MathPath

Professor Bockting enjoys sharing her love for mathematics with students and is looking forward to her 1st year at MathPath! She particularly enjoys working with students on problems in graph theory and combinatorics, though she is often wearing her "algebraist hat" when doing her own research. In fact, during summer 2023, Professor Bockting and colleague mentored a group of nine undergraduate students on research projects in graph coloring and had an absolute blast! Professor Bockting is the 2022 recipient of the DePaul University Excellence in Teaching Award and is involved in various efforts to make her communities into more inclusive and equitable places. When not doing math, Professor Bockting enjoys baking, running, and doing outdoorsy things with her family such as going camping and hiking.

Dylon Chow is a part-time lecturer at the University of Washington and an instructor at Art of Problem Solving. He obtained a PhD in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in number theory. He enjoys teaching Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations, and enjoys finding ways of making mathematics more accessible to a wide range of learners. This is his 1st year at MathPath. Outside of math, he like to learn about different types of cuisine and reading about history.

David studies combinatorics — the art and science of counting in interesting ways. He loves to create hands-on activities that help students learn about mathematics. In particular, he finds ways to create games that reveal deep results about modern communications. David also loves playing games of all kinds, mathematical and otherwise. In 2018, he won the Mathematical Association of America's national Alder Award for teaching. This is his 10th year at MathPath. Beyond mathematics, David is an avid hiker, backpacker, biker, and boardgamer.

Professor DeLong has won two national teaching awards from the Mathematical Association of America (2005 Alder Award, 2012 Haimo Award). He has taught summer mathematics courses for high ability high school and middle school students. He has also been a successful mathematical contest coach at both the college and elementary school levels. His mathematical interests are primarily in knot theory and number theory. In addition, he enjoys performing choral music and musical theatre. This will be Professor DeLong's 11th summer at MathPath.

Professor Duffy is a noncommutative algebraist (math does not equal hamt :)) and is interested in the connection between mathematics and culture. She enjoys guiding students in seeing mathematics in new ways and in new places. She has taught 16 different courses at UWEC and in England, where she lived and taught in a manor house. In her free time, she loves to travel, spend time with family, and engage in outdoor activities. Prof. Duffy is very excited to be part of MathPath for the 1st time.

Xinke (Jacob) Guo-Xue is interested in combinatorics and number theory. He has spent 5 years teaching all sorts of math to interested high school and middle school students via his teaching Academy, Xinke's Math Academy. He is also an instructor at Art of Problem Solving. In his free time Jacob likes to sing and play piano. Although this will be Xinke's 1st time on the MathPath faculty, he is a former MathPath counselor.

After finishing their PhD in the Summer of 2020 at the University of Delaware, Kris Hollingsworth spent two years teaching a rigorous, proof-based Calculus sequence for advanced high-school students at the University of Minnesota's Talented Youth Mathematics Program (UMTYMP) in Minneapolis. They are now a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, Mankato in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Kris lives in Southwestern Minnesota with their partner and spends most of their free time being taken on long walks by Gemma (their Aussie Beagledor), shoveling excessive amounts of snow and ice in the frigid north, and hoping someday to have enough time to actually unpack all the boxes they dragged from Delaware to Minnesota and hasn't opened in the past four years. This will be their 2nd summer at MathPath, and they are excited to return!

Silas is a number theorist and math educator. As a Lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis, he focuses on teaching calculus courses, but is involved with a variety of other math classes and the undergraduate program as a whole. He has done research on arithmetic statistics of number fields, and also enjoys combinatorics, topology, and applications of math to physics and music. He also enjoys playing trombone and various percussion instruments, Ultimate Frisbee, cycling, board games, and Pokemon cards. This will be Silas's 7th time teaching at MathPath.

Dr. Kanbir is returning to MathPath for the 4th time this summer. He currently holds the position of Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he specializes in teaching pre-service teacher courses for mathematics at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Dr. Kanbir enjoys creating educational materials for K-12 students and has written seven books for mathematically promising students. He also serves as an item writer for prestigious math contests, including the Central Wisconsin Math League (CWML), MathCON, and the WMC State Mathematics Contest. This summer, Dr. Kanbir is excited to invite MathPath students to explore his Box Algebra and GeoTopia universe, where they can experience the joy of problem-solving and proof.

