Summary of Recent Professional Activities and Plans for ...people.uwec.edu/mbirika/Mbirika-Professional_Activities_Form-2014 … · Summary of Recent Professional Activities and Plans

Summary of Recent Professional Activities and Plans for Professional Development

Aba Mbirika

10/30/2015

Page 1

Notes:

1) This form is for internal use within the Department of Mathematics by the Department Chair, and the DPC and its

subcommittees. The information presented on the form will be used in preparing documents to support personnel

recommendations which are forwarded to the Dean and other administrators, but it is not intended that copies of this form

be sent to them.

2) Except for the category of future plans, include in this report only activities not previously reported. When appropriate,

include dates.

I. Teaching

Address: preparation for classes; availability to work with students outside the classroom; receptiveness to questions and student participation;, use of class time; explanations and illustrations of course content; stimulation or motivation of students to learn the course content; use of appropriate assessment tools and grading policy; selection and development of course content and instructional materials; curricular development; engagement of students in the use of appropriate technology to learn the course content; and use of diverse pedagogical techniques such as lecturing, facilitating discussions, facilitating student-given lectures and /or presentations. Aspects of directing independent studies and other special teaching situations may be included here.

In the Fall 2014 semester I taught 3 courses: a new prep Math 425 (Abstract Algebra I), a new prep

Math 395 (a course I developed called The Beauty of Math), and two sections of Math 104—a course I

have taught before. In the Spring 2015 semester I taught 2 courses: a new prep Math 426 (Abstract

Algebra II) and two sections of Math 104.

The most important credo that I keep in the forefront of my mind when I am both preparing to teach

and actually in front of the classroom is the following: To try to be in the students’ heads and ask, “What

are the students hearing right now? What are they learning right now?” This applies also to what I

decide to put on the board. I try not just to be in their heads, but also to be in their notes. That being

said, my class preparation and class culture for the courses I teach is as follows:

CLASS PREPARATION: I write very detailed notes (in 3-color coding): BLUE is for

relevant notes written on the board, RED is for questions/examples that I ask the students

and/or myself to work out, and the rarer GREEN is reserved for things that are anecdotally

interesting but are not meant to be written on the board or for hints that I verbalize but do not

write down to help them with questions posed in class. I spend on average an hour of notes

preparation for every hour in class (this time includes constructing worksheets, etc).

CLASS CULTURE: It is my goal to foster a friendly social class in which students know

each other early on in the semester. In the first 3 weeks, I dedicate time to attendance in a fun

way so as to help students (and myself) recall each others’ names. This lasts no more than 3

to 5 minutes of classtime. I use memory mnemonics of interesting facts that students reveal

about themselves on day 1. By week 3, this form of attendance is no longer necessary, as

everyone (and myself) is now familiar with the majority of other students’ names. This is

important as it creates a class culture where students feel that they belong to a circle of


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friends/peers, and it fosters comfort with forming study groups and working collectively as

opposed to competitively. I still take attendance after week 3, however, by observation.

There is ample time in my classes for group work and members of the group to present on the

board, first stating their names.

Math 104: In the Spring 2014 semester, I taught Math 104 for the very first time. In the 2014-2015 academic

year, I had the opportunity to teach Math 104 again for both semesters teaching four sections total over

the academic year. This gave me an opportunity to fine-tune my pedagogical approach to this course in

particular. I was also the course coordinator for the S2 LE-Core assessment in the Summer of 2015.

On a typical day, I lecture using the 3-color coded notes method which I wrote about in the Class

Preparation part on the previous page. The red-colored aspects of the notes kept the class very

interactive. For example, after I wrote down the 4-step method to solving a linear programming

question which is in blue in my notes, my red-colored notes prompted me to give an example, but the

class completes each step, as I call on different students by name to ask “How do we do this step, now?”

On the rarer side are the green-colored notes for anecdotal purposes: for example, when introducing

Cartesian coordinates, I took a minute to talk about Descartes. As they look at an image on the overhead

projector, I spoke about some interesting bullet points I found (e.g., he invented the convention of using

𝑥, 𝑦, and 𝑧 in equations) – and then I might make a joke, saying, “That’s why you are solving for 𝑥 all

the time – blame Descartes!”

