COURSES

GRADUATE

First Endowed Professor Position in Department
2010 Putnam Competition
New Visiting Professor
Third Grant Received to Improve Math Teachers in Grades 7-12
2010 Elections to Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi
Summer 2010 Undergraduate Research Programs
MathFest 2010
Winner of 2010 Mina S. Rees Scholarship in Sciences & Math
2009 Putnam Competition
NSF Grant Awarded to Faculty Member
MathFest 2009
Summer 2009 Industrial Modeling Workshop
Student in NSF Funded Summer 2009 Research Program
Putnam Competition Winner
New NSF Scholarships for Hunter Students
New Computer Lab BioSAM
New Programs in Bioinformatics
Kolchin Seminar in Differential Algebra
Student Research Publication
Two Consecutive NSF Scholarship Grants, 2001-2007
Student at International Conference
Past Visiting Professors
Honorary Degree for Robert P. Moses
Special AMS Session on Occasion of 60th Birthday
Faculty NSA Grant
Chancellor Goldstein Teaches a Course at Hunter
Recent Retirements

First Endowed Professor Position in Department
Through a gift by the Dolciani-Halloran Foundation, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics now has its first endowed faculty position, the Mary P. Dolciani Professor position. After an international search, Dr. Olga Kharlampovich was selected in Spring 2010 as the Mary P. Dolciani Professor of Mathematics. She is currently a tenured professor at McGill University. O. Kharlampovich is at the top of her field of research in mathematics – group theory.

M. Dolciani was a Hunter alumna and earned her PhD at Cornell University. She also pursued study at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and at the University of London. She joined the Hunter faculty in 1955 after teaching at Vassar College for eight years. At Hunter, M. Dolciani served as Chairperson of the Department of Mathematics and as Associate Provost, and in 1974 she became University Dean for Academic Services at the City University of New York. In 1976 she returned to teach at Hunter, continuing until she became very seriously ill. M. Dolciani developed at Hunter the first multi-media mathematics learning laboratory in CUNY, a laboratory which over the years has grown extensively in size and in the diversity of its operations. It is now known as the Dolciani Mathematics Learning Center. Mary P. Dolciani directed many NSF institutes and NY State Education Department institutes for mathematics teachers. She published a series of mathematics textbooks that have been translated into French and Spanish and have sold more than 50 million copies around the world.

The Mary P. Dolciani Professor, Olga Kharlampovich, combines the ability to solve extremely difficult old problems with an inventiveness and creativity for posing and solving new problems. In collaboration with Alexei Miasnikov, she has solved the famous Tarski Problem in free group logic, posed in the 1940’s by Alfred Tarski, which remained an open problem for over 50 years. She is one of the world’s leading specialists in algorithmic problems in algebra and in the theory of action of groups on trees, rather new flourishing fields of research. O. Kharlampovich has also demonstrated an exceptional skill at organizing international conferences, workshops and special topics semesters. She holds the Canadian equivalent of an NSF grant for 2008-2013, and she is editor of the International Journal of Algebra and Computation. In summary, she has earned an overwhelming international reputation as a leading researcher in group theory. Over the years, O. Kharlampovich has been invited numerous times to give lectures throughout the U.S. She has collaborated with many researchers connected with the well-known New York Group Theory Seminar, housed at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. O. Kharlampovich will join the Hunter faculty in Fall 2011.

2010 Putnam Competition
On December 4, 2010, five of our mathematics majors participated in the annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. They were Thomas Flynn, Sharma Goldson, Lamteng Lei, Alexander Taam, and Stephanie Zarrindast. The Putnam Competition is a six-hour contest for undergraduates administered by the Mathematical Association of America throughout the United States and Canada since 1938. The five contestants prepared for the competition by meeting regularly with Professor Clayton Petsche of our Department.

New Visiting Professor
For 2010-2011, the Department is host to Visiting Professor Roger S. Pinkham, Professor Emeritus at Stevens Institute of Technology. R. Pinkham earned his PhD from Harvard University; his research interests are in statistics, probability, numerical analysis, and analysis. He will be giving a few lectures at Hunter during his stay, as well as possibly teaching a special topics course in Spring 2011.