Dr Kent specialises in the History of Mathematics at the University of St Andrews, where she enjoys teaching a range of mathematics courses and the occasional class in her area of expertise. Her research focuses on mathematical sciences in the 19th and early 20th centuries with a recent emphasis on eclipse expeditions. She'd love to hear a field report from anyone at MathPath who experienced totality on 8 April 2024! Before moving to Scotland in 2021, Dr Kent was on faculty at Drake University, where she was selected as the Arts&Sciences Professor of the Year in 2018. She received both an MAA Halmos-Ford award for expository writing and an award for Academic Innovation and Leadership from the Technology Association of Iowa. One of her Math Path breakouts draws on material from her recent AMS book on Game Theory. Summer 2024 will be her 6th year at MathPath.

Professor Langston teaches mathematics at the University of Saint Mary, and is currently studying for a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Kansas. His favorite mathematics topic is Algebraic Geometry, but he is looking forward to studying mathematics education. His hobbies include board games, video games, Magic The Gathering, and Dungeons and Dragons. Professor Langston is eager for his 1st year at MathPath, and ready to see other teachers and students engaging in mathematics.

Dr. Nick is looking forward to his 3rd year at MathPath and working with another group of interesting and motivated students. For the past 16 years, Dr. Nick's day job has been working with dynamical systems, writing materials for lots of courses where students have to think bigger, and teaching students how to draw in 3 (or 4) dimensions. Dr. Nick loves playing games and really enjoys winning games, including one of his new favorites Take 5. This year, Dr. Nick is learning how to design and build elements with a 3D printer, so let him know what cool things you have seen created and printed.

Asia has been teaching at Quest University in Canada since 2014. Her primary professional interest is mathematics education, specifically problem design, creativity and communication. She is also interested in discrete mathematics, especially combinatorics, the geometry of paper folding, and the history of mathematics. She has been involved in a number of mathematics outreach programs for elementary and high school students and their families. She finds joy in teaching people what it is to think mathematically and to develop and communicate their own mathematical ideas. This will be her 7th year at MathPath.

Dr. McCune's training is in group and semigroup theory, but for the last several years he has studied the mathematics of voting and elections. He particularly enjoys mining and crunching real-world ballot data to look for interesting or paradoxical electoral outcomes. These results make for nice case studies for his students at William Jewell College, and Dr. McCune finds a lot of joy in convincing students that mathematical political science is fun and useful. When not in the classroom, he enjoys running, hiking, and hanging out with his wife and three kids. This is Dr. McCune's 1st summer at MathPath.

Dr. Olson likes thinking about combinatorics, graph theory, and inclusive and equitable teaching. She is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Millikin University in central Illinois and the Book Review Editor for the Notices of the American Mathematical Society. She has won the Czerwinski/Slayton Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership award from Millikin University and the Early Career Teaching Award from the Illinois Section of the Math Association of America. Besides thinking and reading about math, she likes taking bike rides with her family, gardening, and walking her dog. This will be her 2nd year at MathPath.

Having taught math for 15 years at the University of Portland, Dr. Valerie Peterson is delighted to join MathPath for the 1st time this year. Her early research in algebraic topology and metric geometry (with just a splash of robotics) has given way to studying institutional change, peer observation, and inclusive, student-centered pedagogical practices. Her favorite moments in math are the collaborative ones, working with students who are learning to think about mathematics in new ways, and supporting other college faculty who are trying to approach their teaching in new ways. Suffering from an abundance of hobbies, Valerie enjoys experiments with yarn, fabric, and plants, loves transforming simple ingredients into delicious meals, and dreams of someday uniting people on the dance floor with her electronic beats. She is the second-tallest member of her household of five in Portland, OR (which includes two relatively short cats).

