Robert J Hesse
Business Address:
Saint John’s University
Phone: (320) 363-2454
E-mail: rhesse@csbsju.edu
Education:
Thesis advisor: Richard
McGehee
Department of Mathematics
Major Area: Dynamical Systems
Minor Area: Numerical
Analysis
August 1997.
Department of
Mathematics
January 1996.
“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),
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,
Fall 1996-Spring 1997 Workshop
Supervisor for the multivariable calculus section of the
Fall 1996-July 1997
Fall 1995-Spring 1997 Workshop
leader for the first year calculus section of the Curriculum Initiative,
Special Activities:
Fall 2003 – Present Natural
Science division representative to
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
Fall 2001 – Present Instructor for
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,
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
August 1999–Spring 2001 Member of Academic Computing Advisory
Committee,
Summer 1998,1999, 2001 Instructor for Mathematics and Computer
Science Camp,
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
June 1994-May 1995 Research
Assistant, The
Presentations:
“One More.” Invited presentation to the Saint
Cloud State University Mathematics Colloquium, March 2006.
“Incorporating
Software into the Mathematics Curriculum Workshop.”
“Numerical
Integration.” Invited
presentation to SESEMS (Summer Explorations in Science, Engineering & Mathematics
for high school students)
“Arch
Mathematics.” Contributed paper
for Enlivening Multivariate Mathematics Special Session of Mathfest (Summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America.)
“The
Snowplow Problem.” Invited presentation to the Saint Cloud State University
Mathematics Colloquium, January 2002.
“Symplectic Integrators” ATaC
Graduate Student Seminar, Mathematics Department,
“Putting it all together:
Using Matlab to construct a nonlinear conjugate-gradient method.'' Matlab
Seminar, Mathematics Department,
“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.
“Variations
on a Variational Approach to Hamiltonian Systems.” Dynamics and Mechanics Seminar.
Mathematics Department,
“Symplectic
Integration and Hamiltonian Systems.”
ATaC Graduate Student Seminar, Mathematics Department,
“An Introduction to MATLAB
via Dynamical Systems and Differential Equations” Mathematical Software
Seminar,
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,
Memberships
and Honoraries:
1997-Present Mathematical
Association of
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