After approximately 30-35 minutes of lecture time, I typically end class with 15-20 minutes of group

work from a worksheet that I constructed during my class prep time. During group work, the class gets

very loud as I encourage them to speak to each other and leave no one out. I go around to every group at

least twice. One of two things conclude group work: (1) either a person in the group is sent to the board

to present their particular problem that I asked them to focus on, or (2) the group gets together later to

work on ALL problems and then turn it in a day or two later for grading.

Assessment and Technology: In Math 104, I used my grader Cassie Spartz (a Math Education

major) mostly as a Teaching Assistant in the manner in which I learned as a graduate teaching assistant.

She met twice a week with students for one hour per session to do tutoring for those who decide to

come. Because I have written many WeBWorK homework problems for this course (see the section on

the next page on this topic), her time was free to be more of a teaching assistant than a grader. She and I

met once a week to discuss student performance from her perspective. Also, she and I co-led the exam

review sessions. Before each of the 4 midterm exams, I would reserve a room in Hibbard and purchase

approximately 5 or 6 large pizzas to feed the 50-60 students of the 80 that showed up for the review (and

not just for the pizza, although I cannot be certain of their motivation). I find that the $45 in pizza and

soda for a 2 hour review session from 7pm-9pm is not much to pay for the benefit of helping students

out who need a little extra carbs after dinner and may not otherwise attend. Plus, it makes it special to

have food—like a study session celebration !


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WeBWorK Problem Development (in Math 104):

My introduction to WeBWorK was from Chris Ahrendt in Fall 2013. Since then, I have become

VERY motivated to learn as much as I can and eventually code my own problems for UWEC courses

where this online tool would be helpful. In my previous Professional Activities Form for the 2013-2014

academic year, I wrote that in Spring 2014 I made 25 WeBWorK assignments of around 7 to 9 problems

each for my Math 104 course. This is the first time that anyone at UWEC has used WeBWorK for Math

104, so I had to start from scratch (i.e., the National Public Library of problems). I have changed the

code for most of the problems to accomplish any combination of the following goals: (1) adding hints,

(2) listing the page numbers of the examples of worked-out-problems in the textbook similar to a given

problem, (3) providing links to videos that explain the steps to do a problem, and/or (4) changing the

context of some problems to be set here at UWEC, including names of the other math faculty, Simei

Tong, who taught Math 104 with me in Fall 2014. Below I give a screen shot of a typical problem that

displays my use of Points (1), (2), and (4).


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Summer 2014 PREP Workshop on WeBWorK Problem Authoring and a CETL mini-course on

using technology in the classroom (and its impact on my Math 104 course):

At the Joint Mathematics Meeting in Baltimore in January 2014, I met a large number of the

problem developers for WeBWorK. They encouraged me to take the MAA PREP workshop in the

Summer 2014 on authoring my own WeBWorK problems and contributing these to the National

Problem Library. This PREP Workshop wound up having a big impact on my Math 104 course; I have

revised almost ALL of the 25 WeBWorK homework assignments that I created in the Spring 2014

semester and wrote additional homework assignments and even quizzes. I have updated my coding to

include new WeBWorK features such as Knowls (a handy PERL code that allows the student user to

click to see a message and toggle the appearance of this image on and off by clicking). I use this to give

hints to those who want to easily see one.

In Spring 2015, I took a mini-course at the CETL center here at UWEC. The course focused on

using technology in the classroom. I learned to make educational videos easily in my office using a

software called Screencast-O-Matic. Previously, I would search YouTube to see if there was a helpful

video of someone solving a similar problem that I could link to in a WeBWorK problem to help my

UWEC students. Often, I could not find a video that addressed the problem in a manner that best served

my students. So I decided after taking this CETL mini-course to make my own videos. An example of

this can be seen by clicking on the following address:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFhf2c8hkj0&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

In this video I address the following WeBWorK question:

HOMEWORK QUESTION: A fair coin is tossed 8 times and the face that appears (H or T) on each

toss is recorded. How many elements of the sample space will start or end (or both) with a head and

have an adjacent pair or adjacent triple of heads and include a total of exactly three heads?

