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| Newsletter | National Awards | Distinguished Teaching Award |
| NExT/PFF | Student Activities | History and Archives |
Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor
Carleton University
The French mathematician Joseph Liouville, in a series of eighteen papers published between 1858 and 1865, announced without proof a number of amazing elementary arithmetic formulae, from which many results in elementary number theory can be deduced. Even today these results are not well known (even to number theorists), nor well understood. What motivated Liouville to look for formulae of this type? How did Liouville find these results? Why didn't he prove them? Are they relevant today? These and other questions will be discussed against the background of Liouville's life and times and his place in mathematical history.
Dr. Williams was an undergraduate in mathematics at the University of Birmingham, England, graduating in 1962. From there he went on a Commonwealth Scholarship to the University of Toronto finishing his Ph.D. under the supervision of J. H. H. Chalk in 1965. After a year as a Lecturer at the University of Manchester, England, he emigrated to Canada and joined the Department of Mathematics at Carleton University in Ottawa, where he became a full professor in 1975. He received the D.Sc. degree from the University of Birmingham in 1979. At Carleton he served as chair (1980-1984, 1997-1998) and when the department became the School of Mathematics and Statistics in 1998, he became its first director serving until 2000. In 2002 he retired as Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor. He is the recipient of a number of teaching awards from Carleton University.
Dr. Williams has published many research papers, mostly in number theory, and is the coauthor or coeditor of eight books including "The Collected Papers of Sarvadaman Chowla" in three volumes (with James G. Huard of Canisius College), and most recently "Introductory Algebraic Number Theory" (with Saban Alaca of Carleton University). He continues to supervise the theses of graduate students and is in the early stages of writing a book on Liouville's work in number theory.
Ithaca College
Research suggests that efforts to foster authentic improvements in education often fail due to systemic factors that reinforce the status quo. This is particularly true with regard to high school mathematics. Based on considerable work with high schools nationwide, the speaker will argue that part of the problem has to do with many levels of fragmentation within the educational system (including higher education). Some of these fragmentations have been by design; others are due to the nature of the enterprise. Some can be repaired; others can be balanced with other strategies. Several suggestions for what we can do as mathematicians will be offered.
Eric Robinson received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Binghamton University. His published articles in mathematical research are in the field of topology. He has also published work relating to 9-14 mathematics education.
Eric began his teaching career at Bates College. Since 1979 he has been a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Ithaca College where he chaired the department for nearly a decade. He also has served as Interim Associate Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences at the College.
With an interest in pre-college as well as post-secondary education, Eric has frequently taught graduate content courses designed for pre-service and in-service teachers at Binghamton University. While on leave from Ithaca College, he served as a Program Officer at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Science Education. He also is a co-author of a ücalculus reformý textbook together with four colleagues at Ithaca.
Since 1997, Eric has been the Project Director for COMPASS, a national implementation project funded by the National Science Foundation. This project focuses on improving secondary school mathematics education that includes comprehensive curricular and pedagogical change in the classroom and involves working closely with school districts and teachers nationwide. In addition to published articles related to improving K-12 education, Eric has presented numerous sessions and workshops at national and regional conferences sponsored by such organizations as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), Mathematicians and Education Reform (MER), MAA, and the Education Trust. He also makes presentations related to the improvement of high school mathematics education at COMPASS-sponsored regional and national events.
Recently, Eric has served on a National Research Council Committee charged with exploring the possibility of a program to attract science, mathematics, and engineering Ph.D.ùs into careers in K-12 education. He also has been a member of the Educational Policies Committee for the Seaway Section.
Brock University
The Brock mathematics department recently developed a brand new program that we call MICA (Mathematics Integrated with Computers and Applications). As part of this program, students are taught how to create interactive computer programs to both explore and teach mathematics. One of the great benefits of this program is that we have seen a remarkable increase in the level of involvement of our students. In this talk, I will talk about the philosophy of our program and show you several of our first year student's projects.
Bill Ralph grew up in North Bay, Ontario where it is very cold, and has always been interested in mathematics, music and art. He spent three years in Toronto studying piano and composition before switching to mathematics at the University of Waterloo where he obtained a Ph.D. in Algebraic Topology. Several years ago, he was commissioned to design a piece of multimedia software to teach calculus and moved to San Francisco to create the CD that is now called "Journey Through Calculus". This CD won the Ontario OPAS award for the development of educational technology at universities. During that time, Professor Ralph became interested in using the mathematics of dynamical systems to create visual art. His art was shown at the New York Art Exposition and will been shown this year in Canadian and American galleries. He is currently on the mathematics faculty of Brock University in St. Catharines Ontario where he enjoys teaching courses like the history of mathematics to many excellent students.
University of Rochester.
Although most mathematicians are aware that the prime numbers, the Riemann zeta function, and the zeros of the zeta function are intimately connected, very few know why. In this lecture I will outline the basic properties of the zeta function, sketch a proof of the prime number theorem, and show how the location of the zeros of the zeta function directly influences the distribution of the primes. I will then explain why the Riemann Hypothesis (RH) is important and the evidence for it.
Prof. Gonek received his B.A. in 1973, M.A. in 1976, and Ph.D. in 1979, all in Mathematics and all from he University of Michigan. After a two-year position at Temple University from 1978 to 1980, he joined the University of Rochester as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics in 1980 and was eventually promoted to Full Professor. He spent the 1984-85 academic year at Oklahoma State University, part of Fall 1991 at Macquarie University in Sidney, Australia, part of Fall 1999 at the American Institute of Mathematics in Palo Alto, California, and the Spring of 2004 at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, England.
Prof. Gonek's main research interests are in the field of analytic number theory, particularly multiplicative number theory, the theory of the Riemann zeta-function, L-functions, and the distribution of prime numbers. His recent work has focused on high moments of the Riemann zeta-function, the maximal order of the zeta function, and the development and application of random matrix models for the zeta-function. The goals of this work are to better understand the behavior of the zeta and L-functions and to determine connections between these behaviors and various arithmetical problems. Prof. Gonek has also worked on questions relating to the distribution of multiplicative inverses and primitive roots in residue classes modulo a prime.
Prof. Gonek has been involved with many aspects of teaching at Rochester. In the early nineties he designed and ran a mathematics camp for bright mathematics majors from various colleges, he introduced the workshop idea into mathematics courses at Rochester, he led a committee to examine and reform the undergraduate curriculum, and he helped design a number of the College's "Quest" courses. He recently developed and taught an interdisciplinary Quest course with a colleague from the department of Religion and Classics called "The Infinite". In 1998 Prof. Gonek won a Goergen Award for Distinguished Achievement and Artistry in Undergraduate Teaching.
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Home
| Section Meetings | Governance and Committees |
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| Newsletter | National Awards | Distinguished Teaching Award |
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