Curated Collection: Modeling and Applications

Abstract

This curated collection covers a selection of PRIMUS articles published over a roughly 12-year period that focus on modeling and applications. The collection includes sections on individual projects, courses with a significant modeling component, and modeling and applications in extracurricular settings and throughout the curriculum.

Keywords:

• Curated collection
• modeling
• applications
• projects
• calculus
• differential equations
• modeling courses
• liberal arts
• mathematical biology
• service learning

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank the many authors who have submitted articles involving applications and modeling for publication in PRIMUS and made possible this collection. The second author would also like to thank and remember Ben Fusaro, who passed away in July 2022. He was one of the visionaries behind COMAP's ICM/MCM, or the “applied Putnam” as he originally described it, and was involved in the development of Mathworks Mega Math Challenge for high school students. Ben was a lifelong proponent of collaborative problem solving, often encouraging students and colleagues to explore socially meaningful problems. He was forward-thinking, a gracious collaborator, and a generous friend.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ethan Berkove

Ethan Berkove earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His budding interest in applications and modeling was reinforced during his three-year stint as a Davies Associate at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He arrived at Lafayette College in 1999, where he is now Professor of Mathematics. He still enjoys incorporating applications into his classes, and teaches throughout the curriculum, including courses in modeling. In his free time, he enjoys reading and cycling around the Lehigh Valley.

Ben Galluzzo

Ben Galluzzo is the Associate Director of Clarkson University's Institute for STEM Education as well as the Head of School for the University's early college program, The Clarkson School. In addition to his institutional roles, Ben regularly teaches math modeling and promotes mathematics as a tool for investigating and developing an understanding of real-world issues through a variety of funded projects that provide him with the opportunity to develop curriculum, run professional development workshops, engage with professional learning communities and provide STEM outreach activities for students at all grade levels. His current research is focused on both the development of an online environment to support student learning of mathematical modeling and investigating how teachers learn to do and teach mathematical modeling.