Math & Stats Department News

• The 2025 MAA Southeast Section Conference features ten presentations by our students and faculty.  Six APSU graduate students - Sikem Nkwawir, Dennis Kirui, Christopher Tillett, Cameron Tillett, Alysia Norales, and Michael Kipngeno - presented research within their fields of predictive analytics and mathematical finance.  Undergraduate statistics major Christine Jator gave a talk on her research on food insecurities, and there were three faculty presentations - Brad Fox on Voting Theory research, Kelly Buch on Course-Based Undergraduate Research, and Nick Kirby on Co-Teaching.
  
• APSU faculty and students filled the program at the 2025 TMTA Conference in February hosted at UT-Martin. Faculty presenters included Dr. Audrey Bullock on Math Through Play: Integrating Games for Meaningful Practice, Dr. Ben Ntatin on Mathematical Beliefs and Attitudes: Using Pictures, and Ellen Smyth on Flipped Finally Flopped & Up Floated a Better Model
  Our APSU Student/Alumni who presented were Christopher Tillett - Impact of Climate on Sugar Cane Exports, Alexandra Vezeau – Continuous Improvement Classroom, and India Foster - Order of Operations: Essential Classroom Management for New Math Teachers
• Statistics major Christine Jator presented at the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle in January. Her research talk was on Clustering Analysis of Obesity and Nutritional Variations Across the U.S.
  
  
• Dr. Audrey Bullock received the 2024 Tenured Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.  Her excellence not only inside the classroom, but also through her work in curriculum development, pedagogical research, and mentorship of future educators earned Dr. Bullock this terrific honor!
  
  
• In August Professor Sumen Sen presented at the Joint Statistical Meeting in Portland, Oregon.  His research talk was on "Doubly-Inflated Poisson INGARCH Models for Count Time Series."
  
  
• Multiple faculty and one student presented at the national conference MathFest in Indianapolis in August.  Benjamin Bruyns, a math and computer science double major, presented a poster on his research with Dr. Brad Fox on evaluating the fairness of Borda count voting methods.  Dr. Kelly Buch gave a pedagogy presentation on activities developed to introduce new notation in her Precalculus classes, and Dr. Fox presented graph labeling research involving zero-divisor graphs.
  
  
  
  
• Professor Brad Fox presented in June at the 12th International Workshop on Graph Labeling, which was hosted at AGH University in Krakow, Poland.  His presentation was on the topic of Prime Labelings of Zero-Divisor Graphs.
  
  
  
• Mathematical Finance graduate student Olayinka Ugwu and Professor Ramanjit Sahi presented in May at the online MIRDEC International Academic Conference on Economics, Business and Contemporary Discussions in Social Science, hosted in Lisbon, Portugal.  Their paper on "Predicting Oil Prices in the Presence of Geopolitical Factors" was subsequently published in the Conference Proceedings.
• Congratulations to the receipients of our 2024 Department of Mathematics and Statistics Awards!  
       - Outstanding Senior Award: Kemeliz Fuentes
       - Outstanding Sophomore/Junior Award: Kyra Lander
       - Nell Rayburn High Impact Practice Award: Christine Jator
       - Graduate Student Award in Mathematical Finance: Monsuru Durojaiye and Anthony Thai
       - Graduate Student Award in Predictive Analytics: Megan Oelgoetz and Gabrielle Burnett 
       - Graduate Student Award in Mathematics Instruction: Alice Guardo and Leah Winter
  
  
• Five students and one faculty member were inducted this spring into our chapter of the Pi Mu Epsilon Mathematics Honor Society.  Congratulations to Jason Frederick, Christine Jator, Jackson Lewis, Megan Oelgoetz, Joseph Williams, and Dr. Mary Akinyemi for this well-deserved honor!
  
  
• Four of our mathematics students presented posters at the APSU Student Research Symposium in early April.  Great work by Briauna Bonney and Sage Patten (pictured below) on Odd Graceful Labelings with Dr. Fox, Samuel Whitaker on Analysis of Heat Waves in Phoenix, and Quinn Schneider on Oil Production and Price in the US with Dr. Sahi!
  
  
• Two of our students presented at the TAS Conference in April. Jackson Lewis earned 2nd place in the Math and CS session with “Minimal Surfaces: An Introduction to Differential Geometry," and William Keener's "Differential Geometry from a Calculus Perspective" earned 4th place.
  