In the video I made, I lead the student through a method on how to begin to think about this problem,

but I do not completely solve it for them. Plus, I have coded all my WeBWorK problem to be

randomized so that there are many variations of this same exact problem. I attach a screenshot (in

Figure 1 on the next page) of the video that you would see if you clicked on the YouTube link above.

The video currently has almost 200 hits since I made it. Since I only had 56 students in Math 104 last

Spring 2015, the current hit count of almost 200 hits says that students of both sections (Dr. Tong’s and

mine) are finding this video helpful this current Fall 2015 semester.

As you can see in Figure 1, the latter video involved me using a share-screen feature of Screencast-

O-Matic. However, I find that it useful to make videos that reflect the atmosphere for a student being in

my actual classroom. So I use the chalkboard in my office and I re-teach material that may help with a

certain homework problem. The following link takes you to an example of that approach:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IInfgPw4bf4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFhf2c8hkj0&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IInfgPw4bf4


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Figure 1: Screenshot of a video I made using Screencast-O-Matic to help students with a WeBWorK homework problem.

Figure 2: Another video – but this time I use the chalkboard as opposed to the share-screen feature of Screencast-O-Matic


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Math 395: In the Fall 2014 semester, I developed a course that I called The Beauty of Math. Here is the cover I

made for the handouts which I primarily used for this course:

The goal of the course as listed in my course syllabus was the following:

Since this is a directed studies course, we will all take part in teaching it. Each of us takes turns

presenting proofs from the book called Proofs from THE BOOK. This part will be REALLY fun because

there are quite a variety of topics presented and EVERYTHING is beautiful. We will be learning some

of the most fundamental results in areas of math from number theory, geometry, analysis,

combinatorics, and graph theory.

This course was well-received by the eight students that were enrolled in the course. It is my hope to

teach it again and perhaps at some point design an Honors math course around this material.


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Math 425: Math 425 was a new prep for me in Fall 2014. This class was greatly influenced by some

pedagogical aspects that I learned worked or failed when I taught Math 314 the previous year. In my

first year here at UWEC, my Math 314 course did not start out as smoothly as it could have. I

personally elected to take on a style of teaching that was not my own style; however, it was a style that

worked naturally and exceedingly well for Dr. Manda Riehl in her section of Math 314. I thought I

would experiment with her idea of the daily worksheets. I believed that if I used the worksheet idea,

then I could get through material more quickly, as less had to be written down on the board. However,

the style did not click with my personality, as I felt I was reading the worksheets to them.

In Math 425, though, in the Fall 2014 semester, I found a way to make daily worksheets more

organic for me. The class noticed that my first few worksheets which I made were exceedingly helpful,

and they all demanded that I continue to do that versus the standard board work. One drawback to the

worksheets was that it took about twice the time to prep a single worksheet than it did to prep for a

standard lecture-notes-on-the board style class which I was used to. In addition to this being a new

prep, I spent about 2-3 hours perfecting each worksheet. After each class, I posted the unfilled-out

worksheet on our class webpage. Hopefully this will be helpful for future students who are considering

taking Math 425 with me. I plan to use these same worksheets [up to edits of course to improve the

exposition] the next time I teach Math 425, so that the investment of time that it took to make the

original worksheets will pay off greatly. All of these worksheets can be seen at the following address:

http://people.uwec.edu/mbirika/Abstract_Algebra_I_notes_Math_425.html

The basic structure of each worksheet worked better for me in Math 425 than it did when I taught

Math 314 my first semester here, because I integrated my personal color-coded Red-Blue-Green system

