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Gary Gordon, professor of mathematics, was one of two featured speakers at the State System of Higher Education-Mathematics Association Conference last month at Kutzown University.
Gordon spoke April 20 on “Gears that Turn and Archimedean Solids.” He also gave a talk on “How to Fix an Antimmatroid” at a Binghamton University seminar April 24.
Since 1989, Gordon has given eight addresses at the Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, and has made more than 15 other presentations at conferences and seminars over his academic career.
Gordon coordinates the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates at Lafayette, where students from Lafayette and other top institutions work in small groups with Lafayette faculty for eight weeks in the summer. This summer, Gordon will mentor first-year students Robert McEwen of Morgantown, Pa., and Prince Chidyagwai of Marondera, who will be joined in REU by students from the University of California-Berkeley, Emory University, Princeton University, Trinity University, Carnegie Melon University, Hendrix College, Davidson College, and Humboldt State University.
Gordon has taught 18 independent study courses, directed projects for four EXCEL Scholars, mentored two honors thesis students, and led three REU groups. He has over 25 publications to his credit, involving more than a dozen undergraduate students as coauthors. Along with Elizabeth McMahon, professor of mathematics, he completed the Complete Solutions Manual for Calculus in 1987. Gordon teaches a variety of math courses, including Calculus, Numerical Analysis, Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra, Real Analysis, Combinatorics, Graph Theory, Symmetry and Geometry, Discrete Structures, and Statistics. Gordon also teaches a VAST course, “Controversies in Science.”
He won the Student Government Superior Teaching Award and the Pi Beta Phi Pledge Class Teaching Award, both in 1992.
Gordon received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida in 1977 and his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1983. His mathematical interests include combinatorics, geometry, and algebra. He is involved in the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges Mathematics Competition, the Barge Competition, and the Putnam Exam.
Prince Chidyagwai ’05 explores the Carpenter’s Rule Problem in an EXCEL Scholars project with Gary Gordon, professor of mathematics.