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.
Maggie Rahmoeller has fun combining math and music. She is an accomplished oboist who plays with regional orchestras and musical groups. She helps coordinate Math Club activities such as pie-baking and pie-ing professors on Pi Day.
She works with Linear Algebra representation of Weyl alternation sets. This works as an extension of linear algebra. She also works with the biology faculty on the newly designed quantitative biology class. She has included R software into more of her classes and asks her students to make presentations on classical mathematicians. These projects have included songs, poems, and even a Facebook page for these important people.
She has improved her teaching ability through advice from the chair of the department to take time to work on her research through creating specific time slots for her research and getting help from collaborators. In 2050, she pictures a new science building and classes and research filled with innovative tech. She also pictures being up to date on what works with students and staying away from lectures. Her favorite catch phrases in class are “Does that make sense?” and “Alright I got distracted again. Focus.” And her favorite color is green.
