In recognition for the great work that she is doing on the campus to promote diversity, equity and inclusion she just received the “Outstanding Student Award”, a university-wide diversity award. She was nominated by the Office for Institutional Equity & Diversity.

Her nomination reads “Ms Gina-Maria Pomann is the primary graduate student founder and mentor of We Connect Now (WCN) – NCSU Chapter. Her leadership in empowering students with disabilities to pursue higher education is critical and outstanding. NC State has not had an organization for students with disabilities since 2000 when the Student Organization for Disability Awareness (SODA) disbanded. Several students have tried over the years to bring people together to start a group again without success. Ms. Pomann recognized and responded to this unmet need. She established – We Connect Now (WCN) – NCSU Chapter, a student organization through the Student Organization Resource Center. We Connect Now is dedicated to uniting people interested in rights and issues affecting people with disabilities, with particular emphasis on college students and access to higher education and employment issues. Ms. Pomann led the group as they organized a We Connect Now chapter, created a new Facebook page (“WCN@NCSU”), held sessions on graduate school funding and skills and tactics for taking the GRE; planned a peer mentoring program; participated in Diversity Week; and networked at Meet and Greet events. After nearly a twelve year break, Gina-Maria Pomann has come forward with vision and leadership to bring people together so that students with disabilities can succeed in their studies by getting the information and support they need.  For this work, she deserves a University Diversity Award.”

 The 2012 Mathematics and Statistics Department at TCNJ honored its outstanding students at the annual Student Awards Dinner on Friday, April 20. One of the many high points of the evening was the guest speaker, Katarzyna Kowal, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Ramapo College, who gave a lovely talk about how the TCNJ Mathematics and Statistics faculty shaped her career. The list of awardees can be found here. In addition, 13 students were inducted into Pi Mu Epsilon, the National Mathematics Honorary Society. A list of their names is available here.

E-portfolio presentation schedule
(Mathematics Secondary Education capstone presentations)
Thursday, May 3, 2012, 5:30 – 7:30pm

Room 201                                                                                           
Dr. Farshid Safi – evaluator
Mrs. Saundra Conte – evaluator                                                               

Erin Suozzo
Holly van de Rijn
Andrew Perucci
Amanda Wegman
Allison Lombardi                                                                                               

Room 221                                                                                            
Dr. Cathy Liebars – evaluator                                                     
Mr. Mykola Haleta – evaluator                                                   

Laura Amatulli                                                                                
Biz Egan                                                                                             
Nick Limone                                                                                      
Alexa Lindenburg                                                                          
Danielle Rothman                                                                          
Brian Muller

Room 223
Dr. Bob Cunningham – evaluator
Mrs. Marilyn Fesko – evaluator

Robin Clausen
Katie Jameson
Rebecca Posch
Kate Goodman
Kevin Burns  
Denita Davis

Room 230
Dr. Suriza van der Sandt – evaluator
Mrs. Jeanne Maskell – evaluator

Priti Mankikar
Dana Menichelli
Elena Rongone
John DeRosa
Mike Herrara

(left to right) Mary Ambrosino, Michael Stefanelli, Patrick Catalano, Calvin Woo, and David Linkletter, with Judit Kardos.

Two teams from TCNJ were among the thirty-three teams competing in the Ninth Garden State University Math Competition. The competition was held on Saturday, March 31, 2012, at Raritan Valley County College.

Team 1, comprised of Mary Ambrosino, Pat Catalano, and Mike Stefanelli, placed 6th overall.

Team 2, comprised of R.J. Castellano, David Linkletter, and Calvin Woo, placed 2nd overall.

In addition, R.J. Castellano placed 5th individually out of 99 students. This was despite the fact that he was twenty minutes late for the hour-long individual competition.

Emily Kaelblein also presented a poster on her and Jen Urban’s research that Cindy Curtis supervised.   It was a very good day for our students.

Congratulations to all of our competing students, and special thanks to Judit Kardos and David Holmes, who prepared the teams.

