Valpo Mathematics & Statistics - MST

Our wonderful administrative assistant Bridget Murphy was recognized today as the Valparaiso University June 2024 employee of the month!

Several students from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics presented their research projects at the Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression/Graduate Academic Symposium on April 25, 2024. Congratulations to Caleb VanArragon and Matt Latzke for winning the first place graduate oral presentation award for their project "Predicting Professional Golf Success Using Amateur Rankings," mentored by Professor Kolba.

Congrats to Professor Pudwell for receiving the 2023 Trevor Evans Award for her paper "The Hidden and Surprising Structure of Ordered Lists" (https://doi.org/10.1080/10724117.2021.2002646)!

https://newsroom.maa.org/253794-mathematicians-awarded-for-expository-mathematical-writing-in-maa-publications-2023?fbclid=IwAR0g8VqTsihDKb-CbX15hIZ88jEcA-iCPfF56xg0vmTNrpJ_vWCk_5zfaGE

Mathematicians Awarded for Expository Mathematical Writing in MAA Publications 2023 We are excited to announce the 2023 award recipients for the Chauvenet Prize, the Euler Book Prize, the Merten M. Hasse Prize, the Daniel Solow Author’s Award, the David P. Robbins Prize, the George Pólya Awards, the Paul R. Halmos-Lester R. Ford Awards, the Trevor Evans...

Professor Pudwell was quoted in the New York Times this morning!

What Number Comes Next? Ask the Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. This year the “mathematical equivalent to the FBI’s voluminous fingerprint files” enters its 50th year, with 362,765 entries (and counting).

Grace Edwards, a senior data science major with minors in computer science and applied statistics, was recognized today for receiving the 2023 VUAA Distinguished Student Award!

Congratulations to the M.S. in Analytics and Modeling graduate students who were celebrated this evening at the Class of 2023 graduate student reception! In particular, Nick Dietz was recognized for joining the Athenaeum Honor Society and for graduating with highest distinction (GPA>3.9), while Ravi Kiran Nimmagadda was recognized for joining the Athenaeum Honor Society and for receiving the Graduate Outstanding Leadership and Service Award.

Professor Pudwell was recognized yesterday for winning the 2023 Valparaiso University Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work! Professor Pudwell has published one book and over 40 refereed journal articles!

Several students from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics presented their research today at the University-wide symposium! The full list of student presenters, titles, and abstracts can be found here: https://www.valpo.edu/sponsored-and-student-research/student-research/symposium-on-undergraduate-research-and-creative-expression-source/source-graduate-symposium-2023-preliminary-program-and-zoom-links/

On Sunday, April 16, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics held our annual Spring Award Banquet. Check out https://www.valpo.edu/mathematics-statistics/scholarships-and-awards/ for information about our departmental awards. Congrats to all of this year's recipients!

On April 5, 2023, a chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honor society, was installed at Valparaiso University. Professors Pudwell, Sullivan, Drube, and Kolba were inducted into Pi Mu Epsilon, as well as 9 undergraduate students. Congratulations to all the new Pi Mu Epsilon members!

Professors Drube, Sullivan, Pudwell, and Kolba, as well as math major Sam Gronwold, attended the spring meeting of the Indiana Section of the Mathematical Association of America at IU-Kokomo this weekend.

This week's math colloquium features three Math 266 presentations. The speakers, titles, and abstracts are listed below.

Speaker: Gretchen Kuckkan
Title: The Game of Nim
Abstract: Luck, skill, or just rigged from the beginning? During my talk, we are going to be answering these questions as we dive into the famous game of Nim. By the end, you will walk away with a game that none of your friends can beat you at.

Speaker: Kasandra Mendoza
Title: The Birthday Paradox
Abstract: We will be exploring a famous probability model known as the Birthday Paradox. More specifically, we will be diving into how this probability can be found and go over some examples that will help illuminate the intricacies of this model.

Speaker: Jacob Griffin
Title: Making Change with Generating Functions

Abstract: We will use series to represent coin combinations in order to calculate how many ways we can create change for a given amount of money.

Math Colloquium meets Fridays from 3:30-4:20 in GEM 120. All are welcome, whether you're currently registered for colloquium or not!