Board of Visitors Spotlight: Thomas Chappell

October 21, 2024 by Logan Judy

Tom Chappell was a founding member of the Board of Visitors (BoV) for the Department of Mathematics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2018. He served as its inaugural president and is currently the past president. Chappell played a pivotal role in re-establishing the enlarged BoV during 2022-2023. 

He earned his bachelor’s degree in education from UT in 1966, majoring in mathematics and physical sciences. He then embarked on a successful business career in information technology, starting with State Farm and IBM. His IT career continued with NLT Corporation, where he managed software developers and participated as a team member implementing software to support a homeowner’s insurance line of business. During his time at NLT, he furthered his education, earning a Master of Arts degree in economics and finance from Middle Tennessee State University in 1975. 

He expanded his role in IT pursuits and in technology management with the Coastal Corporation in Houston. While working at Coastal, he won election to the Alief Independent School District school board, where he honed public entity leadership skills. He was then recruited from Coastal by HMSS for his management skills in bringing about the successful integration of divergent departments within an organization and creating a high-functioning group. While at HMSS Inc. Chappell transformed an IT organization that was failing into a progressive department that significantly contributed to the success of the company. 

For the remainder of his business career, he formed and managed his own consulting company. He consulted with multiple national and international companies, including performing organizational and technical reviews for the Texas comptroller and the Texas legislature budget board reviewing Texas public school districts, local county governments and appraisal districts, and several independent school districts, helping them improve their business management and IT departments. 

Chappell retired from active business and technology consulting in 2010 and subsequently has spent most of his time creating and working with non-profit organizations. 

Math Board of Visitors Expands

October 21, 2024 by Logan Judy

After more than a year’s preparation, an expanded, diverse 23-member Board of Visitors (BoVs) was established in fall 2023 to serve as ambassadors and strategic partners for the Department of Mathematics. 

The board assists with formulating the department’s long-term development plans and strengthening its reputation nationally and internationally.

In 2024, the BoV established a full leadership team, including Jeremy Mitchell, Renee Fister, and Kirill Yakovlev. Tom Chappell, a founding member of the board, became the past president.

The BoV works to highlight the department among businesses, the general public, alumni, and the University of Tennessee. Board members also foster relationships with businesses and government labs, paving the way for contractual agreements and internships that benefit the department’s students. 

The BoV also actively seeks funding opportunities that can fuel new initiatives and short-term projects. 

Visit https://math.utk.edu/give-to-math/ to support the UT Department of Mathematics’ students, faculty, research, and Board of Visitors initiatives.

2023-2024 Academic Year in Review

October 21, 2024 by Logan Judy

The “Program Assessment Conference for Mathematics [P.A.C.-Math]: Tools for Math Departments to Self-Assess GTA Professional Development Programs” was held on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, from October 20-21, 2023, and was organized locally by faculty member Jeneva Clark with assistance from the departmental staff. Rosario Dow was instrumental in its success. The conference was partially supported by the National Science Foundation and the math department. About 30 people from around the country, plus one international guest, attended the workshop.

The “103rd Annual MAA-SE (Mathematical Association of America-Southeastern Section) Section Meeting took place on the UT campus from March 14-16, 2024. It was locally organized by Jeneva Clark with assistance from several faculty and staff members, as well as graduate students. More than 500 people attended the meeting, and the conference was a terrific success according to MAA. One former section chair wrote, “All our meetings are great, but this one truly goes down in history.” A special event of the meeting was honoring MAA member and civil rights hero Bill Brodie. Please see the August/September issue MAA FOCUS for the detailed story.

The 52nd Barrett Lectures took place on the UT campus from May 20-22, 2024. The topic of the lectures was “Stochastic Analysis and its Applications,” and it was organized by the probability group.  Eleven invited one-hour talks were delivered, and about 40 people attended the lectures. The 52nd Barrett Lectures were supported by the National Science Foundation, the research office, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Mathematics.

The math department underwent a comprehensive Academic Program Review (APR) in 2023-2024. Such a review occurs roughly once every ten years. The department’s last APR was done in 2014-2015. The APR process consists of four steps. First, the department prepared a comprehensive self-study report, which requires a lot of time and effort. Second, an external APR committee, invited by the Office of Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, came to UT for a site visit, from March 31-April 2, 2024. The APR committee submitted an evaluation report about various aspects of the department and made constructive recommendations. The report was then shared with the department, which provided a response to the APR committee’s report. Finally, the department head met with the college and university administrations to discuss the APR report and the department’s response, resulting in a specific action plan.

The 2024 Math Department Honors Day was held in the Student Union on Monday, April 8, 2024. This was the first time the ceremony was live-streamed on the internet. It was a great gathering and celebration of the achievements of the faculty, staff, graduate students, and math majors.

