Faculty Information

Stephen Bricher - Professor (Chairperson)

Graf 102
503-883-2260
sbricher@linfield.edu

Education:

Ph.D., Mathematics, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1991. B.A., Mathematics, Linfield College, 1986, Summa cum Laude.

Academic Interests:

Dr. Bricher's research interests are in the area of nonlinear-partial differential equations, which can be used to model a myriad of physical phenomena. A few examples are: neuron activity, thermal combustion and flame propagation, the microstruture of metals, turbulence and weather patterns. He has published several papers on mathematical problems related to combustion, and has presented his work at national and international mathematics conferences. Dr. Bricher teaches a course in nonlinear differential equations and dynamical systems that prepares students to work with him on collaborative research projects. Projects in the past have culminated in student presentations at national mathematical meetings. He regularly teaches courses in calculus, analysis, differential equations, and probability and mathematical statistics. He advises physics theses and often helps science students with their mathematical questions. Dr. Bricher enjoys advising students that share an interest in mathematics.

Publications

Please contact Dr. Bricher for copies of his reprints.

Charles Dunn - Associate Professor

Graf 104
503-883-2273
cdunn@linfield.edu

https://catfiles.linfield.edu/People/Faculty/cdunn/public/

Education:

Ph.D., Mathematics, Arizona State University; M.S., Mathematics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; B.A., Mathematics & Music, Lewis & Clark College

Academic Interests:

Dr. Dunn's research interests are in graph theory and combinatorics. In graph theory, he focuses on competitive graph coloring algortithms. For the past two summers, he has worked with Jennifer Nordstrom and nine students through the NSF-funded Willamette Valley Consortium for Mathematics Research. Part of work centers on classifying trees and forests relative to their game chromatic number. The remainder of the projects concern variations of the relaxed coloring game. In combinatorics, he recently collaborated and submitted a paper on higher dimensional lattice chains and Delannoy numbers.

Publications

C. Dunn, "The Relaxed Game Chromatic Index of k-Degenerate Graphs," Discrete Mathematics, 307 (2007) 1767-1775.

C. Dunn, H.A. Kierstead, "A Simple Competitive Graph Coloring Algorithm III,'' Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, 92 (2004) 137-150.

C. Dunn, H.A. Kierstead, "The Relaxed Game Chromatic Number of Outerplanar Graphs,'' Journal of Graph Theory, 46 (2004) 69-78.

C. Dunn, H.A. Kierstead, "A Simple Competitive Graph Coloring Algorithm II,'' Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, 90 (2004) 93-106.

Michael Hitchman - Assistant Professor

GRAF 110
503-883-2430
mhitchm@linfield.edu

https://catfiles.linfield.edu/People/Faculty/mhitchm/public/

Education:

Ph.D., Mathematics, University of Oregon. B.A., Mathematics, Swarthmore College.

Academic Interests:

Dr. Hitchman's research interests are in the areas of topology and geometry. He has more recently been interested in the interplay between topology and geometry in the area of cosmic topology, whose aim is to detect the shape of the universe. He is also interested in collaborative research with students on tiling questions. He enjoys teaching a wide range of courses, including calculus, topology, geometry, real analysis, probability and statistics, and astronomy.

Publications

M. Hitchman, Geometry with an Introduction to Cosmic Topology, Jones and Bartlett, Boston (2009)

M. Hitchman, "An Identity Property for 2-complex pairs," Glasgow Math. J, 42 (2000), pp. 299-318

Xiaoyue Luo - Assistant Professor

Graf 110
1-503-883-2576
xluo@linfield.edu

Education:

Ph.d., Applied Mathematics, Michigan State University; M.S., Statistics, Michigan State University; B.S., Mathematics, Beijing Jiaotong University. PhD Michigan State University

Academic Interests:

1. Theoretical and Numerical Methods for Inverse Problems
2. Nonlinear Volterra Integral Equations
3. Local Regularization Methods
4. Nerocomputation
5. Inverse Problems applied to Finance

Jennifer Nordstrom - Associate Professor

Graf 106
503-883-2654
jnordstrom@linfield.edu

https://catfiles.linfield.edu/People/Faculty/jfirkins/public/

Education:

PhD University of Oregon MS University of Maryland, Baltimore County BS university of Redlands

Academic Interests:

Dr. Nordstrom's research interests are in the areas of algebra and combinatorics. She received her Ph. D. in ring theory from the University of Oregon. Dr. Nordstrom primarily teaches Abstract Algebra, Linear Algebra, Number Theory, and Numerical Analysis but maintains an interest in a wide variety of mathematical fields such as game theory and discrete mathematics. She is currently involved in research with undergraduates in the area of combinatorial game theory.

Publications

"Locally Artinian Serial Rings," Communications in Algebra, 2004, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 1255-1264.

"Generalized Quivers for Locally Unipotent Rings," Communications in Algebra, 2006 Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 567-583.

William Raddatz - Associate Professor

Graf 105
503-883-2428
billr@linfield.edu

http://www.linfield.edu/~billr

Academic Interests:

Dr. Raddatz's main areas of interest are geometry and numerical analysis. He has primary responsibility for the departmental offerings in these areas. He has taught most of the courses in the department as well as some computer science courses.

Martha VanCleave - Associate Professor

Graf 103
503-883-2470
mvcleave@linfield.edu

https://catfiles.linfield.edu/People/Faculty/mvcleave/public/

Education:

PhD, Mathematics Education, Oregon State Univeristy, 1999, MSEd, Mathematics Education, Western Oregon State College, 1985, BA, Mathematics, Linfield College, 1975 Magna cum laude

Academic Interests:

Dr. VanCleave's current interests are in undergraduate mathematics education and mathematics teacher preparation. She works with both preservice and inservice teachers. Her current research is on student discourse in mathematics classrooms. The Oregon Mathematics Leadership Institute (OMLI) has provided a perfect venue for pursuing this interest.
Her dissertation research focused on the beliefs and practices of high school teachers and the use of graphing calculators. She is currently examining the effects of participation in an MSP project of student discourse in higher-education faculty's classrooms. First year courses such as Intermediate Algebra, Precalculus, and Finite Math With Calculus along with Statistics and Mathematics For Elementary Teachers compose the bulk of Dr. VanCleave?s teaching load. She also has an interest in Operations Research and has developed a special topics course in that area. As a mathematics educator, she advises many of Linfield?s prospective high school math teachers.