Professor Polanco obtained a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is an assistant professor at Smith College and conducts research in number theory, specifically focusing on analytic, algebraic, and elementary number theory, also intersecting with combinatorics. He was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, where he taught mathematics at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. He received a teaching award during his doctoral studies at the University of Illinois, and during this time he also contributed to summer programs for middle and high school students. This summer 2024 marks his 2nd year participating at MathPath, and he eagerly looks forward to sharing his love and enthusiasm for mathematics with everyone.

Professor Pudwell studies enumerative combinatorics, which means she loves to count! Her work usually involves counting permutations with special properties. She has won a national writing award (the 2023 Trevor Evans Award) as well as local, regional, and national teaching awards (the 2021 Valparaiso University Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2024 Distinguished Teaching Award from the Indiana Section of the Mathematical Association of America, and the 2014 Alder Award, respectively). Away from math she enjoys reading, playing music (guitar, banjo, and ukulele), traveling, and drinking good tea. She is excited for her 6th year at MathPath.

Professor Rogness loves to make complex mathematical ideas accessible to students of all ages. He is well known for his beautiful mathematical visualizations, including an award-winning video, Möbius Transformations Revealed, which went viral online and has been viewed by nearly two million people. Rogness is the Director of the University of Minnesota's Mathematics Center for Educational Programs, which runs one of the nation's premier accelerated mathematics programs for middle school students. 2024 will be his 15th year at MathPath.

Distinguished mathematical historian, with special expertise in ancient and medieval mathematics and astronomy, and past president of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics, Professor Van Brummelen returns in 2024 for his 21st year at MathPath. He is author of The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth: The Early History of Trigonometry. His book, Heavenly Mathematics: The Forgotten Art of Spherical Trigonometry, is based partly on his MathPath breakouts. His most recent books are Trigonometry: A Very Short Introduction (2020), and The Doctrine of Triangles: A History of Modern Trigonometry (2021). In 2016 Professor Van Brummelen won the Mathematical Association of America's Haimo distinguished teaching award, and in 2017 he was named a 3M National Teaching Fellow (Canada).

Dr. Cornelia Van Cott teaches mathematics at the University of San Francisco. Her research is primarily in low dimensional topology (which might sound like the same thing as topography, but it isn't!). Dr. Van Cott loves teaching math and loves doing research projects with undergraduate students. Outside the world of math, she enjoys flowers, basketball, boba tea, and playing piano. Dr. Van Cott is excited to return to MathPath for her 5th year.

Dr.V delights in presenting beautiful, engaging mathematical topics to students of all ages. He is an experienced problem solver and problem writer. He currently oversees school operations and directs the program in mathematics at Proof School, an independent school in the San Francisco Bay Area for kids who love math. Aside from math, he enjoys playing pickleball, spending time outdoors, and eating Thai food. Summer 2024 will be his 18th year at MathPath.

Dr. Vega currently teaches 9th and 10th grade at Maret school in Washington, D.C. Her prior experience also consists of middle school and college-level teaching. She is an accomplished teacher and has been recognized for her diversity, equity, and inclusion work. As a mathematician, she studies topological combinatorics, which involves studying properties of graphs (think social networks) by creating and analyzing associated topological spaces. Dr. Vega really enjoys the visual aspects of mathematics. Beyond mathematics, Dr. Vega loves the nature and art. She recently began a multi-year project that combines these two passions, bringing the viewer to appreciate the beauty of the natural world. This will be Dr. Vega's 2nd year at MathPath.

April has worked at MathPath since 2007. April loves interesting and elegant mathematics, as she has since middle school. Her favorite field of mathematics is Graph Theory, though she also enjoys probability, counting, and mathematics that is related to games or crafts. April is a problem-writer for ARML, and has successfully coached middle school and high school competitive mathematics teams. Outside of the math community, April enjoys textile crafting and is a professional freelance musician with experience in several states across the country. Dr. Verser holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Woodwind Performance (bassoon).

Dr. Z has devoted his career to mathematical outreach at all levels. He has started math circles for kids and teachers, has trained IMO teams, and helped to start a school for math kids (Proof School). And he has worked at Mathpath approximately every other year since the beginning. When not doing math, he enjoys outdoor adventures with his wife and dog.