Front Page News

Assistant Professor Scott Baldridge, who has dual interests in Geometry/Topology and Mathematics Education was awarded a NSF CAREER grant for his proposal “The topology of smooth and symplectic 4-manifolds”. NSF describes the “The Faculty Early Career Development” (CAREER) Program as “...a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization.”

Professors Susanne Brenner and Ridgway Scott have published a book The Mathematical Theory of Finite Element Methods, third edition, in Springer's series Texts in Applied Mathematics.

Pasquale Porcelli Award for Graduate Research Excellence

Jasson Vindas

David Oxley Memorial Graduate Student Teaching Award

Leah Childers

Certificate of Teaching Excellence

Jeremy Aikin

Julius Esunge

Silvia Jimenez

Brad Adams

Susanne Brenner received a prestigious Humboldt Research Award in recognition of lifetime achievement. The story (732KB PDF) appears on page 1007 of the September issue of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

The current graduate students are launching a new program for incoming grads: GEAUXstands for Graduate Education & Acclimation the University eXperience! All are invited to attend. Program highlights include:

Delong Meng, a 10th-grader at Baton Rouge Magnet High School, the winner of the Open Session in High School Math Contest organized by the department this year, was one of the 12 highest scorers in the Thirty-Sixth Annual USA Mathematical Olympiad. The gala award ceremony took place at the U.S. State Department, and his achievement was also noted (PDF) in the August 2007 Notices of the AMS.

Senior mathematics major Nickolas VanMeter received Goldwater Scholarship.

LSU Awards

LSU Alumni Association Teaching Assistant Award

Julius Esunge

TIAA-CREF Service Learning Fellow Award

Robert Perlis

Tiger Athletic Foundation Undergraduate Teaching Award

Dottie Vaughn

Departmental Awards

Pasquale Porcelli Award for Graduate Academic Excellence

Anna Zemlyanova

Betti and Robert Giles Senior Math Award

Daniel Whitman

Pasquale Porcelli Senior Undergraduate Scholarship

Brittan Farmer

Pasquale Porcelli Junior Undergraduate Scholarship

Rodrigo Farnham

David Oxley Memorial Graduate Student Teaching Award

Tanya Lueder

Certificate of Teaching Excellence

Jens Christensen

Fareed Hawwa

Piotr Maciak

Lisa Warshauer

Departmental Service Award

Jimmie Lawson

The New Math: LSU becomes National Leader in Math Education

Redesign Workshop, April 12, 2007

The LSU Department of Mathematics has spent more than three years developing a new approach to teaching college algebra and has since become a national leader in the field of using technology to redesign the delivery of large-enrollment college mathematics courses. This new approach uses a combination of small classroom instruction and a learning lab environment.

Congratulations to our Putnam team (Jude Melancon, Nickolas VanMeter and Daniel Whitman), and thanks to the Putnam coach (Professor Jacek Cygan), and to Suat Namli (who gave seminars on problem solving prior to the Putnam Exam). This year the LSU team finished 21st! There were 402 colleges and universities that entered teams. A total of 3640 students from 508 colleges and universities participated in the competition. Daniel Whitman scored 31.7 and ranked 196.5. Nick VanMeter scored 30 and ranked 239. The median score was 1 out of a possible 120.