Many mathematics students are involved in research work at Davidson beyond the scope of usual coursework, through summer research projects, research assistance to faculty, independent studies, honors projects, and more. Sometimes these are funded by external faculty grants or internal collaborative grants to faculty or students, such as the Davidson Research Initiative. In addition, academic competitions and regular course projects are the source of much academic activity, such as the community service projects from the Mathematical Modeling class.
Summer 2012
| Student(s) |
Project Type: Topic |
Faculty
Mentor |
| Daniel Bernstein '13 |
External NSF REU: developed software tool for analysis of physical activity data. |
U. Portland |
Erica Dominic,
Kalamazoo College |
NASCAR (Michael Waltrip Racing) application: algorithm to test whether lug nuts were tightened by the pit gun during a pitstop. |
Chartier |
| Jonah Galeota-Sprung '13 |
Graph theory research in synthetic biology: Analyzing combinatorial properties of an optimization algorithm on a two-dimensional grid graph. |
Heyer |
| Bryan Kelly '14 |
NASCAR (Michael Waltrip Racing) application: studied race strategies discerned only by streamed lap data. |
Chartier |
| Sarah Klett '15 & Grant Thomas '13 |
Service application for Our Towns Habitat: studied the check-in and check–out system for their inventory with the goal of increasing its efficiency. |
Chartier |
| Cyrus Lala '13 |
Applied math research: clustering algorithms as posed as linear programming problems. |
Chartier |
| Andrew Lantz '14 |
Modeling research in synthetic biology: representing intercellular communication on both local and global scales using agent-based modeling. |
Heyer |
| Brian McGue '13 |
Applied math research: modeling information spread over a social network using epidemiology (i.e. as a virus). |
Chartier |
| Lucy McMurry '13 & Matilda Solinger '13 |
Geometry research: Tensegrity Structures. |
Molinek |
| Matt Mohorn '14 |
App development: working on a smartphone app that will create "Math Trails" which are the work of a mathematician at the University of Toronto. |
Chartier |
| Corey Poff '13 |
External NSF REU: Developed software tool for efficiently tracking insects over long duration of video. |
UNC-Charlotte |
| Colin Thompson '13 |
Dynamical Systems research: Characterizations of chaos on the unit circle. |
Molinek |
| Tucker Whitesides '13 |
Bioinformatics research in synthetic biology: developing online software tools to help design and assemble oligos and find a successful ligation. |
Heyer |
Summer 2011 -- Spring 2012
| Student(s) |
Project Type: Topic |
Faculty
Mentor |
| Daniel Bernstein '13 |
Graph Theory Research: Ramsey Theory on the Integers |
Yerger |
| Daniel Bernstein '13 |
Applet Development: visualization tool in Java for matrix clustering in biological and medical applications, see the admissions video about their collaborative research |
Chartier |
| Paul Britton '12 |
Statisical analysis: Boxing in Basketball, Davidson coach's round concept; submitted to J. of Quantitative Analysis in Sports |
Yerger |
Duke DeLoache '12
Lilly Wilson '13 |
Bioinformatics team research in synthetic biology: solving the Hamiltonian Path Problem (w/ Campbell in Bio.) |
Heyer |
| David Heilbron '13 |
Applied math research assistant: algorithm development for prediciting NCAA basketball tournament using seeding |
Chartier |
| Bryan Kelly '14 |
Research assistant: Development of a new adaptation of PageRank for web ranking |
Chartier |
| Cyrus Lala '13 |
App Development: iPhone programs showing mathematical algorithms for general audiences |
Chartier |
| Karen Larson '12 |
External NSF REU: Classifying Drum pattern data using hidden Markov model and k-means clustering |
Claremont Colleges |
| Karen Larson '12 |
Honors Thesis: Unwrapping Rap, Classification of Drum Patterns in Rap Songs; using hierarchical clustering and QT-Clust |
