shelton@southwestern.edu MBH 143

Associate Professor Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Southwestern University Georgetown, TX Phone: (512) 863-1489 or X1489 on campus More contact info and my professional interests

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Office hours generally MW 4pm, TT 10am
First Year Seminar Talkin' Trash, UST05-012 TR 8:30-9:45, MBH 113.
Calculus I, MAT52-154 MWF 1:30-2:50 FWO 324
Calculus III, MAT52-354-01 MWF 11:00-12:20 FWO 208 and 209
Senior Seminar in Mathematical Modeling, MAT52-954 MWF 8:10-9:50 MBH 118
Also see Shelton's Course Info

math career info

Five SU students presented at the 10th annual, TUMC , Texas Undergraduate Mathematics Conference , held this year at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Oct 17-18, 2014. ♦ Heather Gronewald presented "Computing Cophylogenetic Invariants" from the NSF REU at the Summer 2014 Winthrop University, continued as an Independent Study with Dr. Shelton. Gronewald is a double major in Math and English. Four students discussed preliminary results of their math capstone projects: ♦ Matthew Miller presented "Scoring Cardiac Health: A Model of the Relationship between Diet and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease" from a Summer 2014 Internship at the McDevitt Research Group at Rice University, continued in the Math Capstone under Dr. Shelton. Miller is a Computational Math Major. ♦ Robert Lehr presented "Noisy Clustering Analysis of Landfill Distribution." Dr. Anwar Sounny-Slitine taught Lehr GIS techniques. Lehr is a Math major. ♦ Matthew Chaltain presented "Earnings Surprise Effect on Stocks." Chaltain is a double major in Math and Business. Dr. Grooms and Dr. Early in Economics gave valuable guidance and input on this project. ♦ Megan Myers presented "A Place For All People: Planning for Growth in Summer Camp Enrollment." Myers is a double major in Math and Education. Her work is a Civic Engagement Project for Lutherhill Ministries. I supervised these capstone projects and served as the faculty mentor at the conference. Each of these students will present further research in December on campus. ♦ Julia Sykora ,a math major with a Theatre minor, and ♦ Jimmy Alleyn , a Chemistry major, also attended the TUMC. There were 23 other student presentations from twelve other institutions, and approximately 200 student attendees. Funding for TUMC is provided by NSF grant DMS-0846477 through the MAA Regional Undergraduate Mathematics Conferences program, www.maa.org/RUMC. Additional funding for the SU group was provided by Southwestern's HHMI Student Travel Fund and SU's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

I attended MathFest in Portland, OR Aug 6-9, 2014. I presented a contributed paper, "Ensuring Engagement in Math Research," based on many years of supervising undergraduate research. I served as the PME Advisor for our Chapter, served as a judge in the MAA Student Paper Session, and participated in the Minicourse "Instructional Supports for Implementing Inquiry-Oriented Curricula for Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, and Abstract Algebra". My SCOPE students ♦ Danielle King and CJ Payne presented "The Measles Are Coming! The Measles Are Coming!" in the MAA student paper session. ♦ Heather Gronewald presented two papers, including one at a session that is generally reserved for faculty presenters. "A Student's Perspective on Undergraduate Research," was part of a session on "Undergraduate Research in Mathematics: How, When, Why." Gronewald discussed her experiences with a classroom-based semester of applied modeling she did under Shelton, her participation in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, and her participation in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program sponsored by the National Science Foundation. ♦ Gronewald also presented "Computing Cophylogenetic Invariants" in the PME student paper session. This was based on her summer REU experience at Withrop University. ♦ Robert Lehr presented a talk at the PME session based on research he did in Spring 2014 under the direction of President Edward Burger. Their research looked at specific properties of the Fibonacci sequence, and they recognized an interesting pattern when applying a known theorem to the sequence. Their work established this pattern in an explicit algorithm. Lehr?s paper is titled "An Irrational Decomposition of Generalized Fibonacci Numbers." ♦ Gronewald and ♦ Lehr each won a Pi Mu Epsilon award! There were 90 PME talks, 16 awards at MathFest. Funding for attendance was provided by Southwestern's HHMI program, MAA, and PME.

I guided two SU students in Southwestern's 2014 SCOPE , or Summer Collaborative Opportunities, research program as part of the HHMI-Southwestern Inquiry Initiative. ♦ Danielle King and CJ Payne spent eight weeks studying difference equations. See above for their MathFest '14 presentation.

I created another inquiry based learning module that I will use this in Calculus I Fall 2014. This is based on the SU HHMI May '13 workshop and on the MAA-PREP POGIL workshop from Jun '13.

