Robert J Hesse

Business Address:

Saint John’s University

Collegeville MN, 56321-3000

Phone: (320) 363-2454

E-mail: rhesse@csbsju.edu

Education:

University of Minnesota, PhD. Thesis: “A Variational Approach to Mechanical Systems”

Thesis advisor: Richard McGehee

Department of Mathematics

Major Area: Dynamical Systems

Minor Area: Numerical Analysis

August 1997.

University of Minnesota, MS

Department of Mathematics

January 1996.

Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota. B.A., Mathematics,

“All College Honors with Distinction in Mathematics”

May 1991.

Research Interests:

Dynamical systems, numerical computation of solutions to differential equations. Mathematical Modeling.

Professional Activities:

Teaching Experiences:

Fall 2001- Present Associate Professor (Fall 2006 – Present), Assistant Professor (Fall 2001 – Spring 2006), Saint John’s University. Courses taught: Analysis, Differential Calculus, Differential Equations, Fourier Series/BVPs, Integral Calculus, Linear Algebra, Mathematics Exploration, Mathematical Modeling, Numerical Analysis, Operations Research, Probability and Statistical Inference, Symposium (Fall and Spring Semesters).

Made extensive use of the graphing calculator in Differential Calculus course. Introduced Integral Calculus students to Computer Algebra System Mathematica through a series of labs as well a final project. Incorporated Matlab software package to Linear Algebra and Differential Equations courses as well as required several projects for each course. Also used Matlab package for programming algorithms in the Numerical Analysis course. Used Mathematica Computer Algebra System extensively to analyze non-trivial modeling problems in Modeling Course. Used Mathematica in Fourier Series course to find, approximate, and compute errors of solutions to Wave, Heat and Poisson equations. Used Excel and Lindo extensively in Operations Research course to find solutions to discrete mathematical problems. Applied and gained writing flag in Mathematical Modeling course. Use WebCT course containment software in all courses to facilitate access of information to students.

Fall 1997-Spring 2001 Assistant Professor, Hillsdale College. Courses taught: College Algebra, Trigonometry, Differential Calculus, Integral Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Mathematical Modeling, Numerical Analysis, Vector Analysis, seminars on Dynamical Systems and Theory of Proof. Honors seminar on Chaos. Incorporated use of graphing calculators in Calculus classes. Created computer labs in Calculus and Vector Analysis courses that used Mathematica software package. Created and used labs in Differential Equations and Numerical Analysis courses based on the Matlab software package. Incorporated use of Blackboard software into seminar and calculus courses.

Fall 1996-Spring 1997 Workshop Supervisor for the multivariable calculus section of the University of Minnesota Curriculum Initiative. Coordinated small group activities, supervised interactive workshops in which students used Maple and Matlab software programs.

Fall 1996-July 1997 Community Faculty, Metropolitan State University. Instructor for Finite Mathematics, College Algebra and Exploring Functions I courses. Incorporated use of graphing calculators for understanding Gauss-Jordan elimination, linear programming, and basic algebra. Created quizzes and exams that encouraged use of technology.

Fall 1995-Spring 1997 Workshop leader for the first year calculus section of the Curriculum Initiative, University of Minnesota. Lead workshop activities ranging from areas of differential and integral calculus to differential equations. Supervised students’ use of hypertext-based labs.

Special Activities:

Fall 2003 – Present Natural Science division representative to Committee on Academic Computing (CAC) (renamed the Computing Subcommittee of the Academic Policies, Standards, and Assessment Committee). Chair of committee Fall 2004 – Present. Attended meetings, worked with colleagues on strategic plan, software and hardware allocation budget. As chair planned meetings and agenda, addressed concerns of faculty to IT. Expressed committee’s concerns to faculty via faculty discussion postings.

Fall 2001 – Present Faculty Advisor. Helped advisees select courses. Guided them in planning for post-college options of business, graduate-school and secondary education. Wrote letters of recommendation for students pursuing graduate school, advocated students to employers in phone calls and letters.

Fall 2001 – Present Faculty Advisor to CSB/SJU Math Society. Worked with officers of math society to organize various activities to promote mathematics. Attended officer meetings, student talks in preparation for Fall and Spring Pi Mu Epsilon conferences, faculty/student social gatherings. Lead group of students to Fall 2001 and Fall 2003 Pi Mu Epsilon conference at Saint Norbert’s College in DePere WI. Invited alumni to come and speak with students about career and academic opportunities.

Fall 2001 – Present Instructor for University of Minnesota Talented Youth Math Project (UMTYMP). Taught local area high school students sophomore and junior college level mathematics

Spring 2002 – Present Faculty advisor for the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM). Helped organize and prepare one to two teams of students annually for the MCM, an internationally held mathematics competition in which students work in teams of three to solve a real-world problem.

Spring, Summer 2003,2006 Oversaw students’ research. In summer 2006 advised Natalie Bly on research modeling companion gardening. In spring semester 2003, advised Nate Bennett on an ILP in Chaos theory that culminated with some undergraduate research on iterations of the complex-valued function . In summer through fall semester 2003 advised Becky Wolf on her senior thesis titled, “Very Discrete Dynamical Systems.”

Spring 2006 Reviewer for Hass/Weir text University Calculus Alternate Edition, 1/e. Addison-Wesley, 2006. Critiqued four chapters of the book in terms of content, prose, use of technology and overall appropriateness.

