![\"Becca](\"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/mathematics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/59\/2014\/09\/sibsgroup.jpg\")
<\/a><\/h2>\nBecca Freese is a junior math and biology minor who spent her summer studying Biostatistics at the U of M.\u00a0 Becca was part of the\u00a0SIBS\u00a0program\u00a0(Summer Institute in Biostatistics), which hosts \u201csummer schools\u201d at several schools across the country.\u00a0 As part of this program Becca spent six weeks living on campus and attending classes and labs, all paid for by the program.\u00a0 The program also included field trips to Medtronic, the Mayo Clinic, and the\u00a0Visible Heart Laboratory<\/a>\u00a0at the U (a collection of donated human and animal hearts).<\/p>\n Becca and her group worked on a famous data set called the\u00a0MRFIT<\/a>\u00a0data,\u00a0as well as a virtual case study about the effects of caffeine.\u00a0 The subjects for the caffeine study were avatars such as the one shown.\u00a0\u00a0Becca would certainly recommend this program to other students interested in the intersections between mathematics and biology, especially students with some kind of statistics background. \u00a0One nice feature of this program is that you can earn Augsburg course credit for the Biostatistics course.<\/p>\n Taybri Irving<\/strong>\u00a0is a Music major, a Mathematics minor, and a cross-country running star. \u00a0In Summer 2016 she worked with Professor Matt Haines on a project combining Math and Music. \u00a0Here’s her\u00a0description of the project:<\/p>\n Composers from the Baroque period and beyond occasionally used cryptography in composition in the form of cipher motifs. These motifs were not intended to be hidden, but rather a vehicle to create a melody in tribute to another composer. \u00a0The project provides history of the use of cipher motifs, a brief overview of cryptosystems, and then detail the steps taken by the composer\/author\/student scholar (Taybri Irving) in applying a Hill cipher to form an aesthetically pleasing composition with a secret message encoded within.<\/em><\/p>\n For this project the aspect of music the encrypted message was applied to was chords. Since Mod 29 is used this requires 29 different chords, which can be done if different inversions count as a different chord. Musically the chords that end up being used to encrypt the message might not make sense or follow the rules of music theory. This is where studying composers like Debussy who used harmony differently was helpful.<\/em><\/p>\n Taybri presented her work at the URGO presentations, and played the music that she had composed.<\/p>\n Duane Pomerleau is a senior math major pursuing teacher certification.\u00a0 Duane spent a big chunk of his summer researching how to incorporate 3D printer technology into the middle school mathematics classroom.<\/p>\n Duane did his research under the guidance of Professor Matt Haines, and was supported by Augsburg\u2019s NASA Space Grant.\u00a0 He ended up working mostly in June and August, taking the time in July to assist with the\u00a0GEMS and GISE\u00a0programs. \u00a0Summer research can be flexible to fit your schedule!<\/p>\n Duane\u2019s goal is to create a lesson plan that will allow students to write a program to create a 3D object of their own design, bringing an exciting hands-on application into the mathematics classroom.\u00a0\u00a0While learning to program and run the 3D printer, Duane created a 3D demonstration of the Pythagorean Theorem, as well as a part for his mountain bike.\u00a0 He also met with\u00a0Timothy Jump, director of a very successful high school robotics team. Cory Haight-Nal\u00ec, a senior math major, spent his summer on an Augsburg URGO project with Professor Pavel B\u011bl\u00edk URGO<\/a>\u00a0is a competitive, fully-funded, 10-week, on-campus summer research program for Augsburg undergraduates.\u00a0 Cory will be presenting his work in a math colloquium on Wednesday, October 8 (4:30 pm in Old Main 105), as well as at Zyzzogeton and other venues.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Taylor Kuramoto is a senior math major who spent the summer in Tennessee as part of the\u00a0NIMBIOS<\/a>\u00a0program: The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Project title:\u00a0Modeling Heat-Shrinkable Film<\/p>\n Faculty mentor\/company\/sponsor:\u00a0\u00a0Dr. Pavel Belik, Mathematics Department<\/span><\/p>\n Project Funding:\u00a03M and Dean’s office<\/p>\n Description of project:\u00a0A computational model developed previously is utilized to study the behavior of a polymeric thin film that undergoes a shape change under a temperature change. In particular, an attempt is made to discover whether there are nonzero threshold values for the size of the heated region and the intensity of the heat below which the film’s shape remains unchanged.<\/p>\n Best part about your project?\u00a0The best part of the project is the learning experience. I learned so much from the project over the summer. I am very thankful that I was given the opportunity to work on this project with Pavel Belik.<\/p>\n Faculty mentor\/company\/sponsor:\u00a0\u00a0Dr. John Zobitz, Mathematics Department<\/p>\n Project Funding:\u00a0NASA space Grant<\/p>\n Description of project:\u00a0By using satellite and tower based measurements, it was possible to make a multi-year model of Net Ecosystem exchange.<\/p>\n Best part about your project?\u00a0I was able to learn new skills in Modeling using a computer.\u00a0 I also gained greater knowledge of the math concepts I have learned in class and made a good relationship with a faculty member.<\/p>\n Words of wisdom?\u00a0Research is a great way to use the knowledge you learn in class! \u00a0Doing research gives you a better understanding of concepts and also a greater appreciation for what you’ve learned.<\/p>\n Faculty mentor\/company\/sponsor:\u00a0Dr. Stella K. Hofrenning, Economics Department<\/p>\n
\nTaybri Irving and Cryptography
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\nDuane Pomerleau and 3D Printing
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\nDuane will be presenting his work at the Zyzzogeton poster session here at Augsburg, and is working on writing up his lesson plan this academic year.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nCory Haight-Nali and Dynamical Systems<\/h2>\n
.<\/p>\nTheir research topic was using Laguerre\u2019s method to find complex roots of polynomials.\u00a0 Cory began his research by learning background on numerical analysis, complex numbers, and coding in Octave.\u00a0 Cory created some lovely and meaningful images by calculating the basins of attraction for the roots of various polynomials.\u00a0 (The basin of attraction is the set of points that are attracted to a particular root \u2013 each basin has its own color in the pictures). \u00a0Laguerre\u2019s method sometimes fails to find a root of the polynomial, and by looking at their results Cory and Pavel came up with a conjecture about how rotational symmetry relates to the success of the method.\u00a0 They hope to follow up with these questions during the academic year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nTaylor Kuramoto and Mathematical Biology
<\/h2>\n<\/a>Taylor was one of only eighteen undergraduates from across the country chosen for this fully funded 8-week summer research program.\u00a0 The NIMBIOS program pays a stipend in addition to travel and lodging expenses.\u00a0 At NIMBIOS Taylor learned about statistics and differential equations, along with programming and disease biology. Specifically, Taylor was part of a group modeling the transmission of bovine respiratory disease among cattle herds.\u00a0\u00a0She helped to produce a report on their model, and will be presenting her work at conferences in Los Angeles (SACNAS) and in Tennessee (these trips will also be fully funded).<\/p>\n
\nCHUE XUE LEE (’11)<\/h3>\n
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\nANDREW BERGESON (’09)<\/h3>\n
Project title:\u00a0Modeling Carbon Fluxes in the Environment<\/span><\/p>\n
\nAL GARVER (’09)<\/h3>\n
Project title:\u00a0“An Econometric Analysis of Student Achievement in Minnesota”<\/p>\n