(that I describe on page 1 of this Professional Activities Form) into these worksheets in an organic

manner. For example, the “Red Notes” from my traditional lecture notes are transformed onto these

worksheets as tasks that I highlight as [You Do!]. We pause in class and sometimes either get into

groups or I address the task on the board with the help of the students. So the student fills in the vast

blank spaces in these worksheets with the material that I want them to learn. And the “Blue Notes” from

my traditional lecture notes are written already on the worksheet so that students do not have to write

these down, and hence they can devote MOST of their class time to learning material and interacting

with it as opposed to simply copying down notes. The “Green Notes” retain their same role as before as

either anecdotal-related tangents or hints to a question posed in the class. In Figure 3 on the next page, I

give an example that incorporates all three aspects of my Math 425 daily worksheet.

http://people.uwec.edu/mbirika/Abstract_Algebra_I_notes_Math_425.html


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Figure 3: Example of [You do!] task in one of my Math 425 Daily Worksheets

Summer 2014 PREP Workshop on WeBWorK Problem Authoring (and its impact Math 425):

During my Summer 2014 MAA PREP course on WeBWorK problem authoring, I met other

algebraists that were interested in authoring problems in Group/Ring/Field theory. The National

Problem Library on WeBWorK sadly has very little contributions in advanced mathematics areas such

as abstract algebra and analysis. It is my goal to make some contributions to this area. I started by

working personally with authors (primarily at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst) of current

abstract algebra problems that are in the National Problem Library.

UNFORTUNATE STUMBLING BLOCK: As I used and tweaked some of the existing problems, my

Math 425 students found a number of errors in the problems. Some I could fix, but other errors stumped

both me AND even the authors of the original problems. They constantly thanked me for pointing out

these errors. For the most part, many of these problems went untested as no one is really using

WeBWorK for abstract algebra. So when I found a problem which we could not fix I sadly had to let

students know that this problem is “broke” for now.

OVERCOMING THE STUMBLING BLOCK: All of the “broke” problems have been fixed by the

work of myself and WeBWorK collaborators at U-Mass Amherst. And this is very fortunate for ALL

users of WeBWorK for abstract algebra, because thanks to the patience of many of my Math 425

students, many unknown bugs have been fixed.

In the Figure 4 on the next page, I show an example of a problem I co-wrote of computing the

number of homomorphisms from a dihedral group of one order to a cyclic group of another order. This

is a problem that leads the student through a lesson via multiple steps. Students struggled a lot with this

problem at first but have told me that breaking it up into the various steps greatly helped. In future


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similar problem that appeared on a written exam, it showed that this type of WeBWorK problem greatly

assisted their understanding of homomorphisms as well as their success in solving problems such as that

in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4: Example of a problem I co-wrote for use in Math 425 and Math 426.


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Math 426: Math 426 was a new prep for me in Spring 2015. As a combinatorialist that specializes in algebraic

combinatorics, I was VERY excited to teach this course which was very influential to me as an

undergraduate student. It was this course that inspired my interest to go to graduate school AND pursue

a focus of study that involved algebra. As this was an advanced section course, I had only 6 students.

Despite the small class enrollment, I spent as much if not more time preparing each of the daily

worksheets for this course. Like Math 425, I place each of my worksheets on my publically available

webpage. It is my hope that this is useful to prospective students of Math 426 and even those not at this

university. You can see these worksheets at the following address:

http://people.uwec.edu/mbirika/Abstract_Algebra_II_notes_Math_426.html

Diverse Pedagogical Technique: As this was a small class, I often asked them to meet in the

evening every two weeks or so for an “extra class”. We used these extra classes to present proofs to

each other. It was very similar to my Math 395 course in Fall 2014. In that Math 395 course and in

these extra Math 426 sessions we met at Pizza Plus on S. Barstow. I did this because I wanted to expose

the Eau Claire community to advanced mathematics, and I also wanted to treat the students to pizza and

soda. They were very excited about these “extra classes” and even asked to have more of them. I was

delighted that they were inspired to attend and not just for the free pizza. Figure 5 shows a group photo.

