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The Solace of Numbers: The Math Center

May 20, 2024

The Math Center

May 20, 2024

Above: Director Lisa Penfold sitting among the activity of the Math Center.

PRIOR TO 2002, ANGIE GARDINER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE SERVICES IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, WAS WORKING WITH HER MATH TUTORS OUT OF TWO OLD WWII BARRACKS SITUATED BETWEEN THE COWLES AND WIDTSOE BUILDINGS ON PRESIDENTS CIRCLE.

Today, things are exponentially better, and not just because of the expanded space, with its beautifully rendered sandstone exterior accented with concrete and glass and illuminated naturally through skylights, rising into an elevated garden patio above. The $1.8 million T. Benny Rushing Mathematics Student Center, where the Math Center is housed, currently speaks to the collaborative, integrated space—both physical and mental—that offers what Gardiner calls a “continual review of mathematics” targeting University of Utah undergraduates enrolled in math classes.

That continuing review is robust as well—on-demand for students who at times just drop in with a quick query or for others who actually use the space as a study hall, raising different-colored felt flags (depending on what area of math they need help with) at their work stations when they need one-on-one attention.

Some of the tutors are graduate students, required, as part of their teaching requirement to work a minimum of one hour per week. There is also a tutor cohort which is more of a fixture, logging many weekly hours. All of these skilled mentors are always at-the-ready, willing and fluidly collaborative with their colleagues who may be more conversant with concepts than they are—whether it's quadratic equations, calculus, or trigonometry. There’s even a dedicated private space for Foundations of Analysis work where students are mentored through “proofs,” a deductive argument for a mathematical statement, showing that the stated assumptions logically guarantee the conclusion.

Discussion is a premium, says Lisa Penfold who took over the direction of the Center in 2018. "If a student discusses the problem with a tutor within 24 hours of a lecture,” she says, “understanding and retention increases” markedly. For the tutors, the benefits are mutual as they benefit in their preparation for the Graduate Record Exam, required for graduate school, by working as a tutor in the Math Center.

Veteran tutor Stella Brower, working with a student.

While designed first to be pragmatic (students need to pass math classes for their generals, but also for their STEM-related majors) the Center inspires students to move beyond the Steps (1,2,3…) to solving an assigned problem to really understand what the meaning is of what they’re looking at. It’s this undergirding mission that has made the Math Center at the U the powerhouse that it is. Tutors, who are skilled at deciphering the students' level of understanding, respond to students in real time.

Helping students to pass their math classes and to better understand math meanings can sometimes be complicated by the all too familiar “math anxiety.” Refrains like "I'll never be able to do math" or "math doesn't even walk in our family" are all too common for some who arrive at the U. The Math Center, with its welcoming atmosphere, private group meeting rooms, computer lab and a break room/kitchen has become a sanctuary for students struggling with the complexities of numbers, equations, and formulas. (It would seem the only thing they might be missing is a climbing wall.)

"Our objective is to make sure students feel welcome here and get the help they need," Penfold states. "We know there's a lot of baggage with mathematics."

Addressing that baggage is one of the Center's core missions. Through extraordinary patience and individualized teaching approaches, tutors work tirelessly to dismantle math anxiety. "We start by acknowledging it's valid," says tutor Caleb Albers, a PhD candidate in applied mathematics. "Then we can begin chipping away at those negative associations.”

“I find that helping students get more of a conceptual understanding … helps a lot,” says Stella Brower, a veteran tutor pursuing a master's in statistics. “I have experience tutoring many different types of learners. There are those that thrive working alongside you as you go through a problem, some that want a tutor to check their work, and then there are those that need a bit of guidance or a refresher on a concept.”

Albers echoes this approach. “The most important thing is to help them ‘learn how to learn’ math for themselves, instead of just showing them how to do one problem.”

The tutoring strategies are as diverse as the students themselves, and “meeting the student where they are,” is the standard operating procedure of the tutoring team. The objective of every interaction is to bring a deep commitment to unlocking each student's individual potential. Penfold encourages a culture of tutors commingling across disciplines, asking each other for support on esoteric concepts. Students from calculus and introductory courses are seen clustering together, facilitating an enervating—even fun— cross-pollination of ideas.

