back to North Carolina and got cation that calculated the employer and em-
body, dry suit shouting out measurements a job as a Statistician for a military consult- ployee total liability before actually processing
while your colleague, in a similar suit, enters ing company, Applied Mathematics. The com- the payroll. The application heavily used Ja-
numbers into a massive “hand-held” comput- mercial world sure paid a lot more! Working vaScript (in a dynamic way before Dynamic
er. Life was good…then graduation came and out of Raleigh, I wrote search and rescue al- HTML) and a neat little technology called
reality set in. gorithms for the Coast Guard using the buoy Cold Fusion.
I decided to follow in my father’s footsteps movements over time to determine likely lo- The telecom industry busted and so did
(also a UC Davis Math alumni) and get a Ph.D. cations of where a capsized person would be Allectis. The Chief Financial Officer and I
My dad had an interesting job as a statistician, after a certain amount of time, if they started started a new company, Employer Payment
so I decided to go to graduate school in Statis- in a particular region. It was directly related to Solutions, offering online payroll processing.
tics. I thought it would be more applicable to my Ph.D. topic and I got to program. Life was We had one office in Raleigh and another in
getting a job in the real world. I narrowed it good again, except I was the only one in the New York. To protect our intellectual property,
down to the Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison or office, and in a military environment working I developed a way to acquire the information
The Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. on top secret stuff, there were no windows and at both locations and use them at a third. Little
Being a California boy, I felt that I would no Internet connection. I did not last long at did I know then that this was a type of web
not do well in the harsh winters of Wiscon- that job, as I liked to be around people. Star- service, before there was such a thing as web
sin, so off to North Carolina I went. Graduate ing at four walls 9 hours a day is not my idea services. We did not have a lot of money, but
school is much more difficult than undergrad- of fun. You need to love what you do so that we were having fun. We acquired a few cus-
uate school. I studied all the time, spent most your job is not a job, it is enjoyment. tomers, but not enough to pay for both of us.
of my days and nights in my office, and was I decided to really go after programming A friend of mine from Persimmon IT
rewarded with good grades and a Ph.D. To and got a job with an Internet start-up, Per- called me up and asked if I would move to
help with the cost of school, I was a teaching simmon IT, that was developing the first state- Pittsburgh to be in charge of software devel-
assistant and also worked at SAS Institute dur- based web server. I worked with the head of opment. After a lot of his recruiting and the
ing the summers. Both were great experiences. R&D to make a programming language to lure of living in a big city, I decided this was
I ended up getting a degree in Theoretical Sta- write web database applications using this a good opportunity. And here I am today, at
tistics, not exactly a launching pad into getting technology. I got to run a few mammoth proj- CombineNet in Pittsburgh. I have never been
a “real” job. ects as well, like PoliticsNow for the Washing- around a company with such awesome and
After graduation, I had a choice, continue ton Post. game changing technology.
to work at SAS Institute but now as a Research I was not using my Math and Statistics I have lived in many places in the Unit-
Statistician in charge of coding and enhanc- background, but I took solace in the fact that ed States, traveled all around the globe for
ing one of their modules, or go teach at the those two disciplines taught me to “think” and my work (England, France, Germany, Swe-
University of Missouri in Columbia. I dearly problem solve. There is more than one way to den, Turkey, India, China, Japan, Singapore),
loved teaching and explaining technical top- solve a problem, if you look at it from many learned many things about life and business,
ics to non-technical people, but I was equally different angles and perspectives, and sooner but I always fondly remember my days at Da-
enamored with computers and programming or later you will find at least one path to your vis for providing me with the love of teaching,
(I had been programming since age 14, back goal and you can choose the most efficient an appreciation of thought, and a passion for
when Apple Ataris stored your programs on one that suits your needs. I was at Persimmon always considering “what if.”
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