Math, statistics majors and Elon REU students attend, present at UNCG conference

The 14th Annual Regional Mathematics and Statistics Conference was held at UNC-Greensboro on Nov. 3, 2018.  

Among the 172 attendees were Elon students Jacob Crouse, Aidan Draper, Hanna Noelle Griesbach, Catherine LoGrande, Abigail Phillips and Haley Potter and Associate Professors Laura Taylor and Chad Awtrey.  

Awtrey served as one of the main organizers for the conference. Three students from Elon’s 2018 Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program were also in attendance: Cameron Cinel (University of Southern California), Juan Quiroa (UNCG), and Jacob Zoromski (University of Wisconsin-Madison).

Two Elon students and all three REU students gave presentations that were among the 46 student presentations during the event.  Information on these student presentations is as follows:

• Crouse presented “Comparing Prediction Errors Associated with Data Splitting Methods” and Draper presented “Investigating Image Quality Loss.” They were mentored by Taylor.
• Cinel presented “Extensions of the p-adic Numbers of Degree p^2”, Quiroa presented “Enumeration of Ramification Polygons of Degree p^2”, and Zoromoski presented “Degree mp Extensions of the p-Adic Numbers.” They were mentored by Awtrey along with the other REU mentors: Sebastian Pauli (UNCG), Sandi Rudzinski (UNCG), and Scott Zinzer (Aurora University).

The plenary speaker for the conference was Suzanne Weekes, who currently serves as a professor of Mathematical Sciences at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. She is a co-director of both the PIC Math (Preparation for Industrial Careers in Mathematical Sciences) Program and the MSRI-UP (Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Undergraduate) Program. Both of these national programs aim to increase the number of undergraduate students doing research in the mathematical sciences and the diversity of such students.

In her talk “Mathematical Modeling in Cancer Research,” Weekes addressed the misconception that cancer research is solely the domain of biologists, oncologists, and other physicians and scientists. She explained that mathematicians use modeling and computer simulation to further the understanding of cancer by developing quantitative descriptions of biological theories.  

During her talk, Weekes presented analytical and numerical results of mathematical models that she has used to drive the design of experiments, develop new paradigms, and challenge existing theories.