Franklin & Marshall College

Departments Collaborate to Host Speaker

To kick off the new fall 2012 semester, the Math and Biology departments, the Math Club, and the Public Health Program hosted Dr. Holly Gaff, Old Dominion University, for her talk, “Estimating Tick-borne Disease Risk through Surveillance and Modeling.” For a capacity crowd in Bonchek Lecture Hall, Prof. Gaff described and illustrated her ongoing research, stemming from the collection of questing ticks from ten separate locations in a southeastern portion of Virginia over the past three years. The data is used to estimate parameters for an agent-based mathematical model. The study is currently helping to identify times and places with high risk of tick-borne diseases to humans.

Group Theory Conference

The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science was pleased to host the Creitz 2012 Group Theory Conference on August 7-9, 2012.  Fourteen participants, twelve of whom presented 50-minute talks, came from the US, Spain, and Ireland to discuss their research. This meeting follow two previous group theory meetings at Franklin & Marshall, the 2002 Creitz Conference and the 2009 Zassenhaus Conference.

Students Honored for Math Excellence

Yunqi Cheng and Theodore Yoder have received the Ronald K. Stuart Mathematics Prize for 2012.  The Stuart prize is the highest honor the department bestows and is “awarded to the student who has completed major work in the field of mathematics with greatest distinction.”  

The prize is awarded it every year to the senior or seniors who accomplish the best mathematical work of all students in the graduating class.  The prize is endowed by funds donated to the department, and includes an honorary stipend.

Thirteen students were designated as 2012 John Kershner Scholars.  This honor is awarded to students of good and regular standing in the College for "proficiency in mathematics," and includes an honorary stipend.

Mathematics Chair Prof. Iwan Praton awarded the honor to:  Diana A. Aulisa ’13, Yunqi Cheng ’12, Julie W. Heymann ’12, Gibao M. Hoang ’12, Michael G. Irving ’13, Daniel S. Kaplan ’12, Ran Liu ’13, Rui Song ’12, Theodore J. Yoder ’12, Xiaoyu Yu ’12, Xinzhu Zeng ’12, Jialin Zhou ’12, and Mengning Zhu ’12.   Hoang, Yoder and Zhou are second-time recipients.

The Kershner Scholarships were established in 1937 through the bequest of Dr. Jefferson E. Kershner, who was head of the College’s Department of Mathematics and Director of the Scholl Observatory for many years.  Kershner was an 1877 graduate of F&M.

Pi Mu Epsilon Inducts New Members

During the spring '12 semester, Franklin & Marshall College's Eta Chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon welcomed 14 new members at the annual induction ceremony.  The Pennsylvania Eta chapter was chartered at F&M in 1963.

Pi Mu Epsilon is a nationally-recognized honorary society dedicated to furthering knowledge of mathematics.  The organization has a rich history of promoting scholarly activity in mathematics among students in academic institutions. For example, there is a journal of student mathematical research, and there are opportunities to receive funds to attend national mathematical meetings.

Chapter Advisor Prof. Annalisa Crannell and Co-President Mariah Eble presented membership certificates to:  Diana A. Aulisa ’13, Manil Bastola ’14, Shangqin Chen ’14, Bridget A. Grogan ’13, Anne H. Hazlett ’13, Ran Liu ’13, Yuan Liu ‘13, Curzio C. Okado ’12, Ly K. PhanTran ’13, Binish Rijal ’13, John C. Schreiber ’13, Rui Song ’12, Alexis R. Teevans ’13 and Wassam Waquar ’13.  Schreiber and Bastola were elected as new co-presidents.

Putnam Exam

The Putnam Exam is a prestigious, difficult competitive mathematics exam administered annually on the first Saturday in December to students at colleges and universities across the US and Canada. Franklin & Marshall has made good showings in recent years, and we hope to continue the tradition this year!

Interested students should contact Academic Department Coordinator Cynthia Dinger for more information.

Tetrahedral Geometry-Topology Seminar

Topologists, geometers, and other interested colleagues from F&M, Millersville, Elizabethtown College, and Lebanon Valley College (the four vertices of our "tetrahedron") also co-sponsor a monthly geometry and topology research seminar series. We generally meet on the first Friday of each month at Hempfield High School (the approximate barycenter of our tetrahedron), in a math classroom festooned with inspirational Garfield posters. We then relax with a nice dinner out.