UW-Superior Mathematics and Computer Science Department News and Events

Noted mathematicians to visit campus

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 20:53:17 +0000

Two distinguished mathematicians are set to visit UW-Superior this fall to speak about problems and research in discrete mathematics.

Dr. Jerrold Griggs, the Carolina Distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina, is expected on campus for several days in November.

Dr. Gyula Katona, who is affiliated with the Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, is expected to be on campus for three days in late November.

The mathematicians accepted invitations to visit UW-Superior because they are acquainted with members of the faculty in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

Their visit will benefit students by enabling them to attend talks by world-class researchers, said Dr. Sergei Bezroukov. The visiting professors' talks will be open to the public.

Dr. Griggs received his doctorate degree in applied mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977. His research interests include combinatorics, extremal set theory, extremal graph theory, graph coloring, operations research, as well as applications of discrete math to biology, number theory, analysis of algorithms, and communications.

Dr. Katona is known for his work in combinatorial set theory, and especially for the Kruskal-Katona theorem and his elegant proof of the Erd's-Ko-Rado theorem.

Math Meet offers challenge, glimpse of the future for high school students

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:56:52 +0000

By Elizabeth Reichert
University Relations student writer

Each spring for more than four decades, high school students from northwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota have gathered at the University of Wisconsin-Superior to match wits by solving equations and finding probabilities. On April 25th more than 100 high school students will renew that tradition once again when they gather for the annual Math Meet hosted by the Mathematics and Computer Science Department.

"It's a fun event - a good combination of a social event and fun with math in a format that is not as dry as the lecture hall. The competition appeals to many," said Dr. Uwe Leck, associate professor of the mathematics at UW-Superior.

Enjoying the challenge

Sharon Peterson, mathematics teacher at Rice Lake High School, agreed. "Students really enjoy using their math and challenging themselves," she said.

Peterson said her favorite part of Math Meet is "the ability to take your kids out of the high school and to be with the other kids who are interested in math."'

Changing with the times

Peterson appreciates how Math Meet organizers have adjusted the events, problems and difficulty level to reflect current updates in high school curriculum, such as the addition of calculus.

"They're problems they can solve," she said. "They're a challenge but they can see some success."

An array of questions

In Math Meet, teams of eight students from each high school compete as a group and as individuals to solve an array of problems in geometry, calculus, algebra and analytic geometry, trigonometry and elementary functions, and probability and statistics. Events are timed, and problems call for multiple choice or short answer responses. All problems are written by UW-Superior faculty members.

Winners of individual events receive a $100 savings bond, and top finishers receive a Math Meet T-shirt. Winning teams receive a trophy while top finishers receive a plaque.

Less tangible but just as important, the students get a chance to shine in a subject that isn't always considered glamorous by their classmates. And they get a taste of university life and advanced mathematics.

Math Meet 'invaluable'

Dr. Peter Nordgren, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Outreach at UW-Superior, participated in Math Meet as a high school student in 1969.

"It was invaluable to see kind of what a college level of math was," he said. "It was an eye-opening experience."

Nordgren's high school math teacher encouraged him to attend Math Meet and to meet Dr. Carroll Rusch, who was then chair of the university's mathematics program.

Nordgren found Math Meet to be influential in his career decision.

Helped shape a career

"It was part of the whole direction. The guidance I had with my high school teacher kind of sent me in this direction," he said. "It was something good for me, something that guided me to get a degree in science, which helped shape my career."

Nordgren ended up enrolling at UW-Superior and earned his bachelor's degree in biology with a minor in mathematics.

"I think the challenge is always for students to see what math is all about," he said. "Math is everywhere in our lives and has relevance to any kind of career we might have."

Math education program offers challenges and rewards

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:54:25 +0000

Marilyn Toscano has been training future math teachers at UW-Superior for about 20 years, and she has a clear opinion of the type of students who choose that major.

"Wonderful students," she says without hesitation.