Department Honors and Awards

October 21, 2024 by Logan Judy

In addition to the many departmental awards and scholarships presented at 2024 Honors Day, below are awards and honors received by the faculty, staff, and graduate students from other organizations.

Chancellor’s Professor Suzanne Lenhart delivered the prestigious J. W. Gibbs Lecture at the Joint Math Meetings in San Francisco on January 6, 2024. 

Associate Professor Olivia Feldman (formerly Prosper) received the 2024 Chancellor’s/Provost’s Professional Promise in Research and Creative Achievement Award. 

Professor Abner Salgado received the 2023-2024 College Arts and Sciences Mid-Career Research Award and the Outstanding Graduate Research Mentor Award from the Graduate Student Senate. 

Distinguished Lecturer Jeneva Clark received the 2023 Mathematics Association of America (MMA) Southeastern Section Distinguished Teaching Award and delivered a plenary talk at the 103rd MAA-SE Sectional Meeting.

Professor Vasileios Maroulas was named the assistant vice chancellor and deputy director of the AI Tennessee Initiative in January of 2024. 

Dahkota Debold received the Student Disability Services Accessibility Champion Award and the Graduate Student Senate Excellence in Service Award. 

Melissa Pulley and Margaret Knight received the Graduate Student Senate Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching Award. 

Juvy Melton received the 2024 College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Financial Support Award at the Summer Jam Staff Appreciation Event.

Ben Walker was awarded the 2024 College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Technical Support Award at the Summer Jam Staff Appreciation Event. 

Tina Murr received the 2024 College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Academic Support Award at the Summer Jam Staff Appreciation Event.

Rosario Dow, Tina Murr, Pam Armentrout, Nicole Crombie, Calvin Wong, and Carson Wright received the College of Arts and Sciences Kudos recognition.

On May 7, Pam Armentrout, Juvy Melton, and Ben Walker received service awards for working at the University of Tennessee for 40 years, 30 years, and 25 years, respectively.

Alumnus Kevin Farmer an Actuarial Analyst

October 21, 2024 by Logan Judy

Math major Kevin Farmer graduated in May with a concentration in applied math. He is a veteran and a first-generation college student who is pursuing a career as an actuary. 

Farmer completed an actuarial internship while a student at UT and successfully passed the first two actuarial exams, which cover material in probability and financial mathematics. 

After graduation, he began working as an actuarial analyst at MassMutual Life Insurance.

“My time at UT was memorable because of the support I received from staff and other students,” Farmer said. “I have also enjoyed being able to help others through math tutoring and by sharing my career journey and experiences.”

Alumnus Ryan Unger an NSF Researcher

October 21, 2024 by Logan Judy

Ryan Unger came to UT as an engineering student and started doing undergraduate research on experimental materials science in nuclear engineering. In his freshman year, he treated mathematics as a hobby and did not think it was a viable career option.

The more mathematics courses he took, however, the more he liked mathematics. Taking several upper-level and graduate-level courses with professors including Alex Freire, Theodora Bourni, Mat Langford—in advanced calculus, differential equations, and the calculus of variations and geometric analysis—convinced Unger of his love and passion for mathematics. 

He earned a bachelor’s degree with honors from UT in 2019 and then excelled as a graduate student at Princeton University. He earned his doctorate in May 2024 and was a winner of the Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowship, the top graduate student honor from Princeton. 

Upon graduation, he received a string of prestigious fellowship offers from many top schools. Unger is now a National Science Foundation postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University and simultaneously a Miller Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley. Well done and congratulations, Ryan!

Alumnus Owen Queen Recognized for Leadership

October 21, 2024 by Logan Judy

Owen Queen graduated from UT in May 2020 with a double major in computer science and mathematics. His undergraduate research spanned artificial intelligence and data science in genomics, materials science, and epidemiology. 

As a junior, Queen earned the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship which is regarded as the most prestigious undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) scholarship in the United States. He did his honors research on computational materials science under the direction of Professors Vasileios Maroulas (math) and Konstantinos Vogiatzis (chemistry), which resulted in publishing his first authored research paper in the highly selective npj Computational Materials in 2023. 

Beyond his academic pursuits, Queen was deeply committed to aiding underserved communities across the United States through his volunteer work with Remote Area Medical, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing high-quality healthcare to those in need.  

Queen earned a doctorate in computer science at Stanford University. In May he was named one of the 2024 Knight-Hennessy Scholars, which is among the most prestigious postgraduate fellowships in the world. Recipients are selected based on demonstrating independence of thought, purposeful leadership, and a civic mindset. Great job and congratulations, Owen!

Clark Focuses on Math Education

October 21, 2024 by Logan Judy

With a master’s degree in mathematics and a PhD in mathematics education, JENEVA CLARK has unique perspectives on teaching mathematics. Her research and connections are forging new opportunities for faculty and students at UT. 

