Math Department News and Notes

• Colloquium Schedule
• Pi Mu Epsilon Honor Society

Recent News and Events

Class of 2025 Math Alum Wins Fulbright US Student Award

A resident of Massapequa Park, NY, Jocelyn Bunster majored in Mathematics with Adolescent Education as a member of the Edgar Fellows Honors Program. After her Fulbright year, she will complete her New York State teacher certification and then earn a master's degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), allowing her to better meet her diverse students' needs. Her desire to become an ETA stems from a study abroad experience, where she volunteered to teach high school English in Italy and found an interest in language learning.

Bunster looks forward to immersing herself in the rich Czech culture and its long history in mathematics. "At Geneseo, I completed a capstone project focused on topology, a field with major contributions made by Eduard Čech, a famous Czech mathematician," she says. "Exploring a country where groundbreaking advancements have been made in mathematics was a significant motivator for my application, as well as strengthening my ability to teach what many consider the world's most challenging language, math."

Math Alum Presents on Math Education for D/deaf Students

The SUNY Geneseo student chapter of AWM, the Association, for Women in Mathematics, organized and hosted a guest speaker event focused on Math Education for D/deaf Students. The talk was led by Carolyn Cronauer, a 2009 graduate of SUNY Geneseo (BA in Mathematics with Adolescence Certification (7-12)), now a high school mathematics teacher at the Rochester School for the Deaf and an advocate for inclusive math instruction. The event, was open to all students and faculty, and it served as both a professional development opportunity and a platform for raising awareness about accessibility in STEM education. The presentation explored the intersection of mathematics education and American Sign Language (ASL), offering students a unique perspective on how math is communicated in the D/deaf community. Attendees learned about the challenges D/deaf students face in math classrooms, the strategies educators can use to create inclusive environments, and how certain math terms and concepts are expressed in ASL. The session included interactive elements, such as ASL demonstrations for mathematical operations (e.g., addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), and a discussion of how to make math instruction more accessible. By inviting a local educator who bridges math, language, and accessibility, they created an opportunity for students, especially those preparing for careers in teaching, research, or graduate study, to consider applications of equity and inclusion in their future work. It also empowered participants with tools to become more thoughtful and inclusive educators and professionals.

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Professor Ahmad Almomani receives the 2023 Campus Sustainability Leadership Award

Dr. Almomani was honored for his work related to sustainability, and it is exciting to see him continuing to have a positive impact on sustainability and students' experience with sustainability.  Dr. Almomani is at the forefront of innovative curriculum development including courses like Math for Sustainability and Sustainability for Optimization.  And his research projects with students have generated opportunities for demonstrated change on a variety of projects including, but not limited to: a new design for compost bucket, virtual farm optimization method, rainwater harvesting on campus, the modeling of implication of edible cutlery at SUNY Geneseo, and particle swarm and filter method optimization for electric vehicles. He is always looking to contribute to the Geneseo community and deepen his knowledge and understanding as demonstrated by his past service as co-chair for the President's Commission on Sustainability, participation in the Design Thinking Workshops, and engagement in the "Why should sustainability be a part of what we teach?" workshops series.

 

Gary Towsley receives 2023 MAA Meritorious Service Award

Gary Towsley is Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus at SUNY Geneseo. He retired in June 2020 after teaching at Geneseo for 45 years. He earned a B.S. in Mathematics from Case Institute of Technology, an M.S. and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Rochester. His dissertation was in the area of Compact Riemann Surfaces. While at Geneseo he taught a range of courses in mathematics. He also taught many interdisciplinary courses with faculty from other departments at the college. The most notable of these courses was Poetry and Cosmology in the Middle Ages, he taught with Professor Ronald Herzman of the English department. This course was offered 17 times. He received the Seaway Sections Clarence Stephens Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award from the MAA. He has been a member of the Seaway Section for a long time and has enjoyed, (except for rewriting the by-laws), working in and for the section in many different roles.

“I am deeply honored to receive this award knowing what the past recipients have brought to the Seaway Section. The section has been one of the centers of my mathematical career and service to the section has never really felt like work," Towsley says.

 

Professor Ahmad Almomani receives the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching

Recipients of the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, instituted by State University of New York chancellor Ernest L. Boyer in 1973, have demonstrated outstanding teaching ability through superb classroom performance. They are scholars who bring to their classes broad academic interests, rigorous and innovative teaching methodology, and current, far-reaching knowledge. Their concern for students is evidenced by the individual attention they accord each student and by their commitment to helping students to enhance their scholarly and creative abilities and to attain academic excellence.

 

 

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Donald House receives the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching

The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching recognizes consistently superior teaching at the graduate, undergraduate, or professional level in keeping with the State University’s commitment to providing its students with instruction of the highest quality.

 

 

Student Honored with SUNY Chancellor's Award Luis Yanez Zamora received the 2022 Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence! Luis is a physics and mathematics double major from East Hampton, NY. As a first-generation student, he is a McNair Scholar and a Presidential Scholar, and he serves as the vice-chair of the Student Association Academic Affairs Committee. Luis tutors math and physics students while engaging in campus governance and other organizations. His academic interests involve research on black holes, the production of gravitational waves, and general relativity. Luis's post-graduation plans are to pursue a PhD in theoretical astrophysics. Congratulations Luis!

Students Inducted into Pi Mu Epsilon On April 25, 2023, three students were inducted into Pi Mu Epsilon, a national mathematics honor society. Congratulations to: Darien Connolly, Andrew Mosbo, and Kevin Rogers Pi Mu Epsilon is dedicated to the promotion of mathematics and the recognition of students who pursue mathematical scholarship and successfully attain mathematical understanding. Each year the Department of Mathematics inducts our best students into this prestigious honor society. More information about Pi Mu Epsilon can be found here.

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Professor Almomani Recognized for Campus Sustainability Efforts Dr. Almomani received honorable mention for the Campus Sustainability Awards that recognize outstanding commitment by students, faculty, staff, and student organizations to enhance the three pillars of sustainability on the Geneseo campus: social sustainability, economic sustainability, and environmental sustainability. The awards are to recognize and celebrate the hard work of community members, which often goes unnoticed, as we strive for a campus that is socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable for generations to come. Dr. Almomani’s nomination reads: "Dr. Almomani is a faculty member in the Mathematics Department and has served as the President’s Sustainability Commission Co-Chair for the past 2 years. He has completely shifted a number of his course curricula to address sustainability challenges, including creating an entirely new course called 'Math for Sustainability' that has been approved through the College Senate. He runs directed studies each semester and year that are specifically aimed at utilizing mathematics in order to solve sustainability challenges on Geneseo’s campus, including rainwater harvesting, efficiency in compost buckets, and more. He has a strong focus on regenerative practices and responsibility and is always looking for new ways to make sustainability work on Geneseo’s campus."