Opportunities for Math Students at Concordia
Concordia University math students have numerous opportunities to get involved outside of the classroom. Almost every math student supplements their math degree with another major, minor, or program at the University. In addition, the students are involved in Math Department Activities, Research, Internships, Divisioin II Athletics, Fine Arts, and many other extra-curricular opportunities. Below are a few of the highlights.
Math Department Activities
Math Tutoring: The Department of Mathematics and Student Support Services at Concordia University sponsor Math Tutoring. Math tutoring a free service for all Concordia students enrolled in a math course. Upper-level math students interested in honing their math skills or working on their teaching techniques are hired to tutor.
Sigma Pi Seminar: The Sigma Pi Seminar Series is a joint venture by the Departments of Biology, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences. The seminar is offered three to four times per semester. Speakers from industry, education, and government entities share their experience and expertise with the students. One special Sigma Pi Seminar given by students who are willing to share their research or internship experiences.
Luke Johnson and Mike Zimmermann - Student Sigma Pi Seminar, Fall 2005
Luke shared about his summer internship experience with an engineering firm.
Mike talked about his summer research experience at an REU in Pennsylvania.
Tri-Pi Math Club: Tri-Pi is a Concordia Activities Board recognized and supported club. They sponsor many events throughout the year, some math related events and some social events. Tri-Pi sponsors two of the largest events on campus: the Homecoming Dodgeball Tournament and Game Night. Tri-Pi members also have the opportunity to participate in the Team Math Contest and travel to an undergraduate math conference. More information on Tri-Pi is available at the Tri-Pi website. Tri-Pi also plays a major role in Concordia University Math Day.
Research
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A number of math students are involved in undergraduate research on and off campus. Math and Biology double-major, Mike Zimmermann ('07), spent two summers doing research in the National Science Foundation sponsored Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program. His first summer was spent at Penn State Erie. He worked on a four-species food chain project with Dr. Joseph Previte. His second summer he was at Northern Arizona University. He worked with Dr. Shafiu Jibrin on Implementing an Algorithm for Detecting Redundant Linear Constraints in Semidefinite Programming. Mike was able to present his summer work at the Joint National Mathematics Meetings in January of 2007. He is currently at Iowa State University. Another Math and Biology double-major, Kelsey Walt, has done extensive work in the Research Institute of the Bio-Sciences here at Concordia University. Kelsey has been involved in a number of projects involving cancer research. Math major Paul James took part in a REU at the University of Georgia in the summer of 2007. The group name was "energies for plane curves". He dealt with weighted mean chord length energy integrals for simple, closed planar curves of length 2 Pi (Lp normed integrals). Paul worked with Lp energy as a function of p, the power to which the chord length is raised under the integral. |
Paul James
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Internships
Students with interest in industry are encouraged to seek an internship. We have had students find internships in several areas including actuary, analysis, engineering, and medical technology.
In the spring of 2008, math major Amy Blom had an intership at Personix working in inventory analysis with math graduate John Krueger ('07). In the spring of 2007, Monica McNamara ('07) had an internship with McKesson Medical-Surgical and John Kruger worked for Personix, which lead to a full time position for John (Jack). In addition, Chris-Hulme Lowe ('07), a psychology major and math minor, worked on a statistical analysis of the First-Year Seminar data. Several other math students attended the MN Private Colleges Job and Internship Fair. They are pursuing many interesting opportunities for this summer.
Division II Athletics
Over half of the math majors and minors participate in Golden Bear Athletics. In the 2007-2008 academic year, the math department is represented in baseball, cross-county, indoor and outdoor track, men's basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball, and women's golf.
Fine Arts
Several of Concordia's math students split their talents between the math classroom and the fine arts stage, many with scholarships in both math and fine arts (art, music, and theatre).
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