"You'll see six to eight students sitting together,” she says, “some in calculus helping those in an entry-level course.”

The pandemic accelerated the Math Center’s evolution, prompting an online tutoring option that continues facilitating virtual support Monday through Saturday. As the U continues to grow its enrollment, Penfold insists on preserving the Center's uniquely personalized, student-centric approach. Penfold is often stepping onto the floor herself when every seat is taken and helping a student even as they are currently almost doubling the size of the tutoring area and creating satellite centers like the one that recently opened in the Sutton Building to accommodate the number of students using the center.

“If a tutor has a question or encounters something shaky, they’ll ask another tutor. We have grad students, as well as undergrads— everyone talking about mathematics and working together.” Asked what she wants students to know about her facility, she immediately responds that she hopes they find out about the Center and that they then use it as frequently as needed.

It’s a tribute to the hard work and dedication of the Math Center team from the early days in old barracks to today’s open and accommodating facility with both online and in-person options, “This is probably the most difficult challenge faced as a tutor," says Brower. "The ability to change up your teaching methods on the fly is very important when helping a student that just isn’t quite getting it.”

The Math Center helps make that happen every day.

by David Pace

This is the feature story of the latest edition of Aftermath, magazine for the Department of Mathematics. 

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Getting Stuff Done: Thomas Yassmin

May 20, 2024

Getting Stuff Done

Thomas Yassmin

May 20, 2024
Above: Tight end Thomas Yassmin, MStat '24 in Mathematics at play during Utah vs Weber State, September 2023. Credit: University of Utah

 

As an undergraduate, Yassmin completed a double major in quantitative analysis of markets and organizations (QAMO) and mathematics with an emphasis in statistics. This spring he graduated with a master's in statistics.

Balancing football and academics was challenging, but Yassmin performed this balancing act well, earning a spot on the PAC-12 Academic Honor Roll multiple times during his five years at the U.

Yassmin has advice for other students balancing busy schedules: "You've just got to prioritize certain things. There are a lot of sacrifices that have to be made. Sometimes weekends are just not the weekends you want to have, or your friends ask you to come over and you just have to suck it up and put your head down for a couple hours and get your work done first before you do anything else. Little things add up, an hour here, an hour there, dedicating times where it's undistracted work. By the end of the week, it accumulates. I think that's the thing, just sacrificing certain amounts of time to make sure you get your stuff done first."

Yassmin was fortunate to have had some stellar professors, especially Lajos Horvath, from whom he took multiple classes, and Tom Alberts, his project advisor. They understood his unique position and helped him navigate the balancing act between athletics and math. Yassmin expressed that he probably wouldn't have made it through his MStat degree without them.

Read the rest of Thomas's story by Angie Gardiner at math.utah.edu. 

Math Faculty Retiree Jim Keener

May 13, 2024

Math Faculty Retiree Jim Keener

THE RETIREMENT OF DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR JIM KEENER LEAVES AN UNFILLABLE HOLE IN THE WORLD-RENOWNED MATHEMATICAL BIOLOGY PROGRAM THAT HE DID SO MUCH TO BUILD.

Or at least would if he was not planning to continue to provide wisdom and insight to students and faculty alike from his office where the door (and minds) is (are) always open.

Jim joined the University of Utah faculty in the Department of Mathematics in 1978 and started a research program that set the standard for mathematical biology by combining creative modeling built on the devilish details of complex biological phenomena with development of the new mathematics needed to understand those models and answer biological questions. His highly influential work on spiral waves emerged from his interest in cardiac arrythmias, and his perhaps even more influential work on ranking (which inspired the first version of Google’s original PageRank algorithm) emerged from his interest in college football.

