Notable Events
Summer 2008:
All Girls/All Math: 12th Annual Mathematics Summer Camp for High School Girls
Summer, 2008:
Nebraska Research Experience for Undergraduates in Applied Mathematics
Bo Deng, Allan Peterson, Richard Rebarber, Brigitte Tenhumberg
June 23-August 1, 2008:
IMMERSE Workshop (organized by Tom Marley)
Tenth Annual
September 20-21, 2008:
KUMUNU 2008
October 2008:
Annual Undergraduate Scholarship Reception
November 13, 2008:
19th Annual Math Day
January 30-February 1, 2009:
Eleventh Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics
February 27-28, 2009:
Graduate Recruiting Weekend
April 3, 2009:
13th Annual Rowlee Lecture: Michael Hopkins
(organized by Lucho Avramov, Srikanth Iyengar, and Mark Walker)
Recognition
Dinner
April 9, 2009:
2nd Annual Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture: Gwen L. Fisher of California Polytechnic State University
(organized by Susan Cooper, Stephen Hartke, and Petronela Radu)
May 17-21, 2009:
ICGS 2009:
(organized by Collin Bleak, Susan Hermiller, Tanya Jajcayova, and Stuart Margolis)
Thursday
April 30, 2009
Nebraska Union • Regency
5:30 – 9:00 p.m.
The University of Nebraska is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution
Program
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
7:30 Reception
Dinner
Presentations
Presenters: John Meakin
Judy Walker
Gordon Woodward
Faculty and Staff
2009 Award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department
April 14, 2009: The Department has been honored by the American Mathematical Society with the
society’s award for 2009
2009 Louise Pound-George Howard Distinguished Career Award:
Jim Lewis
Mathematical Association of America’s Polya Lecturer for 2009-10 and 2010-11:
Judy Walker
UNL’s John Weaver or Aaron Douglas Professor of Teaching Excellence:
Jim Lewis
College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Teaching Awards:
Mikil Foss and Srikanth Iyengar
Promotion to Associate Professor and Tenure:
Mikil Foss
New Faculty Members, August 2008:
• Ira Papick
• Lorena Bociu (Post Doc)
• Susan Cooper (Post Doc)
Faculty and Staff Members Serving for 0 (mod 5) years:
Srikanth Iyengar
5 years
Rex Dieter
Irakli Loladze
5 years Marilyn Johnson
Petronela Radu
5 years
Steven Cohn
Mikil Foss
5 years
Thomas Marley
Mark Brittenham
10 years
Glenn Ledder
Richard Rebarber
Thank you to
Lynn Erbe, Marilyn Johnson and Mohammad Rammaha
for organizing the department’s
tenth annual recognition dinner
Program Designed by
Lori J. Mueller
15 years
20 years
20 years
20 years
20 years
25 years
External Grants and Contracts Received in 2008-2009:
Collin Bleak, LMS Scheme 2 grant to visit and speak at 3 different United Kingdom universities
Lorena Bociu, NSF International Research Fellowship
Mark Brittenham, External funding for Center for Communications Research
Allan Donsig (Lead PI) and Judy Walker, NSA grant for NCUWM conference
Stephen Hartke, Nebraska First Award, NSF grant
Susan Hermiller, External funding for Center for Communications Research
Susan Hermiller (Lead PI), Collin Bleak, John Meakin, NSF grant for the ICGS2009 Conference
Christine Kelley, Nebraska First Award, NSF grant
Jim Lewis (Lead PI), Ruth Heaton, Tom McGowan, Barb Jacobson, Supplement to the Math in the
Middle Institute Partnership, NSF grant
Jim Lewis (Lead PI), Ruth Heaton, Ira Papick, Carolyn Edwards, Walt Stroup, Tom McGowan, Barb
Jacobson, NebraskaMATH, NSF grant
Jim Lewis (Lead PI), Meixia Ding, Michael Matthews, Kelly II Funds
Jim Lewis (Lead PI), 18 co-PIs at UNL and UNO, NU-Teach
National Offices:
Susan Hermiller, Chair of GRE mathematics subject test committee of examiners
Jim Lewis, Member of MAA Committee on Science Policy
Jim Lewis, Member of MAA Committee on the Participation of Women
Jim Lewis, Member of NRC Committee on the Study of Teacher Preparation Programs
Jim Lewis, Member of MSRI Educational Advisory Committee
Judy Walker, Member of AMS Council
Judy Walker, Member of AMS Committee on Science Policy
UNL Parents Association Certificates of Recognition for Contributions to Students:
Lorena Bociu (1), Susan Cooper (1), Jim Lewis (10), John Meakin (1), Amy Parrott (1),