Third Grant Received to Improve Math Teachers in Grades 7-12
Professor Barry Cherkas of our Department is the Project Director for a grant that provides scholarships to 40 NYC mathematics teachers, grades 7-12, specifically targeted to earn an MA in Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, or Mathematics Education. The grant is a Title IIB Mathematics Science Partnership grant between the NYC Department of Education and Hunter's Department of Mathematics and Statistics. The grant, awarded by the NY State Education Department, is in the amount of $720,000 for 2010-2013. This is the third in a series of three Title IIB Partnership Grants received by B. Cherkas. Previous 3-year grants provided scholarships to NYC teachers in grades K-12 to strengthen their math skills. The Grant Administrator, Alan Lichman, was a mathematics staff developer at the elementary school level. This series of grants is part of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act of Congress.

2010 Elections to Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi
Three mathematics majors were elected to Phi Beta Kappa in Spring 2010: Kwang Cha, Kathleen McGovern, and Richard Weiss.
Joseph Quinn, a BA/MA mathematics student, was elected to Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society.

Summer 2010 Undergraduate Research Programs
Alannah Bennie, a BA/MA mathematics student, was selected to participate in the Summer Math Institute at Cornell University, a residential program whose major focus was an advanced undergraduate course in analysis. Participants also worked on projects in other areas, in groups of 3–5, in a research-like setting, under the direction of a project supervisor, culminating in a public presentation.

Kathleen McGovern, a double major in mathematics and physics with a concentration in quantitative biology, was selected for the Harvard Medical School / MIT joint summer program in biomedical optics and photonics. Kathleen was placed in Dr. Seok H. (Andy) Yun’s laboratory for the duration of the program. The Yun Lab focuses on developing new optical technologies and applying them to solve biological questions and medical problems. To realize this goal, expertise in physics, photonics, and various engineering disciplines is integrated with biomedical needs and curiosities.

Alexander Taam, a BA/MA mathematics student, and Rodney Weiss, a June 2010 graduate with a double major in mathematics and computer science, participated in the 2010 Summer Research Program funded by an NSF Research Training Grant. The topic was Zeta Functions of Quadratic Fields. The program is for undergraduates at Columbia, CUNY, and NYU to explore and investigate open research problems in algebraic and analytic number theory. Professor Karen Taylor, 2008-2010 Visiting Assistant Professor at Hunter College, mentored a group of four students, including Alex and Rodney from Hunter.

MathFest 2010
Alannah Bennie, a BA/MA mathematics student, went (cost-free) to MathFest 2010, held in Pittsburgh, PA on August 5-7. MathFest is the annual summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), consisting of lectures, mini courses, and numerous student activities. Alannah was given this opportunity because during 2009-2010, she administered the National Problem Solving Competition held locally at Hunter College. She posted problems, corrected solutions submitted, and advertised the local competition. The winner of the contest at Hunter was Shi Lin Su, a Teacher Academy BA/MA mathematics student, but she was unable to attend MathFest.

Winner of 2010 Mina S. Rees Scholarship in Sciences & Math
Joseph Quinn, a BA/MA mathematics student, was selected by Hunter’s Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences to receive the 2010 Mina S. Rees Scholarship in Sciences and Mathematics. This prestigious award is given to graduate students, enrolled or about to enter a CUNY Ph.D. program, who show promise of scientific professionalism, potential as a teacher, and breadth of intellectual interest. Joseph began his doctoral work in mathematics at the CUNY Graduate Center in Fall 2010.

Mina S. Rees (1902 - 1997) was a Hunter alumna with a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Chicago who began her teaching career in 1926 as a member of the Hunter College Department of Mathematics. In addition to her more than 35 years at the City University, M. Rees served with the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II. She was acclaimed for the important role she played in mobilizing the resources of modern mathematics for the national defense during World War II, for helping to direct the enormous growth and diversification of mathematical studies after the war, for her influence in initiating federal government support for the development of the earliest computers, and for helping to shape national policy for all basic sciences and for graduate education. In 1969, she became the first president of the CUNY Graduate Center, serving until her retirement in September 1972. The Graduate Center Library has been named in honor of Mina S. Rees.

2009 Putnam Competition
Three of our mathematics majors participated in the 70th annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition on December 5, 2009. They were Sharma Goldson, Ze Li, and Alexander Taam. The Putnam Competition is a six-hour contest for undergraduates administered by the Mathematical Association of America throughout the United States and Canada since 1938. The three contestants prepared for the competition by meeting regularly with Professor Clayton Petsche of our Department.

