What's New

Also - check the Mathematics and Computer Science Department calendar of events.

Fall 2003 Course Information
Information about fall 2003 semester mathematics and computer science courses is available to view under Schedule of Courses [link].

John Wenzel Announces Retirement
John Wenzel has announced he will retire following the 2002-2003 academic year. Dr. Wenzel has been at Albion since 1969.

David Reimann Plans Sabbatical
David Reimann is planning a sabbatical during the 2003-2004 academic year. He plans to continue his research in medical imaging.

Martha O'Kennon Announces Retirement
Martha O'Kennon has announced she will retire following the 2003-2004 academic year. Dr. O'Kennon has been at Albion since 1985.

Spring Course Information
Information about spring 2003 semester mathematics and computer science courses is available to view under Schedule of Courses.

Article by Darren Mason Published
Darren E. Mason, in collaboration with T.R. Bieler, M.A. Crimp, S.L. Semiatin, B.A. Simkin, & B.C. Ng, has published the article "Use of Crystallography and Electron Microscopy Techniques to Quantify Heterogeneous Strain and Damage Nucleation Phenomena" in Advanced Measurement Methods, 1, 1-4 (2002).

Darren Mason Co-Author of Paper
Darren Mason is co-author on the paper "Existence of minimizers for axisymmetric problems in nonlinear elasticity" which was presented at the Michigan State University seminar on Partial Differential Equations by Ms. Lidiya Novozhilova (of the MSU Department of Mathematics).

David Reimann Presents Research in Montreal
David Reimann, along with Tom Sikma ('02) and collaborators Ehsan Samei and Rene Vargas-Voracek, presented a research poster at the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine held 14-18 July in Montreal. Their work Perceptual Assessment of Soft-Copy Display Quality describes a technique for observer-based assessment of image display quality, especially suited for remote display devices.  Click here for more details.

Darren Mason Publishes Paper
Darren E. Mason, in collaboration with D. Kinderlehrer & S. Ta'asan of Carnegie Mellon University and I. Livshits of Central Arkansas University, published the paper "Reconstructing the Surface Energy of MgO From Microstructure," Interface Science, 10 (2) pp. 223-242 (2002).

Mark Bollman Named Dolciani Project NExT Fellow
Mark Bollman has been named a Dolciani Project NExT Fellow for 2002-2003 by the Mathematical Association of America and the Dolciani-Halloran Foundation. Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) is an MAA program for new and recent Ph.D.'s in the mathematical sciences. The program addresses the full range of faculty responsibilities in teaching, research, and service and provides professional support for new faculty as they undertake these activities. Nationally, 72 Project NExT Fellows were named this year. Ten of them, including Mark, are supported by the Dolciani-Halloran Foundation in recognition of their interest in the mathematical education of teachers.

Darren Mason Presents Paper in Bar Harbor, Maine
Darren Mason, in collaboration with T.R. Bieler and M.A. Crimp of Michigan State University, presented the paper "Mesoscopic Measurement and Modeling of Slip Transfer Across Boundaries in Anisotropic Metallic Systems" at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Joint Contractor's Meeting in Bar Harbor, Maine, August 12-14, 2002. This research is an ongoing interdisciplinary effort which combines experimental investigation with mathematical modeling.  This in an effort to understand the multi-scale nature of failure mechanisms at interfaces in metallic systems. The project is funded by AFOSR grant # F49620-01-1-0116.

Bob Messer on Sabbatical
Bob Messer is on sabbatical leave this academic year to revise his linear algebra textbook.   You can on occasion catch Bob in his office at 103 Palenske Hall or feel free to e-mail him!

Darren Mason Visiting Professor in Russia During Summer
Darren Mason was a visiting professor at the Volgograd State Architectural and Engineering Academy in Volgograd, Russia from May 20, 2002 - June 14, 2002. In addition to scholarly collaboration with faculty at the academy, Dr. Mason taught rigid body dynamics as part of the joint Michigan State University - Michigan Tech Study Abroad Program. During the summer of 2003,  it is expected that a small number of Albion College Pre-Engineering students will accompany Dr. Mason as he continues his affiliation with this multi-university international experience. If you are an Albion College Pre-Engineering student (or are thinking of becoming one) and are interested in learning more about this study-abroad experience, please contact Prof. Darren Mason at dmason@albion.edu or stop by 106 Palenske Hall.

Mark Bollman and Darren Mason Welcomed in Tenure-Track Positions
Mark Bollman and Darren Mason have both been appointed to tenure-track positions.  Congratulations!

Paper Presentation at TMS Fall Meeting
Darren Mason, T. R. Bieler, B. C. Ng, and M. A. Crimp presented a paper at the 2002 TMS Fall meeting (which was held October 6 - 10, in Columbus, Ohio) entitled "Effects of crystal orientation and misorientation on crack propagation and arrest in a near-gamma TiAl alloy".

Ronald C. Fryxell Award
Awarded annually to an outstanding Computer Science student, the Ronald C. Fryxell Award is new since Professor Fryxell retired in May of 2002.  Anyone interested in donating to this should contact David Reimann at dreimann@albion.edu.

Poster Presented
Darren E. Mason collaborated on the poster "Existence and Injectivity of Minimizers for Axisymmetric Problems in Nonlinear Elasticity" which was presented on November 11-14, 2002 at the Princeton University Workshop on Quasiconvexity and its Applications as part of that institution's Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics. The presentation was by co-author Ms. Lidiya Novozhilova of the MSU Department of Mathematics.

David Reimann Named Chair
David Reimann succeeds Bob Messer as the Math and Computer Science Departmental chair.  Bob had been chair for nearly six years and although he will be missed, he's currently on a long overdue sabbatical!