Our Students

Field Trips and Conferences

In recent years, the IWU Division of Math and Computer Information Sciences has taken students to a number of regional and national conferences. As part of a Lily travel grant activity, Dr. Hoffert took 26 CIS majors to the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Crane IN to investigate usages of computer science and possible research/internship possibilities.

Recent trips have also included the Joint Meetings of the AMS/MAA. These meetings, held annually in January, comprise the largest mathematical event in the nation. Students Melissa Campbell, Haley Duffey, Chris Foss, Rachel Hendrix, Josh Matti, and Stephanie Munger went with Dr. Royer to the Joint Meetings of the AMS/MAA in Baltimore in January 2014. After returning to IWU, they gave several presentations in the Mathematics Department Colloquium. At the meetings, mathematics major Josh Matti presented a poster entitled "Estimating the Volatility in the Black-Scholes Formula" which was a joint summer REU project.

Student Scholarship

• Mathematics major Adam Wroughton presented a talk entitled "Pitch Recognition Using Artificial Neural Networks" on a research project done under the mentorship of Dr. Royer.
  
  
• Mathematics major Tyler Carrico published a paper entitled "The Probability of Randomly Generating Finite Abelian Groups" in the Vol. 6, No. 4, 2013 issue of Involve: A Journal of Mathematics done under the mentorship of Dr. Kiteck.
  
• Computer Information Systems major Ben Bagley won the best student poster at the 2012 IWU Celebration of Scholarship for his poster on a Microsoft Kinect Vision project done in Dr. Neumann's senior seminar.
  
• Mathematics major and John Wesley Honors College student Luke Nelsen conducted and analyzed a national survey of general education mathematics requirements at Christian universities for his honors thesis "Out of Plato's Cave: The Role of Mathematics in the Christian Liberal Arts" done under the mentorship of Drs. Todd Ream and Melvin Royer.

Academic Clubs

With an IWU Math or Computing degree, your education will not end at your graduation from the major. We encourage our students to join professional organizations and participate in either of the student clubs below to continue learning outside the classroom and beyond the University. These activities will be a great catalyst for your education and career.

The IWU Computer Information Sciences Department formed a local chapter of the national ACM in 2002. The chapter is open to all IWU students who have an interest in computers and technology. It meets every other week and hosts peer-led workshops on topics such as "Building Your Own Computer" and "The Linux Operating System," assists the faculty in administering the Majors Lab, and pursues networking, gaming, service projects, and beginning and end of the term parties. The officers manage a budget provided by the Student Government Association. The faculty advisor for the ACM chapter is Dan Neumann.

Open to all math majors since 2005, the MAC club offers both professional development and social opportunities. Activities include department chapels, assisting the faculty with student travel to regional math conferences, board game nights, Christmas caroling in local nursing homes, miniature golf competition fundraisers, and sponsoring local math challenge problem contests. The officers manage a budget provided by the Student Government Association. The faculty advisor for MAC is Melissa Lindsey.