His three books, Principles of Applied Mathematics (1988), Mathematical Physiology (with James Sneyd, and winner of the 1998 Association of American Publishers’ “Best New Title in Mathematics”), and the new Biology in Time and Space: A PDE Modelling Approach (2021) are paragons of exposition and laid the foundation for the rigorous and deep applied mathematics that underlie any serious quantitative study of biology.

Jim is the visionary leader for the U’s graduate program in mathematical biology. The success of this program reflects his own strengths: inspiring mentorship, biological and mathematical breadth, the joy of collaboration, ability to communicate with both mathematicians and biologists, and the taste to identify and solve important problems. The reach of this program is extraordinary, with graduates holding leadership roles in research universities, liberal arts colleges, industry, and in the mathematical biology community. Students in the program today have a built-in international network of friends, colleagues and mentors.

Like most people who get this much done, Jim is fun to be around. His “cabin parties” are legendary, although what actually happens there can never be revealed. Dinner with Jim is a delightful mix of challenging debate and convivial laughs. His joy in inquiry and in people builds on a deep spirituality and love of nature that underpin the wisdom that we look forward to sharing for many more years.

by Fred Adler
Professor of mathematics and Director of the School of Biological Sciences

Of Honeybees and Carbon Emissions: SIAM Modeling Competition

May 13, 2024

Of Honeybees and Carbon Emissions

LAST NOVEMBER, THE U’S STUDENT CHAPTER OF THE SOCIETY FOR INDUSTRIAL AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS (SIAM) HELD A MODELING COMPETITION FOR UNDERGRADUATES.

Teams chose one of three modeling problems that were based on real-world situations and worked together to analyze the problem, generate figures and results, and write a report about their findings.

The reward for the winning team was their registration fee, paid-in-full, for the COMAP Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) in February 2024. The U’s SIAM student chapter hosted this competition to help participants prepare for the MCM and give them confidence in their abilities as scientific modelers.

Two teams participated in the contest, one with two members, Maxwell Archibald and Jack Perry, and another team with three members, Joshua Villarreal, Garrett Iverson and Dominic Cinaglia. Archibald and Perry studied the population dynamics of honeybees and won first place with their thorough and well-organized report while Villarreal, Iverson and Cinaglia looked at CO2 levels and their correlation with climate change which won second place for their strong statistical analysis and informative report. The judges were so impressed with the quality of both teams’ submissions they decided to fund both for the MCM in February.

The U SIAM student chapter is extremely grateful for the financial support of the Department of Mathematics, without which the chapter would not have been able to fund these five deserving students.

Aaron L. Fogelson

In late March SIAM also announced the 2024 Class of SIAM Fellows. The group includes Aaron L. Fogelson, professor of mathematics, recognized for pioneering work on mathematical modeling and numerical methods for platelet aggregation and blood clotting. Through their various contributions, SIAM Fellows help advance the fields of applied mathematics, computational science, and data science. Read more about Fogelson’s recognition here.

Establishing a “Wildfire Resilience Collective”

May 13, 2024

Establishing a Wildfire Resilience Collective

May 13, 2024

By Hannah Meier, PhD Student, School of Biological Sciences

Photo above, from left to right]: Tegan Lengyel, PhD (Anderegg lab), Elizabeth Williams, Hannah Meier (DYCE and Reimer lab), Rebecca Senft (Aprecido lab), Annie Carlile, (Bowling lab).

In January, my teammates and I dedicated 24 hours of our weekend to immerse ourselves in the pressing issues of wildland fire resilience in the West. Joining the Wilkes Center Climate Solutions Hackathon offered a valuable break from the routine grind of a first-year PhD student in biology.

Hannah Meier

Our team’s final project, establishing the Wildfire Resilience Collective ended up winning first place. However, the true highlight was the collaborative effort among students from various majors, urging us to tackle the issue from diverse perspectives and glean insights from each other.

Our team consists of PhD students from the Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology in the School of Biological Sciences, and one undergraduate, a pre-med student studying Biomedical Engineering. The education and interests of each team member provide a wealth of foundational knowledge, but, most importantly, we share a common goal of utilizing our research to inform policymakers and stakeholders in shaping land use decisions, which motivated our participation in the Wilkes hackathon.

