Department Achievements

Dr. Ginger Holmes Rowell attended the 2012 Joint Statistical Meetings in San Diego, CA. She presented the poster "Building a 'Course Community' in a Digital Age for Teaching Undergraduate Probability" with Kyle Seigrist of the University of Alabama at Huntsville.  This poster presented the newly developed Mathematical Association of America's Mathematics Digital Library (MathDL) Probability Course Community, a digital resource for faculty teaching an undergraduate course in probability. The website was created by the Probability Course Community project team: Dr. Lawrence Moore, the Principal Investigator of the DUE 1043879 NSF Grant; Dr. Kyle Siegrist (University of Alabama at Huntsville), project lead; Dr. Ginger Holmes Rowell (Middle Tennessee State University), project co-lead; Dr. Carolyn Cuff (Westminster College); Dr. Ivo Dinov (University of California at Los Angeles); Dr. Diane Fisher (University of Louisiana); Dr. Lisa Green (Middle Tennessee State University); Dr. Dennis Pearl (Ohio State University); Dr. Olaf Stackelberg (Kent State University), Drs. Rowell and Green, and MSE PhD students Natasha Gerstenschlager and Brandon Hanson wrote the corresponding paper to the "Building a "Course Community" in a Digital Age for Teaching Undergraduate Probability" Joint Statistics Meeting presentation which will appear in the 2012 conference proceedings.

Drs. Ginger Rowell, Dr. Lisa Green, and MSE PhD students Natasha Gerstenschlager and Brandon Hanson wrote the corresponding paper to the "Building a "Course Community" in a Digital Age for Teaching Undergraduate Probability" Joint Statistics Meeting presentation which will appear in the 2012 conference proceedings.

Dr. Don Hong has received the following grants, HHS TDCI Rate Review Cycle-I Grant on TN Rate Review Process and Transparency ($170,000); HHS TDCI Rate Review Cycle-II Grant on Rate Review Training Programs ($440,000); and Casualty Actuaries of Southeast (CASE) Grant MTSU Actuarial Science Program Enhancement ($2,500).

Dr. Yuri Melnikov has had two books published, Green's Functions and Infinite Products, Bridging the Divide, Springer-Birkhauser, New York/London, 2011, 165pp.  The second book, Green's Functions. Construction and Applications, DeGruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2012, 435pp. was co-published with Dr. Maxim Melinkov.

Dr. Rongjin Huang has recently published one edited book and two journal articles.  The edited book,  How Chinese Teach Mathematics and Improve Teaching is published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group (with Li, Y., 2012). "This book challenges us to examine teaching and to make a commitment to improve teaching every day in every classroom in the U.S., as well as other countries of the world. Current and future students deserve our every best effort to engage them in exploring mathematics for its beauty, its utility, and its place in the lives of people worldwide. " (Glenda Lappen, University Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University).

Two articles are published in prestigious journals:
Huang, R., & Li, Y. (2012). What matters most: A comparison of Chinese expert and novice teachers' noticing of classroom events? School Sciences and Mathematics, ID: 1048171-966270.
Huang, R., & Kulm, G. (2012). Prospective middle grade mathematics teachers' knowledge of algebra for teaching. The Journal of Mathematics Behavior, 31, 417–430.

Dr. Mary B. Martin, Professor of Mathematics has been chosen to present and coordinate a panel discussion at the MTSU/TBR Mobilization Summit October 15-16, 2012. The summit will focus on pedagogical applications of mobile technologies in P-12 and higher education as well as workforce training and will include nationally known keynote speakers, workshops on application development and eBook authoring, and vendor displays that will provide attendees with information and experience in using and managing mobility in learning.

Dr. Martin has been chosen to lead a panel discussion displaying mathematical apps and mobile technologies. She selected a panel of presenters to provide teaching, learning, and instruction for apps. Her presentation will focus on pencasts, their use in instruction, and their potential for flipping classes.

Dr. Rong Luo's paper The size of edge chromatic critical graphs with maximum degree 6 is listed as one of the most cited papers on the website for Journal of Graph, a top journal in graph theory.

Dr. Don Hong has received a grant of $440,000 for TNDCI health insurance rate review and training project recently.

ACSI Students
This year several students passed multiple required actuarial exams!  Also, four students were awarded Southeastern Actuarial Conference Scholarships ranging from $500 to $3000!
Check the website for more details.

Brent Osantowski, an MSPS student in Actuarial Science graduated in Augustr 2012, has received a job offer from Humana as an actuary in September 2012.

Rachael Padgett, Houston Higgs, and Ying Peng has passed the second exam (FM) from the Society of Actuaries in July/August 2012.

Harold Tuthill, Le Yin, Ying Peng, and Jianxin Yang, students in the actuarial science program have received Southeastern Actuarial Conference Scholarship ranging from $500-$1500:

Fengqing (Zoe) Zhang's M.S. thesis (supervised by Don Hong)
Zoe won the only ETD Thesis Award given by the the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools (CSGS) in the catalog of Innovative Application of Technology in a Master's Thesis. The Awardee received $1000 plus travel expenses to attend the 2011 CSGS meeting. More details can be seen at the CSGS website and MTSU news

Dmitry Terekhov, MTSU senior, has received a $3,000 scholarship from the Southeastern Actuarial Conference in recognition of his academic standing, leadership qualities and commitment to an actuarial career.  Actuarial science applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in the insurance and finance industries. The field, which has become a top career choice, also requires knowledge of economics, probability and computer programming.  Terekhov, who is from Moscow City, Russia, began the actuarial program in fall 2009. He credits Dr. Don Hong and Dr. Rajesh Barnwal in MTSU’s Department of Mathematical Sciences for teaching most of the courses in his major and encouraging him along the way.  “This recognition is close to my heart,” Terekhov said. “It is truly inspirational to be acknowledged by the professionals in the field I plan to join in the near future. I would like to thank the Southeastern Actuaries Conference and MTSU faculty members.”  Terekhov plans to graduate this December with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics. The young scholar is president of the Actuarial Student Association and a member of Gamma Iota Sigma insurance fraternity and Phi Kappa Phi and Omicron Delta Kappa honor societies. He also volunteers for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.  The Southeastern Actuarial Conference serves members in 13 southern states.