[edit] MSCS Faculty
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Allen, Richard |
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| A native New Englander, Rich graduated from Boston College and received his Ph.D. from Indiana University. During 1984-86 he worked on an intelligent geometry tutor in the artificial intelligence research group at IRISA in Rennes, France. His professional interests subsequently expanded to include use of computer geometry systems in schools both in this country and in France. During 1991-92 and again during 1998-99, he returned to France, to IMAG in Grenoble, to continues his research collaboration on intelligent geometry systems and to participate in interdisciplinary research on the cognitive effects of the use of such systems. His interests have further evolved to include the geometry of Islamic patterns and bioinformatics.His wife, Wendy, is professor of French at St. Olaf. His son, Joshua, and his daughter, Sarah, both graduated from another Northfield college. Rich and Wendy led the Term in the Middle East in 2001-02 and the Global Semester in 2005-06 and again in 2008-09. | |||||||||
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Berliner, Adam |
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| This is Adam's second year here at St. Olaf but sixth overall in Northfield, having earned his B.A. from Carleton College in 2002. After seven cheese curd-filled years, Adam earned his Ph.D. in 2009 from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. His academic interests are in matrix theory, graph theory, and issues in undergraduate mathematics education. Despite his time in Wisconsin, Adam remains an avid Twins and Vikings Fan. In his "spare" time, Adam enjoys tennis, swimming, cooking & baking, and watching reality television. | |||||||||
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Blanchard, Peter |
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| Peter grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin and graduated with a degree in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He and his wife Meena both earned Ph.D's from the University of Virginia. His Ph.D. on the topic of exceptional group ring automorphisms was directed by Leonard L. Scott Jr. Peter continued to search for smaller groups with exceptional group ring automorphisms and eventually found the smallest: three groups of order ninety-six. A shift in his research to combinatorics led to several papers on ramsey theory. He recently visited the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India, where he began a collaboration with Amitava Bhattacharya on a question of coloring sets in the complete boolean lattice. Peter is married to Meena, who is a cultural anthropologist. They have two daughters. Peter is a beginning tubist, a champion gymnast, a champion juggler, has Erdos number two, and makes a pretty good pizza. | |||||||||
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Brown, Dick |
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| Dick earned his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois/Urbana, then taught for a while at another local college, about a mile from St. Olaf, before ascending the hill in 1990. Dick currently directs the new Computer Science Major and teaches CS courses at all levels. He enjoys playing tennis and (occasionally) his tuba, riding his bike to work, and camping and spending time with his wife Susan, sons Martin and Kevin, and step-daughters Una, Ariel, and Schuyler. | |||||||||
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Dietz, Jill |
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| Jill earned her B.A. in mathematics from Brandeis University in 1986, and her Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1991. After graduating, she spent four years at the University of Washington in Seattle and one year at Gettysburg College, then finally returned to her Minnesota roots. Her main mathematical interests are in algebra, algebraic topology, and convincing undergraduates to do research in these and other areas. Jill is an avid vegetarian who enjoys cooking, camping, hiking, throwing pots in her Dad's studio, and crossword puzzles. | |||||||||
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Garrett, Kristina |
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| After earning her S.B. in mathematics from M.I.T. in 1994, Tina spent two years playing amateur rugby and building a non-profit Minneapolis youth center from the ground up. Returning to graduate school at the University of Minnesota, she studied combinatorics and group theory, earning her PhD in 2001. Tina spent four years teaching at Carleton College before coming to St. Olaf. Her main mathematical interests are in enumerative combinatorics (partition theory, basic hypergeometric series and special functions), computational combinatorics, and in encouraging students to participate in undergraduate research. Tina is also an avid racquetball player and rarely misses a Vikings game on television. | |||||||||
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Hall-Holt, Olaf |
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| Olaf earned his Ph. D. in CS at Stanford University in 2002, then served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at SUNY Stony Brook before arriving at St. Olaf in Fall 2004. His research interests include computational geometry, graphics, computer vision, and elements of human cognition. Olaf has worked with students on research projects since his days as a staff researcher at the Geometry Center in Minnesota, between college (at Swarthmore) and graduate school. He grew up in West Africa, studied mathematics in Budapest, and has worked in CS from coast to coast. Olaf co-founded the Twin Cities Free-Net, and enjoys playing soccer and ultimate frisbee, learning about first century history, camping in the winter, and spending time with his wife Christy and their daughters Viveka and Annelise. | |||||||||