  

• A terrific group of 3 faculty and 12 students attended the MAA Southeast Section Conference at UT-Knoxville in March. Four of the students - William Keener, Ben Bruyns, Jackson Lewis, and Jazz Kreuser - competed in the Math Jeopardy competition, four students presented in the student or contributed paper sessions - Samuel Whitaker, Olayinka Ugwu, Megan Oelgoetz, and Monsuru Durojaiye, another student - Jackson Lewis - presented in the student poster session, and three of our Math professors presented on their research or innovative teaching methods - Drs. Nicholas Kirby, Kelly Buch, and Brad Fox.
  
  
• The (MT)^2 Conference (Middle Tn Math Teachers) was hosted at APSU in February and featured faculty presenters Dr.'s Darrough, Yantz, Ntatin, Kirby, Vogel, Dalton, and a keynote lecture by Dr. Fox. Student presenters included Shelby Hicks, Cecily Gaither, Cory Yeomans, Main Im, Hannah Olson, Peyton Pope, and Lakisha Williams from our MAED program. Dual Enrollment and Middle College students Ari Vaknin, Aiden Funches, Grace Holt, and Allison Crawford also presented.
• Two of our Math & Stats students presented research at the Posters at the Capitol event February where their work was showcased to the Governor and state legislators. Autumn Schneider investigated "Oil Production and Price in the U.S.", and Samuel Whitaker conducted an "Analysis of Heat Waves in Phoenix," both of which were mentored by Dr. Sahi.

• Five of our students - two undergraduate Statistics majors and three graduate students from our Predictive Analytics and Mathematics Finance programs - earned Student Research Support Grants.  Congratulations to these recipients!
  • Christine Jator - with Dr. Sumen Sen in 2024 on "Food Insecurities in a Blooming Rural Town: A Statistical Analysis"
  • Samuel Whitaker - with Dr. Ramanjit Sahi in 2024 on a "Study of Heat Waves in Phoenix"
  • Megan Oelgoetz - with Dr. Ramanjit Sahi in 2024 on a "Time Series Model to Predict Gastrointestinal Illnesses in Tennessee"
  • Olayinka Ugwu - with Dr. Ramanjit Sahi in 2024 on a "Study of U.S. Crude Oil Prices and Geopolitical Factors"
  • Monsuru Durojaiye - with Dr. Ramanjit Sahi in 2024 on "Quantifying Credit Risk in the Lending Industry"
• Dr. Kelly Buch presented in multiple sessions at the 2024 Joint Mathematics Meetings earlier this month in San Francisco. She gave a talk on her mathematical ecology research and a presentation on teaching math modeling, while also serving on a panel discussing standards-based grading.
  
  

• Professor Brad Fox received one of APSU's Faculty Research & Scholarly Activity grants. He'll be working with a student researcher using ranked choice election data to determine the most mathematically fair voting method.
• One undergraduate math major - Jackson Lewis - and four mathematics graduate students - Olayinka Ugwu, Paul Madu, Olalekan Durojaye, and Idris Ajibade - presented research at the 2023 Tennessee Academy of Sciences Conference in Memphis.  Jackson's talk "On the application of logistic regression to prime numbers" earned the top prize in the Math & Computer Science section.  
  
  
  
• Three undergraduates and six grad students from our Actuarial Science and Mathematical Finance programs attended the Midwest Actuarial Science Conference, where they learned about the actuarial profession, participated in a case study, and networked with employers and other students.  Dr.'s Amusan and Yantz went with students (pictured from left to right) Saheed Akintayo, Megan O’Hara, Busayo Yusuf, Jared Shanks, Chris Nikrant, Babatunde Salaudeen, Uduak Umeng, Michael Langat, and Chris Tillett.
  

• Three of our Math Education faculty, Dr. Audrey Bullock, Dr. Jennifer Yantz, and Dr. MaryLu Dalton, along with Education professor Dr. Joanne Philhower, presented in Washington, D.C. in October at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting.  Professors Yantz and Dalton presentation was titled "Where's the Math? Finding Math Right under Our Noses in Our Neighborhood," and Dr. Bullock's talk was on "Making Measurement Formulas Meaningful."
  