Spring 2005 Reviewer for Smith/Milton text Calculus: concepts and connections. McGraw Hill, 2006. Critiqued three chapters of the book in terms of content, prose, use of technology and overall appropriateness.

Fall 2004 Coordinator for “Incorporating Software into the Mathematics Curriculum Workshop”. Applied for and received CP&D funding for workshop for CSBSJU mathematics faculty. In workshop introduced faculty to uses of Mathematica and Matlab in various lower and upper division courses through are series of labs. In addition, explained appropriate use of technology in courses.

Spring 2003 – 2004 Member of ad-hoc committee evaluating and revising the Mathematics and Computer Science major. Worked with colleagues in the Computer Science and Mathematics departments in evaluating the old major, analyzing other institutions’ hybrid math and computer science majors, and finally creating, revising the new Numerical Computation major.

Fall 2002 -- Winter 2003 Co-Principal Investigator for CSEMS grant to NSF. Worked with Computer Science Faculty Member Carl Burch in meeting and communicating with appropriate administrators, writing and revising a grant proposal for scholarships in Mathematics and Computer Science.

August 1998–Spring 2001 Faculty Advisor, Hillsdale College. Helped undergraduate advisees select courses. Guided them in planning for post-college options of business, graduate-school and secondary education. Wrote letters of recommendation for students pursuing graduate school.

Spring 2001 Faculty advisor for Mathematical Contest in Modeling. Helped organize and prepare a team of students that received a Meritorious distinction for their work in the 2001 MCM.

Spring 2000- Spring 2001 Member of Michigan Project Next. Discussed issues of importance to junior faculty development and teaching. Attended seminars and joined in e-mail discussions.

August 1999–Spring 2001 Member of Academic Computing Advisory Committee, Hillsdale College. Worked with colleagues and administration to determine and prioritize computing needs. Advocate for development of college's web-pages and faculty software training.

Summer 1998,1999, 2001 Instructor for Mathematics and Computer Science Camp, Hillsdale College. Introduced high school students to a wide-range of mathematical topics including probability, cryptology, non-Euclidean geometry, and programming in HTML.

August 1993-Spring 1997 Math Advising Specialist, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota. Evaluated students’ mathematical ability, and advised students on most suitable mathematics courses for their major. Consulted with transfer and international students to find the appropriate mathematics class given their previous background.

June-September 1995 Research Assistant, The Geometry Center. Created instructional hypertext documents for elementary and secondary educators on using HTML.

June 1994-May 1995 Research Assistant, The Geometry Center. Published 17 articles in The Geometry Forum (renamed The Math Forum) an NSF funded newsgroup on the Internet (http://www.mathforum..edu/). Article topics ranged from mathematical research to math education issues.

Presentations:

“One More.” Invited presentation to the Saint Cloud State University Mathematics Colloquium, March 2006.

“Incorporating Software into the Mathematics Curriculum Workshop.” Saint John’s University, August 2004.

“Numerical Integration.” Invited presentation to SESEMS (Summer Explorations in Science, Engineering & Mathematics for high school students) University of Minnesota, July 2003.

“Arch Mathematics.” Contributed paper for Enlivening Multivariate Mathematics Special Session of Mathfest (Summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America.) Burlington, Vermont, August 2002.

“The Snowplow Problem.” Invited presentation to the Saint Cloud State University Mathematics Colloquium, January 2002.

“Symplectic Integrators” ATaC Graduate Student Seminar, Mathematics Department, University of Minnesota, January 1997.

“Putting it all together: Using Matlab to construct a nonlinear conjugate-gradient method.'' Matlab Seminar, Mathematics Department, University of Minnesota, March 1997.

“Education Issues Discussed Where They Are Most Needed; The MER Conferences.” (Joint presentation with Doris Chiang) AMS-MAA-MER Special Sessions on Mathematics Education Reform, Joint Meetings of the AMS-MAA. San Diego, California. January 1997

“Variations on a Variational Approach to Hamiltonian Systems.” Dynamics and Mechanics Seminar. Mathematics Department, University of Minnesota, October 1996.

“Symplectic Integration and Hamiltonian Systems.” ATaC Graduate Student Seminar, Mathematics Department, University of Minnesota, May 1996

“An Introduction to MATLAB via Dynamical Systems and Differential Equations” Mathematical Software Seminar, Geometry Center, University of Minnesota, March 1995 .

Publications:

Robert Hesse, Child’s Play, UMAP Journal Vol 28.1 2007.

Robert Hesse, Arch Mathematics, UMAP Journal Vol 23.4 2002.

James Stewart, Harvey Keynes, Douglas Shaw and Bob Hesse, Instructor’s Guide for Stewart’s Calculus Concepts and Contexts (Single Variable). Brooks/Cole 1998.

Robert Hesse and Philip J. Byrne, A Markov Chain Analysis of the Game Jai Alai, MAA Mathematics Magazine Vol. 69, No. 4 1996.

Bob Hesse and Evelyn Sander, Further Geometry Forum Articles, Geometry Center Preprint Series GCG83, June 1995.

Memberships and Honoraries:

1997-Present Mathematical Association of America

1999-2001 Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges

1997 Kappa Mu Epsilon mathematics honorary

1997 Sigma Zeta mathematics and science honorary

1990 Pi Mu Epsilon mathematics honorary