But what exactly is a hackathon? While often associated with coding challenges, its essence lies in rapidly developing solutions within a condensed time frame. Our team’s focus was far removed from coding. We aimed to grasp the impact of wildfires on community resilience and the mechanisms behind fostering such resilience.

Central to our discussions were inquiries into the meaning of resilience, both in ecological and communal contexts. We landed on a definition of resilience as a community’s or ecosystem’s ability to absorb changes while maintaining established relationships, both within and across organisms.

 

Read the rest of the story at the Wilkes Center. 

From mountains to the Great Salt Lake: The secrets of snowmelt

May 9, 2024

From mountains to the Great Salt Lake: The secrets of snowmelt

May 10, 2024, Banner photo above: Creator: Scott MarkeCredit: Scott Markewitz

Utah’s snowpack has been smashing records. The combined totals for the 2022-24 winter seasons were 1,531 inches, the highest two-year snowfall in the state’s history.

Paul Brooks

What does that mean for water levels in the Great Salt Lake?

On April 24, 2024, University of Utah hydrologist and biogeochemist Paul Brooks spoke on the topic to a packed room at Alta Ski Area for the Friends of Alta lecture series. He discussed the importance of snowmelt to Utah, the western U.S. and semi-arid regions around the world. An affiliate of the U’s Peak Water Engine, Brooks’ research group focuses on the interactions between climate, water, ecosystems and society. In particular, he aims to improve models to give water managers earlier and better predictions of the season’s water availability, based on the year’s snowpack totals.

Brooks spoke with science writer Lisa Potter about the multi-year journey for water molecules from mountain snowfall to the Great Salt Lake.

Once snow starts melting, very little of it runs off directly to the stream—almost all of it goes into the ground.

Historically, we thought only a small volume of melt went into soils, and once those shallow soils were saturated, the remaining melt water quickly ran off the surface and into streams. That’s an assumption that many water management prediction models still rely on. We now know that the ground can hold much more water, which means a large fraction of snowmelt goes into the subsurface and from there takes months or years to get to the stream. That’s a fundamental change in how we think about water resources and an area that my group works on—how much water goes into the ground and, ultimately, to surface streams? How long does it take to get there?

Access the full interview in @The U.

Toxic Thalium: Humans changing the chemistry of the Baltic Sea

May 6, 2024

changing chemistry of the Baltic Sea

May 6, 2024

Above: Assistant Professor of Geology & Geophysics Chad Ostrander stands in front of the Elisabeth Mann Borgese research vessel.

Human activities account for a substantial amount — anywhere from 20% to more than 60% — of toxic thallium that has entered the Baltic Sea over the past 80 years, according to new research by scientists affiliated with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and other institutions.

Chad Ostrander, lead author of the study, preparing a short sediment core collected from the East Gotland Basin during the investigation. - Credit: Colleen Hansel, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Currently, the amount of thallium (element symbol TI), which is considered the most toxic metal for mammals, remains low in Baltic seawater. However, the research, using stable isotope analysis, suggests that the amount of thallium could increase due to further anthropogenic, or human induced, activities, or due to natural or human re-oxygenation of the Baltic that could make the sea less sulfide rich. Much of the thallium in the Baltic Sea, the largest human-induced hypoxic area on Earth, accumulates in the sediment thanks to abundant sulfide minerals.

“Anthropogenic activities release considerable amounts of toxic thallium annually. This study evidences an increase in the amount of thallium delivered by anthropogenic sources to the Baltic Sea since approximately 1947,” according to the journal article, “Anthropogenic forcing of the Baltic Sea thallium cycle,” published in Environmental Science & Technology.

“Humans are releasing a lot of thallium into the Baltic Sea, and people should be made aware of that. If this continues — or if we further change the chemistry of the Baltic Sea in the future or if it naturally changes — then more thallium could accumulate. That would be of concern because of its toxicity,” said Chadlin Ostrander lead author of the article which he conducted as a postdoctoral investigator in WHOI’s Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry. Currently, he is an assistant professor in the Department of Geology & Geophysics at the University of Utah.

