Author: tlofaro

Students from the MCS Department travelled to Spain and France with the Gustavus Wind Orchestra to perform 6 concerts from Valencia to Paris.  Tom LoFaro, Chair of the MCS Department, travelled and performed with the Orchestra where he narrated Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland. The Orchestra will have its final two concerts of their later this…

Professor Ken Ono of the University of Virginia wears many hats. He is the Thomas Jefferson Professor of Mathematics, Chair of the Mathematics Department, and mathematical consultant to the UVA swim team. What? The linked video highlights this remarkable collaboration and how it helped one UVA swimmer reach her Olympic goal. So what does this…

The MCS Department is excited to welcome Ella Burnham to the department. Ella is a statistician who earned her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska in 2021. Her research interests lie in studying statistics education, with a specific emphasis on how to teach introductory courses most effectively. Ella is a native of Spencer, Iowa who…

  Tom LoFaro and Jeff Ford have completed their textbook Discovering Dynamical Systems Through Experiment and Inquiry.  The book is published by CRC Press and is available through most on-line booksellers. The book provides an introduction to discrete dynamical systems using Inquiry-based Learning or IBL for short.  As the title of the book suggests, students are led…

We often get asked “what can I do with a math major.” Well here is an answer I’ve never thought of before: “You can write for Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show.” Chloe Radcliffe (12) recently joined the Tonight Show as a comedy writer. Read more about this in City Pages.

Most of you have probably not heard of Professor Richard Askey, Professor at Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin, who passed away this fall. But every student who has passed through the MCS Department knows the bronze bust of Srinivasa Ramanujan sculpted by Paul Granlund that proudly adorns our lobby. Richard Askey was the driving…

The biopic “The Man Who Knew Infinity” opened in theaters this past weekend.  It tells the remarkable story of Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (played by Dev Patel) and his friendship with British mathematician G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons). The film is based on the book of the same name by Robert Kanigel. The mathematical consultant for…

Each year in early February the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP) conducts the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM), “an international contest for high school students and college undergraduates. It challenges teams of students to clarify, analyze, and propose solutions to open-ended problems.” This year’s team from Gustavus Adolphus College with members Zachary Brown,…

Gustavus Art Professor Lois Peterson has gifted the MCS department the painting titled Proof (a portion of which is shown here) to celebrate the many years of friendship between her and the department. For seven years, Professor Peterson has taught her courses on the third floor of Olin Hall and has maintained her office along side…