Heyer |
| Greg Macnamara '12 |
Applied math research assistant: Integration of ideas in economics to sports ranking |
Chartier |
| Matt Mohorn '14 |
Applet development: Updated Binary Integer Linear Program and created Java front-end for student volunteer placement |
Chartier |
| Steph Meador '12 |
Applet Development: March Madness using Easy Java Simulation software; also curriculum units for Charlotte Teachers Institute |
Chartier |
| Greg Newman '13 |
Applied math research assistant: clustering of political blogs and transcripts (w/ Putnam in Pol. Sci.) |
Chartier |
| Michael Romano '12 |
Applied math research assistant: sports ranking applied to the NFL draft |
Chartier |
| Corey Poff '13 |
External NSF REU: Developed method for tracking insects in long video using GPU and interaction. |
UNC-Charlotte |
| Leland Taylor '12 |
CIS major in computational genomics: honors thesis on PHAST, a web-based genome assembly teaching tool (w/ Campbell in Bio.) |
Heyer |
| Colin Thomson '13 |
Applet Development: Java applets for Calculus |
Chartier |
| Austin Totty '12 |
Independent Study: Math through Popular Culture; one of the creations was a Candy Pi Calculator that was a hot online item |
Chartier |
| David Wang '12 |
Summer analysis research: De Bruijn sequences |
Molinek |
Note 2011 publications and publicity in earlier research below, especially in ranking algorithms and genetic computing!
Links below go to a talk abstract, sometimes with later presentation or publication info,
or to a semester newsletter where the name may be searched for more info.
Summer 2010 -- Spring 2011
Summer 2009 -- Spring 2010
| Student(s) |
Project Field & Type: Topic |
Faculty
Mentor |
| Ben Altman '10 |
Numerical analysis honors project:
High-order multivariable automatic differentiation in MATLAB |
Neidinger |
Jennings Boley '10
Mark Trawick '10 |
Numerical linear algebra independent study:
Clustering financial data, spring news |
Chartier |
| Jim Dickson '09 |
Numerical analysis research assistant:
Algebraic multigrid and algebraic block smoothing, fall news |
Chartier |
Linda Kreist ‘11
Katie Richeson ‘11 |
Bioinformatics independent study:
Solving NP-Complete Problems using DNA Origami |
Heyer |
| Erich Kreutzer '10 |
Numerical linear algebra research assistant and indep. studies:
Ranking, clustering and recommendation systems
• Chartier, T., E. Kreutzer, A. Langville and K. Pedings. Sensitivity and Stability of Ranking Vectors. SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing, 33 (2011) 3, 1077-1102. Publication whose news releases from SIAM resulted in many online references including IEEE-Spectrum.
• Chartier, T., E. Kreutzer, A. Langville and K. Pedings. Sports Ranking with Nonuniform Weighting. Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, 7 (2011) 3, Article 6. |
Chartier |
| Erich Kreutzer '10 |
Computer Science independent study:
Theory of Computation, fall news |
Mossinghoff |
| Adam Lewicki '11 |
Calculus research project:
Defining a solid of rotation about a non-linear axis, spring news |
Whitton |
| Steph Meador '12 |
Numerical linear algebra research assistant:
Web ranking, fall news |
Chartier |
| Greg Newman '12 |
Computing internship:
Using Math and Computer Science in MTV's Real World |
|
| Sarah Oberst '10 |
Mathematical modeling honors project:
A Mathematical Model of Malaria |
Molinek |
Shashank Suresh '12
Annie Temmink '11 |
Bioinformatics iGEM team research:
Exploring patterns in boolean satisfiability |
Heyer |
| Colin Thomson '13 |
Numerical linear algebra research assistant:
Sports ranking, spring news |
Chartier |
| Mark Trawick '10 |
Bioinformatics software research assistant:
MAGIC Tool (MicroArray Genome Imaging and Clustering) |
Heyer |
| Mali Zhang '11 |
Combinatorics research project:
Solving Scramble Squares from a graphical theoretical perspective |
Mason |
Summer 2008 -- Spring 2009
See the online article about 08-09 student research.
|
