Dr. George Benjamin

Associate Professor of Computer Science

Education

Contact Information

Professional Background

In 1978 I received a PhD in Mathematics in the field of Algebraic Topology. Prior to graduate school, I served in the Peace Corps in Kenya, East Africa teaching mathematics, physics, chemistry, and English. After graduate school I taught at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. I came to Muhlenberg College in 1983 to teach computer science. My background in computer science has been supplemented by attending many National Science Foundation sponsored faculty summer programs.

In 1991 I published Ada Minimanual (McGraw Hill), a manual for learning the programming language Ada. A second edition was published in 1997.

Teaching

I teach a wide variety of computer science courses. My favorite courses are Operating Systems, Computer Organization, Networks, Web Programming, Database Systems and Compiler Design.

My goal in all classes is to pair the theoretical material with challenging programming projects that illustrate how the theory is put into practice. Projects are the key elements of a course. I assign projects that use computer science theory and incorporate modern languages, tools, and techniques. In this way I ensure that students are well grounded in the fundamental concepts of computer science while preparing them for careers after college.

Scholarly Activity and Interests

My scholarly interests are in parallel programming and network protocols.

Parallel programming is about distributing the execution of a computer program over many computers. The reason for doing this is to solve problems faster. At Muhlenberg we have a collection of networked computers (known as a Beowulf Cluster) that is used to study and benchmark parallel algorithms.

One networking protocol problem that intrigues me is the implementation of priorities for data packets in the Internet. Packets carrying real time video or voice need to reach their destination in a more timely fashion than packets carrying emails. How to give video and voice a higher priority is an important current research issue.

Within the profession, I am an Associate Editor of the Journal of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. In addition, I am on the steering committee of the yearly CCSC - Eastern Region computer science conference.

Dr. Byungchul Cha

Assistant Professor of Mathematics

Education

Contact Information

Research

For my papers and curriculum vitae, click here.

Biography

After teaching at Hendrix College (a small liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas) for three years, I came to Muhlenberg College in 2007. During my Ph.D. program at Johns Hopkins University (a research university in Baltimore, Maryland), I specialized in number theory. More specifically, I am interested in Euler systems of Heegner points of elliptic curves and their applications in Shafarevich-Tate groups, as well as the distribution of zeros of various L-functions in a function fields setting. More generally, I am interested in anything related to prime numbers, such as 2, 3, 5, 7, etc,.

Dr. Margaret Dodson

Lecturer

Education

Contact Information

Biography

After finishing my degree at Lehigh University, I taught at Kutztown University (2 years) and Lehigh University (2 years).

Teaching Activities:

I teach two sections of MTH 104: Statistical Methods, our introductory statistics course, most semesters. I am currently teaching a section of MTH 121: Calculus I, and have taught MTH 215: Discrete Structures in the past.

Scholarly Activities:

I have attended a number of conferences on teaching statistics, most recently the Eighth Annual "Beyond the Formula" conference in Rochester, NY. I have also been to several meetings of the EPADEL society, the regional group of the Mathematical Association of America. My dissertation was in the field of numerical analysis. I gave a lecture on my work at the annual winter meeting of the American Mathematical Society, Baltimore, MD.

Personal Activities:

My hobbies include gardening and reading. My family includes my husband, Bruce, a math professor at Lehigh, a son, Allen, a PhD student at Harvard, and a cat, Taro.

Dr. Penelope Dunham

Professor of Mathematics

Education

Contact Information

Biography

Before I came to Muhlenberg College in 1992, I taught mathematics in both large universities (Ohio State, Indiana University Southeast) and small liberal arts colleges (Hanover College in Indiana, Wittenberg University in Ohio).

Teaching

My teaching responsibilities run the gamut from introductory courses like Calculus I and II and Statistical Methods through advanced courses like Abstract Algebra. In the last few years I have developed and offered two additions to the Muhlenberg curriculum: Mathematics for Elementary Teachers prepares preservice teachers in the foundations of elementary mathematics, and Transition to Abstract Mathematics gives math majors an introduction to proof and mathematical writing.

Scholarly Activities

My research interests involve the use of graphing technology in undergraduate mathematics instruction. I began using graphing calculators in 1987 at Ohio State, where I worked with Bert Waits and Frank Demana in the Ohio State Calculator and Computer Precalculus Project (C2PC). Later I served as supplements manager for several of Waits and Demana's textbooks. My dissertation was a study of gender and confidence issues related to calculator use in precalculus. I frequently speak about technology, graphing difficulties, and gender issues at national and regional meetings, and have written several articles on those subjects. Recently I presented two papers in Japan, at the Ninth International Congress for Mathematics Education and the T3 Worldwide Conference. Currently I am developing an article on equity issues related to teaching mathematics with technology.

