With 19 professors, Mathematics is the largest department at Lafayette, and our faculty have a broad variety of interests. At present there are 30-40 students intending to complete the A.B. or B.S. in Mathematics, or the A.B. Joint Major in Mathematics and Economics, in each year. Consequently mathematics students at Lafayette have the opportunity to study advanced material in small classes with knowledgeable professors. There are several different kinds of settings for such advanced study. Regular advanced courses, seminars and special topics courses are discussed elsewhere on the department's web site.
Independent Study and Honors
Such courses are usually offered at the request of interested students. Independent study courses offered recently have covered statistics, topology, differential equations, geometry, the history of mathematics, Galois theory, transcendental numbers, differential geometry, fluid dynamics and probabilistic models. Recent and current honors theses include the following.
Class of 2007.
A Copula Approach to Valuing Credit Default Obligations (joint with Economics and Business) (Lindsay M. Bryant '07)
Combinatorial Game Theory: Analyzing Games with "Numbers" (Brian G. Kronenthal '07)
A Brief Introduction to the Prime Number Theorem (Frank A. Patane '07)
An Introduction to Hamilton's Ricci Flow on Closed Surfaces and Three-Manifolds with Positive Ricci Curvature (Haotian Wu '07)
Class of 2006.
Hamiltonian Dynamics of a Mechanical Example of Coupled Nonlinear Oscillators (Stacey Altrichter '06)
Space-time interactions from Virasoro and Kac-Moody algebra (joint with Physics) (Ibrahima Bah '06)
A Model of a Vertically-Transmitted Disease with a Delay Due to Partial Immunity (Kari Barkley '06)
A Mathematical Model of a Vertically-Transmitted Disease with a Maturation Delay (Jenna Bratz '06)
The Growth of Paths in Seifert-Weber Dodecahedral Space (Jacob Carson '06)
Topology of the Reflection Poset (Kevin Ehly '06)
The Mathematics Behind the Game of Set (Maureen Jackson '06)
Space Time Block Codes (Ekaterina Jager '06)
Achieving Mutual Cooperation: An Investigation into Prisoner's Dilemma and Other Non-Zero Sum Games (Alex Kadel '06)
Probabilistic Modeling of Biological Sequences (Erica Morabito '06)
Game Theory and a Generalization of Cooperative Games (Brian Regan '06)
Lagrangian Vortex/Impulse Method Applied to a Sunfish (Gregory P. Rodebaugh '06)
Class of 2005.
Convergence of Fourier Series (Prince Chidyagwai '05)
An Introduction to Matroid Theory and Invariants (Gregory Francos '05)
A Binomial Tree Approach to Price Callable Convertible Bonds (Usman Khan '05)
Algorithms for Recursively Generating Ortho-projections (Robert McEwen '05)
The Poisson Point Process and Applications (Trent Mohney '05)
The Unilateral Shift Operator (Kevin Penderghest '05)
Newton's Method with Stochastic Perturbations of the First Derivative (Blerta Shtylla '05)
Stock Portfolio Continuous Trading Strategies by Simulation (Katharine Wolchik '05)
Classes of 2000-04.
The Markowitz Model, Transaction Costs, and Utility Functions in the Theory of Financial Decision Making (Carrie Abildgaard '04)
Isometries and Wallpaper Groups (Elisabeth Edwards '04)
An Econometric Location and Gate Revenue Model for the National Football League (Douglas Schiz '04)
An Enhanced Approach to Network Reliability Using Boolean Algebra (Alexandru Octavian Balan '03)
The Generalized Riemann Integral (Lazar Nikolic '03)
Knot Theory: The Jones Polynomial and the Knot Group (Timothy A. Fargus '02)
An Introduction to Game Theory and Variations in the Game of Nim (Steven A. DiMauro '02)
Public Key Cryptography and Factoring (Ned Allis '02)
Fractional Derivatives (Bruce Adcock '01)
A Mathematical Model of an Immunological Experiment (Andrew Colton '01)
The Magic Behind the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model (Mark Alan Coslett '01)
The 3x+1 Problem, Generalizations and Visualization (Jeffrey P. Dumont '01)
Dynamical Systems and Chaos (Nicholas Jacobi '01)
Markov Chains: Theory and Applications (Paul Harmon '00)
Research Experiences for Undergraduates
The department has hosted an REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program sponsored by the National Science Foundation for more than ten years. Different professors guide research in different topics each year. Visit http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~math/reu/index.html for information about this program.
In addition, mathematics professors regularly work with undergraduate researchers supported by Lafayette's EXCEL program. Interested students may contact professors of their choice to inquire about such opportunities.
For information about other special academic opportunities at Lafayette including study abroad, the McKelvey Scholars program, and unique course and research programs, see this page.