Mercer University held its eighth annual programming competition on March 1st, 2014. At this competition, teams were given 13 programming problems to solve in five hours. Teams were scored not only on how many problems they were successfully able to solve, but also how long it took to compute a solution and the number of…
The Sloan Sports Analytic Conference (SSAC) is sports stats heaven. At the 2014 conference in Boston on February 28 – March 1, “The Man” showed up in many guises (Bill James, Nate Silver, Malcolm Gladwell, Phil Jackson) and we heard from Boston’s sports nobility (owners of the Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots; Celtics coach Brad…
On February 27, MCSP students Maya Shende, Thomas Lux and Randall Pittman described the results of the research they carried out last summer and last fall to an interested and enthusiastic crowd in Massengill Auditorium. First, Ms. Shende described her work with Physics professor Dan Robb on simulating the neural network underlying the breathing rhythm,…
What would you expect from a show titled Calculus: The Musical ? For the 150 in attendance on February 26, 2014, at Roanoke College the correct answer was “fun!” An irresistible charm emerges from the show’s quirky blend of mathematical puns, fractured history, and just enough calculus to keep it real. But the heart of…
Thanks to Roanoke College students Amanda Wright, Lizzi Ciskowski, Sara Dvorak and Thomas Lux, as well as Dr. Rich Grant! These students and Dr. Grant dedicated part of a recent Saturday to helping Alexus McBride, a Roanoke Valley Governor’s School student, analyze the data from her school science project. Alexus’ project involved the effectiveness of…
Fans of The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy know that 42 is “The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything” although, as it turns out, we don’t actually know what that question is. Mathematicians may have found part of the question. Think about packing tennis balls (don’t panic – there’s a…
Lizzi Ciskowski, Amanda Wright and Sarah Dvorak (L to R in the above picture) carpooled to the MACUWiP (Mid Atlantic Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics) at the University of Maryland from January 17-19! The conference program included many interesting opportunities for our intrepid trio of female physics majors: a tour of NIST (National Institute…
The Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy “showcases the best pedagogical practice and research in higher education today.” It should be no surprise, then, that Roanoke College mathematics professors Adam Childers and Dave Taylor regularly present their work at this conference, hosted by the Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research (CIDER) at Virginia Tech. This…
The MCSP Department, and the physics group in particular, were excited to welcome back Roanoke alumnus Jake Bennett to campus on February 4! Jake is currently doing graduate research at the University of Indiana at Bloomington in experimental particle physics, and in fact has planned his Ph.D. defense for this April. In addition to having…
The Wall of Fame on the second floor of Trexler celebrates student research. The independent thinking that goes into such work benefits students tremendously, and research is a great line item on a resume! Senior math majors Jon Marino and Heather Cook talked about their research last night (2-6-14) as part of the MCSP Conversation…