For the study, the researchers set out to better understand how thallium and its two stable isotopes 203Tl and 205Tl are cycled in the Baltic Sea. To discern modern thallium cycling, concentration and isotope ratio data were collected from seawater and shallow sediment core samples. To reconstruct thallium cycling further back in time, the researchers supplemented their short core samples with a longer sediment core that had been collected earlier near one of the deepest parts of the sea. They found Baltic seawater to be considerably more enriched in Tl than predicted. This enrichment started around 1940 to 1947 according to the longer sediment core.

Read the full press release from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution here.

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U Atmospheric Scientists Team Up for $4.8M Snowfall Research Project

May 6, 2024

U atmospheric scientists team up for $4.8M snowfall research project

May 6, 2024
Above: Atmospheric Sciences Professor and Storm Peak Laboratory Director Gannet Hallar and students on the roof of Storm Peak Lab. Photo credit: Melissa Dobbins.

The S2noCliME Field Campaign aims to better predict snowfall processes that are critical to water supply in the Intermountain West

 

 

Gannet Hallar stands with a cloud imaging probe, which will measure the size and shape of ice particles in clouds during the field campaign. Photo credit: Melissa Dobbins.

In a new $4.8 million research project funded by the National Science Foundation, faculty from the University of Utah are partnering with lead investigators from the University of Michigan and other universities to better understand how snowfall processes are impacted by complex mountainous terrain. The multi-institutional team will conduct the Snow Sensitivity to Clouds in a Mountain Environment (S2noCliME) Field Campaign during the 2024-2025 winter season in northwest Colorado's Park Range, centered on the U's unique research station, Storm Peak Laboratory.

The Intermountain West is experiencing warmer, drier conditions and declines in snowpack due to climate change, putting communities, water resources, industries like skiing, and sensitive ecosystems at heightened risk. Accurate prediction of future snowfall accumulation in mountains is critical but challenged by the variable effects terrain has on precipitation patterns.

"Mountain snowpack is a vital source of water for communities across the western states," said Jay Mace, U professor of atmospheric sciences and a lead on the remote sensing components of the field campaign. "By deploying an integrated network of ground-based, airborne and satellite instruments, we can gain valuable insights into the chain of processes shaping snowfall, from large weather systems down to the microscale."

The U’s Storm Peak Laboratory, a premier high-elevation atmospheric monitoring station in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, will play a central role. During the upcoming winter season, the field site will host multiple radar systems, precipitation sensors, cloud particle imagers and other specialized instrumentation provided by the U and partner institutions. 

Claire Pettersen, an assistant professor of climate and space sciences and engineering at the University of Michigan, is the principal investigator of the project, leading the deployment of snow sensing equipment and multi-wavelength remote sensors at the midmountain site. We hope that our catalog will ultimately improve winter storm forecasts and tell western cities when to expect a drought because of insufficient snowpack,” said Pettersen.

The coordinated deployment brings together more than 30 cutting-edge instruments from five research universities. It aims to collect an unparalleled dataset documenting the impacts of orographic effects on snowfall from the broadest atmospheric scales down through the cloud microphysics. By pairing measurements of snowflake size and shape with radar measurements of clouds, the researchers will build a large catalog of data showing how storm systems change as they move over mountains, which will improve forecasts of snowfall and snowpack in these areas.

"This campaign gives us a rare opportunity to integrate specialized radars, balloon measurements, surface instrumentation and more into one cohesive study of snowfall formation processes over mountains," said Atmospheric Sciences Professor Gannet Hallar, director of Storm Peak Laboratory and co-investigator of the S2noCliME project. "The impacts of declining snowpack are far-reaching for the economy and way of life in the West. This combined data will help advance our models and predictive capabilities."

The S2noCliME project also includes scientists from the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Colorado State University and Stony Brook University. 

Read the announcement from the University of Michigan here.

