Rich Grant, Associate Dean There are those who say that a faculty member who takes on administrative duties has turned to The Dark Side. I would never say such a thing. Rich Grant is trading in his Physics faculty duties for a term as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Engagement. Roanoke College will…
Those of us of a certain (large) age will remember the colorful mod art of the late 1960s; think Peter Max or the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. Professor Jan Minton’s HNRS 301: Mathematics and Art class has decorated a Trexler stairwell with what is truly mod art. Modular arithmetic, that is. An example of modular arithmetic…
This is the first of what we hope will be many brief visits with MCSP grads. Please send your replies in! Mark Lucas is a 2009 graduate with a Mathematics major. Mark went to graduate school in Computer Science at George Washington University. We suspect that he does not own a selfie stick. Where are…
Pi Day (March 14) meant pie day for a group of Roanoke College students. Under the supervision of Lavelle Glenn, RC’s Bake Shop Coordinator, and math professor Jan Minton, the students produced 31 apple pies (that’s 10π pies) and delivered them to the Samaritan Inn and the Rescue Mission to give the folks there a…
In preparation for The Pi Day of the Century, President Maxey installed the coconut cream pie of the day on Dr. Chris Lee’s face today right after lunch. Since the number π is 3.14—, March 14 is officially Pi Day, and has become a popular day to celebrate our inner geek. This year’s Pi Day…
This is a story about a young woman who finds herself in a dystopian society in the Capitol playing Ramsey Games in a battle for survival. Okay, that grossly overstates the case, but Natalie Wilkinson’s REU experience at the University of Maryland had more drama than most. Natalie is a Computer Science and Mathematics double…
Bob Hudson, a Physics instructor from 1962 to 1996 at Roanoke College, passed away this week. The word “character” describes Bob as well as one word can ever capture a person. I’m using the word in both the “lovable eccentric” sense as well as the “moral integrity” sense – I think Bob would appreciate the…
Roanoke College has a long history of basketball success. Current men’s coach Page Moir and recently retired women’s coach Susan Dunagan hold the records for most ODAC conference wins. A lesser known, but more important, tradition is MCSP majors in the starting lineup. The list includes James (JP) Pennix, the well-named Ken Sine, Bryant Lee,…
The second floor of Trexler is haunted by intermittent clattering sounds! Actually, there is no need for a paranormal investigation, it’s just Drs. Taylor (Dave) and Childers (Adam) playing dice games. For Dave, this was partly research for his book The Mathematics of Games: An Introduction to Probability, recently published by CRC Press. The book…
There is an old saying that “the camera does not lie.” Putting aside the fact that PhotoShop does, the use of high-speed photography has revealed some fascinating facts. MCSP has such a camera; although it is very low resolution, we did capture a rubber band oscillating and verified the mathematical solution (found in Math 332)…