Statistics Capstone Presentations

Emily DeCarlo – “Probit and Logit Analysis” -  D. Holmes – SSB 228 – 2:00-2:20

Amanda Timlin/Danielle Aran – “Structural Equation Modeling” -  D. Holmes/E. Johnson – SSB 228 – 2:20-2:40

Matt Wright/Leigh Mitchell – “Multivariate Analysis of Variance” -  D. Holmes – SSB 228 – 2:40-3:00

Louis Klein – “Bayesian Analysis and Model Uncertainty” – K. Braaten – SSB 228 – 3:00-3:20

Kathryn Huff – “Reliability of Internet Survey Research” – K. Braaten – SSB 228 – 3:20-3:40

Ashley Carswell – “Randomization: Bootstrap Method” – S. Navard – SSB – 232 4:00-4:20

Dan Leva – “Randomization: Monte Carlo Simulation” – S. Navard – SSB 232 – 4:20-4:40

Mathematics and Statistics Presentations

Jennifer Urban – “Studying Stick Knots Part I” – C. Curtis – SSB 232 – 2:00-2:20

Emily Kaelblein – “Studying Stick Knots Part II” – C. Curtis – SSB 232 – 2:20-2:40

Randolph Leiser/William Franczak – “Repeated Boundary Slopes of 2-bridge Knots” – C. Curtis – SSB 232 – 2:40-3:00

Patrick Catalano – “Evoking Frequent, High Quality Questions in the Math Analysis Classroom” – F. Safi – SSB 232 – 3:00-3:20

Megan Coburn – “Using Technology to Teach Students with Learning Disabilities (in the Math Classroom)” – F. Safi – SSB 232 – 3:20-3:40

Vianna Fagel/Sahnaz Saleem – “Exploring Mathematics Education Data Utilizing Technology and Data Mining Techniques” – F. Safi – SSB 232 – 3:40-4:00

Edward Lee (Honors Talk) – “Mathematical Modeling of Chemical Kinetics in Pregnant and Lactating Rats” – L. Harris – SSB 228 – 3:40-4:00

Calvin Woo – “The Mapping Class Group of the Torus” – A. Clifford – SSB 228 – 4:00-4:20

Mary Ambrosino (Honors Talk) – “Mod 2 Corank of One-Relator Groups” – A. Clifford – SSB 228 – 4:20-4:40

Spring 2012

All Talks are in SCP 229 unless otherwise noted

Presentation Schedule: 

Thursday, April 19 (SCP 229):
11:30 “The Schoenflies Theorem and The Alexander Horned Sphere,” Jacob Ziefle (Prof. Curtis)

11:50 “A Mathematical Model to Analyze the Number of Ovulating Follicles,” Michael Lee (Prof. Harris)

12:10 “Gibbs Phenomenon,” Mark Azic (Prof. Zheng)

Friday, April 20 (SCP 229):
11:30 “Creating the Sierpinksi Triangle,” Lauren Somma (Prof. Kardos)

11:50 “Cryptography: Expediting the RSA Algorithm and Attacks to Watch Out For,” Emily Kaelblein (Prof. Alves)

12:10 “Ramsey Theory and Homotheties in !!,” Sean Nath (Prof. Kardos)

Monday, April 23 (SCP 229):
11:30 “An Expanded View on the Genetic Algorithm,” Matthew Ziminski (Prof. Wang)

11:50 “A Mathematical Study of HIV and AIDS,” Hunter Hageman (Prof. Harris)

12:10 “Zero Divisor Graphs: Connecting Commutative Ring Theory and Graph Theory,” Eric New (Prof. Hagedorn)

Wednesday, April 25: (During Celebration of Student Achievement)
2:00  (SSB 232) “Studying Stick Knots: Part 1,” Jennifer Urban (Prof. Curtis)

4:20  (SSB 228) “The Mapping Class Group of the Torus,” Calvin Woo (Prof. Clifford)

Capstone Talks are expository presentations by seniors on topics in higher mathematics.  All students, especially first-year, sophomore, and junior mathematics majors, are encouraged to attend.

Founded in 1938 as a way to stimulate healthy rivalry in mathematical studies among colleges in the United States and Canada, the Putnam Competition serves as a rite of passage for brilliant young mathematicians. The day is composed of two three-hour sessions, with a two-hour break in between. Calculators and notes are banned, and the exam is extremely difficult, with the median score on last year’s test being 1 point out of a possible 120 points.