benjamin@hmc.edu
Education:
- B.S. with highest honors from Carnegie-Mellon University,
Applied Mathematics, 1983.
- M.S.E., Johns Hopkins University, Mathematical Sciences, 1985.
- Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Mathematical Sciences, 1989.
Dissertation: "Turnpike Structures for Optimal Maneuvers,"
Advisor: Alan J. Goldman.
Honors and Awards:
- Rufus P. Isaacs Fellowship, Johns Hopkins University, 1984.
- National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship 1985-88.
-
George E. Nicholson Prize,
for the paper "Graphs, Maneuvers and Turnpikes," awarded
by the Operations Research Society of America, 1988.
- Mayfield High School (Ohio) Alumni Hall of Fame, 1996.
- First Place,
American Backgammon Tour, 1997. Number 6 on
All-time list.
- Distinguished Teaching Award, Southern California Section of
MAA, 1999.
- Fellow of the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications, 2000.
- National Teaching Award, (Haimo Prize)
, awarded by MAA, 2000.
- CHOICE Award,
Outstanding Academic Title, for
Proofs that Really
Count: The Art of Combinatorial Proof from the American Library
Association, 2004.
- Designated "America's
Best Math Whiz" by Reader's Digest
Magazine, Best of America issue, May 2005.
- AMS Award for
Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department (awarded
to HMC Mathematics Department). We were the first recipients of this
award, 2006.
-
Beckenbach Book Prize, for
Proofs that Really
Count: The Art of Combinatorial Proof from the Mathematical
Association of America, 2006.
-
MAA Polya Lecturer , 2006-2008.
- TED speaker 2005 and 2009 (Among the top 5 most viewed TED talks.)
- Selected by Princeton Review as one of The Best 300 Professors, 2012.
Work Experience:
- Professor of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College, 2000 to present.
- Chair, Department of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College,
2002 to 2004.
- Associate Chair, Department of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College,
2001 to 2002.
- Extended Graduate Faculty, Claremont Graduate University, 1999 to
present.
- Associate Professor of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College, 1995 to
2000.
- Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College, 1989 to
1995.
- Mathematician, Institute for Defense Analyses, Princeton, NJ, Summer
1989.
- Discreet Mathematician, National Security Agency, Washington,
D.C., Summer 1987.
- Senior Staff Member, Hampshire College Summer Studies in
Mathematics program, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, Summer 1986.
- Mathematician, National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD,
Summer 1985.
- Research Assistant, IBM, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown
Heights, NY, Summer 1982.
- Research Assistant, Department of Psychology, Carnegie-Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, PA, 1980-83.
Sabbatical appointments:
- Visiting Professor, Department of Mathematics, Caltech, 1995-1996.
- Visiting Professor, Department of Mathematics, Brandeis University, Fall 2004.
- Visiting Professor, School of Mathematics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Spring 2005.
- Visiting Professor, Department of Physics, Oxford University (Mansfield College), 2012-2013.
Papers (includes 76 research papers, 12 expository papers, 9
book reviews and letters, 3 DVD courses, and 5 books):
Click here to see
a list of my papers, preprints, and books.
Research Talks (249 talks, and counting):
Click here to see
a list of my research talks.
Conferences:
I organized the
Eighth Annual HMC Mathematics Conference
in 2006. The
topic was Enumerative Combinatorics and our speakers were George
Andrews (Pennyslvania State), Igor Pak (MIT), Carla Savage (North
Carolina State), and Doron Zeilberger (Rutgers).
Mathemagics Presentations:
Click here to see
a list of my recent performances.
Senior Theses:
- Jeremy Billones, Optimal Strategies in Pai-Gow Poker, 1991.
- Eric Huggins, Optimal Blackjack Strategies with Lucky Bucks, 1991.
- Roderick Lee, Chance and Determinism: What Happens When You Add a Coin
to a Nim-Like Game?, 1991.
- Greg Levin, A Comparison of Negative Cycle Detection Methods, 1992.
- Jeff Vogel, A Brief Introduction to the Theory of Matroids, 1992.
- Michael Buksas, Juggling by the Numbers: A Mathematical Model of
Juggling, 1993.
- Cliff McCarthy, Determinants of the Tournaments, 1994.
- Mike Munson, Winning Backgammon, 1994.
- Tim Kokesh, Mathematics of Baseball, 1995.
- Andrew Ross, Optimal Racing in Backgammon, 1996.
- Jessica Sidman, Splitting Numbers, 1997.
- Kan Yasuda, Squares of Magic Squares, 1997.
- Aaron Archer, Coloring Theorems, 1998.
