Top Award Goes to Math Senior

April 29, 2016 Written by SMC Math/CS

The Department is very excited to announce that mathematics senior Erica Musgrave has been awarded the 2016 De La Salle Award, which recognizes “the graduating senior with the highest record for scholarship and general excellence”. At the Commencement Awards Ceremony, Erica was also crowned with the George R. McKeon Female Scholar-Athlete Award.

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In the upcoming fall semester, Erica will begin a Ph.D. program in mathematics at the University of Nebraska. Congratulations, Erica — we’re very proud of your accomplishments!

Students

Scholarship Winners

April 25, 2016 Written by SMC Math/CS

Congratulations go to three of our outstanding sophomores — Hanna Dalrymple, Siena Lococo, and Sarah Roscoe — for academic merit-based awards. Hanna and Siena are the most recent recipients of the Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship, and Sarah has been awarded a MAPS Scholarship. Keep up the good work!

Students

Happy Pi (Approximation) Day!

March 15, 2016 Written by SMC Math/CS

Thanks to the Math Club for organizing a very successful celebration of this year’s Pi Day! The festivities were kicked off by a campus-wide pi-themed scavenger hunt in the morning, and they culminated with lots and lots of pi(e).

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Students and faculty from Math, Physics, and 3+2 Engineering celebrated their favorite transcendental number while enjoying a piece of pie and solving pi-themed puzzles on the chapel lawn.

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But the highlight of the day was, of course, the pi(e)ing of professors!

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Happy Pi Day from the Math Department!

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Events, Faculty, Students

2016 MAA Golden Section

February 28, 2016 Written by SMC Math/CS

Saint Mary’s College was well-represented at this year’s meeting of the MAA Golden Section, hosted by UC Davis on February 27th. Math majors Alex Lowen and Elijah Soria (seniors) and Joe Dominic (junior) presented posters on their recent research. Seniors Alan Kane and Andres Diestra tagged along for moral support…and to learn new mathematics!

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Meanwhile, the multi-talented Emerita Professor Lidia Luquet presented two of her own pieces at the first-annual Mathematical Art exhibit.

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Events, Faculty, Research, Students

Professor Hamaker on the Odds of Winning the Powerball Jackpot

January 11, 2016 Written by SMC Math/CS

Prof. Charlie Hamaker (aka Mr. Killjoy) was interviewed by CBS-5 reporter John Ramos for a story about the recent $7 million Powerball jackpot. In short, he explained that one is more likely to be killed by a ~~shark~~ pig than to win the Powerball jackpot.

Faculty, In the News

Elijah Soria Presents Research at the JMM

January 8, 2016 Written by SMC Math/CS

Mathematics senior Elijah Soria presented his research entitled “Some Properties of Generalized k-Pell Sequences” at the MAA Student Poster Session at the 2016 Joint Mathematics Meeting in Seattle. Nice job, Elijah!

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Research, Students

Dean Wensley on “Listener Perspectives”

December 8, 2015 Written by SMC Math/CS

Saint Mary’s College School of Science Dean Roy Wensely was featured on KQED‘s “Listener Perspectives”. In this segment, Dean Wensley points to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to illustrate the importance of educational institutions.

In the News

Erica Musgrave Credits Faculty Mentors

December 7, 2015 Written by SMC Math/CS

Senior math major Erica Musgrave credits the mentoring of Prof. Ellen Veomett as being a major driving force behind her success at Saint Mary’s College and beyond.

Academics, Faculty, Students

Call for Student Posters!

November 30, 2015 Written by SMC Math/CS

The 2016 Meeting of the MAA‘s Golden Section (N. California, N. Nevada, and Hawaii) will be hosted by UC Davis on Saturday, February 27, 2016. If you’re a student (undergraduate or graduate) who has participated in mathematics research, please consider presenting your work at this meeting’s student poster session. Details can be found in the Poster Announcement.

Questions? Contact Prof. Kristen Beck at kab24@stmarys-ca.edu.

Events, Research, Students

Math Monday

October 25, 2015 Written by SMC Math/CS

Join us at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, October 26 in Galileo 201 for Math Monday! Our very own Prof. Ellen Veomett will be talking about Coloring Geometrically Defined Graphs. The talk will be accessible to students of all levels…and (as usual) there will be refreshments!

Abstract: This talk will take us through a journey of graph coloring. We’ll start with some basic definitions and the well-known four and five color theorems. We’ll also discuss the fascinating question of the chromatic number of the plane. Finally, we’ll talk about new results on box graphs, which are graphs defined using blocks and their intersections. This talk will be extremely accessible, while at the same time including some modern research topics.

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Questions? Contact Prof. Michael Nathanson at man6@stmarys-ca.edu.

Events, Faculty