Figure 5: Group photo of Math 426 “extra class” at Pizza Plus

http://people.uwec.edu/mbirika/Abstract_Algebra_II_notes_Math_426.html


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QUESTION: How does one “teach” effectively at a pizza restaurant? I bring three white boards. We

set them up at the front of the restaurant by the front window of the Pizza Plus establishment – see

Figure 6 below. The owner Benny Haas (who is a friend of mine) turns down the music if it is loud or

distracting and reserves the front tables for me and my class. After 2 or 3 hours, the “extra class” is

done and students take the leftover pizza (if any) home. Oddly enough, students do not notice the many

hours passing when they are learning in this pizza environment!

EXTRA-ADDED BONUS: The Eau Claire community gets a chance to see an advanced mathematics

UWEC course while they are dining. There is always at least one diner who comes up and asks about the

mathematics we are doing. I let the students explain what Galois Theory is to the curious public!

Figure 6: Teaching Galois Theory at Pizza Plus. We set the white boards up at the front window.


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II. Advising

Address: availability to students; communication with advisees; preparation of career and academic materials with

students; and referrals to appropriate academic and support offices. Other examples of mentoring or advising students

such as special mentoring, aspects of directing independent studies, writing letters of recommendation for students, and

sponsoring student clubs, student presentations at Math Retreat or University Research Day may be included here.

My Advisees:

1. Nicole Jones

2. Lucas Morgan

3. Molly Petersen

4. Rita Post

5. Sarah Reukema

6. Michael Vaughan

7. Stephanie Zahara

Mentoring at Research Conferences: In April 18-19, 2015, I attended the NSF USTARS

Conference (Underrepresented Students in Topology and Algebra Research Symposium) at Florida

Golf Coast University. I was a Panel Member on the topic of Mentorship. At USTARS there is a lot of

interaction between faculty members present and the undergraduate and graduate students in attendance.

I brought UWEC undergrad student researcher Nellie Brushaber. This was her first research conference,

and she presented a poster on her research work. Next USTARS in April of 2016, I have been invited to

be the keynote faculty speaker. I plan to bring my two 2015-2016 research students Sara DeBrabander

and Michelle Gebert and three of Carolyn Otto’s research students to this conference to present their

research.

Letters of Recommendation: I have written 9 letters of recommendations in the Fall 2014 and

Spring 2015 semesters (eight were for UWEC students and one was for a former student from my

previous employment of Bowdoin College). The eight UWEC recommendations were for:

Kimberly Charles (Math 314 Fa’13) – For ISEP study abroad in Chile in Fall 2014.

Jourdyn Engroff (Math 109 Fa’13) – For her applications to transfer to a different school.

Lydia Shields (Math 109 Fa’13) – For CIE study abroad in Limerick, Ireland in Spring 2015.

Allie Reischl (Math 104 Sp’14) – For RA application.

Eric Anderson (Math 425 Fa’14) – For Windhover Scholarship.

Samantha Poeske (Math 104 Sp’15) – For study abroad in South Africa in Spring 2016.

Sarah Luman (Math 314 Sp’14) – For peer adviser for CIE Valladolid Spain program.

Cassie Spartz (Math 425 Fa’14) – For Yellowstone Park server assistant job.

Unofficial Advising: Many of my former Math 104 and 109 students came to me for advice on

which class to take after Math 104 and Math 109, and whether to do winterim or not. I gave them my

http://www.ustars.org/


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advice, but I also directed them to Alex Smith and/or the instructors of the Math 111, 112, 113 or 246

which they were considering.

Math 104-109 Reunion Gatherings (at my home): Every semester, I host a pizza and soda

gathering at my home to reunite all the students who have ever been in my 100-level courses which I

have taught at UWEC. I believe that it is important to not only keep in contact with my former math

major students but also with the students who come to our math department from other majors to take

only one or two math classes. The family that is built around these “Former Students of Prof aBa”

creates a foundation that I believe helps with retention and an overall feeling of community at the

UWEC within the math department. I attach a photo of the most recent gathering at my home:

Faculty Advisor to the UWEC Math Club: As co-advisor Colleen Duffy had a semester abroad

teaching in Harlaxton, I took the reins as math club advisor. It was my goal to attempt to unite the two

different clubs Math Club and Actuarial Club. In the 2014-2015 academic year, this goal was not

actualized to my desire. However, it is my goal to continue to put as much energy into this uniting of

the two clubs. Thus far in the 2015-2016 academic year, it appears that this goal is being realized.