- Andrew Hutchings, Applications of Semi-Definite Programming,
1998.
- Matthew Fluet, Searching for Optimal Strategies in Knock 'm Down,
1999.
- David Rudel, Solving x^2 + y^2 = z^n, 1999.
- Helen Monroe, N-Person Coalitional Games: The Power of More Than
One, 2000.
- Kylie Bryant, Genetic Algorithms and the Travelling Salesman
Problem, 2001.
- Greg Preston, A Combinatorial Approach to Harmonic Numbers, 2001
- Jeremy Rouse, Combinatorial Proofs of Congruences, 2003.
- Alexander Eustis, The Negs and Regs of Continued Fractions, 2006.
- Jonathan Azose, A Tiling Interpretation of q-Binomial
Coefficients, 2007.
- Daniel Walton, A Tiling Approach to Chebyshev Polynomials, 2007.
- Sean Plott, Functions of the Binomial Coefficient, 2008.
- Bob Chen, Combinatorial Proofs Using Complex Weights, 2010.
- Elizabeth Reiland, Combinatorial Proofs of Fibonomial Identities, 2011.
- Curtis Heberle, A Combinatorial Approach to r-Fibonacci Numbers, 2012.
- Kym Louie, Flatterland: The Play, 2012.
Editorial Boards:
- Math Horizons, co-Editor, 2004 to 2008.
- Mathematics Magazine, 1996 to 2005.
- The UMAP Journal, The Journal of Undergraduate Mathematics and its
Applications, 1990 to present.
- Involve, A Journal of Mathematics, 2006 to present.
- Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library, Mathematical Association of
America, 2000 to 2003.
- Spectrum Book Series, Mathematical Association of
America, 1995 to 2000 (Editor from 1996 to 2000).
Service to the Profession:
- Secretary, The Fibonacci Association.
- Member at Large, AMS Governing Council, 2012 to present.
- Chair, MAA Carriage
House Committee, Washington, DC.
- MAA Program Committee for Joint Meetings, 2009.
- Chair, Carriage House Advisory Board Subcommittee for
Opening Ceremony, MAA, Washington, DC.
- Advisory Network for Department of Applied Mathematics and
Statistics, Johns Hopkins University.
- Advisory Panel for Mathematics Department, Rose Hulman Institute
of Technology.
- Program Committee, Joint Meetings of AMS/MAA, Washington, DC 2009.
- Chair, Southern California-Nevada Section of MAA (2009-2010).
- Vice Chair, Southern California-Nevada Section of MAA
(2008 to 2009).
- Governor, Southern California-Nevada Section of MAA
(2004 to 2007).
- Secretary-Treasurer, Southern California-Nevada Section of MAA
(1999 to 2004).
- MAA Program Chair, Joint Meetings of AMS/MAA, San Diego, CA 2002
- MAA Program Chair, MAA MathFest, Boulder, CO 2003
Memberships:
- American Mathematical Society (AMS)
- Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM)
- The Fibonacci Association (Board of Directors)
- Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications (ICA)
- Mathematical Association of America (MAA)
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
- The Magic Castle
Referee for these journals and book series:
- American Mathematical Monthly
- Annals of Combinatorics
- Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library (MAA)
- Ars Combinatoria
- Applications of Fibonacci Numbers
- The College Mathematics Journal
- Discrete Mathematics
- Discrete Applied Mathematics
- Electronic Journal of Combinatorics
- European Journal of Combinatorics
- The Fibonacci Quarterly
- INTEGERS: The Electronic Journal of Combinatorial Number Theory
- Journal of Applied Probability
- Journal of Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing
- Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series A
- Journal of Integer Sequences
- Management Science
- Math Horizons
- Mathematics Magazine
- Naval Research Logistics
- Notices of the American Mathematical Society
- Oxford University Press
- Pi Mu Epsilon Journal of Mathematics
- Princeton University Press
- Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics
- SIAM Review
- Spectrum Book Series (MAA)
- The UMAP Journal
- Utilitas Mathematica
Courses Taught:
- Calculus
- Linear Algebra (with Discrete Dynamical Systems)
- Discrete Mathematics
- Introduction to Probability and Statistics
- Combinatorics
- Intermediate Probability
- Mathematical Statistics
- Stochastic Processes
- Abstract Algebra
- Number Theory
- Stochastic Operations Research
- Deterministic Operations Research
- Mathematics of Games and Gambling
- Math Horizons
- Math Forum
- Mathematics Clinic
- Senior Thesis
Hobbies:
I enjoy attending theatre, playing competitive backgammon, racing
calculators and performing magic.
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