2011 For some time now, I have worked on the pedagogical problem of how to
teach higher geometry online. Here are two projects I am currently
engaged in:
netGeometry and my
IOUMath blog .
2011 For some time now, I have worked on the pedagogical problem of how to
teach higher geometry online. Here are two projects I am currently
engaged in:
netGeometry and my
IOUMath blog .
2009 Mathematics Department Calendar on Altgeld Models Collections
AMS Special Session on Mathematical Visualization, Urbana, 27-29 March 2009.
My second course is often
MA402 , "Post-Euclidean Geometery".
In the spring, I sometimes teach
MA595
and . The former is
a graduate minicourse in geometry called "Computer Graphics & Geometrical
Visualizaton". This is an updated and streamlined lectures-only version of
my MA 428 from the 90's. The project/lab component of the course is now
done as an individual study course.
The latter is the only course we teach in Mathematics that satisfies both
the Compoition II and the Quantitative Reasoning II undergraduate requirements.
You'd think it was popular. But it's not an easy course.
In the fall semesters I sometimes teach Math 403, aka Math 303
Advanced Topics in Euclidean
Geometry. I treat five fascinating threads of useful geometrical
applications throughout the history of technology, art and pedagogy.
I also teach the ADVANCED COMPOSITION section of our majors gateway into
mathematics Math 348 .
The chief feature of this course is that the students learn TeX and
write proofs in TeX, just like grown-up mathematicians.
Fall '05 I taught both sections of
Post-Euclidean Geometry
with UIUC alumnus Mike Hvidsten's fabulous new textbook and software.
Spring '06 I taught Math 198
Hypergraphics
for the Campus Honors Program (CHP)
in the grafiXlab and the the
ISL-CUBE
fully immersive virtual environment at the Beckman Institute.
Fall 2002,
Differential Geometry, which is an excellent introduction to the field,
but restricted to curves and surfaces in 3-space.
In the Spring of 2002 I taught Math 302
Post-Euclidean Geometry.
.
My version of this course is a bit more eclectic, hence the
provocative title. There is even a questionnaire about what the
students thought of it.
Fall 2000, I taught Math 306,
History of the Calculus. There are interesting student projects and
websites on that page.
For a score of years I taught Math 428
Geometrical Computer
Graphics
in the UIMATH.grafiXlab of the
Mathematics Department, and in
the
Renaissance Experimental Laboratory
(REL) and the
CAVE
of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
(NCSA) of the
Beckman Institute (BI) of the
of the University of Illinois (UIUC)
in Champaign-Urbana.
At times I also teach a secton of Math 280
Advanced
Calculus. Spring'98 it was a 9am adventure in Engineering Math
insofar as we used H.M.Schey's cheeky ``Div, grad, curl and all that''
to complement Kaplan's ancient classic used in the other sections of
Math 280. Spring'99 it was back to that hoary old classic by Wilfred
Kaplan. Someday I may find an appropriate textbook for that course.
Any suggestions?
At times I also teach a section of Math 285
Differential Equations, using an interesting text by Edwards
and Penney. Theirs is one of the few diff-eq texts with relevant
computer generated pictures and instructions for creating them.
It also has a good chapter on chaotic dynamical systems.
In recent years I also taught:
Projects
I'm still a senior researcher with the NCSA, in good standing I hope.
When the NCSA moved from the Beckman into their own building, and
all the immersive virtual environments came to be administrated by
the Integrated Systems Lab ,
I joined the ISL also in curating new ventures of art and math
centered on the CANVAS
traveling virtual environment. The original exhibit
Calcula*rt at the Krannert Museum at Illinois, has
a grander successor at the
Dennos Museum in Traverse City.
Participation in the Mathmatics REU Site summer program continues with illiMath06 and illiMath08 Summer 2004 Peter Brinkmann and I directed an REU program, illiMath04, where we developed PyCube. For two summers we had an NSF-VIGRE sponsored REU program, illiMath2001 and illiMath2002.
Fall of 2000 I gave three Buckingham Lectures at Miami
University of Ohio and here are the details
But you'll find more and better links to this in the
grafiXlab.
Summer 1999 and 2000 four talented alumni from Math 198 built the beginnings
of the Audible Sketchpad
for the CAVE. You'll need to visit their webpage to appreciate the
effort.
There's an
illiGallery at the NSF in Washington.
Fall 1998 the illiView team split across the wires between Orlando and Urbana to present Superball at Supercomputing98. Summer 1998 saw the world premiere of The Optiverse at Siggraph98 in Orlando and VideoMath'98 during the International Congress of Mathematics in Berlin. My talented RAs and I continued to work on projects from the previous year. We had our usual summer seminar.
Some alumni from these courses, colleagues and friends are helping me put together the grafiXlab. This will eventually be a Linux based successor to the fabled UIMATH.APPLE.LAB, which, since 1983, is the oldest functioning computer lab in the Math Department. In the meantime, however, we remain a Silicon Graphics Lab, with several hand-me-down Indigo Elans from the NCSA, a Mac G3, some fast WiNTels, and a small, but growling pack of Linuxes down the hall. Our first project is the studioCAVE. Once this project is adequately funded we'll really be in business.
You can find some of my more colorful research in the page on the Post-Euclidean Walkabout, which was part of the Virtual Reality Room at SIGGRAPH'94. This all began with the Etruscan Venus which you can visit at the Art^N Gallery. There are research papers I should tell you about and the Topological Picturebook, but that has to wait for another time. The paper Interactive Methods for Visualizable Geometry, with Andy Hanson and Tamara Munzner pretty much summarizes my ideas on mathematics and graphics. But go to this IEEE panel for a real argument. At the The Geometry Center you can still see what experimental geometry is all about.
This is my Spring 2008 schedule, as of 8feb08
|Monday |Tuesday |Wednesday |Thursday |Friday | |89TEN123458|89TEN123458|89TEN123458|89TEN123458|89TEN123458| |...........|...........|...........|...........|...........| |oo..rrrHHoo|oobbC.S.Soo|oo..rrrHHoo|oobbbbbbboo|oo..rrrHHoo| |...........|...........|...........|...........|...........| H = Math 198, Hypergraphics. C = committee which takes precedence S = seminar which takes precedence r = REU Lab, 102 Altgeld, 333-4794 b = Beckman, ISL, CUBE, CAVE, etc o = off-campus
Please e-mail me to make an appointment to meet in 102 Altgeld (333-4794), 4047 Beckman (3-4794), or some place more convenient for both of us.
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