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MathematicsMathematics is part of the Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science Department (MSCS), the largest department at Macalester. Majors can choose to focus on theo-retical math or on applied math and statistics. The department has 16 full-time faculty members and approximately 80 graduating majors per year. The department has close ties with economics, biology, chemistry, physics, neuroscience, and many of the social sciences through the college-wide quantitative thinking program. Students may major in math or applied math and statistics, or minor in math, statistics, or data science.

Mathematics and Applied Mathematics ProgramOur mathematics program honors the traditional liberal arts focus on pure mathematics complemented by a strong emphasis on applied and computational math. The classic math track flexibly allows students to choose from a full slate of theoretical and applied courses and prepares students for graduate study or careers in many fields of mathematical science. The track in applied mathematics and statistics emphasizes modeling, statistics, and scientific computing, and prepares students with state-of-the-art skills applicable to all areas of the natural and social sciences.

FacultyProfessors Beveridge, Halverson, Saxe, Shuman, and Ziegelmeier primarily teach mathematics.

Tom Halverson, MSCS chair (PhD, University of Wisconsin–Madison), teaches courses in linear and abstract algebra, discrete math, topology, and calculus. His research on interactions between algebra and combinatorics is often done in collaboration with Macalester students and has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Simons Foundation.

Andrew Beveridge (PhD, Yale University) is interested in the intersection of combinatorics and probability. He studies random walks, random graphs, and their applications to real-world networks, such as the internet and ad-hoc wireless networks. He teaches courses in combinatorics, discrete math, network science, linear and abstract algebra, and calculus.

Karen Saxe (PhD, University of Oregon) teaches courses in calculus and analysis. She is especially interested in operator theory, functional analysis, the mathematics of elections and voting, and the history of mathematics. She is a former second vice president of the Mathematical Association of America.

David Shuman (PhD, University of Michigan) teaches courses in linear algebra, probability, statistics, data science, and signal processing. His research in signal processing on graphs and stochastic control leverages ideas from computational harmonic analysis, spectral graph theory, numerical linear algebra, stochastic processes, and optimization.

Ian Whitehead (PhD, Columbia University) studies analytic number theory and connections to functions of several complex variables with infinitely many symmetries. He teaches calculus, real analysis, abstract algebra, number theory, and cryptography.

Lori Ziegelmeier (PhD, Colorado State University) has interests in geometric and topological data analysis. She teaches calculus, linear algebra, topology, and computational geometry courses.

For more on the following faculty, see the academic updates for Computer Science and Statistics.

Vittorio Addona (PhD, McGill University), survival analysis, medical applications of statistics, Bayesian methodology

Susan Fox (PhD, Indiana University), artificial intelligence, robotics, case-based reasoning

Brianna Heggeseth (PhD, University of California–Berkeley)

Alicia Johnson (PhD, University of Minnesota), statistics and Markov processes

Leslie Myint (PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)

Shilad Sen (PhD, University of Minnesota), online communities, collective intelligence, and recommender systems

Libby Shoop (PhD, University of Minnesota), database systems, data visualization and exploration, bioinformatics

ResourcesClassroom labs feature 60 Mac and Windows workstations, high-end research and educational software, and high-speed fiber-optic network links to campus and internet resources.

Research labs:

• The Social Computing Systems Lab

• The Data Exploration Lab

• The Robotics Lab

• 3D Printing Lab

• Virtual Reality Lab

Public Artworks: On display in the MSCS department are the department’s square-wheeled bicycle; a 5-foot-diameter sculpture with icosahedral symmetry that was designed by George Hart and assembled by Macalester students in a sculpture “barn-raising”; and a 6,000-pound granite sculpture, “Invisible Handshake,” resplendent with negative curvature.