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Hanson, Bruce |
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| Bruce Hanson grew up in Duluth, attended St. Olaf College and got his PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1982, the same year that he began teaching at St. Olaf. His research interests include quasiconformal mappings and analysis on metric spaces. He has spent sabbaticals in Sweden and Finland, giving him a chance to engage in his passion for learning foreign languages. Bruce has four sons: Shane, Anders, Mats and Leif and in his spare time he loves to sing, play guitar, ride his road bike and watch his sons compete in various sporting events. | |||||||||
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Humke, Paul |
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| Paul came to St. Olaf n years ago as a Visiting Associate Professor, and found he couldn't leave. His 1972 Ph.D. is from the University of Wisconsin and he continues an active research career in real analysis. He also serves as the North American Director of the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program, and is a managing editor for the research journal, Real Analysis Exchange. He, his wife, Bonnie, and three children, Kristi, Eric, and Peter, enjoy classical music and are active outdoor people. Kristi has two children and is a pastor. Eric is in the M.D.--Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan, and Peter attends Vanderbilt University. (2003) | |||||||||
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Lane-Getaz, Sharon |
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| Sharon Lane-Getaz joined the department in the fall of 2008. Prof. Lane-Getaz has a joint appointment in Statistics and Education. She comes to us with a rich background of experience, including an 18-year career at IBM. She has also taught mathematics in middle school in Minneapolis, and geometry and statistics in high school. The latter experience pointed her toward a PhD in Statistics Education at the University of Minnesota. While completing that degree she has also taught at Cal Poly--San Luis Obispo, here at St Olaf, and after completion taught one year at Macalester College before returning to Saint Olaf. | |||||||||
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Legler, Julie |
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| Julie was recently promoted to Full Professor and continues as Director of the Statistics Program and Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research. She will be on sabbatical leave for the 2008-09 acacdemic year. | |||||||||
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Matsuura, Ryota |
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| Ryota earned his S.B. in mathematics with computer science from M.I.T. in 1997, his M.A.T. in mathematics education from Boston University School of Education in 2000, and his Ph.D. in mathematics (algebraic number theory) from BU in 2008. In between, he spent two years working as a software engineer and three years as a high school math teacher in the Boston area. His mathematics education interests include mathematical habits of mind, preparation of pre-service teachers, and professional development for in-service teachers. In his spare time, Ryota enjoys spending time with his wife Sarah and their daughter Elizabeth. | |||||||||
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McDougall, Adam |
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| Adam grew up in the Twin Cities area and is a 2005 graduate of St. Olaf College. He returns to The Hill after having earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 2010. His primary research area is knot theory, but he is interested in many areas of mathematics. Adam enjoys playing games (mathematical, computer, and board games); he even made watching the 2010 Olympics into a game by creating and hosting his own Fantasy Winter Olympics with friends. More so than gaming, he enjoys spending time with his wife Laura and son Elijah. | |||||||||
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McKelvey, Steven |
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| Steve is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Grinnell College. He completed his Ph.D. at Brown University in operations research---more specifically, in the field of network equilibria. In addition to work in large-scale network equilibria, Steve is involved with the mathematical modeling of biological systems, primarily population levels of endangered species. Before coming to St. Olaf in 1985, he held summer positions with the Washington, D.C. headquarters of NASA and the Internal Revenue Service. He has also spent three summers working as an actuarial trainee. Between college and graduate school, Steve spent a year working with the Illinois Bureau of the Budget as a systems analyst. Steve was recently elected to the position of President of the Resource Modeling Association (RMA), an interdisciplinary, international professional organization using quantitative tools to better manage natural resources of all types. Steve's leisure time is spent canoeing, hiking, skiing, folk dancing, and supporting progressive politics. | |||||||||
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Pierce, Ian |
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| Ian is new to St. Olaf College, having recently completed his Ph.D. in Lincoln, Nebraska. He grew up in north central Massachusetts. After a couple of false starts, some K-12 teaching, and two interruptions for military service, his academic pursuits ultimately brought him to the midwest. His mathematical research interests are broadly concerned with analysis. Ian enjoys cooking, reading anything he can get his hands on, and being outdoors (he sorely misses living near mountains and forests). His two young children (ages 3 years and 3 months) occupy most of his non-working hours and help to keep him out of (or get him into) trouble. | |||||||||