• Christine Jator, a third-year Statistics major, presented research from her data science summer REU at the Southern Demographic Association Conference in San Antonio.  Her presentation was on a "Financial Analysis of Evictions in Dallas County." 
  
  

• Four students from our graduate program presented research at the TMTA Conference at Belmont University in September.  Paul Madu, Stanley Okoro, Samson Edozie, and Akinfolajimi Bamiigbola gave presentations on topics such as using data analytics to detect credit card fraud and mathematically modeling the relationship between corporate social responsibility and stock liquidity.
  
• Dr. Brad Fox was one of 15 participants in the REUF (Research Experiences for Undergraduate Faculty) program hosted at Brown University in August. Professor Fox worked in a team of 6 researchers in this program, which is designed to generate undergraduate research experiences at the participants' home institutions.
  
• Faculty within the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and staff in the College of STEM gathered to celebrate the retirement of James Sanders in August.  Mr. Sanders served APSU as an instructor for a remarkable 41 years.  Our department is grateful for the impact he has had on APSU studnets over his extensive career!  
  
  
• Christine Jator was one of nine participants in an NSF Research Experience for Undegraduates at Southern Methodist University in Dallas during the summer of 2023.  The program will allowed Christine, a rising junior in our data science concentration, to use cutting-edge data analytics tools to solve environmental problems in urban areas.
  
  
• Twenty middle and high school mathematics teachers began our two-year Master's program in Mathematics Instruction.  This program features a two-week session of courses in Summer 2023 before continuing with hybrid and online courses in the Fall and Spring.  
  
  
  
• Christine Jator, a sophomore statistics major, was chosen as the 2023 Tami Fraley Character Award by the College of STEM.  This awards recognizes a student who exemplifies honesty, integrity, respect, and compassion, and who serves as a role model for those at Austin Peay and in the community.  Congratulations Christine!
  
  
• The Department of Mathematics and Statistics honored its best student on April 24th in our annual awards ceremony.  Congratulations to the following recipients for their well-earned awards!  
  Dr. Nell Rayburn Award for High Impact Practices - Mackenzie Carr
  Outstanding Sophomore or Junior Award - Kemeliz Fuentes
  Outstanding Senior Award - Isac VanWormer
  Predictive Analytics Graduate Student Award - Adekunle Adefabi and Constanza Zurita Valdebenito
  Mathematical Finance Graduate Student Award - Kyle Nunn and Md Romyull Islam
  Mathematics Instruction Graduate Student Award - Kimberly Gould and Alison Fleckner
  
  
  
  
  
• APSU's chapter of the Pi Mu Epsilon Mathematics Honor Society had its 2023 induction ceremony in April.  Congratulations to the newly inducted members: Evan Stack, Marylu Dalton, and Masum Bhuiyan
  
  
• Assistant Professor Kelly Buch presented at the 2023 MAA Southeast Section Conference at Coastal Carolina University in March 2023.  Dr. Buch's presentation was on the pedagogical topic of "Demystifying Logarithms by Introducing Log Notation Before Log Concepts."
• Kayode Ogunsusi, a graduate student in our Math Finance program, presented research at the 21st Annual TMATYC Conference in Chattanooga in February 2023.  His research was on "Applying Mathematical Models in Mitigating Supply Chain Issues."  Kayode's mentor for this project was Dr. Ramanjit Sahi.
• Four Austin Peay students from our department presented at Posters at the Capital event at the TN State Capitol in Nashville.  Samantha Deems is a Math Education major who presented "Math Manipulatives for Special Education Students" on research mentored by Dr. Marylu Dalton.  Amber King, an Actuarial Science major working with Dr. Ramanjit Sahi, presented "Measurement of Real Estate Mutual Funds."  April Torres is a graduate student in our Mathematical Finance program who presented her research with Dr. Sahi on "Descriptive Analysis of Puerto Rico Excess Mortality after Hurricane Maria."  Chloe Hemmelgarn is a Biology major who also conducted research with Dr. Sahi on "Forensic Science Through a Statistical Lens."
  
