ACM Competition

AU Tuffy Team

The ACM Competition was held on Saturday, November 8, 2014. There were 150 teams at the competition. The problems were really tough this year. Only 30 or so teams were able to solve at least one problem. Ashland University took three teams.

AU Tuffy Team consisted of Joe Hemerly, Cameron Goodson and Ben Bushong.
AU Purple Team consisted of Zack Brown, Alex Gregory and Nazumul Rabbi.
AU Gold Team consisted of Rupesh Marharjan, Chris Yocum and Brady Douglas.

The students enjoyed the experience and found the opportunity highly beneficial in applying what they have learned in the classroom to real world applications.

AU Purple Team

AU Gold Team

Moseman's Internship at Union Home Mortgage

Joel Moseman (15') completed an internship at Union Home Mortgage in the secondary marketing department. The secondary marketing department is the department where loans were originated and processed and then sold to other entities such as Ginnie Mae or Fannie Mae.

Although the internship was not an actuarial position, it was loosely related. Moseman updated loan information and sometimes loan pricing, based on changed characteristics of the loan or the applicant. Risk characteristics such as the borrower's FICO score and down payment amount affect pricing. Moseman also learned about how interest rate risk was managed.

Moseman Passes the FM Exam

Moseman Passes FM Exam

Joel Moseman (15') has passed the Society of Actuaries' Financial Mathematics Exam (FM Exam). The exam tests the candidate's knowledge of  annuities, bond valuation, immunization, time-value of money, derivative uses and strategy.

The test requires hundreds of hours of study, the recommended being 300 hours. Moseman took Ashland University's Financial Mathematics course to help prepare for the FM Exam.

Congratulations, Joel, and Good Luck!

For more information about the Actuarial Science Program, Contact Dr. Christopher Swanson, at cswanson@ashland.edu or visit the website www.beanactuary.com.

Tresch's Internship at Findley-Davies

Garrett Tresch

Garrett Tresch (15') completed an internship at Findley-Davies this summer. Findley-Davies is a firm that consults with the human resource department of other corporations. Findley-Davies has a wide variety of sectors that specialize in a different aspect of this often wide field, which includes an actuarial group in downtown Cleveland.

As an intern, Tresch discovered that the key to his position would be "variety." In addition to internship duties of scanning information and government filings, he also, created excel spreadsheets for companies pension plans, calculated actuarial equivalent forms of payment, updated databases to include changes in employee information, created excel charts and adjusted inputs that indicated a current law change dealing with interest rates. Tresch said, "The greatest way of defining what I did into a single sentence would be, 'I assisted the actuaries in the mathematical and technological work involved in the consulting of human resources.'"

Tresch accredits his higher end financial math, probability, and technology courses for his ability to understand and adjust to the many complicated tasks that were expected of him by Findley-Davies. He also accredits Ashland University's fantastic collection of professionals, that he said, "I could not have had such an enlightening experience without." He would like to give special thanks to Dr. Chris Swanson and Dr. Maduka Rupasinghe, as well as, the Career Service Department for their advice and coaching.

Tresch Passes Exam P

Garrett Tresch Passes Exam P

Garrett Tresch Passes Exam P

Garrett Tresch (15') has passed the Society of Actuaries' Probability Exam (Exam P). The exam tests the candidate's knowledge of the fundamental probability tools for quantitatively assessing risk.  Exam P is one of the exams required to achieve professional status as an actuary.

Actuaries are professionals who provide expert advice and relevant solutions for business and societal problems that involve economic risk. The actuarial profession is consistently ranked as one of the top 5 careers in the United States.

Congratulations, Garrett, and Good Luck!

For more information about the Actuarial Science Program, Contact Dr. Christopher Swanson, at cswanson@ashland.edu or visit the website www.beanactuary.com.

Drop-In Tutoring Fall 2014

Do Not Struggle. Drop-In and see a Tutor! 

Drop-In Tutoring Available for Math Courses

Ashland University's Center for Academic Support provides tutors and other tools to help students succeed. Drop-in sessions are available for several Math classes in Kettering 219. Below are the classes and times for drop-in tutoring:

 

 

 

Math Tutoring Schedule Fall 2014

Calculus with Application (M201)
Thursdays 6:30-7:30 pm

The Calculus (M205)
Wednesdays 3-5 pm
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 7-8:30 pm

Elementary Statistics (M208)
Tuesdays 1-3 pm
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 7-8:30 pm

Theory of Arithmetic & Geometry (M217)
Mondays 7-8:30 pm
Thursdays 7-8:30 pm

Geometry for Middle Grades (M218)
Tuesdays 7-8:30 pm
Wednesdays 7-8:30 pm

Discrete Math 1 (M223)
Thursdays 3-5 pm

Also, please see your professor for help!

 

Visit the Center for Academic Success for a complete list of all tutoring services available to AU students.

Congratulations to our Student Award Winners!

Congratulations to our 2014 Outstanding Math & Computer Science Seniors, Morgan Mirtes and Megan Raber.

These were among the more than 100 awards and accomplishments recognized at the 2014 Mathematics and Computer Science Department Academic Awards and Activity Recognition Reception.  The annual event took place at the John C. Myers Convocation Center on the evening of April 8, 2014.  About 70 students, friends, family members and university staff and faculty attended the event. 

Morgan Mirtes is an honors student from Norwalk, Ohio, double majoring in computer science and mathematics, with a minor in Music.  Her recent honors defense dealt with Android application development.  In addition to her challenging coursework, Mirtes completed internships with local businesses, was a member of the Pi Mu Epsilon and Upsilon Pi Epsilon honoraries.  

Raber will graduate with a double major in Integrated Mathematics and Mathematics, and a minor in Computer Science.  She is from Creston, Ohio and was active within the department in many organizations including Math Club and Pi Mu Epsilon officer team and the Problem Solving Group. 

Competition was fierce for this year’s coveted Outstanding Senior Award. Many of our graduating seniors have been very active in the department and 7 of them had math and computer science GPAs of 3.5 or higher.  Dr. Gordon Swain expressed a mixture of pride and loss at seeing this senior class graduate.  

Other Outstanding Student Awards were presented to underclassmen.  Paul Pernici was named Outstanding Junior.  Outstanding Sophomores were Alexander Lillich and Charles Michel.  In addition to these awards, Freshmen Ryan Bastian and Linda Morales shared the Carpenter Award for Outstanding Calculus Student and The Wendling Award for Outstanding Discrete Mathematics Student went to freshman Alyssa Predota.

The department also recognized all majors and minors with a 3.5 Math and Computer Science GPA of 3.5 or higher, graduating seniors, department scholarship recipients and donors, senior honorary members, student activity officers, student presentations, and contest participants. 

For more photos and a complete list of award winners, please visit the Math & Computer Science student page.