Three faculty and an alumna participated in the 2025 MathFest, a national meeting of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) in Sacramento, CA from August 6–10. Professor and Duncan Chair of Mathematics Fumiko Futamura presented “Linear Algebra Class Projects to Research Projects.” Professor and Garey Chair of Mathematics Alison Marr presented “Trying, Flailing, Tweaking, Succeeding: A Grading Journey” and served on a Project NExT panel titled “Navigating the Shifting Tides of Academia in 2025.” Associate Professor of Mathematics Therese Shelton presented “Cholera Models with Pathogen Growth for Student Engagement in Undergraduate Differential Equations and Beyond.” She also co-organized the contributed paper session, “In the Real with Applications of Differential Equations for Learning,” jointly sponsored by SIMIODE and CODEE. Futamura, Marr, and Shelton also each provided professional service in monitoring MAA minicourses. Mathematics and computer science graduate Emma Kathryn Groves ’17 was a co-author on a presentation “Assigning Interconnected Projects in a Dynamical Systems Course.” She also co-organized the contributed paper session “From Theory to Practice – Applying Literature-Based Teaching Practices in the Real Classroom.” Dr. Groves achieved her Ph.D. in 2023 and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY.

Three faculty and an alumnus participated in the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle, WA from January 8-12. Associate Professor of Mathematics John Ross presented “Fast-flipping a Calculus 3 Class using AI help” in the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Contributed Paper Session on “Using AI in Mathematics Instruction.” This was sponsored by the MAA special interest group on artificial intelligence. Professor and Garey Chair of Mathematics Alison Marr served on a panel to talk about the Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) Summer Program (edgeforwomen.org). The panel was sponsored by IGEN, the Inclusive Graduate Education Network, which is a part of the National Science Foundation’s INCLUDES alliance: Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science. Marr has been Co-Director of the EDGE Summer Program since 2020. Associate Professor of Mathematics Therese Shelton presented “ODEs and the Flu” in the American Mathematical Society (AMS) Special Session on “Modeling Matters in Teaching and Learning Differential Equations,” sponsored by SIMIODE. Computational mathematics and psychology alumna Daniela Beckelhymer ’20 co-organized the AMS Special Session on “Math Research Community Climate Science at the Interface between Topological Data Analysis and Dynamical Systems Theory.” Beckelhymer has completed the M.S. in Mathematics and is working towards a Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Minnesota.

The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science had a good showing at the Texas Undergraduate Mathematics Conference (TUMC) at the University of Texas at Tyler on November 9. Six mathematics majors presented preliminary work on their mathematics capstone projects under the supervision of Associate Professor of Mathematics Therese Shelton. Yasmine Soto ’25 presented “Spinning Stories: A Mathematical Model of Rumor Dynamics.” Christopher Garza ’25 and Leo Schoch-Spana ’25 presented “Developing Models for Lung Cancer in the United States.” Assistant Professor of Instruction in Statistics Jean Remy Habimana is a statistics consultant on the project and Professor of Mathematics Fumiko Futamura is a consultant on the software implementation. Isabella Robinson ’25 presented “Modeling Monarch Butterfly Populations.” Cole Thomson ’25 presented “Analysis of Music retention and popularity on Billboard’s 100.” Jadyn Rhodes-Cruse ’25 presented “Comparing Maternal Mortality.” Shelton and Associate Professor of Mathematics John Ross attended and helped the group of students. Ross also co-led sessions in the Mathematical Association of America’s (MAA) Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) program, providing support for faculty in their first few years of teaching. Biochemistry major Daisy Orozco ’27 also attended.

Mathematics and biochemistry major Brian Armijo ’25 presented “A Hidden Markov Model for Parkinson’s Disease Progression” at the Texas-Louisiana Section Meeting of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). His poster presents preliminary work on his mathematics capstone under the supervision of Associate Professor of Mathematics Therese Shelton. Armijo is also a Dixon Scholar and Southwestern’s first Goldwater Scholar in 30 years.

Four faculty members were active at MathFest, the national meeting of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), on August 7-11, in Indianapolis, IN. Associate Professor of Mathematics John Ross presented “Turning a Geometry Project into a Geometry Festival” in the contributed paper session on “Building Community in Mathematics Departments.” Professor and Garey Chair of Mathematics Alison Marr presented “Difference Distance Magic Oriented Graphs” in the MAA invited paper session (aligned with an MAA invited address) on “Matching and Labelings in Graphs.” Marr also served on the panel “Creating Successful Study Abroad Programs in Mathematics” to discuss the mathematics courses she offered as part of Southwestern’s London program. Professor and Lord Chair of Mathematics Fumiko Futamura co-led a workshop, “Geometric Puzzles and Brain Teasers in Perspective Art,” with Annalisa Crannell of Franklin & Marshall College and Marc Frantz of Indiana University. This was sponsored by the MAA special interest group “Mathematics and the Arts.” Associate Professor of Mathematics Therese Shelton presented “Student Modeling Projects in Sports” in the contributed paper session on “Math and Sports.” She also co-organized the contributed paper session “Differential Equations Student Activities and Projects, Big and Small” with Brian Winkel of SIMIODE, Rosemary Farley and Patrice Tiffany of Manhattan College, and Pushpi Paranamana of St. Mary’s College.