Dear Friends,

What follows is a monthly informational newsletter related to the department of Mathematics and Computer Science. It contains a student profile plus highlights of some of recent news and upcoming events. I hope this information helps you support our departmental mission.

Table of Contents

1. Class of 2008 Senior Spotlight
   1. CarmenWeddell
2. Recent News and Upcoming Events:
   1. Pizza and Pamphlets
   2. General Visitation Day
   3. Michigan Undergraduate Mathematics Conference
   4. Science/Pre-Health Visitation Day
   5. Michigan Autumn Take-Home Challenge
   6. 2006 ACM East Central Region Programming Contest
   7. General Visitation Day
   8. Colloquium: Veera Holdai

Class of 2008 Senior Spotlight

Name: Carmen Weddell
Hometown: Farmington, Michigan

Camen Weddell with the Lower Michigan Mathematics Competition trophy in Palenske Hall.

Carmen Weddell knows that there's a lot more to math than just "chugging numbers." Weddell, a math and piano performance double major, has found a way to combine her interest in problem solving to her other passion: music.

Last summer, Weddell participated in the Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (FURSCA) with the guidance of Dr. Bollman. She modeled musical scales using group theory and plans to use her research from the summer to write her honors thesis this year.

One of my biggest accomplishments has been being on the team that won the LMMC last year.

Weddell enjoys matching wits with other mathematics students at Albion, in Michigan, and across the country. She has participated in the Michigan Autumn Take-Home (MATH) challenge twice, taken the Putnam exam once, and participated in the Lower Michigan Mathematics Competition (LMMC) once. "One of my biggest accomplishments has been being on the team that won the LMMC last year," exclaims Weddell. She has also worked in the Quantitative Skills Center for three semesters and has been a grader for math professors during her time at Albion.

Despite the time she spends working to complete her major, Weddell also finds time to be heavily involved in campus life outside of the math and computer science department. She spent a year accompanying the Briton Singers and she currently plays in the symphony orchestra, sings in concert choir and serves as Vice President of Ritual for Albion's chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, and international music fraternity for women. When she isn't feeding her passion for music, Weddell participates in Wesley Fellowship, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, and Wednesday Night Chapel, an organization that drew Weddell to Albion when she visited campus as a high school senior.

"I grew up with a good friend who is a year older than me," Weddell said. "When she came to Albion, I visited and immediately felt comfortable. I sat in on rehearsal with the orchestra and went to dinner with several of those students. I attended a Wednesday Night Chapel service. In all of these places, I felt welcomed and comfortable."

Being so heavily involved both inside and outside of the math and computer science department didn't come easy, though. Weddell admits there was an adjustment period.

"The biggest adjustment I made coming to Albion was] learning to manage my time most effectively making sure I built time into my day to go to practice," she said. "It was also hard because I didn't know anyone here, but I made friends with some girls who lived on my hall freshman year and we're still really close."

Weddell became a math fan in high school. She credits her interest in the subject to good teachers along with three semesters spent in computer programming classes.

"I really liked the logic and problem solving it took to do that," she said.

At Albion, Weddell's favorite math course was Abstract Algebra.

"Discrete was pretty cool, too, but Abstract just makes sense," she said.

On the other hand, Real Analysis didn't come so easily.

"Real Analysis was definitely a challenge," she said. "The material is just really hard. There are all these little things you have to remember, but then you have to figure out how to attack each problem."

However, Weddell advises younger math majors not to get discouraged and to use the available resources to help pass difficult classes.

"Don't be afraid of your classes," she said. "Remember, the professors don't want you to fail; use their office hours. If it helps, find a buddy in your class and do your homework together."

Weddell credits two professors in particular who had the greatest influence on her.

"Dr. Mason probably made me learn the most," she said. "Everyone says he's a really hard prof and he writes really hard tests, but I found that if you know the material really well, they're not so bad. Dr. Bollman was also great in pushing me to do research this summer."

Dr. Mason also has high praise for Weddell. He states, "she is surely going to be a shining star in whatever she chooses to do."

After graduating from Albion, Weddell plans to continue on to graduate school to further her math studies. In the mean time, she hopes to get a part-time job in church music as an organist/accompanist or choir director.