Mathematics

Student-Faculty ResearchMathematics students collaborate extensively with professors through paid summer research supported by grants from Macalester, the National Science Foundation, the Keck Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. A sampling:

Trung Nguyen ’19 (Hanoi, Vietnam) and Professor Andrew Beveridge, “Building Series Parallel Voters”

Theodore Jacobson ’18 (San Diego) and Professor Tom Halverson, “Set Partition Tableaux and Representations of the Partition Algebra”

Zhaoqi Li ’18 (Beijing) and Professor Chad Topaz, “Nearest Neighbor Interactions in Two Dimensions”

Sarah Jo DeVore ’17 (San Diego) and Professor Chad Topaz, “Formation of Locust Hopper Bands”

Lucas Gagnon ’16 (Ithaca, N.Y.) and Professor Tom Halverson, “Linear Bases for Invariants of SU(2) Subgroups”

Summer ResearchOther students participate in off-campus summer research. Some examples:

Talha Ahsan ’18 (Eagan, Minn.), Big Data in Biostatistics, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

Shuni Li ’18 (Beijing), REU in Mathematics, Boise State University

Zhaoqi Li ’18 (Beijing), Research in Industrial Projects for Students (RIPS), IPAM, University of California–Los Angeles

Andre Archer ’17 (Kingston, Jamaica), SMALL REU, Williams College

Ian Calaway ’16 (Dubuque, Iowa), Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), Grand Valley State University

Recent Honors ProjectsTheodore Jacobson ’18 (San Diego), “Set Partition Tableaux and Representations of the Partition Algebra”

Ionatan Kuperwajs ’18 (Redmond, Wash.), “Lightweight, flexible MATLAB-based visualization and analysis of FreeSurfer surfaces”

Zhaoqi Li ’18 (Beijing), “Spectra of Cayley Graphs of the Symmetric Group”

Tuyet-Anh Tran, ’18 (Hanoi, Vietnam), “Voter Preference Structures in Multiple Office Elections”

Esha Datta ’17 (Palo Alto, Calif.), “Efficient Factorization of Diagram Algebras”

Special Activities and AwardsThe annual Math & Society Lecture brings internationally known speakers to campus to talk about how the mathematical sciences show up in a broad variety of fields.

MSCS students participate in many national and local competitions, including ACM’s programming competitions, the sectional competition of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), and the Putnam competition. Macalester students are regular contributors and awardees at the JMM Undergraduate Poster Session.

Professors Bressoud, Halverson, Hutchinson (emeritus), and Saxe have received the MAA’s Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. Professor Beveridge has received the Midstates Consortium for Math and Science Janet L. Andersen Award for Undergraduate Research. Professors Kaplan and Saxe have received Macalester’s Rossmann Excellence in Teaching Award. Professor Bressoud has received Macalester’s Thomas Jefferson Award. Professors Beveridge, Bressoud, Halverson, and Sen have received the Macalester Trustees’ Award. Professor Saxe was the 2013–14 Education Policy U.S. Congressional Fellow.

InternshipsMost MSCS majors hold at least one internship while at Macalester. Recent examples include:

Andre Archer ’17 (Kingston, Jamaica), University of Minnesota, Neurology Department, data management intern

Alexander Webb ’17 (Northfield, Minn.), data science internship at 3M

After MacalesterIonatan Kuperwajs ’18 (Redmond, Wash.) is pursuing a PhD in neuroscience at NYU.

Shelby Witherby ’18 (Minneapolis) is pursuing a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering at the University of California–Berkeley.

Andre Archer ’17 (Kingston, Jamaica) is pursuing a PhD in applied mathematics at Northwestern University.

Esha Datta ’17 (Palo Alto, Calif.) is pursuing a PhD in mathematics at the University of California–Davis.

Ibrahima Dieye ’17 (Dakar, Senegal) works for Analysis Group in Cambridge, Mass.

Clara Drew ’17 (Northfield, Minn.) is in the PhD program in biostatistics at the University of Minnesota.

Stefan Faridani ’17 (Philomath, Ore.) is working in a research position in behavioral economics at the London School of Economics.

Joshua Rollag ’17 (Underwood, Minn.) is in a master of engineering program at the University of Minnesota.

M Ulmer ’17 (Sebastopol, Calif.) is working as a Google engineer-in-residence in Mountain View, Calif.

Ian Calaway ’16 (Dubuque, Iowa) received a Watson Fellowship to study math competition culture around the world.

Alexander Webb ’16 (Northfield, Minn.) is working as a data science intern at 3M Corporation.

Ari Weiland ’16 (Highland Park, Ill.) works for Google.

Updated August 2018

macalester.edu/mscs