Dr. Swain Presents at Association for Christians in the Mathematical Sciences

Dr. Gordon Swain, Professor of Mathematics, attended the Biennial Conference of the Association for Christians in the Mathematical Sciences, May 29-June 1, at Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota. He gave a talk titled, "Calculus methods from the early 1600s." In this talk he showed some of the creative mathematics involved in solving calculus problems (like finding the area between curves) that was used before the discovery of Calculus (late 1600s). About the conference he said, "While mathematics is neither Christian nor non-Christian, when mathematicians who are Christians get together there is an extra element of wonder at God's creation. Plus it is very cool to be able to talk about mathematical problems and your Bible study in the same conversation; typically we have to separate these parts of our lives. One speaker at the conference spoke about grace in teaching, another talked about the ethics of autonomous robots (robotic weapons and robotic caregivers); this last topic was very scary."

Dr. Rupasinghe Pushlishes Paper

Dr. Rupasinghe, assistant professor of Mathematics, had a paper titled "Obtaining prediction intervals for FARIMA processes using the sieve bootstrap" published in the Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation with two co-authors; Dr. P. Mukhopadhyay of Arbor Research Collaborative for Health, Ann Arbor, MI and Dr. V.A. Samaranayake of Missouri University of Science & Technology, Rolla, MO.

 

Dr. Rupasinghe was the first and corresponding author of this article.

MAA Conference

Faculty members and students from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science recently attended the Spring Meeting of the Ohio Section of the Mathematical Association of America at Denison University. 

The faculty members attending were 

• Dr. Cathy Stoffer, Dr. Chris Swanson, Dr. Vickie Van Dresar and Dr. Darren Wick.

Six students participated in the annual Leo Schneider Student Team Mathematics Competition

• Joey Ciaccia, Kate Fleming, Stacee King, Anna Payne, Megan Raber, and Rob Woodward

Three students presented contributed talks at the meeting

• Kate Fleming – “Variations on the Monty Hall Problem”
• Stacee King – “Subtriangles and Their Implications for Creating Subrectangles” 
• Megan Raber – “Decimal Expansions Involving Fibonacci Numbers”

Dr. Dence Travels to Alaska

Dr. Tom Dence wasn't looking for warm weather, sunny skies, or sandy beaches for his vacation, instead he headed north. Dr. Dence traveled over 4,000 miles to witness the Iditarod, an annual sled dog race in Alaska. The ceremonial race is in Anchorage and the official race starts in Willow and ends in Nome. The race is over 1,000 miles and takes 9-15 days to complete. This was Dr. Dence's first trip to the race.

Ceremonial start in Anchorage.

The race is on!

Dr. Dence slaps the hand of a musher as he goes by.

Dr. Dence takes a shot at being a musher.

Donnie Dottei Receives GLIAC Commissioner's Award

AU football player, Donald Dottei, has received a Fall 2012 Meijer GLIAC Commissioner's Award for his success on the field and his academic success in the classroom.

Dottei, a senior, is double-majoring in Actuarial Science and Integrated Mathematics.

To read the full article:
http://goashlandeagles.com/sports/wvball/2012-13/releases/20130109mnsb9b

Upsilon Pi Epsilon Inducts New Member

Daniel "Kees" Edwards was inducted into Ashland University's Epsilon Chapter of Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE), the international honor society for the computing and information disciplines. Daniel is a junior and is double-majoring in Computer Science and Computer Art & Graphics Programming.

The initiation, led by Matthew Smithburger, chapter president, took place on February 12 in Patterson Hall.

Other UPE members are Tom Conti, Jim Huang, Marissa Uhrig, and Kenny Bogner. Marissa has been voted as president-elect for 2013-2014.


The mission of UPE is to recognize academic excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the computing and information disciplines. Ashland University’s Epsilon Chapter was formed in January 2002. Sophomore, junior and senior computer science majors who meet the eligibility requirements are invited to join this prestigious honorary.

Computer Science Students Gain Competitive Edge With Internships

In today’s highly-competitive job market, it’s important to have career-related experience to stand out among others. Computer Science majors take a variety of courses and participate in many hands-on learning experiences in class. Ashland University's computer sciences courses teach students how to think logically and how to problem-solve, which enable them to be versatile employees. Students are encouraged to complete an internship during their junior or senior year.


Thomas Conti: Automated Testing Environment Engineering Intern, AMD

Senior Computer Science major, Thomas Conti, recently completed an internship at AMD, a company that manufactures computer processors, in Austin, Texas.

As an Automated Testing Environment Engineering Intern, Thomas learned about the fabrication and testing process for microprocessors and had the opportunity to create and enhance programs used in testing different AMD processing products. He was able to easily apply the knowledge and skills he learned in classes such as Programming Languages, Computer Architecture, and Operating Systems to real-world projects.

"This internship was a great learning experience," said Thomas.

After graduation this May, Thomas would like to continue his work in the semi conductor industry or software development.

Jim Huang: Software Development Intern, Quicken Loans

Jim Huang interned at Quicken Loans as a Software Development Intern. Quicken Loans is the 4th largest mortgage lender in the United States and the largest online. In the past several years, it has been ranked as on the of the Top Best 30 Places to Work by Fortune magazine.


Jim's main responsibility was to design and improve the company's back-end loans platform - the basic technology of a computer system's hardware and software that defines how a computer is operated and determines what other kinds of software can be used. Through this position, Jim was able to learn more about the software development process and cycle in a business world environment. Jim enjoyed having the creative freedom to develop software.

"Computer Science courses, specifically, Data Structures and Computer Algorithms helped me tremendously for this internship," said Jim.

Jim plans to graduate this May and has future plans of starting his own tech-related business.






Matthew Smithburger: Interface Development Intern, Rosetta Marketing

Matthew Smithburger, a senior majoring in Computer Science, recently completed an internship with Rosetta Marketing.

As an Interface Development Intern, Matthew used front end web technologies to build interactive web pages and applications for clients. Matthew was also able to sit in on client consultations and experience how meetings function. In this position, Matthew learned the importance of setting goals, maintaining organization, and meeting deadlines.

"It's a fast-paced, challenging, and ever-changing field," said Matthew, "and this experience showed me that this is the type of work I want to do in the future."

He credits his Algorithms and Data Structures classes for helping him succeed in this position. According to Matthew, these classes gave him the knowledge to tackle difficult problems by applying different techniques to come up with efficient solutions.

Matthew will be graduating this May and is planning on returning to Rosetta as a full-time User Interface Development Associate.