Story by Calli McCain, `09.

Recent News and Upcoming Events

• October 18: Pizza and Pamphlets is the event where the Mathematics and Computer Science Department provides information about fall courses in Mathematics and Computer Science. All Math majors/minors, Computer Science majors/minors, Math/Physics majors, Math/Econ majors, prospective majors, and friends of the department are invited to join us. This year the event will be held at 3:10 pm in Palenske 227. Bring your friends; bring your questions; bring your schedule. We will also provide pizza and pop!
  
• October 26: Prospective students are invited to discover the distinctive features that make Albion College a truly special and exciting place. Professors will be available at the departmental table to talk about classes, majors, undergraduate research, special programs, success of our alumni, and career options. Prospective students are encouraged to learn about how mathematics and computer science, in collaboration with other disciplines, will lead many of the technical advances during the 21st century. See the admissions Visitation Day page if you are interested.
  
• October 27: The 10th annual Michigan Undergraduate Mathematics Conference (MUMC) will be held on Saturday, October 27th, 2007 at Michigan State University. This year's conference will be held jointly with the Midwest Quantitative Biology Conference. The keynote speaker, Michael S. Waterman, will talk on "Mathematics, Computers, and Genomes." All undergraduate students attending the MUMC conference are invited to give 20 minute oral presentations on any area of mathematics, statistics or related discipline. Such areas include undergraduate research projects, interesting class projects, history of mathematics or expository talks on interesting mathematics. All presentations must be registered in advance, no later than 5 P.M. on Monday October 8, 2007. Students intersted in participating should talk with Dr. Reimann.
  
• November 2: Albion College is hosting its annual science/pre-health visitation day. Prospective students are invited to discover the distinctive features that make Albion College a truly special and exciting place. Stop at the departmental table to speak with professors about classes, majors, undergraduate research, special programs, and career options. In addition, there will be an opportunity for several science related activities, including some interesting activities related to mathematics and computer science. See the admissions Visitation Day page if you are interested.
  
• November 3: Current students are invited to particpate in the upcoming Michigan Autumn Take-Home (MATH) Challenge. Teams of 3 students from colleges in at least 6 states work for 3 hours Saturday morning on a set of 10 interesting problems. Contact Mark Bollman for further information or to join one of the Albion teams.
  
• November 9: The 2006 ACM East Central Region Programming Contest will be held Friday and Saturday at several sites around the midwest. In the programming competition, teams of up to three students work to solve as many problems in the least amount of time. This year's competition will be held on Saturday November 10, 2007. Contact David Reimann for further information!
  
• November 16: Prospective students are invited to discover the distinctive features that make Albion College a truly special and exciting place. Professors will be available at the departmental table to talk about classes, majors, undergraduate research, special programs, success of our alumni, and career options. Prospective students are encouraged to learn about how mathematics and computer science, in collaboration with other disciplines, will lead many of the technical advances during the 21st century. See the admissions Visitation Day page if you are interested.
  
• Veera Holdai ( Doctoral Student , Mathematics , Wayne State University , Detroit, Mihcigan) will give a talk entitled "Image reconstruction in multi-channel model under Gaussian noise" for our departmental colloquium on October 25.
  
• Susan J. Sierra ( Graduate Student , Mathematics , University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, Michigan) will give a talk for our departmental colloquium on November 1.
  
• Thomas F. Piatkowski ( Professor of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering , Department of Computer Science , Western Michigan University , Kalamazoo, Michigan) will give a talk entitled "How the DFA (deterministic finite automaton) is not" for our departmental colloquium on November 8.
  
• Mark M. Meerschaert ( Professor and Chairperson , Department of Statistics and Probability , Michigan State University , East Lansing, Michigan) will give a talk for our departmental colloquium on November 15.
  
• David A. Reimann ( Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Albion College, ) will give a talk entitled "Summer and Off-Campus Programs" for our departmental colloquium on November 29.
  

Please feel free to contact me or visit our website (http://www.albion.edu/mathcs/) for further details on any of these items.

Sincerely,
David A. Reimann
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
517-629-0426