MathNews

In July 1967, a new job description was written to create a position in the Mathematics Department “to serve as secretary to Professors M. S. Webster, Robert E. Zink, and Meyer Jerison, administrators of the graduate student program in Mathematics, and receptionist for the 6th floor of the new Division of Mathematical Sciences building.” The positions was filled, but in June 1968 the department was faced with finding a replacement for the first incumbent, who resigned after less than a year on the job.

Fortunately, a few weeks earlier Nancy Fisher’s Lafayette Jefferson High School typing class had made the rounds of potential employers in the Lafayette area, including Purdue University; the students visited the personnel office and filled out job applications. When Nancy received a phone call from Purdue just days before graduation, she was prepared to interview and go to work. Professor Webster was so impressed with Nancy that he offered her the job and asked her to begin training for the position immediately—prior to her high school commencement!

The rest is history . . . in June 2008, Nancy Fisher Eberle celebrates 40 years with Purdue University and the Department of Mathematics. For decades, Nancy has managed the operation of the graduate office and implemented the policies and procedures of the Graduate School. She has acted as the department’s graduate admissions and registration official and has served as counselor to graduate students and faculty.

On December 9, 2004, Nancy received the Eudoxia Girard Martin Memorial Staff Recognition Award, the university’s highest staff recognition

Devilyna Nichols, a Department of Mathematics continuing lecturer, has won an Distance Ed Incentive Award from ITaP’s Teaching and Learning Technologies’ Instructional Development Center (IDC) for her development of an online introduction to calculus course (MA 220Y) in 2007.

The IDC and the Office of Continuing Education and Conferences (OCEC) started the Distance Ed Incentive Award program in 2007 to encourage and support quality distance education development. Program involvement in the pilot year was limited to faculty who taught large enrollment classes, and required involvement in an intensive instructional technology and distance education workshop in May 2007.

Faculty members then developed their courses and submitted them for review by the IDC staff. Courses were evaluated based on Blackboard’s Exemplary Course Program rubric in the areas of course design, assessment of student learning and course content, learner support, and effective and innovative use of technology tools.

Nichols was one of eight Purdue University faculty members given this cash prize. Her introduction to calculus course is one of several courses the department has developed for online instruction in the last year. This course was also selected to be part of the Teaching and Learning Technologies Conference this year.

While the task of developing an online course seemed daunting at first, Nichols says she is now a believer in the power of online distance education. “It was possible for a teacher in an Indianapolis high school to succeed in the course in order to be certified to teach calculus in his school,” she said while citing the number of ways the course has served her students.

For further information:
Distance Ed Incentive Award Program
University News Service story

Michael Golomb, 98, of West Lafayette, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Purdue University, died Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

Born on May 3, 1909, in Munich, Germany, to a Polish-Jewish family, he attended the University of Wurzburg and obtained a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Berlin in 1933. Barred from professional employment by Nazi law, he immigrated to the former Yugoslavia in late 1933.

He entered the U.S. as a refugee from Hitler in 1939. From 1940 to 1942, he was a math instructor at Cornell University. From 1943 to 1945, he assisted wartime projects for the Navy as chief of analysis at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, and received a Distinguished Service Award.

He became a U.S. citizen in 1945. In 1942, he joined the mathematics faculty of Purdue University, where he became a full professor until his retirement in 1975.

Professor Golomb had a long and distinguished career in research and teaching, with research specialization in analysis and applied mathematics. At the time of his retirement, he was honored with a
mathematics conference at Purdue in his name. His name is inscribed in the Purdue Book of Great Teachers in Academy Park. He was honored by the City of Berlin in 1998 in an exhibition on exiled Berlin mathematicians held at the International Congress of Mathematicians.

He remained active in mathematical research throughout his life. For many years, he ran the department of mathematics “Problem of the Week” that in recent years attracted solutions from all over the world. He continued to contribute problems almost to the day of his death.

His wife of 65 years, Dagmar Racic Golomb, preceded him in death in 2004.