Bill Rogge (3), David Skoug (12), Gordon Woodward (10)
Roger Wiegand Award:
To Be Announced
Undergraduate Students
Graduate Students
Awards and Fellowships:
2009 UNL Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award:
Raj Dahal and Joan Lubben
2008-2009 GAANN Fellows:
Melanie DeVries, Luis Perez, Ashley Weatherwax, Anthony DeLegge, David McCune, Micah
Leamer, Lori McDonnell, Katie Morrison, Ian Pierce, Jeremy Parrott
2008-2009 MCTP Advanced Fellows (Fall):
Joan Lubben
2008-2009 MCTP Advanced Fellows (Spring):
Nathan Axvig, Jesse Burke, Kyle Fey, Michael McCoy
2008-2009 MCTP Fellows:
Abigail Brackins, Katie Haymaker, Kaelly Simpson
2008 Chancellors Doctoral Fellowship:
Melanie DeVries and Philip Landry
2008 Larson Fellowships:
Komla Ahlijah and Luis Pérez
2008 Othmer Graduate Fellowship:
Jason Hardin
2008 Outstanding First Year Student: Ben Nolting
2008 Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student: Raj Dahal and Joan Lubben
2008 Emeritus Faculty Fellowship Scholars:
Katie Morrison (Bill Leavitt Award), Zahava Wilstein (Lloyd Jackson Award), Derek Boeckner, Hamid
Rahmati
2008 Grace Chisholm Young and William Henry Young Fellowship:
Laura Lynch
2008 Outstanding Qualifying Exams:
Courtney Gibbons and Derrick Stolee
2008 George W. Beadle Life Sciences Fellowship:
Sara Reynolds
2008 Banff International Research Station Workshop:
David McCune — Invited to participate
2008-2009 Conference Invited Speakers:
Nathan Axvig — (Third Canadian Summer School in Banff, Alberta, Canada)
Nathan Axvig — (AMS Conference in Kalamazoo, MI - Western Michigan University)
Nathan Axvig — (International Symposium on Information Theory & It’s Applications in Auckland,
New Zealand)
Deanna Dreher — (AMS Conference in Washington, DC)
Inês Henriques — (AMS Sectional Meeting at the University of Urbana-Illinois)
Katie Morrison — (Third Canadian Summer School in Banff, Alberta, Canada)
Math Majors Graduating with Highest Distinction:
April Christensen, J. Travis Johnston
Math Majors Graduating with High Distinction:
Charles Scherer
Math Majors Graduating with Distinction:
James Carraher, Robert Lindquist, Kenneth Shum
Math Majors Graduating with Honors:
April Christensen, Kyle Deterding, Jordan Dudzinski, Andrew Hassing, J. Travis Johnston, Phillip
Malcom, Alan Mock, Charles Scherer, Noah Weiss
Math Majors Graduated in August 2008:
Ernesto Bartels, Jeffrey Ifland, Joshua Epke, Kimberly Sanderman, Robert Andersen
Math Majors Graduated in December 2008:
Stephen Augustine, James Wallace, Jill Westcott
Math Majors Graduating in May 2009:
Derek Augustine, James Carraher, April Christensen*, Kyle Deterding, Jennifer Determan,
Matthew Duling, Andrew Hassing, Seth Hoffert, Kinsley Johnson, J. Travis Johnston, Julie Edeal,
Robert Lindquist, Joshua Lindsteadt, Phillip Malcom, Alan Mock, Charles Scherer, Kenneth Shum,
Chase Taylor, Noah Weiss
*Chancellor’s Scholar
Senior Honors Theses:
April Christensen (directed by Biochem)
J. Travis Johnston (directed by Stephen Hartke)
Charles Scherer (directed by Lucho Avramov)
Undergraduate Research:
Research Experiences for Undergraduates Participants and Internships, Summer 2008:
Steven Davis (North Carolina State University)
J. Travis Johnston (NSA)
Wen Luo (University of Maine)
Charles Scherer (Michigan State University)
Noah Weiss (UNL Nebraska REU)
Undergraduate Creative Activities & Research Experiences (UCARE) Participants for 2008-2009:
April Christensen (directed by BioChem)
Laila Gharzai (directed by Physics)
Ryan Hotovy (directed by Physics)
J. Travis Johnston (directed by Physics)
Robert Lindquist (directed by Computer Science)
Wen Luo (directed by Computer Science)
Jessica Sierk (directed by TLTEd)
Robert Woodward (directed by Computer Science)
Undergraduate MCTP Participants:
Kevin Ahrendt, Jessica Alley, Robert Brase, James Carraher, J. Travis Johnston, William (Billy)
Sanders
Undergraduate Awards and Honors:
August 2009 Ph.D. Recipients (cont.):
2008 Putnam Competition Participants:
Robert Brase, Jonathan Cummings, J. Travis Johnston, Keler Marku, Zachary Norwood
Mu-wan Huang, advised by Mark Walker − position pending.