Clark joined the Department of Mathematics faculty in 2006 and has taught and coordinated Mathematical Reasoning courses for many years. She regularly teaches Geometry and History of Mathematics and has mentored many math graduate students in teaching. Clark has been involved in 14 funded grants, serving as principal investigator on nine.

Her interest in teaching mathematics extends back to her experience in elementary school. She loves designing fun and engaging lessons, teaching undergraduate mathematics, advising future teachers, mentoring future faculty, and implementing professional development for K-12 teachers. 

Her doctoral dissertation focused on how students learn from errors. “University students in my quasi-experimental study judged that correct work samples, sanitized from errors, were more helpful to them, but the data proved that analyzing work with errors was more helpful to their learning,” Clark explained.

Recent research she directed examined the differences in how US faculty and graduate students from America and Ghana judge the elegance of given proofs. “The findings were that elegance in proofs is not well-defined and varies greatly based on status and geography,” Clark said. 

She’s hoping to delve into further cross-cultural educational studies with co-researchers in Ghana and other countries.

During the past academic year, she championed to establishment of a new collaborative relationship between UT and a university in Ghana, where she has been conducting outreach and research for the past several years. A new memorandum of understanding between UT and Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) will bring opportunities for the mathematics and other departments to collaborate. Possibilities include joint programs, jointly funded projects, student exchange programs, and visiting faculty arrangements, for example.

“Sharing students, sharing research, sharing expertise, and sharing programs are all great ways to strengthen both institutions,” she said. 

During the past academic year, she also organized two events on the Knoxville campus: the Program Assessment Conference for Mathematics [P.A.C.-Math]: Tools for Math Departments to Self-Assess GTA Professional Development Programs in October 2023 and the 103rd Mathematical Association of America Southeastern (MAA-SE) Section Meeting in March 2024. 

Clark, who received the 2023 MAA-SE Section Distinguished Teaching Award, took the opportunity in delivering the plenary talk to honor William Brodie. He was one of four members turned away from the MAA section meeting conference hotel in 1960 because of their race, and during the 2024 conference at UT received a formal apology form the southeastern chair of the MAA. Clark is collaborating with the UT Department of Africana Studies on a new book chapter about Brodie.

Lenhart Delivers Gibbs Lecture

October 21, 2024 by Logan Judy

Suzanne Lenhart’s achievements in applied mathematics were highlighted this year with her invitation from the American Mathematical Society (AMS) to deliver the Josiah Willard Gibbs Lecture. 

Her speech to an international audience on January 4 at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco—the largest math conference in the world—focused on the impact of math in natural systems management. 

Lenhart’s research involves differential equations and optimal control of biological and physical models, especially population and epidemiological models. Currently she is working on infectious disease models and applications in natural resources.

During the Gibbs Lecture, she showed the power of mathematical models to inform management in ecological systems, from wildfire controls to choosing therapy for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. In the area of climate change, for example, predictive models showing the impact of rising temperatures on the hatchlings of loggerhead sea turtles can guide conservation plans.

Lenhart joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1981 and has been named a Chancellor’s Professor and the James R. Cox Professor of Mathematics. She also was a part-time research staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1987-2009. 

Her leadership in the Department of Mathematics includes 15 years as director of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). She also served as associate director for education, outreach, and diversity of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) from 2009-2021 and organized the summer Research for Undergraduates program.

Lenhart is a fellow of AMS, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Association for Women in Mathematics. She served as AWM president in 2001-2002. 

She has organized outreach efforts to several middle and high schools and teacher workshops and served as co-principal investigator on a research collaboration with students and faculty in southern Africa, funded through the National Science Foundation.

Lenhart has been the research advisor for 37 master’s students, 33 PhD students, and 15 postdoctoral candidates. “I love teaching and collaborating on research,” she said. “I enjoy advising PhD and master’s students.”

AT UT, she has mentored women, students with disabilities, those who are racial or ethnic minorities, and students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

“My mentoring activity has been rooted in my personal experience as a woman, coming from a low-income household led by my mother,” Lenhart said. “As my career developed, I learned more about access and inclusivity, which led to deeper involvement with programs about increasing opportunities and improving equity.”

“Our department has strong diversity in the faculty now, and there are many more graduate students,” she said. “A variety of backgrounds and viewpoints enables us to serve a wide spectrum of graduate students.”

Over the past century, the notable mathematicians who have delivered the Gibbs lecture include Albert Einstein, Robert May of Oxford University, Cathleen Morawetz of New York’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and Ingrid Daubechies from Princeton University.

New Faculty and Postdoctoral Associates, 2023-2024

October 21, 2024 by Logan Judy

The Department of Mathematics welcomed three tenure-line faculty, eight professional teaching faculty, and four postdoctoral associates. Learn more about the faculty on the department’s website.

Tenure-Track Faculty

Postdoctoral Associates

Non-Tenure-Line Faculty

Not Pictured: Leona Sparaco