Ashland University Problem Solving Group

In the fall of 2011, Dr. Gordon Swain formed the Ashland University Problem Solving Group (PSG). The group met regularly throughout the academic year to discuss and attempt to solve mathematical problems posed in scholarly journals. The group submitted solutions to several journals and was recognized for solutions in both the February and April issues of Math Horizons. Congratulations to the following members of the AU PSG, and keep on solving problems!

John Bentley

Stacee King

Anna Payne

Megan Raber

David Rodriguez

Emma Vandenberg

Polly Widmer

David Woods

Student Activity at the 2012 Spring Meeting of the Ohio Section of the Mathematical Association of America

Several students traveled to Xavier University to participate in the 2012 Spring Meeting of the Ohio Section of the MAA. The following students, sponsored by Dr. Tom Dence, participated in the Leo Schneider Student Team Mathematics Competition:

John Bentley, Alicia Metzger, Katelyn Mittelsteadt, Caitlin Music, Anna Payne and David Rodriguez.

The following students, sponsored by Dr. Gordon Swain, presented contributed talks at the meeting:

Larissa Berry – “The Last Stone Standing”

John Bentley – “The Prime Detective”

Caitlin Music – “Stop or Go?”

Anna Payne – “Let’s Make a Deal: Probabilities of a Popular Game Show”

Bradley Sekas – “Can Counting Cards Win You Money?”

College of Arts and Sciences Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Part 2

Several of Dr. Iyad Ajwa's students presented the results of their final project for CS 499 - Software Development at the Symposium:

“The Design and Implementation of Real-World Projects for Real Clients: Building a Library for Microsoft Dynamics CRM System” by Thomas Conti, John Cunning, Brandon Davis, Xiaojun Huang, and Matthew Smithburger

Dr. Vickie Van Dresar also sponsored Nick Painter at the Symposium, who presented his research “Lines, Diagrams, and Duals! Oh, My!”

College of Arts and Sciences Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Project 1: Cohort of games

The following games are presented in the college of arts and sciences symposium on undergraduate research and creative activities. Follow the links to download these games and have fun!

mouse madness by Anna Payne and Marissa Uhrig
little red plumber by Rylan Campbell
blackjack by Allen Kowal
rockem sockem robots by Kenny Bogner and Kees Edwards

CareerShift Offers Internship and Job Postings for Students and Alumni

Looking for an Internship or a Job?

Current students and alumni are encouraged to try CareerShift, a new tool being offered by the AU Career Services office. CareerShift uses an online set of integrated applications to help job seekers successfully find employment.

What can CareerShift do for you?

·  Search, select and store job listings from all job boards and all company job postings.

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·  Manage your confidential CareerShift account securely from any computer 24/7, to update & maintain your organized and recorded job search.

What you need to do…

·  Create an account

·  Search for jobs or internships in all sorts of ways to find just what you want

Find it here: CareerShift.

Putnam Exam

I just received the results of the 2011 Putnam Competition. Ashland University had 2 students receive non-zero scores: Polly Widmer received a score of 2 and Anna Payne received a score of 1.  (Cara Smith (2010) holds the record for the highest score by an Ashland University student - 12) A total of 4440 students from 572 colleges and universities in Canada and the United States participated in the competition this year. Of these 4440 participants, 2067 received scores of 0, 911 received scores of 1 and 293 received scores of 2.  Thus, Polly did better than 67.1% of students taking the exam and at least as well as 73.7% of students taking the exam while Anna did better than 46.6% of students taking the exam and at least as well as 67.1% of students taking the exam.  (Andrew Rowe (2006) still holds the record for the highest percentile rank, doing better than 76.2% of students taking the exam and at least as well as 82.7% of students taking the exam.) This year's top 5 teams were: 1) Harvard; 2) Carnegie-Mellon; 3) Cal Tech; 4) Stanford; and 5) MIT. Thanks again to all of you who participated in this year's exam, and I hope those of you who were not declared ineligible upon graduation in December will consider participating again next year.

Congratulations to Polly and Anna for receiving nonzero scores!

Dr. Swanson

Computer Science Honor Society UPE Welcomes New Members

The Ashland University Chapter of Upsilon Pi Epsilon (PUE) welcomes five new members. They were inducted on 11/7/2011. Welcome to the honor society!

Marissa Uhrig (Sophomore)

Kenny Bogner (Sophomore)

Tom Conti (Junior)

Matthew Smithburger (Junior)

Jim Huang (Junior)