  
  
  
  
• Two presentations were made by APSU faculty or students at the national Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boston in January 2023.  Professor Kelly Buch presented in a special session on modeling in mathematical ecology on "Basal Sprouts and the Establishment and Spread of Vector-Borne Disease."  Laina Skaggs, a Biology major who has conducted undergraduate mathematics research with Dr. Ramanjit Sahi, presented on the "Impact of Extreme Precipitation on Waterborne Illnesses Due to Cryptosporidiosis in TN."
• Six APSU students received honors for presentations made at the TN Academy of Science Conference in November 2022.  Graduate students Christine Bandol - "Statistical analysis of dengue fever in the Philippines", Roland Fani - "Application of mathematics in civil engineering", Anthony Thai - "Preliminary study of budget allocation in a non-profit grant-funded organization", and April Torres - "Descriptive analysis of Puerto Rico excess mortality after Hurricane Maria" were selected as the top graduate presentations in mathematics.  Undergraduates Chloe Hemmelgarn - "Understanding forensics through statistics lens" and Amber King - "Performance measure for real estate mutual funds" were chosen as the top two undergraduate presentations in our area.  All six students were mentored on their research projects by Dr. Ramajit Sahi.
  
• Professor Brad Fox presented a research poster at the national conference MathFest in Philadelphia in August 2022.  This was joint research with undergraduate math major Holly Carter on a topic within graph theory.
• Madisson Russell was selected as the 2022 Drane Award recipient, which is given to the university's top member of the graduating class based on character, scholarship, and leadership.  Congratulations to Madisson on this incredible honor!
  
• The Department of Mathematics and Statistics honored seven of its top students at our annual awards ceremony.  Congratulations to the following recipients:
  
  Outstanding Senior: Erin Sherman
  
  Outstanding Sophomore: Christine Jator
  
  Dr. Nell Rayburn Award for High Impact Practices: Madisson Russell
  
  
  Graduate Student Award for Mathematics Instruction: Sara Grey
  
  Graduate Student Award for Predictive Analytics: Yunwi Jikong and Tamara Niccum
  
  Graduate Student Award for Mathematical Finance: Enerstin Mbi Kang
  
  
  
• Six students were inducted into our chapter of the Pi Mu Epsilon Honor Society in April.  The new inductees are Leah Dowlen, Chelsea Grant, Gabriella Morin, Mackenzie Carr, and Sebastian Motes. Congratulations to them for this terrific honor!
  
  
• Senior math major Holly Abrams presented her research at the Joint Math Meetings, the largest national mathematics conference in the country, which was held virtually in April.  Holly's poster was included in the AMS-Pi Mu Epsilon Undergraduate Student Poster Session.  Her research on Odd Prime Graph Labelings was with Professor Brad Fox.
• Three APSU students presented research at the 2022 MAA Southeast Section Conference at Berry College in March 2022.  Madisson Russell gave a research talk on "Statistical Analysis of Wildfires," Holly Abrams presented on "An Exploration of Odd Prime Graph Labelings," and Joseph Semler presented a poster on "Rational-Logarithmic 4th Order Method and Application to a First-Order Pantograph Equation."  Congratulations to Holly, whose presentation earned a Patterson Prize as an Outstanding Student Presentation.  Additionally, Holly and Madisson, along with Erin Sherman and Alex Edwards, represented APSU in the annual Math Jeopardy competition. 
  
• Isamar Rachal and Chelsea Martinez, who are Masters students in our Mathematical Instruction program, presented at the Annual (MT)² Conference in January 2022.  Their presentation was on "Technology in Education."
  
  
• APSU was well-represented at the 2021 TMTA Fall Conference in October as several of our Mathematical Instruction Masters and Middle School Math students gave presentations.  Speakers included graduate students Kara Underwood, Sabrina Lindstrom, and Sara Grey on "Engaging Students through Classroom Games," Anthony Taylor on flipped classrooms in his presentation "Flip It!", and Sheri Beaver on "Ideas for Teaching AP Calculus."  Dr. Audrey Bullock also presented alongside Middle School Math major Melanie Hammons on the topic of "Making Sense of the Metric System."
  
