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Department of Mathematics

 

At Birmingham-Southern College, mathematics is more than just a finished product in a textbook — it’s a process.

You’ll learn to rely on curiosity, critical thinking, and your own inner knowledge to produce important and useful results, and you’ll be pushed to question, analyze, and effectively communicate technical material, all skills the employers of tomorrow are looking for.

Math majors at BSC end up entering a huge range of careers after graduation, from robotics research and running their own software company to analyzing data for industry and assisting with the Ethiopian stock exchange.

Interested? Fill out the form to the right and an admissions representative will follow up with you to start your Hilltop journey.

Chart your course with BSC Math!



 

Why study Math at BSC?

  • Take courses from enthusiastic faculty members that are both theoretical in focus and geared towards applied fields such as engineering or actuarial study.
  • Get experience with hands-on research. For the senior capstone, develop a topic in close consultation with a faculty member, apply what you’ve learned to search for answers, and present your solutions at either a professional conference or to the campus community.
  • Spend our unique January Exploration Term working on research, tackling an internship, or taking courses like Baseball Statistics, Casino Math, and Infectious Disease Modeling.
  • Work in the Olin building, where students have access to two computer labs and two recently-created computer classrooms where each student has access to both traditional desk space and a new flat-panel PC.
  • Have opportunities to work on math outside the classroom, whether it’s tutoring in the Math Lab or joining the college’s Math Jeopardy! Team, which recently won its regional competition.
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    Vision Statement

    We, the mathematics faculty of Birmingham Southern College, seek to establish an interactive learning environment for all students through investigative explorations, collaborative projects and undergraduate research. In this endeavor we will actively pursue current advances in the areas of technology and mathematical pedagogy. Through interdisciplinary conversations with colleagues and community involvement we seek to prepare students for future development and studies.

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    Success Stories

    Math is a portal to any number of careers. Many BSC mathematics majors go on to medical, dental, or law school, or graduate studies in mathematics, engineering, computer science, biostatistics, finance, and business administration. Others head right into careers in actuarial studies and education or end up with employers such as NASA, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Alabama Power, and many others.

    Just a few examples:

    • High school mathematics teacher
    • Actuary
    • Banking and finance professionals
    • Data analysts
    • Flight director for NASA
    • Dual-degree student at cooperating school of engineering
    • AmeriCorps fellow
    • Teach for America fellow
    • Major League pitcher

    Vishva Subramaniam '15 vishva_subramaniam_photo.jpg
    I rank my time with the Department of Mathematics at Birmingham-Southern as one of the most formative periods of my life. The departmental faculty was outstanding – in addition to fostering a solid understanding of theoretical content, they also ingrained an emphasis on versatility such that our skill set can be translated into a cross-disciplinary platform. Their emphasis on communication has also been salient as students not only gain the ability to conduct effective analysis, but also have the capacity to convey results in a clear and concise manner. Abilities as above have proven to be of great use in my current posting as a Research Assistant at the World Trade Organization (WTO), a trade-oriented intergovernmental body based in Geneva, Switzerland. Here, I help assess international aid flow specifications to provide insights on aid-for-trade effectiveness and reach as to ensure that member countries reap benefits from a multilateral, rules-based trading system. The foundations provided by Birmingham-Southern help me furnish quantitative analyses of development-oriented issues, communicated to various stakeholders in an International Organization context.

    julia_creager_for_mathematics_success_stories_website-1.jpg

    Julia Creager '16
    Quantitative Models Analyst, Cadence Bank
    "When I started at Birmingham-Southern, I was unsure which degree path to choose. After taking several mathematics courses, the subject that I had always struggled with the most became the one that I didn't want to leave. The mathematics department at BSC gave me a true appreciation for mathematics and the method of thought behind it. During my time at BSC, I learned critical thinking skills, determination, and effective communication in problem solving that have all proven valuable in my work with allowance models."

    Erez

    Erez Kaminski '16
    Technology Specialist, Wolfram Research
    Birmingham-Southern's mathematics department didn't just teach me math, they taught me how to think abstractly and solve problems.These two abilities are essential to my day-to-day work. After graduating from 'Southern I was hired to work at Wolfram Research, a world renown scientific computing company. The educational foundation, academic independence, and communication abilities I learned at 'Southern made me into what I am today and will continue to help me throughout my career. 

    Emily Hunter ’05
    City Planner, City of Franklin, Tenn.
    At BSC, I realized there was more to mathematics than analysis and problem-solving.  BSC helped me cultivate my individual set of strengths and interests to apply mathematics in the most meaningful way.  It is the combination of visual arts, effective communication, community involvement, and, of course, mathematics, that has led me to my current career. 

    Ansley Collins ’01, Trajectory Officer, International Space Station  
    “While my job can be stressful and time consuming, I love what I do.  Being on console in the Mission Control Center and working with other flight controllers is the most amazing experience.  It is very rewarding to know that the things I work on each day directly affect ISS, her crew, and NASA’s human spaceflight mission.”

    Auntara De ’02, Senior Actuarial Analyst at  Minnesota Workers' Compensation Insurers Association  
    While I was a first-year mathematics student at BSC, I struggled with my career plans.  Should I pursue a Ph.D., or should I enter the high-tech world of engineering or computer science?  Thanks to a professor’s advice, I was introduced to the actuarial profession, a career that has the best of both worlds.  After graduating, I went to Florida State University for a master’s degree in financial mathematics, and two years later, I found myself in the actuarial department at a workers’ compensation ratemaking firm.

