Undergraduate Research
Undergraduate Research is an important requirement for the Bachelor of Science in Mathematics degree. Most students complete their research under the direction of Seattle University mathematics faculty. However, students can choose to do an off-campus Research Experience for Undergraduates sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Below is a partial list of SU faculty advisors along with the students they have directed and the titles of their undergraduate research projects.
Dr. Jeff Boersema
Student Projects:
- "Power Series for Square Matrices," with Allie Dykes, 2009-2010
- "Trigonometric Functions of Square Matrices," with Jennifer Kling, 2004-2005
Dr. John Carter
Student Projects:
- "Stability of solutions to the Whitman equation," with Keri Kodama and Nathan Sanford, 2011-present
- "The role of initial phases in numerical simulations of mathematical models of waves on deep water," with Charles Stoll 2010-2011.
- "Three-way higher-order operator splitting techniques," with Hao Nguyen, 2009-2010
- "Mathematical models of waves on shallow water," with Natalie Sheils, 2008-2010
- "Stability of plane-wave solutions to a dissipative generalization of the vector nonlinear Schrödinger equation," with Wilhelmina Chik, 2007-2009
- "Stability of trivial-phase solutions to a class of nonlinear partial differential equations," with Eddie Feeley, 2006-2008
- "Stability of nontrivial-phase solutions of the two-dimensional cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation," with Leland Jefferis, 2006-2008
- "Mathematical models of the evolution of surface waves on deep water," with Crystal Lee, 2006-2007
- "Stability of plane-wave solutions of a dissipative generalization of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation," with Cynthia Contreras, 2005-2006
- "Stability of plane waves on deep water with dissipation," with Nathan Canney, 2003-2006
- "Stability of Jacobi elliptic function solutions to the one-dimensional cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation," with Mona Usmani, 2005-2006
- "Stability of solutions to nonlinear partial differential equations," with William Whitwell, 2004-2005
- "'Water waves: comparisons between mathematical predictions and physical experiments," with Erin Hunt, 2002-2004
Dr. Jeff DiFranco
Student Projects:
- "Numerical analysis of the modified NLS equation," with Jordan Maier, 2010-2011
- "Random Matrix Theory in Finance," with Jason Foster, 2008-2010
- "Numerical analysis of the NLS equation with discontinuous initial data," with David Prigge, 2008-2010
Dr. Shusen Ding
Student Projects:
- "A linear regression of red blood count," with Alisa Yamarat, 2007-2008
- "Two-weight Poincare inequalities for differential forms in averaging domains," with Philip Opperman, 2004-2006
- "Properties of L^s(\mu)-averaging domains," with David Saunders, 2003-2004
- "Statistical Analysis on the effect of medicine," with Toana Kawashima, 2000-2001
Dr. Brian Fischer
Student Projects:
- "Simulating Evolution of Tyto Alba Processing using Bayesian Natural Selection," with Derrik Hanson, 2011-2012
Dr. Dylan Helliwell
Student Projects:
- "Taxicab Conics," with Emily Frost, 2011-2012
- "Generalized Conic Sections," with Everett Sullivan, 2010-2012
- "Taxicab Geometry," with Jade Gan 2007-2008
Dr. Allison Henrich
Student Projects:
- "Pseudoknots," with Christopher Cericola, Brandi Fleming, and Lee Johnson, 2012-present
- "Knot Games," with Kia Braha, Aaron Klingensmith, and Everett Sullivan, 2010-2012
Dr. Mark MacLean
Student Projects:
- “Infinite classes of non-divisor graphs,” with Libby Graff, 2008-2009
- “Trees whose complements are divisor graphs,” with Elizabeth Dick, 2006-2007
- “A revisiting of Escher tilings,” with Leland Jefferis, 2005-2006
Dr. Janet Mills
Student Projects:
- "Inverse Semigroup of Partial Symmetries of a Regular Polygon," with Thomas Shelly, 2005-2006
Dr. David Neel
Student Projects:
- "Characterizing Modularly Contractable GF(q) Representable Matroids," with Timothy Carstens, 2005-2008
- "Linear Complexity of Distance-Regular and Distance-Transitive Graphs," with Thomas Shelly, 2006-2007
Dr. Katie Oliveras
Student Projects:
- "Stability of Purely Capillary Waves," with Erica Yoshimoto, 2011-present
Dr. Leanne Robertson
Student Projects:
- "Power Integral Bases for prime Cyclotomic Fields," with Renee Russell, 2011-Present
- "Monogenic Number Fields," with Michael Gehlke, 2009-2010
- "Coprime Mappings and Prime Trees," with Benjamin Small, 2007-2009
Dr. J. McLean Sloughter
Student Projects:
- "Calculus Oral Reviews Program Assessment," with Maria Principe, 2012-present
- "Spatial Modeling of Jeffrey Pine Beetle Infestations," with Patrick Trainor, 2010-2012
- "Statistical Predictors of Maternal Mortality in Latin America," with Anja Tjaden, 2010-2011
Dr. Sandra Spiroff
Student Projects:
- "Five Point Zero Divisor Graphs," with Justin Williams, 2006-2007
Dr. Donna Sylvester
Student Projects:
- "Locating Transmission Eigenvalues," with Michelle Nuzman, 2009-2011
- "Transmission Eigenvalues," with Nicole Brown, 2008-2009
- "The Answer Isn’t So Sheer as the Shear Strength Goes to Zero: Fluids Cannot Be Bent," with Dr. Robert Odom and Caitlin McHugh, 2005-2006
- "Developing and Comparing Numerical Methods of Computing the Inverse Fourier Transform," with Edgar Lobaton, 2003-2004
- "Discrete Transmission Line Modeling," with Rachelle Fletcher, 2002-2003