• Three APSU students presented at the Math and Computer Science section of the 2021 TAS Conference in November.  Undergraduates Laina Skaggs and Madisson Russell, both mentored by Dr. Ramanjit Sahi, gave presentations on "Severe precipitation events and their effects on waterborne illnesses" and "Pros and cons of California land preservation," respectively.  Graduate student Yufenyuy Sevidzem Simo also presented on "Pricing option strategy using the binomial option pricing model."
• Associate Professor Rebecca Darrough received well-earned recognition as a 2021 Socrates Award for Excellence in Teaching winner.  This award recognizes tenure-track professors who inspire and motivate their students through their outstanding teaching.  Congratulations Dr. Darrough!
• Our Master's in Mathematics Instruction program welcomed a cohort of 26 teachers, the largest in the program's history, for their math boot camp in June.  This intense two-week session of classes begins their two-year journey towards a graduate degree.
  
• Kara Underwood was selected as the 2021 William McClure Drane Award recipient.  This honor is bestowed on the top member of APSU's graduating class based on their character, scholarship, leadership, and service to the university.  This couldn't have gone to a more deserving student, and we are excited for two of our math majors to sweep the top two student awards!  Congratulations Kara!
• The Harvill Civitan Citizenship Award is given to a graduating student for their outstanding contribution to good citizenship during their college career.  The 2021 recipient is Mathematics Education major Sara Grey.  We are so proud of all her accomplishments that led to Sara earning this recognition!
• Congratulations to the following winners of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics awards for 2021: Outstanding Senior - Kara Underwood, Outstanding Sophomore - Madisson Russell, and the Dr. Nell Rayburn Award for High Impact Practices - Holly Abrams.  These honors are well-deserved!
• Three math majors joined a group of chemistry students in presenting posters of their research at the 2021 CoSTEM Research Forum in May 2021.  Derrick Jator, Tate Williams, and Madisson Russell were our presenters, all of whom were mentored by Dr. Ramanjit Sahi. 
• The Pi Mu Epsilon mathematics honor society has seven new inductees in Spring 2021.  Seth Birch, Alex Edwards, Shelby Gibson, Quincy Gordon, Chelsea Grant, Emma Kreuser, and Erin Sherman earned this honor.
• Three APSU students presented at the 2021 MAA Southeast Sectional Conference, which was held virtually in March.  The speakers included undergraduates Isac VanWormer (Domination and Independence on Diamond Chessboards) and Joseph Semler (Taylor Series Solutions for the Van der Pol Equation) along with graduate student Joycelyn Young (Confidence Intervals and Pool Noodles). 
• Two of our department's top students presented research at the 23rd Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics in January 2021.  Holly Abrams presented a poster on "Measuring Gerrymandering" in which current mathematical tools for identifying when gerrymandering occurs were studied and improved upon.  Sara Grey gave an oral presentation on "The Gender Gap of Doubt," based on a project investigating how certain types of assessments create a disparity between genders due to differences in levels of mathematical self-confidence.  Both students were mentored on their research by Professor Brad Fox.
  
• Holly Abrams earned the top award for student presentations in the Math/Computer Science Section at the virtual TAS Conference in November.  Her presentation was on "Measuring Gerrymandering: Improving Upon the Efficiency Gap," which was research mentored by Dr. Brad Fox.  Also presenting at this conference was Dr. Ibukun Amusan on his research "An asymptotic method for pricing options under Heston model."
• Our 2020 GTA Excellence Awards were earned by Michael Akinola and Olamide Arolambo.  Michael is a 2nd year student in our M.S. Predictive Analytics program who was a TA for MATH 1530 and MATH 1010, and Olamide is also in his 2nd year of the Predictive Analytics program as a TA for MATH 1530.  Congratulations to both for this well-deserved honor!
• Congratulations to the 2019-2020 award recipients in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics!  Our Outstanding Senior Award was earned by Zachary Marlow, Outstanding Sophomore went to Isac VanWormer, and the inaugural Dr. Nell Rayburn Award for High Impact Practices was given to Sara Grey.
• Three mathematics majors received Undergraduate Research Enrichment Fund grants in Spring 2020.  Derrick Jator will be conducting research within mathematical finance with Dr. Sahi, Isac VanWormer in graph theory with Dr. Fox, and Sara Grey in mathematics education with Dr. Fox.  Congratulations to all three for the terrific honor of their selection!
• Seven new members were inducted into the Pi Mu Epsilon mathematics honor society in Spring 2020.  The COVID-19 pandemic prevented our usual formal induction ceremony, but Christopher Albert, Leah Baker, Sara Grey, Jacob Hannah, Sabrina Lindstrom, Sebastian Motes, and Quynh Tran have earned this recognition.
• Associate Professor Brad Fox presented on "Gerrymandering Metrics and Their Flaws" at the 2020 MAA-Southeast Conference in March.  Although the in-person conference was cancelled because of COVID-19, his talk was given in a virtually in a session on Mathematics and Democracy.  Dr. Fox's research is preliminary work with undergraduate student Holly Abrams.
• Graduate students Brooke Derrick and Suzzanne Patterson, who are earning their Master of Arts in Teaching with a concentration on Mathematics Instruction, presented at the 2020 Conference on Academic Research in Education in Las Vegas in February.  Their poster on the Historic Development of the Quadratic Formula was mentored by Jackie Vogel.