Mathematics teaching major

UW-Superior's mathematics teaching major prepares students to teach math to pupils from fifth grade through high school. Dr. Shaun Lynch, chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, said the department is looking to encourage enrollment in the program as part of the effort to produce more graduates in the STEM fields - science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

A challenging program

Toscano describes math education as "a fairly hard major." Students must be skillful in math as well as meet challenging teacher education requirements. Each must pass a Praxis exam to gain entry to the program and pass a second Praxis exam to graduate.

In the past five years every student in the program has passed the exit exam on the first attempt.

"Our students know about this and they want to keep up the record," Toscano said. "They study in groups for months in advance."

Students want to teach

Students enter the program because they enjoy the challenges of math and they want to teach. That's a spirit Toscano encourages.

"I like for them to come out of the program with an inclination that all children can learn math," she said.

Students share Toscano's enthusiasm.

"I chose math education as my major because I have always enjoyed math; all the way back to my elementary school days," said Orrin Botten, who's from Poplar, Wis. " Education was something that really interested me during high school because of the impact my teachers had on me. I want to be able to make that sort of impact on people as well."

Working closely with students

Toscano advises all students in the major. She works with them to plan their course schedule for four years and lays out what they need to assemble for the portfolio that demonstrates they've acquired the necessary skills to graduate. She helps them organize their classes and makes sure they understand the requirements they must meet in both her department and the Department of Educational Leadership.

'Teachable minor' also required

Students majoring in math education also must complete a minor in a subject that they can teach. Many choose science, special education or coaching. Students who hope to find jobs teaching in other countries often complete a language minor.

Reaching all pupils

Along with mastering mathematics, students learn teaching methods and strategies for reaching all their pupils. They learn how to teach young people to use logic and become good problem-solvers. Toscano also works with them to build their confidence when they're standing in front of a classroom full of pupils.

As prospective teachers, the students enjoy working with young people.

"The thing I like most about the major is the time spent out in the schools," Botten said. "There are a lot of observation hours required, but it is fun to go out and get experience helping and teaching lessons."

Changing career market

Until recently, school district superintendents were calling Toscano to find candidates to fill jobs. That changed in 2011 as Wisconsin school districts experienced fewer teacher retirements and more job cutbacks. Now, some graduates are finding jobs quickly while others are teaching as long-term substitutes.

However, some graduates "are still being snatched up," Toscano said. That's especially true if they're willing to teach in inner-city schools or in states like Alaska, where many school districts will pay off new a teacher's student loans in exchange for him or her signing a multi-year teaching contract.

More math interest today

Toscano said these days she's seeing more students who are interested in math careers. She credits at least part of that to changes in pop culture; specifically a new generation of movies and TV shows that depict scientists and detectives using math to solve crimes.

"Math is fun," Toscano said. "It's all around you and you'll use it every day. It is so cool - that's one thing I try to bring to my students."

Computer course opens the world of 'embedded systems'

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:51:03 +0000

The class project seems simple enough: Design and build a device like a timer, metronome or electronic game.

But for students working with Dr. Serguei Bezroukov in Computer Science 381 - Special Projects, the seemingly simple project becomes a detailed and challenging look into the "embedded systems" that run everything from digital watches to nuclear power plants.

"The most interesting thing about the course is that it teaches you not only how to program these devices, it teaches you how to create an entire project based on these devices," said Brentton Paulus, a computer science major from Superior and one of four students enrolled in the course.

More robotics and micro-controllers
The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science offers the course each fall. It's part of the department's push to offer students more knowledge of embedded systems, robotics, micro-controllers and other uses of computer hardware and software, said Dr. Shaun Lynch, department chair.

Students enrolled in the course benefit from the department's location in Swenson Hall. The new building includes a specialized hardware lab, dedicated servers that are isolated from the university computer system, and an applications computer lab that uses professional-grade double monitors so students can view their work and digital documents at the same time.

Creating a system
In CSCI 381, Bezroukov guides the students as they combine hardware and software to create a system that performs a function.

