Newsletter for Alumni and Friends of the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Lebanon Valley College
The first order of business in relaunching AfterMath is for you to send us your news. Please send us an e-mail or a postcard and tell us where you are now and what you are doing. We will share your news in future issues of the newsletter.
Faculty offices open onto a common suite with tables and study space. The suite is adjacent to a new version of the old math library which is nearly always occupied by students, as always. The new library has been dedicated in honor of Kiyofumi Sakaguchi '67. Click on the links below to see photos and read about the dedication ceremony held this spring.
Our upstairs space also boasts a well appointed computer science lab for student projects.
Downstairs, the new Lynch includes comfortable new classrooms clustered around an atrium with lots of seating and a coffee bar.
We share the upstairs with psychology, which has moved from the Garber Science Center. Our old offices downstairs are being adopted by the Education Department.
Congratulations Renee!
Bryan Hearsey is currently serving on the Society of Actuaries (SOA) VEE Administration Committee and the SOA Task Force on Academic Accreditation. He will be attending the Actuarial Research Conference in Mexico City in August 2005.
David Lyons continues his research with colleague Scott Walck from the Physics Department in the area of quantum information theory in a project that has involved several students in math and physics. Their first paper of original results will appear in the October 2005 issue of the Journal of Mathematical Physics. Two more articles, including one coauthored by students, are under review. Lyons recently published a teaching article in Oxford Journals Online: Teaching Mathematics and its Applications and a Proof Without Words in the January 2005 issue of the College Mathematics Journal.
Mark Townsend is currently serving as department chair. He took over the post from Mike Fry in July 2004.
Shannon (Feather) Williams '01 tells us that "life outside of LVC has been very exciting" and sends these details. "After graduating I moved to Virginia to work for BAE Systems as a systems analyst for the Department of Defense. I tested software for the Tomahawk Missile for roughly a year and a half before accepting a position at Northrup Grumman as a SPY Radar Test Engineer. I continued to develop my testing skills at Northrup for just over a year before returning to the Tomahawk Program. I made this last transition in the beginning of 2004, accepting a position with the government. As far as outside of work, it was during the first move from BAE to Northrup that I met my husband. We were married a year later in the summer of 2003 . We sold our house this past year and are currently looking to build a house."
Dave Taylor '02 writes, "This fall I'll be entering my fourth year as a graduate student in math at the University of Virginia. Having completed my course requirements, my main focus will be research towards my dissertation which is in the area of Lie theory... Besides that, I especially enjoy teaching courses at the college level (various levels of Calculus I and II, and Statistics thus far), as well as exploring the Charlottesville area with friends."
Jason Clay '04 sends this report. "I am currently working at The Hartford Company in Hartford, CT ... for a little over a year ... now in Commercial Lines Pricing for Middle Market Property... I received good results on CAS Exam 5 in June and I will be sitting for CAS Exam 6 in the fall. As far as life outside of work goes I am enjoying it for the most part. Connecticut is a nice place to live and I have met a lot of nice people through work and other avenues."
Rob Fisette '04 is in Chicago, "unofficially pursuing interests in mathematics, literature, linguistics, and chess" and hopes to enter a Ph.D. program in mathematics in fall 2006.
Nick Hamblet '04 sends this news. "In the past academic year, I have taken the standard analysis, algebra, and topology classes, and was a TA for calculus classes in the engineering school. This summer I am preparing for the general exams in algebra and topology. In the coming year I plan on sharpening my focus to algebraic topology and teaching freshman calculus."
Justin Albert '05 is living in West Hartford, CT and is "working as an actuarial student for The Hartford Insurance Group, in their Property and Casualty company... in the Middle Market Pricing area of commercial lines." Justin adds that he is working toward associate in the Casualty Actuarial Society.
Jen Deatrick '05 writes, "I accepted a position at Susquehanna Bankshares, Inc. and I work in the Susquehanna Bank PA division in Lancaster. I am currently being trained for financial services, but they hope to have me learn a bit more than I know now about insurance so I can help out in that department, and I will see where it goes from there."
Amy Dural '05 sends this news. "I recently accepted an actuarial position with the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation in Washington, D.C. I will be living in Alexandria, Virginia and working in downtown D.C. My start date is August 22 and I am moving in on the 13th. I also passed Exam P this past May, and am currently studying for the next exam."
Laura Erdman '05 is in Windsor, Connecticut, working for the Hartford Life Insurance Company in Simsbury, Connecticut, in the Institutional Investment Products Division (under the Stable Value Group). Laura adds, "[having passed two exams] I am now beginning to study for Course M (to be taken November 2005)."
Adam Gingerich '05 sends this news. "Following graduation I took two weeks to study for and pass SOA Exam FM. After a couple weeks of packing and being lazy, I then began my job at Towers Perrin in Philadephia. My office is located right across from City Hall. I work as an associate in retirement systems which means that my office basically does maintenance on the entire company's pension valuation software, Ensemble for Actuaries. I got an apartment with Mitch Waddell ['05] in Roxborough, which is in the NW corner of Philly. I've also began studying for Exam P in hopes of finally passing it this September. I plan on coming back to LVC to see a couple football games."
Andy Greenawalt '05 writes, "I am working at Conrad Siegel Actuaries, a consulting firm in Harrisburg. I work on projects for both pension and health clients. My projects include pension valuations to determine contribution amounts, rate projections, and claims analysis."
Mike Grudzinski '05 is living in Harrisburg, PA and working at Payment Technologies, Inc. which was recently acquired by JP Morgan Chase. He does Java development for their credit card processing software that is widely used by such clients as The Wall Street Journal, Home Depot, Starbucks, and Red Robin.
Laura Lagler '05 is an actuarial student at Hartford Life working in the Individual Life Division on Product Development and Pricing in the Simsbury, CT office.
Melissa Ulrich '05 writes, "These few months since graduation have been a bit exciting and eventful. My internship with The Hershey Company turned into a permanent position in the Finance Department. I am currently a Trade Manager, working with the sales force based out of the Northeast. I help them manage the money the company allocates to promote Hershey items at retail for the stores they sell to. In English--walk into a store in the Northeast, see Hershey's on display or on sale, and I had a little something to do with it. And a bit more exciting than that fascinating job description... I married my LVC sweetheart, Kevin Poole ['05], in June. We actually never made it out of Annville--we ended up buying a house half a mile from campus!"
As of July, Ryan Underkoffler '05 is working a summer job for Dauphin County Parks and Recreation while he searches for a full-time teaching position.
Mitch Waddell '05 sends this. "I work for Buck Consultants an ACS (Affiliated Computer Services) Company in Berwyn, which is a little west of Philadelphia. I began in mid June and have been kept pretty busy in my small office of less than twenty people. I work on retirement plans and the government filings for a wide variety of clients. I'm sitting for course C in the Fall after taking this past semester off."