NSF Grant Awarded to Faculty Member
Assistant Professor Clayton Petsche of our Department received a prestigious and competitive NSF grant in the amount of $120,343 for a project entitled "Algebraic Dynamics over Global Fields: Geometric and Analytic Methods." This award was effective August 1, 2009 and expires July 31, 2012.

MathFest 2009
Jordi Navarrette, a BA/MA mathematics student, participated (cost-free) in MathFest 2009, held in Portland, Oregon on August 6-8. MathFest is the annual summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), consisting of lectures, mini courses, and numerous student activities. Jordi had this opportunity because he posted problems for the National Problem Solving Competition held locally at Hunter College during 2008-2009, corrected solutions submitted, and helped publicize the contest. Sharma Goldson, a mathematics major, was the winner of the local competition, but he was unable to go to MathFest.

Summer 2009 Industrial Modeling Workshop
Mario Morales, one of our graduate statistics students, was accepted at the Summer 2009 Industrial Mathematical & Statistical Modeling (IMSM) Workshop for Graduate Students. The objective is to expose graduate students in mathematics, engineering, and statistics to challenging and exciting real-world problems arising in industrial and government laboratory research. Students get experience in the team approach to problem solving. Mario selected the topic "Dosing predictions for the anticoagulant Warfarin.”

Student in NSF Funded Summer 2009 Research Program
Joseph Quinn, one of our mathematics majors, was selected for the undergraduate Summer 2009 program of the recently NSF funded multi-year Research Training Group (RTG) in Number Theory taking place jointly at the three universities: Columbia, CUNY, and NYU. The program is for undergraduates at Columbia, CUNY, and NYU to explore and investigate open research problems in algebraic and analytic number theory. The program takes place at the CUNY Graduate Center. The purpose of the RTG in Number Theory is to make the New York metropolitan area a premier world center and model for the study of number theory.

Putnam Competition Winner
Three mathematics majors participated in the 69th annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition on December 6, 2008: Arkady Etkin, Sharma Goldson, and Jordi Navarrette. The Putnam Competition is a six-hour contest for undergraduates administered by the Mathematical Association of America throughout the United States and Canada since 1938. The contestant Arkady Etkin is listed among the top participants (those ranked 1-473). Arkady is the only student in CUNY with this achievement. The rankings go from 1 to 2771.5. There were 3627 contestants. For several months before the competition, our three students worked on problems together with Nikita Miasnikov, a doctoral student at the CUNY Graduate Center and an adjunct lecturer in CUNY.

New NSF Scholarships for Hunter Students
The Catalyst Scholarship Program has been established at Hunter with an award from the National Science Foundation, shared among the departments of Geography, Computer Science, Mathematics and Statistics, and Physics. The main objectives are to recruit, mentor and support talented students majoring in established or emerging fields within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through degree completion. The program awards each recipient a $6,475 annual scholarship, renewable for a period of two years. The plan is to have a cohort of 20 students for the period Fall 2009-Spring 2011 and another cohort of 20 students for the period Fall 2011-Spring 2013. Information about the program and an application form are available at http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/catalyst.

New Computer Lab BioSAM
The BioStatistics and Applied Mathematics (BioSAM) Computer Lab is located in room 930 HE. While the BioSAM lab was created in connection with Hunter College's unique interdisciplinary program in quantitative biology (www.hunter.cuny.edu/qubi), it is open for use by all students in our Department, both undergraduate and graduate, as well as by any other member of the Department. The lab is equipped with six high-end Dell Precision workstations that users may access both locally at the terminals and remotely via a secure shell connection (SSH).

New Programs in Bioinformatics
In the years since the draft of the human genome was published in 2001, biology has increasingly been evolving from a mainly experimental science performed at the bench to one in which large databases of information, statistical methods and computer models play a significant role. In order to effectively extract, model and analyze this enormous amount of data, various computational tools and statistical models are taking rapidly expanding roles in biomedical research.
The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Hunter now has 1) a new concentration within the mathematics major for Bioinformatics, 2) a new Bioinformatics sequence within the statistics major and 3) a new Bioinformatics track in the master's program in statistics and applied mathematics. Information on the curriculum for these new programs is available on the MAJORS and GRADUATE pages of this web site, as well as at www.hunter.cuny.edu/qubi. The departmental program directors are Professor Dana Draghicescu for the undergraduate concentration and Professor Ronald Neath for the graduate track.

Kolchin Seminar in Differential Algebra
The Kolchin Seminar in Differential Algebra meets most Fridays at 10:30am at the Graduate Center. For the latest information, please visit the Kolchin Seminar web site at http://www.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/~ksda/.