As a charter instructor in the College Short Course program sponsored by Texas Instruments and Ohio State, I have given calculator workshops throughout the country to teach other college faculty how to use graphing calculators effectively in their own classrooms. Currently, I serve on the Executive Committee of the EPADEL Section of MAA and the Oral History Task Force for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. I have been a technology consultant to the College Board for AP Calculus, a Project NExT consultant for the 1999 Fellows, and a co-editor of "Connecting Research to Teaching," a department in the NCTM journal Mathematics Teacher.

Publications/Web references

• Calculator Use and Gender Issues

• Hand-held Calculators in Mathematics Education: A Research Perspective

• Teachers Teaching With Technology

Personal

Outside the classroom, I enjoy reading (Jane Austen and mysteries), gardening (flowers, not vegetables), and traveling with my family: Bill Dunham (also a member of Muhlenberg's math department), and sons Brendan and Shannon.

Dr. William Dunham

Truman Koehler Professor of Mathematics

Education

Contact Information

Teaching Interests

At Muhlenberg, I have taught mathematics courses of all kinds, from the elementary to the advanced. My favorites, I suppose, involve the history of mathematics. I offer a pair of half-credit courses on this topic: Landmarks of Greek Mathematics (MTH 251), featuring selections from Euclid, Archimedes, and their compatriots, and Landmarks of Modern Mathematics (MTH 252), featuring the equally impressive work of Newton, Euler, Gauss, et. al. These courses provide a glimpse of history's greatest mathematicians and the theorems that made them famous.

Scholarly Interests

Over the past two decades, I have written four books and edited one on the history of mathematics. The first two, Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics (Wiley, 1990) and The Mathematical Universe (Wiley, 1994), were alternate selections for Book-of-the-Month Club and one or both of them have subsequently been translated into Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. The latter received the Association of American Publishers Award as the Best Mathematics Book of 1994. My third book was Euler: The Master of Us All (Mathematical Association of America, 1999). This received the MAA's Beckenbach Prize in 2008. It was followed by The Calculus Gallery: Masterpieces from Newton to Lebesgue (Princeton University Press, 2005), which surveys landmarks from the calculus, stretching from the late 17th century up to the dawn of the 20th. Finally, my edited volume The Genius of Euler: Selections from His Life and Work (MAA, 2007) was published as part of the celebration of Euler's 300th birthday.

I have also written a number of articles on historical topics. One of these, "Euler and the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra," received the 1992 George Polya Award from the MAA; another, "1996: A Triple Anniversary," won the 1997 Trevor Evans Award from the MAA; and a third, "Touring the Calculus Gallery," received the 2006 Lester R. Ford Award from the MAA. And, just for fun, my publication lists contains two (lame) mathematical cartoons and three (lamer) mathematical poems.

In the wake of these publications, I have been invited to speak on the history of mathematics at a number of U.S. colleges and universities, before the Australian Mathematical Society, at the Smithsonian Institution, on NPR's "Talk of the Nation: Science Friday," and at the Swiss Embassy in Washington in recognition of Euler's Swiss heritage.

Dr. Michael Huber

Associate Professor of Mathematics

Education

Contact Information

Professional Background:

I joined the faculty at Muhlenberg College in July 2006. Before that, I was on the faculty at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, in the Department of Mathematical Sciences.

Teaching Activities:

I enjoy teaching applied mathematics courses at all levels from Introductory Statistics, Calculus I and Calculus II to elective courses in Differential Equations and Mathematical Modeling. Over the past three years I have guided students in DANA independent study courses in both sabermetrics (the study of baseball statistics) and nonlinear dynamical systems. In addition, I have sponsored summer research assistantships in sabermetrics.

Current Research:

I am primarily interested in (1) applying mathematics to solve interesting problems, (2) the statistics of baseball, and (3) teaching differential equations and mathematical modeling. I like to use singular value decomposition techniques to make photo mosaic images, and I've sponsored several undergraduate research projects in this field. I have written and presented papers on mathematical modeling, teaching mathematics using technology, and assessment.

