Bruce Atwood (325 Chamberlin, 363–2348; bta@attewode.com) Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science. B.S. Stanford University (chemical engineering), M.A., Ph.D. Princeton University (chemical engineering), M.M. Northwestern University, M.S. (pure mathematics) Northern Illinois University. Bruce previously taught mathematics at Rockford College. Web site: http://beloit.edu/~atwoodb/ 

Paul Campbell (327 Chamberlin, 363–2007; campbell@beloit.edu) Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science and Chair of the Department. B.S. (mathematics) University of Dayton, M.S. (algebra) and Ph.D. (mathematical logic) Cornell University. Paul was a Danforth Fellow, an Honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and a National Science Foundation Fellow. He is editor-in-chief of The UMAP Journal and co-author of For All Practical Purposes (7h ed., 2006), an introductory college text in contemporary applied mathematics. Paul was Beloit’s Director of Academic Computing for three years during the Old Silicon Age. Special interests include environmental modeling, probability and statistics, computer science, combinatorial games, and history of mathematics. For 2004-05  he was in a statistics group at the University of Augsburg, Germany. Web site: http://cs.beloit.edu/campbell/

Darrah Chavey (331 Chamberlin, 363–2220; chavey@beloit.edu) Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science. B.A. University of Michigan–Flint, and M.A. (mathematics), M.S. (computer science), and Ph.D. (geometry) University of Wisconsin–Madison. Darrah received a National Science Foundation grant to start the departmental Macintosh lab. He has published several papers in the teaching of algorithms and has published a series of papers on the geometry of tilings. He is the author of Drawing Pictures with One Line: Exploring Graph Theory (1983). For many years he coached the College’s teams in the annual ACM Computer Programming Competition; in the 1990s, two teams  went to the international finals. Special interests include design and analysis of algorithms, software engineering, operating systems, parallel programming, geometry, and ethnomathematics.  Web site: http://cs.beloit.edu/~chavey/

David Ellis (on leave 2006-2007; ellis@beloit.edu) Professor of Mathematics. Ph.D. (topology) University of California—Berkeley. Dave was chair of the department from 1994 to 1999. Special interests include topology of dynamical systems. He was on sabbatical 1998–2000, working on a book on dynamical systems.

Steven Huss-Lederman (319 Chamberlin, 363–2071; huss@beloit.edu) Associate Professor of Computer Science. B.S. (chemistry) University of Maryland, Ph.D. (chemical physics) California Institute of Technology. His thesis concerned algorithms for computer statistical models to understand vibration in molecules. From 1987 to 1995, he was co-principal investigator at the Supercomputing Research Center for projects on parallel algorithms for distributed memory computers. He is co-author of 3 books on a standard for computer message-passing and of 21 articles on parallel computer architecture, quantum molecular dynamics, and Strassen's algorithm for matrix multiplication. For 1995–2000 he was Associate Scientist and Faculty Associate in the Computer Sciences Dept. of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His interdisciplinary interests include linking CS courses to other disciplines; technology, ethics, and privacy; and bicycle safety education. Web site: http://cs.beloit.edu/~huss/

Ben Newton (321 Chamberlin, 363-2365;  newtonb@beloit.edu) Assistant Professor of Mathematics  and Computer Science.  B.A. (physics) Carleton College, M.A. (algebra) and Ph.D. (group theory, minor in CS) University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ben is a currently a Fellow in the Mathematical Society of America's Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) program. He joined the department on tenure track in 2006, after extensive teaching experience as a teaching assistant at the University of Wiscsonsin-Madison, including participation in the Wisconsin Emerging Scholars Program, and winning an "Excellence in Teaching" award in 2005. His research interests are in the area of group theory, particularly linear groups and groups of permutations. Web site: http://beloit.edu/~newtonb/

Don Porter (329 Chamberlin; 363-2369; don-jet@eishome.com) Visiting Assistant Professor of Statistics. B.A., M.A.  (economics), M.S. (statistics) Northern Illinois University.  Don taught mathematics, economics, and statistics  at Northern Illinois until 1985, when he entered the business world as a statistical consultant. He has worked for several Fortune 500 companies, including Continental Telephone, Ameritech, Abbott Labs, BP-Amoco and Motorola.  His clientele also included smaller companies in the Chicago area. His experience includes statistical modeling, experimental design, sampling design, statistical quality control, and process improvement. In his free time, Don is a diligent student of the Bible and of ancient Near Eastern religions, history, and culture. He hones pocket billiard skills on his home pool table.

Ranjan Roy (325 Chamberlin, 363–2348;  royr@beloit.edu) Professor of Mathematics. B.S. and M.S. Indian Institute of Technology, Ph.D. (complex analysis) State University of New York at Stony Brook. Ranjan was the College's Teacher of the Year in 1986 and again in 2000. He has received two notable awards from the Mathematical Association of America: the Allendoerfer Prize for expository writing in 1990 and being named a Distinguished Teacher of Mathematics in 2001. His research interests include algebraic number theory, hypergeometric series, differential equations, and history of mathematics. His book Special Functions with co-authors Richard Askey and George Andrews was published in 1999. In 1997 he taught a first-year seminar on Indian mythology.

Phil Straffin (on leave Fall 06; straffin@beloit.edu) Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science. B.A. Harvard University, B.A. and M.A. Cambridge University, and Ph.D. University of California–Berkeley. Phil was a Marshall Scholar and winner of a Rockefeller Fellowship. He was the College’s Teacher of the Year in 1975 and again in 1994 and was named a Distinguished Teacher of Mathematics in 1993 by the Mathematical Association of America. He was for many years the coach of the College’s teams in COMAP’s Mathematical Contest in Modeling; two teams in the 1990s won the top award. In 1986 he won the Allendoerfer Prize of the Mathematical Association of America for expository writing., and in 2003 he won its Trevor Evans Award for expository writing accessible to undergraduates. His research interests include game theory, social choice, chaotic dynamical systems, and algebraic topology. His 20 years of research and teaching about game theory culminated in Game Theory and Strategy (1993),  published by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). In Fall 1999  and Fall 2000, he taught a first-year seminar on cartography. His textbook Topology Now! (with Robert Messer) was published in 2006 by the MAA.

Rama Viswanathan (402A Chamberlin, 363-2273;  ramav@beloit.edu) Professor of Chemistry and Computer Education. B.S. Bombay University, M.S. Indian Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. (physical chemistry) University of Oregon. Rama was a visiting scientist at the IBM Almaden Research Center (http://almaden.ibm.com) during 1986. He served for three years as the College's Director of Academic Computing. Special interests in CS include scientific computation, parallel processing, high speed data acquisition, interfacing instruments to computers, and applications of wireless technology in Room Area Networks (RANs) using laptops and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Rama was on sabbatical leave Fall 2003, learning about and researching bioinformatics (http://www.bioquest.org/bedrock/problem_spaces/trpcage) as a member of the  BEDROCK Consortium. He is currently developing an interdisciplinary program in computational science that emphasizes Computational Visualization and Modeling (CVM).