• Professor Ramanjit Sahi and Mathematics Education major Courtney Frazier made presentations at the Joint Math Meetings in Denver Colorado in January, which is the largest annual math conference in the world.  Courtney presented research on applying mathematics to molecular symmetry, and Dr. Sahi's presentation was on numerical methods to solve the Black-Scholes partial differential equation.
• APSU undergraduates Courtney Frazier and Zachary Marlow, and graduate student Ahanor Izuwa presented research projects at the 2019 Tennessee Academy of Science Annual Conference in Columbia, TN.  Their research was in cooperation with Dr. Ramanjit Sahi and Dr. Daniel Mayo.
• Dr. Brad Fox was awarded one of APSU's Faculty Research Support grants.  This funding will support research that Dr. Fox will conduct with an undergraduate student this spring and summer in the use of graph theory to study the political issue of gerrymandering.
• Austin Peay was well represented at the poster sessions at the national MathFest conference in Cincinnati in August.  Professors and students that presented their research include Jackie Vogel, Rachel Balthrop, and Kassi Rye: "Mathematical Misconceptions and Teaching Implications at the Secondary Level," Jackie Vogel and Jillian Honea: "Pythagoras and Music Theory," and Brad Fox: "Neighborhood-Prime Labelings of Hamiltonian Graphs." 
• A large class of 25 APSU students earned the honor of being inducted in April into the Pi Mu Epsilon national mathematics honor society.  Congratulations to Tatiana Alonso, Lakorria Bates, Conner Black, Taylor Brentari, Isaiah Carmichael, Luke Cecil, Darby Del Duca, Austin Harnage, Michael Harris, Shannon Harrison, Codie Hill, Derrick Jator, Susan Kersten, Zach Marlow, Megan McCracken, Curtis Mickens, Payton Nicoll, Angeline Rinehart, Lance Schneider, Kenneth Shipley, JoLynn Tyner, Kara Underwood (pictured below), Tate Williams, Claudia Yanes Garcia, and Lydia Yanes Garcia.

• Multiple groups of students presented posters at the 14th Annual APSU Research and Creativity Forum in April.  Taylor Brentari, Ryan Cain, and Benjamin Meadows; Zach Marlow (pictured below); and Darby Del Duca and Courtney Frazier presented the results of projects from their Linear Algebra class, representing our department well at the campus-wide event.

• Professor Jackie Vogel and her daughter Jill, a recent graduate of APSU's music program, presented on connections between the Pythagorean Theorem and Music.  Their interdisciplinary presentation was made at the TMATYC Conference at Roane State Community College.

• Four of our math majors competed at the 2019 MAA Southeast Section Conference's Math Jeopardy competition.  Erin Sherman, Katherine Kreuser, Isamar Rachal, and Angeline Rinehart (shown left to right below) did a great job representing our university!

• Mathematics professors Ben Ntatin and Brad Fox presented their research at the 2019 MAA Southeast Section Conference at Lee University in March.  Dr. Ntatin presented on Group Actions of Lie Groups on Flag Manifolds, and Dr. Fox presented on Neighborhood-Prime Labelings of Graphs.
• The 2019 Middle Tennessee Mathematics Conference featured several APSU Math Ed majors and faculty as presenters.  Students included Isamar Rachal, Chelsea McCall, and Caleb Marston (pictured below), and faculty presenters included Audrey Bullock (shown below), Sam Ligo, Jackie Vogel, and Rebecca Darrough.  They represented our Math Education program well!