    Today, I spend a lot of time examining data sets, manipulating spreadsheets, and reading actuarial papers and research briefs to understand the risks that face the workers’ compensation industry. I find my job very rewarding. Different duties break up my days—data examination and spreadsheet applications, talking with colleagues to understand a problem, and studying for exams.  Fortunately, my experience at BSC taught me how to articulate mathematical concepts to my peers and professors, independently solve problems, and manage my own time.  I never imagined that my work would encompass such a wide variety of tasks.  As a graduate of BSC, I am truly grateful that I chose an actuarial path for my profession.

    Carrie Alexander Bates ’97, high school math teacher
    For the past 12 years, I have worked as a high school mathematics teacher in Central and North Alabama. As a teacher of mathematics, I obviously use mathematics every day. However, teaching mathematics to adolescents and young adults sure does keep me on my toes! My experience teaching mathematics has taught me that it is more than just numbers, operations and computations. There is a conceptual understanding that must develop along with computational skills in order for students to truly make sense of mathematics. This type of teaching, where students are given time and tools to develop mathematical meaning for themselves, is uncommon and difficult. 

    Usually, high school students do not like thinking about why something is or is not true mathematically because they haven’t had much practice with it throughout their mathematical careers.  They are more comfortable just trusting the teacher and memorizing a procedure for getting a correct answer.  High school teachers are typically uncomfortable with a more student-directed approach to teaching because it takes a lot of time which is very valuable!  It has taken me 12 years to learn how to implement a more student-directed approach to teaching, and I’m sure that the next 12 years of my career will teach me even more!  The mathematics classroom is a much more interesting place when the students are investigating and questioning mathematics rather than just listening to a teacher!

    Isaac Dooley ’04, software engineer  
    After graduating from Birmingham-Southern, I moved to Champaign, Ill., to pursue a doctorate in computer science at the University of Illinois.  My research while in graduate school involved making it easier to create high-performance parallel programs that run on the world’s largest supercomputers.  These supercomputers are used to perform numerical scientific simulations of all scales from the quantum structures of molecules to the gravitational interactions between millions of galaxies. 

    After completing my Ph.D., I was hired to work as a software engineer at Two Sigma Investments in New York City.  Two Sigma leverages various proprietary technologies to manage investments.
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    Faculty

     


    Douglas Riley  (Associate Professor of Mathematics )Functional analysis, numerical analysis. Douglas Riley

    I was born in South Dakota, moved to North Dakota as an infant (where, according to my father, "The wind blows so hard it makes your hair hurt"), and have spent the rest of my life trying to move south. The first stop on my trip south was Greencastle, Indiana where I grew up and also attended college at DePauw University. At DePauw, I double majored in Mathematics and Computer Science, worked as a tutor in DePauw's version of the Quantitative Reasoning Center, and spent too much time goofing off. I also happened to meet Sheryl Teeguarden (yes…her last name was spelled that way)

    After college, I spent two years working for Allison Transmission Division of General Motors as a Systems Analyst for the Marketing Department (I still don't know what the title meant). I also started to date Sheryl at this time and life was good. Yet I missed academia, and mathematics in particular, so I decided to go back to school and give up the hefty (at that time) salary that I was earning at GM. I quit my job, got married, bought my first home, started graduate school, and moved to Lexington, Kentucky, all in August of 1993. I loved my time in the UK and spent a total of six years in Lexington getting my PhD in Mathematics. (I probably could have finished my degree earlier, but I learned how to play Bridge and it's much more tempting to play Bridge than to do mathematical research, although mathematical research is also fun.)

    I continued my trek south with the move to Birmingham and started at Birmingham-Southern College in the fall of 1999. Since that time I have had three children, Amanda, Eliza, and Ivan, with no plans for any more. I continue to play Bridge, although it is more difficult to find time with three children, and life is good. I enjoy teaching and am blessed with wonderful colleagues. I have adapted well to living in the south, and enjoy the weather (no more snow for me!). Although I still don't really understand the importance placed on college football and have refrained from becoming a fan of either Alabama or Auburn, I can accept this oddity. Birmingham and BSC are both lovely places to live and work and I feel blessed to be able to call them both Home. Email:[email protected]

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    Math Lab

    Olin 103

    The Math Lab is a peer-to-peer tutoring service located in Olin 103. Walk-in tutoring is available for all math courses numbered 310 and below. The Math Lab operates on Sundays from 2 to 5 pm and on Mondays through Thursdays from 8 to 10 am and 6 to 8 pm.  If additional hours or virtual tutoring are needed, email a tutor directly. 

    To use the tutoring services most effectively, work on homework, reviews, and notes ahead of time. Mark any questions you have and bring your notes and work to the tutoring session. Tutors do not work through every problem with you or teach material from a missed class. Instead they work with you to improve your logic and reasoning skills, helping you with specific mathematical concepts along the way.  

    The Mathematics faculty hopes the Lab will help you in your study of mathematics, and we encourage you to talk with one of us if you have any questions. 

    Sarah Rupright
    Visiting Assistant Lecturer of Mathematics
    [email protected]
    Olin 108