Math Department News

• 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.