• Recent graduate alumni John Kennedy, along with his co-author Professor Jackie Vogel, wrote an article published by the TX Forum of Teacher Education.  Their work is titled "Does Exposure to Higher Level Mathematics Affect Problem Solving?" Congratulations to John for this accomplishment!

• First-year Math Major Dejah Reed was selected as a Finalist for the APSU 1000 Creative Response Competition.  Her response (shown below) to Just Mercy shows the love, strength, and support the main character received from others in the novel. Great work Dejah!

• Many APSU students presented at the 2018 Tennessee Academy of Science Conference, hosted at APSU in November.  Student presenters included Mutiu Samiyu and Wasiu Shittu, Amarachi Mbakwe, Emmanuel Akoja, Stevye Tinchie, Scott Howard, Israel Olugbade and Kehinde Ajibade, Lance Schneider, Joseph Mathews, and Matt Watkins.  Congratulations in particular to Joseph, Matt, and Scott who were awarded as the top three presenters in the math section!

• Also presenting posters at the TAS Conference were LaQuinton Dunn and Latoria Brown, Tamara Niccum and Michael Harris, and Lance Schneider.  Congrats to LaQuinton and Latoria (pictured below) for being selected as the best poster!

• Congratulations to Malori Cloys, a current graduate student at APSU and recent undergraduate alumnus, and her research advisor Dr. Brad Fox who had their paper "Neighborhood-Prime Labelings of Trees and Other Classes of Graphs" accepted to be published in the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal.

• At the Tennessee Mathematics Teachers Association Conference in September, several APSU students and faculty presented their research and served on a panel discussion about our annual math contest.  Student presenters included Tabitha Michael, Ali Brumfield, Samantha Broadhurst and Chelsea McCall, and Josh McMillan and Carrie Hudgins.  The panel members were Dr.'s Audrey Bullock, Jennifer Yantz, Becky Darrough, and Ellen Smyth. Great job by everyone representing our Math Education program.

• Dr. Brad Fox presented his graph labeling research at the 10th International Workshop on Graph Labeling in September at Ball State University.

• Kindyl King and her advisor Dr. Samuel Jator published a research paper entitled "Integrating Oscillatory General Second-Order Initial Value Problems Using a Block Hybrid Method of Order 11" in the journal Mathematical Problems in Engineering.  Great work Kindyl!

• Congratulations to our department's 2018 recipients of the Outstanding Senior and Outstanding Sophomore Awards - Kindyl King and Payton Nicoll!

• Sixteen students were given the honor of being inducted into APSU's Pi Mu Epsilon mathematics honor society in April 2018: Malori Cloys, Jake Crews, Rickey Cupp, Jonathan Gunner, Tyler Hagemann, Denver Hall, Cassie Hobbs, Caleb Marston, Chelsea McCall, Megan McCracken, Rhett Newton, Isamar Rachal, Kayla Richards, Joseph Spear, Christopher Tuncap, and Harrison Welch.

• Three of our department's faculty presented their research at the 2018 MAA Southeast Section Conference at Clemson University in March: Brad Fox in the area of Graph Theory, Nick Kirby in the area of Differential Equations, and Ben Ntatin in the area of Geometry and Analysis.  Dr. Fox also presented his work at the AMS Southeast Sectional Conference at Vanderbilt in April.

• Many of our faculty members, along with current and former undergraduate and Master's level students presented at the Middle Tennessee Mathematics Teachers Annual Conference in February.  Presenters included current undergraduate Jessica Elliott in our Math Education concentration; current EdS students specializing in Mathematics Jeremy Cecil and Sarah Cecil; current MAED Math specialization student Frances Ford; current MS Math Instruction students Rachel Balthrop and Justin Owens; recent MAED alumni John Garwood and Lea Keith; and APSU faculty Audrey Bullock, Rebecca Darrough, Sam Ligo, Jackie Vogel, and Jennifer Yantz.  Great job representing our department and graduate programs!

• Senior Math Major Malori Cloys was one of 48 undergraduates selected to present at the 2018 Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics in January, where she presented her research on neighborhood-prime labelings of graphs that was conducted with Dr. Brad Fox.

• Katherine Kreuser, a math major within the actuarial science concentration, passed the first of the Society of Actuaries tests, Exam P, in January 2018.  These exams give our graduates a great advantage on the job market in the actuarial field. Congratulations to Katherine!