Senior Southwestern mathematics majors presented their research at the annual meeting of the Texas Section of the Mathematical Association of America held in Laredo, Tx., April 3-5, 2014. ♦ Brian Cohen and David Vaden presented "Magic Graphs," under the supervision of Drs. Alison Marr and Kendall Richards. ♦ Robert Lehr presented "An Irrational Decomposition of Generalized Fibonacci Number," supervised by Dr. Ed Burger. ♦ Andrew Banister presented "Can You Make Change by Increasing Minimum Wage?" overseen by Dr. Therese Shelton. ♦ CJ Payne also attended the conference. There were 21 talks by undergraduates. Funding for attending the TxMAA was provided by Southwestern's Fleming Student Travel Fund and SU's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. I also attended the Texas Association of Academic Administrators in the Mathematical Sciences, served as the MAA Liaison, and was selected to serve as Chair-Elect of the Texas MAA.

I participated in the International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics in San Antonio, TX Mar 21-23, 2014.

At the 2014 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Baltimore, MD Heather Gronewald presented her Capstone Project (3rd version) at the Undergraduate Poster Session. There were more than 500 student authors orally presenting over 300 posters. I took a minicourse on Randomization Methods in Statistics.

SU accounted for 5 of the 28 student presentations at the 9th annual TUMC , Texas Undergraduate Mathematics Conference , held this year at St. Mary's University in San Antonio Oct 25-26, 2013. ♦ Robert Lehr presented "Determining the Viewing Target: How to 'Enter a Painting' without using Circles" based on Independent Study work with Associate Professor Dr. Fumiko Futamura. Four students discussed preliminary results of their capstone projects: ♦ Alain Chau "Health Coverage Modeling", ♦ Andrew Banister "Can You Make Change by Increasing Minimum Wage?", ♦ Heather Gronewald "Transfer Attrition: Perseverance and Hazards", and ♦ Abigail Dunn "The Cournot Model: Mathematics of Economic Competition." I supervised these capstone projects and served as the faculty mentor at the conference. Each of these students will present further research in December on campus. ♦ Angelyn Convertino also attended the TUMC. Students from fourteen other institutions gave presentations. Overall, 32 institutions were represented by the 170 student attendees. Funding for TUMC is provided by NSF grant DMS-0846477 through the MAA Regional Undergraduate Mathematics Conferences program, www.maa.org/RUMC Additional funding was provided by Southwestern's Fleming Student Travel Fund and SU's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

The publication was extended from Colin Kyle's 2008 Biology Honor's project supervised by Dr. Romi Burks. I served on the Honor's committee, provided some mentoring and math consulting, and helped to edit the paper.
Kyle CH, Plantz AL, Shelton T, Burks RL (2013) Count Your Eggs Before They Invade: Identifying and Quantifying Egg Clutches of Two Invasive Apple Snail Species (Pomacea). PLoS ONE 8(10): e77736. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0077736

I created an inquiry based learning module based on the SU HHMI May '13 workshop and on the MAA-PREP POGIL workshop from Jun '13. I used this in Calculus I Fall 2013 and revised it for Spring 2014.

At the 2013 MathFest in Hartford, CT, ♦ Yvette Niyomugaba presented "Recycle Plastic to Save our Planet!", the 6th extension of her Capstone Project, at the Pi Mu Epsilon Student Paper Session. I served as a judge in the MAA Student Paper Session. We attended some great talks!

I participated in the MAA-PREP workshop Implementing Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) Activities for Calculus I in Arlington, VA Jun 9-13, 2013.

I guided high school students in Southwestern's 2013 Science Training and Education Program , STEPS Summer science program in research rotations on disease models. ♦ Yvette Niyomugaba, who graduated in May, was my assistant. STEPS is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

I presented "Darth Vader, Zucchini and More in Multivariate Calculus" at the 93rd Annual Tx MAA , Texas Section of the MAA in Lubbock April 11-13, 2013.
The following students presented extensions of their Fall 2012 capstone projects:
♦ Yvette Niyomugaba , "Recycling toward a Better Earth Through Math." (5th version)
♦ "Zoe" Van Pham , "Math asks: 'Water You Doing, Georgetown?'" (4th version)
♦ David Scott Ryan , "Math Bites: Predator-Prey Models of Various Species" (3rd version)
I also attended the Texas Association of Academic Administrators in the Mathematical Sciences, served as the MAA Liaison, and was selected for a Nominating Committee of the Texas MAA.

At the 2013 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego, Yvette Niyomugaba presented her Capstone Project (4th version) at the Undergraduate Poster Session and won one of the 50 " Outstanding Presentation Awards". There were more than 500 student authors orally presenting over 300 posters. I presented "Fuzzy CIs" in an MAA Contributed Paper Session. I took a 2-day short course on Climate Models.