Working individually or in a group, the students start by designing their own "board" -- creating a schematic drawing with the most efficient placement of components on a circuit board. They use a computer program that traces their schematic onto a blank copper circuit board. The drawing is chemically etched onto the board, and Bezroukov completes it by soldering the components onto the boards.

In addition to designing and building the board, the students use their programming skills to create a functioning device.

"They learn how to design a system from beginning to end - laying it out on the board, how to program it, and to put it all together," Bezroukov said.

Small scale, large scale
The students are working on a small scale, but concepts they're learning can be applied to a dizzying array of uses.

An embedded system is a computer system designed for specific control functions within a larger system. They are widely used today in everything ranging from portable devices such as temperature controls and prosthetics to stationary installations like traffic lights, factory controllers or the systems controlling nuclear power plants.

The course covers a wide range of information. Paulus is creating a digital alarm clock with an LCD screen and helping on a laser-phone project. He reeled off the topics covered in class, including computer architecture, programming languages, how to control LCD screens, sound properties, and converting audio from analog to digital

Skills to complete the project
"I would say that it is a challenging course," he said, "but Dr. Bezroukov makes sure that we know what is going on and that we know what we need to look up to learn the skills we need to complete our project."

Adam Chevalier, a computer science major from Superior, took the course three years ago and described it as "very enlightening" and helpful in courses he took later. "Working individually and in small groups was a good experience, and it was a good challenge to work with such limited resources," he said, referring to the tiny 2 kilobyte chip he needed to use to run his project.

The best sign of the course's effectiveness may be that some students enroll twice - the second time for fun and the challenge of working on a new project.

Dr. Uwe Leck to speak at noted math conference

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Dr. Uwe Leck, an associate professor in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department at UW-Superior, is among the invited plenary speakers for the 42nd Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computations to be held from March 7 to 11 in Boca Raton, Fla.

Although Leck has spoken at approximately 50 conferences, including the Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computations, this is his first time as a plenary speaker at this conference. As a plenary speaker, he is one of four main speakers and will give two one-hour talks in the realm of discrete mathematics.

Discrete mathematics excludes calculus and other "continuous" mathematics, instead focusing on objects with distinct, unconnected parts. It is the mathematics of sets whose elements can be counted.

Leck will speak on extremal combinatorics and on design theory, both branches of combinatorics - the study of how certain mathematical objects are arranged or structured. "It's pure math, laying the foundation for possible applications," Leck said. It is implicit in mobile phones, navigation systems in air control, scheduling, algorithms, data security such as online banking, and DVDs among hundreds of other applications.

Although Leck has many published works and a notable speaking past, he hadn't been expecting this invitation. "It's quite an honor. It came as a surprise," he said. "For me, this is quite exceptional."

UW-Superior Math Class works to solve soil erosion in Africa

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Heather Kahler, math specialist for UW-Superior Student Support Services, caught Channel 10 News's attention. Why? For having her students work on a real-life problem that could help a village in Africa (view story here).

Kahler got the idea in 2007 after she and husband visited their friend Erik, who's working at a small village in the west African nation of Gambia. While there Erik pointed out the serious soil erosion problem around the village. After she returned to her job at UW-Superior, the opportunity arose for Kahler to secure a grant through the university's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning to use technology to add a global emphasis to her course. That's when she decided she could put her students to work on a real-life math problem half a world away.

Using Skype to hold two-way video phone calls with Erik in Africa, the students learned more about the problem facing the village. Then, with topographic maps of the village, they put their math skills to work, locating contour lines on the map and figuring the slope water follows from various points along the contour lines. With the slope figured, the students could then use the topographic maps to determine the areas around the village that were most prone to erosion. The maps and their reports are then sent to Erik.

Kahler credits the project's success in part to Lisa Larson, coordinator of instructional development at UW-Superior, who enabled her to secure the grant, and Brian Hood, the university's academic technology coordinator who set up the Skype sessions for her class. This is the second semester that Kahler has used the erosion problem in class. Her students are learning about Skype, as well as a practical application of their math skills. Just as important, they learn about Gambia and village life there - another way of meeting UW-Superior's goal of giving students a broader world view as part of their education.