Author: Veronica McClain

Faculty Milestones

Quite a few faculty members in Mathematical Sciences celebrated important milestones recently. Congratulations to all the faculty members listed below for their recognitions!

Faculty members earning promotions and/or tenure.

Jim Brown, promoted to Professor

Meredith Burr, promoted to Senior Lecturer.

Chris McMahan, promoted to Associate Professor w/tenure

Xiaoqian Sun, promoted to Professor.

Jennifer Van Dyken, promoted to Senior Lecturer.

Faculty members recognized for years of service

Elena Dimitrova, 10 years

Shuhong Gao, 20 years

Pat Gerard, 10 years

Jun Luo, 10 years

Martin Schmoll, 10 years

Laura Shick, 10 years

Xiaoqian Sun, 10 years

Timothy Teitloff, 10 years

Hui Xue, 10 years

Jeong-Rock Yoon, 10 years

Retirements

James Brannan, 37 years of service

Richard Dubsky, 14 years of service

Laura Shick, 12 years of service

Daniel Warner, 36 years of service

Akshay Gupte and hiw wife Akshi are pleased to announce the arrival of Kavya Isabelle Gupte, born on the morning of December 15, 2016 at 7lb weight and 21in height.

Doc Redman is a highly rated sophomore in the Department of Mathematical Sciences. He is also a member of Clemson’s men’s Golf Team and recently won the prestigious U.S. Amateur Championship. Redman was recently honored for his dual achievements during a recent math class in Hardin Hall. Click here for Redmon’s Clemson Golf profile.

[Video courtesy of Clemson University College of Science, and photo courtesy of Clemson Men’s Golf]

Clemson was in the path of totality for this year’s amazing solar eclipse, and the weather was perfect for the event. The university hosted a large number of events and the Mathematical Sciences Department was no exception. Many people in the department got out to view the eclipse.

Professor Jim Coykendall kept the crowd stimulated with interesting mathematics.

Jim Coykendall representing the department and entertaining the crowd, and he gave a special Math Club lecture on the mathematics of eclipses the following week.

[photographs courtesy of April Haynes]

 Dr. Robert Beeler (Clemson Mathematical Sciences Ph.D., 2007) was recently presented with the Distinguished Faculty Award in Teaching at East Tennessee State University where he is an Associate Professor in Mathematics and Statistics. This is the university’s highest honor. The award citation says that Dr. Beeler a “master teacher” and “a faculty member for whom teaching is his passion.” In addition, he authored an upper-level undergraduate textbook and is also an active researcher.

For more information about Dr. Beeler and the prize, see the full story here.

(Elements of this story are from the above link. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Beeler.)

Solve problems and win prizes

Every week, we pose a fun and challenging question to Clemson students. Undergraduates and graduate students in any program are welcome to submit. Pow! is posted at

https://mthsc.clemson.edu/problemoftheweek/index.php

as well as outside our classrooms with a QR code to scan – so you can take the problem of the week with you wherever you go – and hard copies are distributed at Math Club. All correct solutions are recognized. Each week, those submitting correct solutions are entered in a raffle to be held at the end of the semester.

The problem of the week (Pow!) is fun and engaging for the students, generates mathematical interactions, and contributes to a sense of community among our students. If you have ideas for future problems of the week, please contact Meredith Burr <burr3@clemson.edu> or Gretchen Matthews <gmatthe@clemson.edu>.

Joshua Kevin Burr was born October 23, 2016. He was 19.5 inches and weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. Proud parents are Michael and Meredith Burr. Below is also a recent photo of Joshua.

On October 28th, AWM, in conjunction with Math Club, hosted the second annual Halloween Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza! AWM provided the pumpkins and Math Club provided the food. We had a great turnout of undergrads, grad students, faculty, and even some children! Many pumpkins were carved, and much fun was had by all. While carving pumpkins and enjoying the food, we also watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” – a Peanuts classic. We look forward to next year and hope to make this a recurring event.

Let’s all Congratulate Jim Brannan on his retirement.

Created in 2015 by Ryan Grove, Calculus Fight Club is taught by students currently enrolled in a MATH1020, MATH1060 or MATH1080 class (as well as PAL leaders for these classes) at Clemson University that volunteer their time to help any students taking these classes prepare for upcoming tests by going over selected problems from previous semesters’ exams on the Monday night of the week of a test.

Calculus Fight Club works closely with the MATH1020, MATH1060 and MATH1080 course coordinators in order to find teachers for each Calculus Fight Club, confirm which material will be relevant to go over for each test, and to get the word out so that students in those classes know about our event.  On average, Calculus Fight Club provides around 400-500 students per event with a chance to spend a night studying calculus with their peers in an environment that is entirely led by their peers.  The current leaders of Calculus Fight Club going into the Spring ’17 semester are (pictured left to right):  Addie Stone (for MATH1020), AJ Miller (for MATH1080), Mary Guest (for MATH1020), Polly Payne (for MATH1060), and Ameilia Casella (for MATH1020).