Involvement with Foodlums: The campus organization called Foodlums is a group of

approximately 40 students that meets each Thursday evening. One important goal of the group is to

raise awareness of sustainability and importance of local/organic food. Though I am not officially a

faculty advisor for the group, I have attended all weekly meeting since I started my employment here. I


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try to engage my math students to come and help us with the garden at Philips, and I bring the

perspective of a math faculty member to their regular meetings. The Foodlums students have often

found it helpful to talk with me about their mathematics options here at UWEC.

III. Scholarly Activities and Professional Growth

Address: published scholarly work or its equivalent; participation in professional conferences at the international, national, state or local levels; participation in faculty/student collaborative projects; significant professional growth over the evaluation period; grant funding at the international, national, state or local levels, and professional consulting.

Presentations at Professional Conferences (2014-2015 Academic Year):

1. University of Minnesota Combinatorics Seminar - Title: A Robinson-Schendsted

Correspondence on complex reflection groups G(r,p,n) - April 18, 2014 (Minneapolis, MN)

2. AMS Central Sectional Meeting [Special Session on Patterns in Permutations and Words, and

Applications] - Title: A Robinson-Schendsted Correspondence on complex reflection groups

G(r,p,n) - Sept 20-21, 2014 -Sept 20-21, 2014 (Eau Claire, WI) - Abstract

3. SACNAS National Conference [Special Session on Abstract Algebra Research Topics for

Undergraduates] - Title: Applying the Chinese remainder theorem to a lattice point geometry

problem - October 16-18, 2014 - (Los Angeles, CA)

4. AMS-MAA Joint Mathematics Meeting [AMS Special Session on Graphs, Matrices, and

Other Related Problems] - Title: Finding square patches of invisible lattice points using

quasiprime matrices - January 13, 2015 - (San Antonio, TX) - Abstract

5. NSF USTARS Conference (Underrepresented Students in Topology and Algebra Research

Symposium) at Florida Golf Coast University - Panel Member, Topic: Mentorship - April 18-19,

2015 - (Fort Myers, FL)

6. Fields Institute [Workshop on Recent Developments in the Geometry and Combinatorics of

Hessenberg Varieties] - Title: A co-FI-module structure on Springer representations - July 22-

24, 2015 - (Toronto, Canada) - Abstract

Presentations in the community:

1. Ask a Scientist! at Acoustic Cafe - Title: Pi is transcendental - not like Emerson or Thoreau but

in the math sense - April 15, 2015

Preprints (in progress and/or almost completed):

(with collaborator Julianna Tymoczko of Smith College) We met in Summer 2015 to continue

our work on our preprint Representation stability of Springer representations. I anticipate that

we will have something to submit by the end of the 2015-2016 academic year.

http://people.uwec.edu/mbirika/AMS_Central_Section_Sept2014_Abstract.pdf

http://people.uwec.edu/mbirika/JMM_Jan2015_research_talk_Abstract.pdf

http://www.ustars.org/

http://people.uwec.edu/mbirika/Abstract%20-%20Fields_Institute_July2015.pdf


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(with two collaborators Pamela Harris of West Point Academy and Bethany Kubik of University

of Minnesota at Duluth) We met in Summer 2015 to begin work on a generalization of my

research on lattice point geometry that they saw me present at SACNAS Conference in October

2014 in Los Angeles. Currently, my 2015-2016 UWEC student researchers are working with me

to contribute as co-authors on a preprint on this material which Drs. Harris, Kubik, and I started

in Summer 2015.

(with two UWEC student collaborators Austin Goodrich and Jasmine Nielsen) See the section

below on Student-Faculty research.