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Richey, Matt |
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| Matt is originally from Kentucky and received his B.A. from Kenyon College and his Ph.D. from Dartmouth in 1985 in mathematical physics. He came to St. Olaf in 1986 and has been here ever since. Since 2008, he has served as St. Olaf's Associate Dean for Natural Science and Mathematics. His areas of research are Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Computing, and Bayesian Computational Statistics. In his spare time (the little that remains) Matt enjoys running, listening to music, and cooking. For fun, he applies his mathematical, statistical, and computer science skills to grand old game of baseball. His long-term goal is to correct the commonly held belief that the sacrifice bunt is an effective strategic ploy. So far, he has failed. | |||||||||
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Roback, Paul |
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| Paul is an applied statistician, having attacked problems ranging from clinical trials in panic disorder to population models for bowhead whales to indicators of welfare recidivism to the effects of forest fragmentation on birds. He returns to The Hill after a long hiatus; after graduating from St. Olaf in 1989 with majors in mathematics and economics, Paul earned an M.S. in statistics from Iowa State, worked as a clinical statistician for Eli Lilly, earned a Ph.D. in statistics from Colorado State, and taught for several years at both Bucknell and Connecticut College. In addition to applied statistical consulting, Paul's research interests include Bayesian statistics, nonparametric methods, and statistical education. Paul and his wife Karen have three young children--Samantha, Timothy, and Sophie--who keep his office decorated with fine artwork. Outside of his office, Paul can often be found on some athletic court or field, playing basketball, tennis, soccer, and maybe even broomball. Or, he can be found putting his statistical knowledge to good use--attempting to win the coveted Joe Boe Trophy in the Boe Fantasy Football League. (2004) | |||||||||
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Smith, Kay |
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| Kay Smith received her B.S. from Bucknell University and her Ph.D. from Yale University. Before coming to Saint Olaf in 1980, she taught at Davidson College. Her primary mathematical interests are logic and the mathematics of games. She is married to Arnold Ostebee, another member of the department. When not on campus, she spends most of her time with their children, Kristin and Paul, learning about adolescent development. She also enjoys classical music and baking, particularly anything with chocolate in it. (2003) | |||||||||
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Taipale, Kaisa |
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| Kaisa Taipale grew up in Saint Paul (East Side!), went off to Caltech for college, and came back to do her Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. She finished the Ph.D. in July of 2010, with a dissertation on Gromov-Witten theory (some of the math related to string theory). Her interests are in algebraic geometry, which of course she thinks is the most beautiful area of mathematics. To complete the beautiful string theory connections, Kaisa enjoys knitting, especially Estonian lace. | |||||||||
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Vandiver, Becky |
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| Becky received her B.S. in Mathematics from The College of William and Mary and her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Arizona. She spent two years at Bryn Mawr College as a postdoc funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She has a broad interest at the interface of mathematics, biology, and mechanics. She also has a great passion for the development of curriculum and programs in mathematical biology. Becky has two young daughters, Regan and Kailey, who keep her busy when she’s not on campus. She also enjoys tennis, golf, biking and playing the piano. | |||||||||
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Ziegler-Graham, Katie |
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| Katie, a graduate of The College of Wooster, earned her Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Katie's public health research interests include injury prevention, limb loss, and most recently Alzheimer's disease. In addition to public health research she is interested in using likelihood methodology to measure the strength of statistical evidence in data. In her spare time time Katie enjoys reading, knitting, quilting, walking and gardening. Most of all she and her husband Tom enjoy spending time with their daughter, Lucy and son, James. | |||||||||
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Zorn, Paul |
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| Paul's life began in southern India, near the confluence of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean. He was educated through high school at Kodaikanal International School, high in the cool, green Palni Hills of Tamil Nadu. He was an undergraduate at Washington University in St.Louis, majoring in mathematics and English literature. He did his Ph.D., in several complex variables, at the University of Washington, Seattle, and came to St. Olaf in 1981. His professional interests include complex analysis, mathematical exposition, and textbook writing. During 1995-2000 he was editor of Mathematics Magazine. Paul and his wife, Janet, a pediatric occupational therapist, have two daughters. Both are named for Austen heroines, and both were formerly students at (other) liberal arts colleges. | |||||||||