By Bianca Lyon

Outstanding Undergrad Research Awards 2024

May 3, 2024

Outstanding Undergrad Research Awards 2024

April, 2024
Above: Student recipients at the 2024 OUR Awards Ceremony

The University of Utah is one of the top research academic institutions in the Intermountain West, and it’s thanks in major part to the U’s undergraduate student researchers and the faculty who advise and mentor them.

Some of the university’s up-and-coming researchers and mentors were honored at the 2024 Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) Awards, held virtually on April 1.

Every year, OUR recognizes one undergraduate student researcher from each college/school with the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award, according to the office’s website. Partnering colleges and schools are responsible for selecting the awardee.

This year, 18 undergraduate researchers were honored with the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award, two of them from the College of Science / College of Mines & Earth Sciences:

Autumn Hartley (Mentor: Professor Sarah Lambart)

Dua Azhar (Mentor: Professor Sophie Caron)

Autumn Hartley

Autumn Hartley (she/they) is also a College of Science ambassador and has a passion for science and learning as geology and geophysics major. Originally from Midway, Utah, she moved to Salt Lake City when she started school at the U where she became involved in many different organizations including oSTEM, which connects LGBTQ+ students in STEM. Outside of academia, she loves all things artistic. “I’m a writer, graphic designer, and a character designer when I’m not in the lab!” she says.

Dua Azhar

Born and raised a Utahn in Draper, Dua Azhar (she/her) is an honors physics student with a biomedical emphasis. During her undergraduate years here at the U, she says, “I intend to tie my education and research together towards an MD/PhD, in order to specialize in neurology.” Along with the sciences, she love the arts, especially film and photography. “So if you don’t see me in the lab, you’ll most likely see me making something with a camera!”

Opening remarks at the event were made by Associate Dean Annie Fukushima, followed by Provost Mitzi Montoya and VP Research Erin Rothwell. They were followed by the presentation of Undergraduate Research Scholarship recipients which included the 2023 – 2024 recipients of the Francis Family Fund Scholarships, Dee Scholarship, and Parent Fund Scholarship.

The Monson Essay Prize winner, Pablo Cruz-Ayala, was then acknowledged followed by the 18 OUR & Research Mentor Awards by college.

At the ceremony event, award recipients were able to thank their mentors, family and others for their support.

More information and criteria for both awards can be found on the OUR’s website Watch video of OUR awards 2024 program below:

Environmental refuges to escape the heat

May 1, 2024

Environmental refuges to escape the heat

May 1, 2024

 

On April 30, the Salt Lake County Health Department’s 2024 Climate & Health Symposium brought together experts, including University of Utah scientists, to talk about how climate change impacts human health.

One speaker was Daniel Mendoza, research assistant professor in atmospheric sciences; adjunct assistant professor in internal medicine; and adjunct assistant professor in City & Metropolitan Planning at the U.

Mendoza presented a case study, titled Environmental refuges during summertime heat and elevated ozone levels: A preliminary case study of an urban “cool zone” building. Mendoza and coauthors measured indoor and outdoor temperature and ozone levels at the Millcreek library, a building designated as a “cool zone” for the public to escape increasingly hostile environment extremes by climate change.

Mendoza spoke with AtTheU about environmental refuges in advance of the event and how cities can better protect vulnerable individuals.

How are heat and health related?

In Utah, we’re very aware of air quality-related health concerns, but we’re not as aware of the dangers of extreme heat. As the climate changes we need to pay attention to elevated temperatures, not only during the day, but also the temperature at night.

There’s lots of attention when we hit record highs, but they obviously happen during the middle of the day where there are many opportunities to seek refuge in venues with air conditioning. We’re generally at work or at school or can go to the store, for example, because these places are open when its hottest. High temperatures during the evening are more insidious—you’re very vulnerable to your environment while you’re sleeping, especially for children, the elderly, or people with chronic health issues. When it’s too hot at night, you’re not recovering at a cellular level. This can cause chronic health issues that for some, can lead to strokes, among other negative effects. We always see an uptick in heat-related illness in the ER during heat waves.

Read the rest of the interview by Lisa Potter in @ The U.