Mathematics major and Honors student Olivia Long wondered about the profession of mathematics professor at a small college like Roanoke. She asked us several questions about the present and the future of our job. Here are the edited results, so that you can get to know us and our job.
Dave Taylor has published a book introducing probability through games such as Yahtzee and Monopoly. He enjoys magic tricks, including mathemagics and the mysterious cube trick in the background. The bed is for visits from his dog Lilly, and any department members who come whining to him in his role of department chair.
He does research on a number of topics including representation theory of Lie algebra, games and game theory, math education and curriculum, and call center work. For his classes he works with them on his call center work to ask questions, gather information and write press releases. He has also introduced R software to do real statistical tests.
He has learned through his years as a professor that sometimes topics dry up and you have to be able to shift. In the year 2050, he views liberal arts colleges as possibly teaching online, one-on-one interactions, and math research being more specialized. His favorite phrase is “Bingo.” His favorite games are Clue, Pandemic, and Betrayal at House on the Hill.
