JULY 2018
Leyla Batakci, associate professor of math, was invited to speak at I-COTS 10 (10th-International Conference on Teaching Statistics) on July 12 in Kyoto, Japan. She presented two joint papers, titled “A Framework and Survey for Measuring Instructors’ Motivational Attitudes Toward Statistics” and “A Framework and Survey for Measuring Students’ Motivational Attitudes Toward Statistics.”
MAY 2018
Mark Stuckey, professor of physics; Timothy McDevitt, professor of mathematics; Michael Silberstein, professor of philosophy, and Alex Sten ’17 wrote a paper that received honorable mention in the prestigious Gravity Research Foundation 2018 Awards for Essays on Gravitation. The paper, “Could GR Contextuality Resolve the Missing Mass Problem?,” will now be considered for publication in the International Journal of Modern Physics D.
Brian Stottler ’18, math and computer science major, won a first-place prize of $250 in the second-annual data-modeling contest sponsored by the College’s Data Analytics Center. Tim White ’19, actuarial science major, won a second place prize of $150 and Melissa Spencer ’19, English major, won the third place prize of $100.
October 2016
Michael Silberstein, professor of philosophy; Mark Stuckey, professor of physics; and Timothy McDevitt, professor of mathematics and department chair, received a contract with Oxford University Press for their book, “End of the Mechanical Universe.” This book will argue for a revolution in fundamental physics, moving from dynamical explanation in the mechanical universe to adynamical explanation in the block universe.
June 2016
Timothy McDevitt, professor of mathematics and department chair; Mark Stuckey, professor of physics; and Michael Silberstein, professor of philosophy, won honorable mention in the prestigious Gravity Research Foundation Awards for Essays on Gravitation for their essay “End of a Dark Age?” The essay contains and explains their fits of the Union2 Compilation supernova data, THINGS galactic rotation data, and ROSAT/ASCA data on the mass profiles of X-ray clusters without need of dark energy or dark matter. These results contradict the concordance model of cosmology wherein dark energy and dark matter are believed to comprise 96 percent of the mass-energy in the observable universe. The fits are achieved by modifying Regge calculus, the graphical form of Einstein’s general relativity, based on their proposed new approach to fundamental physics called the Relational Blockworld.
May 2016
Timothy McDevitt, professor of mathematics and department chair; Mark Stuckey, professor of physics; Michael Silberstein, professor of philosophy; and A.K. Sten ’17 co-authored “End of a Dark Age?,” which was accepted for publication in the International Journal of Modern Physics