With Gabriel Costa and John T. Saccoman, I have written Understanding Sabermetrics: An Introduction to the Science of Baseball Statistics (2008). We have just completed a companion book, Practicing Sabermetrics: Putting the Science of Baseball Statistics to Work (2009). I enjoy studying the sport of baseball and developing statistics to model rare baseball events (such as hitting for the cycle, pitching a no-hit game, or turning a triple play). For a short glimpse of this research, see an American Institute of Physics short story. I have a few more rare events that I am modeling as well. My research has been featured appeared on television and in a recent Wall Street Journal article. My paper on modeling games in which teams score 20 or more runs has been accepted in the Annals of Applied Statistics.

I have also written Mythematics: Solving the Twelve Labors of Hercules, (Princeton University Press, 2009), which provides the reader opportunities to solve the tasks which Hercules had to perform, and West Point's Field of Dreams: Major League Baseball at Doubleday Field (Vermont Heritage Press, 2004), which outlines exhibition games played by Major League teams (Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, Mets, and others) against the cadets of West Point from 1914 through 1985. With Alex Heidenberg, I have edited a text on discrete dynamical systems and we have written the solutions manual as well.

In August 2007, the NSF/DUE funded Phase II of the C*ODE*E grant for four years. In this phase, C*ODE*E — the Consortium of Ordinary Differential Equations Educators — will implement a comprehensive website that will build on the previous accomplishments of the Consortium (Phase I), which was funded from 1992 through 1997. I am part of the research team and I have been writing Interdisciplinary Lively Applications Projects (ILAPs) for C*ODE*E, creating applied mathematics problems involving ODEs which have a context in other disciplines.

In March 2009, a three-year grant for faculty development in mathematics education was approved by the NSF. I am part of this group (the PIs are at the United States military Academy) with goals to export faculty development techniques to mathematics departments across the country.

The Omar Nelson Bradley Research Fellowships in Mathematics

I am the Chair of the Omar Nelson Bradley Fellowships Committee. The Omar Nelson Bradley Foundation has authorized fellowships for ten U.S. Army officers in the study of the Mathematical Sciences, to be awarded annually. For more information, click Bradley.

Personal Activities:

My hobbies include spending time with my family, researching my family's genealogy (back to 1440!), and puttering around in the garden. I also enjoy going to baseball or volleyball games, to cheer for Muhlenberg (Go Mules!) or a few baseball teams (college and pro).

Dr. Clif Kussmaul

Associate Professor of Computer Science

Education

Contact Information

NOTE: I am on sabbatical for the 2009-2010 academic year (i.e., from June 2009 through August 2010). I will be travelling (in India, Korea, the US, etc) much of the time. The best way to reach me is by email: kussmaul@muhlenberg.edu. You can also follow my blog: http://www.kussmaul.org/asia.

Other Information

• HP Technology for Teaching Grant

• Graduate School Advice

• personal homepage

• sabbatical blog

Biography

Much of my work is influenced by key challenges that affect computer science (CS) as a discipline, as well as the broader IT industry. In brief, we face continual dramatic change as we seek to leverage theory and practice to develop software systems for a variety of problem domains. Continual dramatic change is a fact of life in IT. For example, Moore observed that the number of transistors on a chip doubles every 2 years, or by a factor of 1000 every 20 years. Furthermore, large quantitative changes usually lead to significant qualitative changes; thus, as technologies become smaller, faster, or cheaper, we use then in radically different ways. Theory and practice are tightly coupled, and the rate of change in computing can result in radical ideas becoming accepted practice in a few years. Computer scientists have been described as the blacksmiths of the 21st century; we create tools for ourselves as well as for many other people. Furthermore, our tools are also artifacts we might study or enhance (e.g. with open source software). Developing software systems is a key part of computing in general, and software engineering in particular. Such work can be extremely challenging, for several reasons. First, the work of an individual developer requires expertise, discipline, and extended periods of uninterrupted concentration; in some ways software development resembles research in other disciplines. Second, larger projects are progressively more difficult; productivity declines dramatically for larger projects. A variety of problem domains motivate progress in CS. For example, military code breaking led to some of the first electronic computers, business uses of spreadsheets spurred the growth of the personal computer, and the need to share information across organizational boundaries led to the today’s Internet.

Teaching Interests

I teach a variety of courses in the CS curriculum, ranging from Computer Science I and II through Software Engineering to advanced courses such as Programming Languages.