• Congratulations to our very successful undergraduate researchers for their recent conference presentations.  Kindyl King, Malori Cloys, and Menique Brewer earned the top 3 awards for mathematics presentations at the 2017 TAS Conference.  Joseph Mathews also presented research at the UNC-Greensboro Regional Math and Stats Conference.  Great work by our math major and their research mentors: Dr. Sam Jator, Dr. Brad Fox, Dr. Vajira Manathunga, and Dr. Sumen Sen.

• Dr. Jennifer Yantz was selected as the recipient of the 2017 Socrates Award for Excellence in Teaching.  It is a well-deserved honor for Dr. Yantz's success in the classroom and her commitment to her students.

• Junior math major Katherine Kreuser has been accepted into the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics summer program.  She will spend eight weeks studying math in the highly acclaimed study abroad program.

• Graduating math major Emily Stark was selected as the 2017 recipient of the William McClure Drane Award for her terrific character, scholarship, leadership, and service to APSU!  Congratulations to Emily, who will be pursuing a Ph.D. degree this fall at Florida Atlantic University.

• Congratulations to the Math Department recipients of our Outstanding Senior Award - Emily Stark and Outstanding Sophomore Award - Tyler Hagemann!

• 14 accomplished students were inducted in the Pi Mu Epsilon Honor Society in the Spring 2017 semester: Amy Berg, Laura Daniels, Marc Douty, Beverly Jean-Baptiste, Kaleb Kemp, Kindyl King, Joseph Mathews, Christopher McDonald, Jordan Lynn Miller, Tamara Niccum, Sabrina Nieves, Ryan Swanson, Breanna Vanden Berg, and Konstantin Yakshin.

• Students Kindyl King, Katherine Kreuser, and Nathan Nickelson presented their undergraduate research at the 2017 MAA Southeast Section Jeopardy at Mercer University.  Professor Brad Fox also presented his research in graph theory and permutations at the conference.

• Congratulations to the APSU Jeopardy Team - Travis Collard, Scott Howard, Kindyl King, and Emily Stark, along with their mentors Dr. Kirby and Dr. Ntatin, for winning the 2017 MAA Southeast Section Jeopardy Competition.

• Professor Ben Ntatin has been selected to serve as the State Director for Tennessee for the Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America.

• Math professors Dr. Brad Fox, Dr. Ramanjit Sahi, and Dr. Jennifer Yantz represented our department at the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Atlanta through presenting their research at the largest annual national math conference.

• Math Professor Dr. Nell Rayburn was elected by the APSU faculty for the honor of serving on the university new Board of Trustees.

• APSU's Pi Mu Epsilon Math Honor Society inducted 18 outstanding new members in the Fall 2016 semester: Josh Allen, Paul Bagley, Jessica Boettner, Travis Collard, Kirsten Edwards, Jessica Elliott, Alison Flowers, Jesse Guy, Marquize Hill, Jennifer Jones, Katherine Kreuser, Gary Larson, Kaitlyn McCollum, Nathan Nickelson, Antonio Ramos, Jeremiah Simmons, Michael Vu, and Bradley Wilcox.

• Six of our top math majors showed the strength of women in mathematics by attending the 2016 Southeastern Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics at Duke University: Jessica Boettner, Malori Cloys, Alison Flowers, Kindyl King, Katherine Kreuser, and Emily Stark, with Kindyl and Emily also giving research presentations at the conference.

• The Pi Mu Epsilon Spring 2016 spring induction honored four well-deserving inductees: Thomas Bau, Jessica Kenny, Thomas Ruland, and Logan Varney.

• Twelve APSU students were honored through their induction into the Pi Mu Epsilon Honor Society during the Fall 2015 semester: Austin Bishop, Jonathan Bunton, Dominic Critchlow, Kelsey Hill, Travis Hodge, Laura Judy, Lea Keith, Sydney Litchfield, Ryan Ponder, Bryan Tidwell, Paul Watkins, and Austin Wilson, along with Professors Rebecca Darrough, Brad Fox, and Sumen Sen

• Congratulations to Dr. Ntatin (Mentor) and the Jeopardy Team - David Zhang, Mathew Rayburn, Ryan Honea, and Thomas Clayborn for winning the 2015 MAA-SE Jeopardy Championship.