Mathematics capstone students presented 9 of the 25 student talks at the 8th annual TUMC , Texas Undergraduate Mathematics Conference 2012 at Stephen F. Austin state University Oct 26-27. ♦ Yvette Niyomugaba, "Recycling toward a Better Earth Through Math." Alternative Research Project, continued from summer Faculty-Student Collaborative Research Project. (2nd version) From the Senior Seminar in Mathematical Modeling: ♦ "Zoe" Van Pham, "Math asks: 'Water You Doing, Georgetown?'" Continued from summer Faculty-Student Collaborative Research Project. (2nd version) ♦ Zachary Anglin "School Meals: How Much is Too Much?" ♦ Nina Baccam, "Look at Them Grow: A Mathematical Model of Cancer cell and T cell Populations" ♦ Ben Cardiff "Distractions Can Be a Real Pain" ♦ Andy Clarage "Love All: Mathematical Tennis" ♦ Yasmin Leon "Modeling the Spread of HIV" ♦ David Scott Ryan "Math Bites: Predator-Prey Models of Various Species" ♦ Sara Watson "A Finely Tuned Model" It was my honor to have been the faculty advisor for each. Funding by SU Math&CS Dept, NSF grant DMS-0846477 through MAA RUMC, SFA College of Sciences and Mathematics, SFA Dept Math & Statistics.

Six SU students and I participated in the 92nd Annual Tx MAA , Texas Section Meeting of the Mathematical Association of America in Dallas April 12-14, 2012.
♦ Yvette Niyomugaba and "Zoe" Van Pham co-presented "A Mathematical Model of Pollution", resulting from an Independent Study with me.
Yvette and Zoe joined other SU students in competing in a Calculus Bowl at the meeting: ♦ David Vaden, ♦ Sara Watson, ♦ Nina Baccam, and ♦ Yasmin Leon.
I also attended the Texas Association of Academic Administrators in the Mathematical Sciences, served as the MAA Liaison, and was selected for the Nominating Committee of the Texas MAA.

The following students presented at SU's 13th annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Works Symposium, From Every Voice in April 2012:
♦ Yvette Niyomugaba and "Zoe" Van Pham co-presented their Spring Independent Study project,
♦ Nina Freeman presented her Fall capstone project, and
♦ Caitlin Sargent gave a poster of her Fall capstone project.

At the 2012 Joint Mathematics Meetings
in Boston, I co-chaired an MAA Contributed Paper Session with M. E. (Murphy) Waggoner from Simpson College.
Effective Use of Dynamic Mathematical Software in the Classroom
See information and materials from the presentations.
Description: Although using dynamic mathematical software programs, such as GeoGebra or Fathom, can be very effective as a teaching tool, it often difficult to find the time to develop the files needed for a classroom experience. The purpose of this session is to provide a jump start to using software in the classroom. We are looking for talks that present one specific mathematics lesson using some dynamic software. The presentation will describe how the software was used in the classroom, and the files used in the lesson will be made available on-line. As a result, the audience will have a ready-made lesson to use. The lesson could be for any mathematical course and use any third-party software including GeoGebra, Fathom, Geometer's Sketchpad, calculator simulators, spreadsheets or a computer algebra system. It is preferred that the lesson include hands-on use of the software by students and not simply a classroom demonstration. Preference will be given to uses of widely used software such as those listed above or freeware.

The following students gave their capstone presentations at Southwestern on Dec 2, 2011:

• Sarah Ayers "Hold your Breath! A Mathematical Model of Optimal Distance in Underwater Swimming."
• Nina Freeman's "BSA the Easy Way" dealt with math models of body surface area.
• Eric Godat's "Wind Power Forecasting" combined his two majors of math and physics.
• Maria Pollifrone presented "Feeling Hip? A Volumetric Model of Wear Patterns in Hip Replacements."
• Lesley McCoy spoke about "Mathematics of the Silver Screen," and
• Caitlin Sargent presented "Is it Worth it? The Cost of Electric and Gas Powered Cars."

Seven students gave six presentations at the 7th annual TUMC , Texas Undergraduate Mathematics Conference 2011 at the University of Texas at Tyler Oct 21-22.
♦ Zoe Van Pham and ♦ Yvette Niyomugaba co-presented "Markov Chains in Volleyball" based on an Independent Study. The other talks were based on 6 of the mathematics capstone projects listed above.
It was my honor to be the faculty advisor for each.

I presented "Writing Math from Intro Stat to Capstone" at a contributed paper session for MathFest 2011 in Lexington, KY.
♦ Kayla Comeaux, who graduated in May, presented her math capstone.

I created some Flash animations of parametric plots, each with several examples and the ability to define your own: paramFull with component plots; optional comments and connectors to emphasize the relationship between the plots, paramSpeedArc with plots of arclength and speed and calculated comments , paramVec with position and velocity vectors.
This work blossomed from MAA-PREP workshops in 2007 and 2008. I tweak them from time to time; students find them very useful.

My Volunteer Activities have included Georgetown public schools, St. Helen's Catholic Church, and the Catholic Student Association at SU.