(with 5 collaborators Adam Berliner of St. Olaf College, Nate Dean of Texas State University,

Jonelle Hook of Mount St. Mary’s University, Alison Marr of Southwestern University, and

Cayla McBee of Providence College) Our work on the prime labelings of graphs was started at

REUF (Research Experience for Undergraduate Faculty) in Summer 2012. We have met

intermittently since then. However, in the 2014-2015 academic year, we made an effort to begin

a preprint. At our most recent Skype meeting, we determined that we would like to submit this

preprint by the December 2015.

Submitted Publications:

In the summer of 2013, my collaborator Thomas Pietraho (of Bowdoin College) and I submitted our

paper, On the sign representations for the complex reflection groups G(r,p,n), to the European Journal

of Combinatorics. After the anonymous referee(s) gave a very short but thoughtful response praising the

paper’s main result, they rejected the paper and sketched what they believed is a simpler proof of our

main result. I have studied their “proof” and verified that the referee’s suggestion oversimplifies our

situation and also does not work. Rather than awkwardly re-submitting to the same journal and upon the

guidance of some of my senior mentors and my paper collaborator, I have been rewriting the paper to

incorporate a small section on why a seemingly simpler approach does not work, thereby giving more

weight to our proof of the main result. In the summer of 2015, we met to completely revise parts of the

proof of our main result. I am currently waiting on my collaborator to find time to complete his edits of

my revisions. Since my latest revisions I feel that the paper is ready to submit. It is my hope to have

this paper re-submitted ASAP, but unfortunately I am awaiting my collaborators time to commit to this

and go over my revisions.

Student-Faculty Research:

In the 2014-2015 academic year, I did not have any research students, as I wanted to devote time to

two things that would take up a lot of my time during this time period namely my role with the UWEC

Leadership Fellows and my Math 395 course which I developed called The Beauty of Math, a course on

the beauty of mathematical proof techniques in historically famous math problems.

However in lieu of working actively with research students, I continued to work on my paper with

my 2013-2014 academic year research students Austin Goodrich and Jasmine Nielsen. Austin was no

longer a student at UWEC during this academic year, but he, Jasmine, and I managed to meet frequently


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enough to talk about this paper titled Using quasiprime matrices to find hidden forests in the integer

lattice. It is my hope to have this paper submitted by the end of the 2015-2016 academic year.

Plans for Future Scholarly Activities

Preprints to submit: The section above on preprints lists four separate preprints which I hope will all

be submitted by the end of the 2015-2016 academic year.

Plans for Future Professional Growth and Development

WeBWorK Problem Authoring and Educational Video Production: As described in the Math 104

section of this Professional Activities form, I hope to continue to develop WeBWorK problems not only

for Math 104 but also for my advanced mathematics courses. I also plan to utilize and improve my

video production skills that I learned in the CETL Spring 2015 mini-course on using technology in the

classroom.

Fall 2015 C.O.P. (Community of Practice) on Research Mentoring: In the Fall of 2015, myself, Jim

Walker, and Carolyn Otto are participating in a semester-long Community Of Practice through CETL

focused on research mentoring.

IV. Service

Address: active participation in the life and operation of the Department through committee service, attendance at Department meetings and support of such activities as the Math Retreat and High School Math Meet; service to the College(s), University or System through active participation on committees; service to the profession; and service to the community.

Service to the Math Department:

Organizer of the UWEC “Math in the Woods” event at Lake Wissota, WI.

Library Committee: Along with Ursula Whitcher, we coordinate the library purchases for the

department.

Faculty advisor for the Math Club

Organizer of the “Math Map” on 5th floor HHH. Alexa Syryczuk, her sister-in-law Amanda,

Erika Bohmke, and I were responsible for making this map a reality!