To help students prepare to address the challenges described above, I seek to:

1. Engage and motivate. I seek to be a “guide on the side” rather than a “sage on the stage”, and so I encourage students to think for themselves, ask questions, and exceed their own expectations.
2. Model behavior and processes. I use examples, assignments, and projects that extend over several weeks to help the students see larger systems and understand the importance of abstraction and documentation.
3. Encourage realistic, self-directed activities, to help students see how topics relate to other disciplines and their own future goals, and to help motivate them to acquire knowledge and skills on their own.
4. Continually improve the curriculum and facilities in response to changes in pedagogy, technology, and student interests.

Professional Interests

Product Development and Consulting. At Moravian College, I worked with several companies and a state-funded business incubator. In 2000, I joined NeST Technologies, Inc. and worked on projects with teams in India and the US. In 2002, I co-founded Elegance Technologies, Inc, (ET) to develop software products and provide software product development services. C-Sharpener for VB translates programs from Visual Basic into C#. Thus, it parses any VB project, builds symbol tables, resolves all symbols, and generates the corresponding C# code. Lucid Spec facilitates requirements analysis and screen prototyping for software products. It allows users to design and simulate graphical interfaces, and describe related requirements and functionality. This involvement with real software projects and products enables me to Identify industry practices that are relevant to CS students, and to identify and share best practices between academic and industry. I have given multiple presentations based on these experiences.

Free and Open Source Software (OSS) has a long history in academia, and is increasingly important in non-academic settings as well. In the early 1990s I made several enhancements to the Event Related Potential Software System, originally developed at UC San Diego. More recently, I have developed plug-ins, themes, or other enhancements for a variety of OSS projects. OSS enables students to see, analyze, and contribute to real software systems that are usually much larger than typical student projects. OSS also provides valuable opportunities to study how software evolves.

Programming Languages are an interest motivated by graduate courses, and by several projects to develop translators or emulators. I am intrigued by the effects of design goals on language features, and would like to explore features that might support and improve emerging practices for documentation, refactoring, and test-driven development. As legacy systems become more difficult to support, translation may be more cost-effective than replacement. Finally, I continue to be curious about the relationships between programming languages, natural languages, and music.

Entrepreneurship Education overlaps with my experience as an entrepreneur. Recently, this has led to an ongoing collaboration with faculty and staff at other primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs). I have focused on a general model for team projects, based on Cooper's “Stage Gate” model, and on ways to foster heterogeneous teams.

Cognitive Neuroscience is an interest that developed in graduate school at Dartmouth and UC Davis, where I collaborated extensively with neuroscientists and psychologists. At Muhlenberg, I have collaborated with faculty and students in psychology on a variety of projects, often by adapting existing software or developing custom software.

Dr. Linda McGuire

Department Chair, Associate Professor of Mathematics

Education

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Dr. David A. Nelson

Associate Professor of Mathematics & Computer Science

Education

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Biography

Professional Background:

I came to Muhlenberg in August 1989 after completing a 20 year career in the U. S. Air Force. I retired at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel having worked in numerous mathematics and computer-related assignments. Among these were: Associate Professor of Mathematics at the U. S. Air Force Academy (1973-1982); Research & Development Project Manager at the Defense Mapping Agency (1982-1984); Chief of the Enlisted Analysis & Data Support Division working for the Deputy Chief of Staff in the Pentagon (1984-1988); Scientific Program Manager at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research in Washington, D. C. (1988-1989).

Teaching Activities:

I teach Computer Science courses at all levels from Computer Science I (in Java) to upper-level courses in Theory of Computation and Theory of Programming Languages. I am also the department's primary instructor in Applied Mathematics courses teaching Operations Research, Mathematical Modeling, Numerical Analysis, Statistics, and Discrete Mathematics. Over the past several years I have guided several students in independent study courses in computer science and mathematics. The most recent was a group of four students studying Graphical User Interface Programming. The students learned and worked with Visual C++, Visual Basic, Delphi, Visual J++ (Java), and X Windows programming.

Professional Activities:

I am primarily interested in mathematical modeling and computer simulation, particularly the teaching of these tools to undergraduate students. I have attended several workshops and written and presented papers on modeling, bio-modeling, and the teaching of simulation.

Personal Activities:

I am an avid runner and all-around "sports nut." My daughter Cindy and her husband Jake Alexander are physicians in State College. They live there with our grandsons Nathan and Ben. Matthew is a PhD student in biology at NYU. He and his wife Rachael, who is the Assistant Executive Director of the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, live in NYC. Julie works at Macy's in Allentown. My wife, Patsy, is a general music teacher in the Allentown School District.

Dr. Elyn Rykken

Associate Professor of Mathematics

Education

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