Student Research Publication
Yevgeniy Milman, a math BA/MA graduate of June 2009, while still an undergraduate, co-authored a paper, "A Buckling Problem for Graphene Sheets," resulting from his Summer 2007 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Akron. The paper appeared in Proceedings of CMDS 11, the 11th International Symposium on Continuum Models and Discrete Systems, 2007. Yevgeniy gave a lecture on the paper at Hunter in October 2007. (See the LECTURES page.)

Two Consecutive NSF Scholarship Grants, 2001-2007
Hunter College received two consecutive NSF grants for scholarships in computer science and mathematics for 2001-2003 and 2003-2007. Scholarship recipients were awarded a stipend and had the opportunity to participate in research activities mentored by full-time faculty and present their ongoing work at monthly seminars. The Principal Investigator for both grants was Professor Ada Peluso of our Department. The grant administrators were Anna Marino and Ronnie Lichman, for the two grants, respectively. Both Anna and Ronnie are Hunter alumnae. For many years, Anna was Director of the Leona & Marcy Chanin Language Center at Hunter. Ronnie was assistant to several chairpersons of our Department.

Student at International Conference
Joel Dodge, while a graduating senior in Spring 2006, was invited to give a talk at an international conference in Lisbon, Portugal on September 1-4, 2006, co-organized by the Forum for Interdisciplinary Mathematics, the Department of Mathematics, New University of Lisbon, and the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, Portugal. Joel was invited because of his participation in Summer 2005 in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program sponsored by the department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Joel did research on algorithmic combinatorics on words.

Past Visiting Professors
Since Spring 2005, the Department has been able to invite professors from other universities to be visiting professors at Hunter for one semester or more. The following have filled this position: 1) Stuart Margolis, Professor of Mathematics at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel, with a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, and an international reputation for his research that spans the connections among semigroup theory, geometric group theory, theory of automata and formal languages, logic, and topology; 2) Daniel Pasca, Associate Professor at the University of Bucharest, Romania, whose research is in differential equations, Hamiltonian systems, and variational methods; 3) Marc A. Scott, Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and the Social Sciences at New York University, School of Education, a Hunter alumnus with a Ph.D. in Statistics from New York University; 4) Karen Taylor, Visiting Assistant Professor, with a Ph.D. from Temple University and number theory as her field of research, who organized a very successful semester-long undergraduate seminar on the Riemann Hypothesis, with the goal of enabling participants to read Riemann’s seminal paper “On the Number of Prime Numbers less than a Given Quantity.”

Honorary Degree for Robert P. Moses
At Hunter’s January 2005 graduation ceremony, an honorary degree was awarded to Robert P. Moses, the civil rights leader and mathematics educator. As is well-known, Mr. Moses developed the Algebra Project, which concerns itself with teaching to middle school students a broad range of mathematical skills that are important in gaining access to college and math/science-related careers, as well as necessary for mathematical literacy for economic access.

Special AMS Session on Occasion of 60th Birthday
At the 2005 Spring Eastern Sectional Meeting of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) there was a Special Session on Homotopy Theory in honor of the 60th birthdays of Martin Bendersky in our Department and his collaborator Donald M. Davis.

Faculty NSA Grant
Professor Lev Shneerson of our Department has been the recipient of two consecutive National Security Agency (NSA) Mathematical Sciences Research Grants, for 2003-2005 and 2005-2007. His field of research is semigroup theory. The grant title was “Growth in Semigroup Varieties.”

Chancellor Goldstein Teaches a Course at Hunter
In Fall 2003, the Department was honored to have Dr. Matthew Goldstein, Chancellor of CUNY, as the instructor for a section of MATH 150 Calculus with Analytic Geometry I. The class met on Saturday mornings.

Recent Retirements
Professor Alvin Baranchik retired in 2003. Al taught statistics and mentored many graduate students for their master's projects. Ms. Mary Small retired in 2004. Before coming to the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Mary was with the Department of Academic Skills/SEEK Program. Professor Jane Matthews retired in 2007. Jane contributed greatly to the development of the MA program in Adolescent Mathematics Education, a program sponsored jointly by the Department of Mathematics & Statistics and the School of Education. Professor Ada Peluso retired in January 2011 after having served as department chair for eleven years. Ada is a member of the Board of the Hunter College Foundation.