April 2015 - Andrew Balas Speaker Organizer for the Math Retreat

March 2015 - Math representative at the 3rd Annual Chippewa Falls STEAM Night

March 2015 - Invited speaker at the Sonia Kovalevsky Day at UWEC

February 2015 - Student Volunteer Coordinator for the High School Math Meet

November 2014 - Volunteer to speak with prospective math students and their parents on

STEM Visit Day

http://www.uwec.edu/Math/about/MathRetreat.htm

http://cfsd.chipfalls.k12.wi.us/high/steam/STEAM_Night_Flyer_2015.pdf


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Service to the Community (within UWEC but outside the Math Department):

May 2015 - Judge for Blugold Beginnings Education Fair poster presentations (Davies

Center UWEC) -- I (along with Vice Chancellor Beth Hellwig) judged the Middle School

students' posters

May 2015 - Judge for Bold and Blugold Pageant at the Lookout (Upper-campus UWEC)

November 2014 - Volunteer to speak with prospective math students and their parents on

STEM Visit Day

October 2014 - Judge for Yell-Like-Hell Competition and Pep Rally for UWEC

Homecoming

October 2014 - Invited to be video-interviewed in my office for UWEC TV-10's series

Behind the Desk to help current/prospective students get to know faculty. Watch it at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDdCXf0hEJI&list=UUa41KwhDioFW-DoAJjggrEw

August 2014 - Volunteered to represent the student group Foodlums at information table at

the UWEC Grounds Crew Concert in Phillips Hall garden.

Service to the Community (outside of UWEC):

April 2015 - Ask a Scientist! at Acoustic Cafe - Title: Pi is transcendental - not like

Emerson or Thoreau but in the math sense

Mathematics at Pizza Plus in downtown Eau Claire – numerous “extra” math classes took

place there. Fall 2014 with Math 395 and Spring 2015 with Math 426.

UWEC Leadership Fellows (2014-2015):

In the 2014-2015, I had the pleasure to serve with 7 other members of the UWEC community as a

fellow in the Office of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Leadership Fellows Cohort. Our main goal

as a group was to initiate a vast project to create a central one-stop-shop website for leadership

opportunities on campus. This very vast project was initiated 6 years ago, but it never got to fruition.

We learned (the hard way) that one year was not enough time to get this website to a finished state;

however, we laid the groundwork for the current 2015-2016 fellows to complete this project.

In addition to a group goal, each of us 8 fellows had an individual project. My project was to initiate

an incentive program to have faculty eat with their students not only in the campus eateries but also at

the homes of faculty (similar to the current Dinner with 12 Strangers that UWEC supports). Both

Chancellor Schmidt and Provost Kleine are very supportive of this goal of mine. In fact, the provost has

come with me on a number of occasions to eat with my students in both the upper campus Caf and the

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDdCXf0hEJI&list=UUa41KwhDioFW-DoAJjggrEw


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Davies center. Working with Sodexo, the FYE and the SYE programs, I was able so far to find funding

for the First Year Experience faculty to dine with their students. I am continuing to work on this

initiative. The current budget situation of UWEC is making this a harder project than when I started it in

Fall 2014. However, its impact on the retention of students is the fuel that keeps it alive today – and

hence the SYE (Sophomore Year Experience) group is hoping that they too can be a part of this

initiative to help with the “sophomore slump”. Despite no longer being a Leadership Fellow, I will

NEVER give up on achieving the goals of this important initiative – i.e., to break down the walls

between faculty and students by engaging in a joint activity involving food. We all have to eat!

Back Row (left to right): Maria Carvalho (International Student Advisor), John Bachmeier (Alumni Relations), Rachel

Woodward (English Communications and Journalism), Josh Nesja (Blugold Beginnings), and Charissa Jakusz (Residence

Hall Director)

Front Row (left to right): aBa Mbirika (Mathematics), Nicole Rindone (Coordinator for Student Activities), Beth Hellwig

(Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs), and Dennis Beale (Graduate Student/Athletics)

The 2014-2015 UWEC Leadership Fellows

Documents

Summary of Recent Professional Activities and Plans for ...people.uwec.edu/mbirika/Mbirika-Professional_Activities_Form-2014 … · Summary of Recent Professional Activities and Plans