Advanced Summer Camp for students age 11-14
who show high promise and love mathematics

Faculty 2010


The following are the instructors at MathPath 2010, listed in alphabetical order.
Andrew Beveridge
Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Macalester College, St Paul MN

A dedicated teacher, Professor Beveridge delights in sharing the thrill of mathematical discovery with his students. In his research, he is interested in random processes on graphs. He studies random walks on graphs as well as structures generated via random processes. He enjoys thinking about problems inspired by massive real world networks, such as the internet. Outside of mathematics, he likes hiking, board games and playing volleyball.
Glen Van Brummelen
Quest University, British Columbia, Canada

Distinguished mathematical historian, with special expertise in Islamic mathematics and astronomy, and past president of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics, Professor Van Brummelen returns to his seventh year at MathPath. He is author of The Mathematics of the Heavens and the Earth: The Early History of Trigonometry.
Silva Chang
Lecturer, Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Colorado at Boulder
As director of the Colorado Math Circle, coach of the Colorado ARML Team, and five-time coach of the Colorado MATHCOUNTS Team, Ms. Chang has mentored and taught MOSP attendees, USAMO qualifiers, and state MATHCOUNTS champions. Her son is a former MathPath participant and daughter a former MathPath counselor. Ms. Chang taught a mathematical origami course last year and is looking forward to returning to MathPath this summer.
John H. Conway
John von Neumann Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University
Conway is one of the great creative thinkers of our time and a master of mathematics communication with mathematical audiences at all levels. Conway originally suggested the name MathPath as fitting a national program for the very young students beginning their journey on the mathematical path. Conway will be present for the first week and give the kick-off lecture.
Thomas Drucker
Department of Mathematics, Univ. of Wisconsin at Whitewater
An expert in the history and philosophy of mathematics, Drucker has contributed to and edited books and journals on the use of history in the classroom. He speaks about this and related issues in Europe and North America. He is also current president of the Wisconsin Association of Scholars. In addition, he plays a mean table tennis game, and is the man to beat when students are competing in the tournaments he organizes. Professor Drucker returns to his seventh summer at MathPath.
Kristina C. Garrett
Dept. of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, St. Olaf College, Northfield MN
Professor Garrett enjoys sharing her mathematical interests with students of all ages. She has been a frequent speaker at the University of Minnesota's summer program for middle school students and adviser for several award winning undergraduate research papers and presentations. She has recently taught a Number Theory course in Budapest, Hungary and enjoys the opportunity to meet and to work with mathematicians from around the world. Her research interests include partition theory, q-series and tableaux theory.
Thomas Halverson
Professor of Mathematics, Macalester College, St Paul MN
Professor Halverson studies abstract algebra by creating hands-on models using things like braids, tangles, permutations, partitions, graphs, stacks of boxes, and rook placements. He has taught middle school courses in computer organization, from binary numbers to disassembling and reassembling a computer.


Alan Lippert
Mathematics Teacher and Math Team Coach, retired first from IBM and then from Lakeside Middle School, Seattle, WA

Academic Director of MathPath 2003-2005, with long experience in training highly gifted middle school students for MATHCOUNTS competitions, and with national and regional winners to his credit, Mr. Lippert now gives practice courses and advice for national and regional MATHCOUNTS competitions. But at MathPath he is probably most famous for his daily Problem of the Day and for the great puzzles he gives out as prizes.
Stephen Maurer
Professor of Mathematics, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore PA

Professor Maurer is former Chair of the American Mathematics Competitions, co-author of "Discrete Algorithmic Mathematics" and "Contest Problem Book IV", and an expert on mathematical writing, in which he will lead the students at MathPath through discussion of their solutions to the Qualifying Test. He also runs MathPath courses on AMC competitions and various fundamental discrete mathematics topics such as mathematical induction. Beyond MathPath and Swarthmore, he has been a participant in several mathematics curriculum projects and is the Editor of the Notes series of the Mathematical Association of America.
Isil Nal
Harmony School of Excellence, Houston TX

Isil Nal is a mathematics teacher and assistant principal at the Harmony School of Excellence in Houston TX. As a math coach at HSE, Mrs. Nal has taught State and National MATHCOUNTS participants, USA(J)MO qualifiers and MOSP attendees. She is a recipient of the MAA's Edyth May Sliffe Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Raytheon MathMovesU Heroes Award.
Wayne Roberts
Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, Macalester College

Author of numerous textbooks and a book on Convex Functions, Wayne chaired the MAA comittee that gave direction to the effort to improve the teaching of calculus in this country. He is best known in Minnesota as the founder and, for twenty-five years, the Director of the Minnesota State High School Mathematics League. Interests outside of mathematics include camping, handball, and woodworking.
Jonathan Rogness
Assistant Professor of Mathematics, University of Minnesota

Professor Rogness loves to make complex mathematical ideas accessible to students of all ages. He is well known for his beautiful mathematical visualizations, including an award-winning video, Möbius Transformations Revealed, which went viral online and has been viewed by nearly two million people. Rogness was recently named the new Director of the University of Minnesota's Mathematics Center for Educational Programs, which runs one of the nation's premier accelerated mathematics programs for middle school students.
Francis Edward Su
Professor of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA
Author of the hugely popular Math Fun Facts website, and awarded prizes by Mathematical Association of America for expository writing (2001 Merten M. Hasse Prize) and distinguished teaching (2004 Henry L. Alder Award). He has a passion for popularizing mathematics and is coach of a Putnam problem-solving group at his college that attracts a remarkable 10 percent of the student body. He enjoys exploring mathematics problems that are motivated from the social sciences. This will be his fourth year at MathPath (4th week).
Amelia Taylor
Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Colorado College
Professor Taylor first visited MathPath in 2007, when she gave a special lecture and workshop on the Game SET.® Her mathematical interests range from polynomials to evolutionary biology, and she gives talks to a wide variety of audiences on a regular basis, including the Colorado Math Circle. In addition to mathematics, Professor Taylor fills her time with rock climbing, skiing, and trail running.

George R. Thomas
Executive Director of MathPath, Founder and Executive Director Emeritus of Canada/USA Mathcamp for mathematically talented high school students
After a short stint of seven years teaching college in South Carolina, Thomas has worked with summer camps he founded. He has taught at these camps since 1993 and is in his ninth year at MathPath. He will lead at least two sessions on geometry, as always, one of them non-Euclidan. He has published journal articles in Extremal Graph Theory and is also a soccer player and an inventor.
Sam Vandervelde
Assistant Professor of Mathematics, St. Lawrence University, Canton NY, and Coordinator of the Mandelbrot Competition
Professor Vandervelde delights in presenting beautiful mathematics in an engaging manner to students of all ages. He is an experienced problem solver and writer, and has spent a number of summers working with middle school students. Aside from math, he enjoys building with Zome Tools, playing soccer, and going rock climbing. He returns to his fifth year at MathPath.
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Last updated June 10, 2010