Dissertation title: “Fan Cohomology and Equivariant Chow Rings of Toric Varieties”.
2009 Modeling Competition Participants:
J. Travis Johnston, Keler Marku
Joan Lubben, advised by Richard Rebarber & Brigitte Tenhumberg − position pending.
Dissertation title: “Modeling and Analysis of Biological Populations”.
Goldwater Scholars:
Laila Gharzai, Robert Woodward
Amy Parrott, advised by David Logan − accepted a position at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
Dissertation title: “A Computational Study of the Effects of Temperature Variation on Turtle Egg
Development, Sex Determination, and Population Dynamics”.
Rennemann/Leubbers Scholar:
April Christensen
Hamid Rahmati, advised by Lucho Avramov & Srikanth Iyengar − position pending.
Dissertation title: “Properties of Local Rings and Resolutions of Modules”.
Senior Eastman Scholars:
James Carraher, Andrew Hassing, Kinsley Johnson
Masters Degree Recipients:
Raikes School Scholars Math Majors, 2008-2009:
Kyle Deterding, Alan Mock
2009 Phi Beta Kappa:
James Carraher, April Christensen, Andrew Hassing, J. Travis Johnston, Charles Scherer
2009 Pi Mu Epsilon:
James Carraher, April Christensen, Rachael Farrar, Tiffany Forycki, Nicole Gaswick, Laila Gharzai,
Andrew Hassing, J. Travis Johnston, Zachary Norwood, Noah Weiss
February Forum Recognition (formerly Graduate Women in Science):
Rachael Farrar, Nicole Gaswick, Heather Hottovy, Dichele Jackson, Laura Jacobsen, Whitney
Lindgren, Wenling Ma, Catherine May, Skye O’Hearn, Brianna Pinquoch
Freshmen Eastman Scholars:
Alexander (Adam) Azzam, Logan Dudzinski, Jacob Gruber, Kevin Jerger, Collin McAcy, Nathan
Stender
Chairs Prize Award:
To Be Announced
December 2008:
Diane Lunman, Derrick Stolee
May 2009:
Manar Al-Suqaier, Chantelle Bicket, Amanda Croll, Katherine Field, Joseph Geisbauer, Courtney
Gibbons, Michael Janssen, Brian Kell, Ben Nolting, Michael Uhrig
Published and/or Refereed Papers in 2008-2009:
Graduate Students
Ph.D. Recipients:
August 2008:
Val Adams, Anna Anderson, Deborah Berg, JaLena Clement, Sandy Dean, Jill Edgren, Monte
Else, Alisa Favinger, Kacy Heiser, Cole Hilker, Kimberly Hirschfeld-Cotton, Julie Hoaglund,
Michael Holm, Emy Jones, Emily Lashley, Mary McConnell, Katherine Morrison, Katie Pease,
Jeremy Renfro, Amy Schutz, Bryce Schwanke, Tyler Seacrest, Michelle Sehnert, Marcia Smith,
Shelley Vlasin-Poore, Leah Wilcox
May 2009:
Duane Einfeld advised by Jerry Johnson − accepted a position at the U.S. Dept of Defense.
Dissertation title: “Combinatorial and Commutative Manipulations in Feynman’s Operational
Calculi For NonCommuting Operators”.
August 2009:
Suanne Au, advised by Mark Walker − position pending.
Dissertation title: “Fan Cohomology and Its Application to Equivariant K-Theory of Toric
Varieties”.
Raj Dahal, advised by Allan Peterson/Lynn Erbe − position pending.
Dissertation title: “Dynamic Equations on Time Scales”.
N. Axvig, D. Dreher, K. Morrison, E. Psota, L.C. Pérez and J.L. Walker, “Towards universal cover
decoding” in Proceedings of the 2008 International Symposium on Information Theory and its
Applications, Auckland, New Zealand; December 2008.
N. Axvig, D. Dreher, K. Morrison, E. Psota, L.C. Pérez and J.L. Walker, “Average min-sum decoding
of LDPC codes” in Proceedings of the 2008 International Symposium on Turbo Codes and Related
Topics (TURBO), Lausanne, Switzerland; September 2008.
N. Axvig, D. Dreher, K. Morrison, E. Psota, L.C. Pérez and J.L. Walker, “Analysis of connections
between pseudocodewords” accepted to IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, October 2008.
D. Dreher and J.L. Walker, “Connections between computation trees and graph covers” in
Proceedings of the 2009 Information Theory and Applications Workshop, San Diego, CA; February
2009.
The equivariant K-theory of toric varieties, Suanne Au, Mu-wan Huang and Mark E. Walker, The
Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra, 213 (2009), 840--845.