He is survived by two brothers, Dan Golomb (wife: Claire) of Newton, Mass., and Yoel Golomb (wife: Henyah) of Israel; and two daughters, Miriam Golomb of Columbia, Mo., and Deborah Sedgwick (husband: Paul) of Worcester, Mass.

A memorial service is planned for early May; details will be announced at a later date.

Also surviving are his grandchildren, Michael, Daniel, Eric and Susanna; numerous nieces and nephews; and his great-granddaughters, Emme and Myla. Michael Golomb led a full, joyous life, surrounded by loving family and friends, books and music, and maintained a lifetime commitment to science, peace and social justice. He was preceded in death by his sisters, Amy and Ida; his brother-in-law, Mir; and his brother, Heinrich.

On March 28 Department of Mathematics graduate students, faculty and staff gathered to share their talents with each other during the annual talent show. Comedy, dancing and musical performances were amongst the entertainments offered that evening.

Salvador Barone playing the piano at the 2008 Annual Department of Mathematics Talent Show. Photos were taken by Graduate Program Program Chair Fabio Milner. More photos are available at his website.

The College of Science staff recognition luncheon and program was held on February 6, 2008. The following Mathematics Department staff were recognized:

CoS Awards

Susan McCarty — Professional Achievement Award

Julie Morris — Professional Achievement Award

Purdue Service Anniversaries

Devilyna Nichols — 15 years

Sally Goeke — 30 years

Peter Cook — 35 years

A conference honoring Jim Douglas, Jr. for his 80th birthday was held at INRIA Paris-Rocquencourt, France on December 13-14, 2007. Douglas is Purdue’s Compere and Marcella Loveless Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Computational Mathematics.

Organizers of “Mod&Sim 07″ were D. Arnold (U. Minnesota), R. Glowinski (U. Houston), J. Jaffré (INRIA Paris), J.E. Roberts (INRIA Paris), T.F. Russell (NSF), and M.F. Wheeler (U. Texas at Austin).

A list of speakers and other conference details are available at http://www-rocq.inria.fr/estime/JD07/ .

The Math Education Club sponsored its second annual Math Field Day at Purdue on Monday, November 5, 2007. Approximately 80 local 8th-graders participated in hands-on math games and activities. The students traveled through 10 different stations developed by club members, which provided lessons on various topics including slope, density, probability, order of operations, area and volume.

Adrienne Daniels, a senior mathematics education major, helped develop an activity that had students use their own body measurements and proportions to estimate the height of a “cadaver.”

“I’m working with middle school students,” Daniels said, “which hopefully will help next year when I’ll be student teaching.”

According to Bill Walker, K-12 outreach director for the College of Science, Math Field Day provides an opportunity for middle school students to see math outside their textbooks and to work in teams on real-world applications.

“It shows the students that math can be creative,” said Walker. “Math can be social. It can be exciting.”

Organized by Professor Donatella Danielli, Women in Mathematics day was held on November 27, 2007.   Professor Brooke Shipley of the University of Illinois at Chicago gave the Jean E. Rubin Memorial Lecture.

Abstract:

The first part of this talk will introduce certain “up to homotopy” algebraic objects from stable homotopy theory. Examples come from homological algebra and from topological sources. The goal of this talk is to discuss a new notion of topological equivalences of differential graded algebras which arises in stable
homotopy theory.

Jean E. Rubin was Professor of Mathematics at Purdue University
f rom 1967 until her death in 2002. She received a B.S. from Queen’s College in New York City in 1948, an M.A. from Columbia in 1949, and a Ph.D. from Stanford in 1955. She taught at Oregon and Michigan State before coming to Purdue.
 Professor Rubin was the author of more than 40 papers and five books in set theory and questions related to the axiom of choice.

For a complete schedule of Women in Mathematics Day, see

http://www.math.purdue.edu/calendar/lectures/rubin

Mathematics graduate teaching assistants Amy Crizer, Carla Gerberry, Jaebang Kim, Govindarajan Kothandaraman, Laurentiu Sega, and Courtney Taylor each received 2007-2008 Excellence in Teaching Awards on November 19.

Recipients of the annual awards are selected on the basis of student and faculty recommendations.