Danny Arrigo earned his PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1991.  He has been on staff in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Central Arkansas since 1999 and is currently Professor of Mathematics. He has published over 30 journal articles and three books. His research interests include the construction of exact solutions of PDEs and symmetry analysis of nonlinear PDEs.  His research is also active regarding solutions to physically important equations, such as nonlinear heat equations, governing equations modeling granular materials, and nonlinear elasticity.  Dr. Arrigo received the Oklahoma-Arkansas Section of the Mathematical Association of America’s Award for Distinguished Teaching of College or University Mathematics in 2008.  In that same year, he was awarded UCA’s award for excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creativity.  In 2011 he was a finalist for UCA’s Teaching Excellence Award and won that award in 2019.

Dr. Arrigo integrates his research into his teaching and vice versa.  He has worked with many students while at UCA; more than 30 of his undergraduate students have presented their work at regional and national conferences, where several have been recognized with awards.  In addition, Dr. Arrigo has mentored 10 graduate student theses with two currently underway.

The Department of Mathematics is pleased to announce the new Richard and Teri Jackson Scholarship for students majoring in mathematics, particularly the first-generation college students.  Preference will be given to women. The scholarship was funded by a UCA Math alumnus Ms. Tara Burton, currently COO of FedEx Employees Credit Association in Memphis. The recipient of the scholarship should be an Arkansas resident with preference given to a graduate of Wynne High School. The scholarship will be awarded in two equal installment on the dates of registration for the first and second semesters of the academic year. For more information about the scholarship, please  contact the Chair of the Department of Mathematics at 501-450-3614  or the UCA Foundation at 501-450-5288.

Thirteen applied mathematics majors , two pure mathematics majors,  and a graduate student in  MS Applied mathematics received their degrees at the 2017 Spring Commencement. Among the undergraduate majors, three received teacher certification through UCA’s STEM Teach Program. Congratulations to all. Not all graduates are seen in the picture shown below.

2017 O. L. Hughes Award    Cyrus Koch, a BS STEMteach Pure Mathematics student received the 2017 O.L. Hughes Award. The award is annually presented to an outstanding senior mathematics major based on their math achievement, GPA, and leadership. It is given in memory of late Professor O.L. Hughes, who was the chair of the Math Department at UCA from 1945 to 1967. Cyrus will graduate at the 2017 Spring Commencement. Cyrus has accepted a teaching position at North Garland High School in Garland, TX and will also be assistant coach for the school’s competitive math team. He plans to attend UT-Dallas to work on a MS in pure mathematics so that he can be involved in teaching and curriculum development for the school’s ultra fast-track math program.

2017 Dorothy Long Award Andrea Weaver, a BS STEMteach Applied Mathematics student received the 2017 Dorothy Long Award, annually presented to an outstanding female junior. The award is given in honor of late Professor Dorothy Long, who was a mathematics faculty member and the Dean of Women at UCA in the 60’s. Andrea received a Noyce Scholarship last year and presented “Nonlinear Elliptical PDEs” at the 2017 AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meeting. She attended the 2017 Oklahoma-Arkansas MAA Section Meeting and participated in the Math Jeopardy Contest. Also, Andrea is a recipient of a SURF grant and will begin research on “Nonclassical Symmetries of Dispersion Equations,” this summer with Dr. Danny Arrigo.

2017 Outstanding Graduate Student Award  Katie Burden, an MA Mathematics Education student, received the 2017 Outstanding Graduate Student Award by the unanimous recommendation of the Department of Mathematics faculty. She has worked in collaboration with Dr. Jason Martin on her thesis “Case Studies of Virtual Manipulative and Static Derivative Images” and presented her research at the 2017 Oklahoma-Arkansas MAA Section Meeting. Beginning in fall 2017, Katie will teach at Little Rock Central High School.

A paper co-authored by Ms. Kaiyi Chen (a former masters’ student at UCA in applied mathematics), Dr. Ling He (Carmichael Professor Finance), and Dr. R. B. Lenin (Associate Professor of Mathematics) has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Risk Finance.  The paper is based on Chen’s thesis “Time Variation Paths of Risk Sensitivities of Bank Stocks in Past Two Decades.”  Dr. Lenin was the principle thesis advisor.

This paper incorporates the Flexible Least Squares (FLS) approach with a free statistical computing and graphics software R to estimate the three-factor model developed by He and Reichert in 2003 to trace time variation paths in risk sensitivities of bank stock returns during 1990-2014, one of the most serious financial crises period in the U.S. history. The results of the paper show that interest rate sensitivity of bank stock returns coincides with the   dramatic changes in the bond market. It was significantly positive before the 2006 subprime mortgage crisis, reduced to insignificant between 2006 and 2008, and turned into significantly negative between 2008 to 2014. Further, the results of this study found that bank stocks negatively respond to changes in housing prices between1990-1994 and after that the sensitivity turns into significantly positive. The significant shifts in risk sensitivities of banks stock returns coincide alterations in long-term interest rates and monetary policy, especially, the enormously stimulative monetary policy after the financial crisis in 2008.

Ms. Chen is currently pursuing a master’s in statistics at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she plans to complete her  Ph.D. in statistics.

On November 19,  the Department  hosted the  second annual calculus tournament.  It was organized by Dr. Jeff Beyerl, Dr. Long Le, Rebecca Stage, and James Palmer, assisted by various other mathematics faculty members and graduate teaching assistants.   Seven teams of three students each competed against each other to solve problems as quickly as possible. The problems ranged through a variety of material that students in calculus learn: fundamentals, limits, derivatives, integrals, applications, and a dash of history.

The winning team, calling itself CAL, consisted of three students from Dr. Long Le’s calculus I course: Lindsey Hazeslip, Connor Wilson and Azaryah Wilson.

Several professional development workshops in computer science for high schools teachers were organized by UCA STEM Institute in collaboration with the Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science. They were held during June 9-11 and 16-18, 2015 from 12pm to 4pm on UCA campus.  Dr. R.B. Lenin, Associate professor of Mathematics, was the lead instructor. Teachers from Alma, Little Rock, Mayflower, and Vilonia School Districts attended the workshop.

In this workshop, Dr. Lenin covered basic computer programming topics such as expressions, functions, simple control and looping statements using the user-friendly software known as ‘Alice’ during the first half of the workshop. In the second half, he introduced a high-level computer programming language known as ‘Python’ to understand deeper concepts of computer programming. The participants were provided with computers, and  each topic was covered by the instructor through extensive hands-on-experience in computer coding. On the last day of the PD, various topics of the Praxis test were covered by going  over the sample questions of Praxis study companion – Computer Science 5651.

Details about the content of this PD can be obtained by contacting Dr. R.B. Lenin (rblenin@uca.edu). Details about future offerings can be obtained by contacting Dr. Uma Garimella (ugarimel@uca.edu).

Some comments from the participants are …

“It was such a pleasure to take your class. I hope I have the opportunity to study with you again.

I never would have thought that this would be a field that I would be so interested in, but it may be just the ticket for me. Thanks so much for making it interesting and fun.

I am excited about the opportunities that this could bring, and I don’t think that I would be thinking in those terms if we didn’t have a knowledgeable, patient, and passionate instructor. Thank you so much for that. ”

“This was the best PD I’ve ever attended and most engaging. You made the learning fun yet kept us challenged everyday. Thank you for all of your help and I look forward to seeing you in the future.”

“I really enjoyed being in your class and am looking into taking more courses.“