Washington and Lee University
Ponder the possibilities of time travel. Apply number theory to crunch through codes. Explore the structure of Hilbert space. Study abroad in Budapest or Scotland. Engage in research projects with faculty. Consider the opportunities that the study of mathematics has provided recent majors who have pursued careers as analysts with consulting firms, as actuaries, as financial analysts in the banking and finance arenas, as teachers, and as software developers; other majors have pursued advanced degrees in mathematics, computer science, economics, engineering, law, and medicine.
During their four years at W&L, mathematics majors learn to "walk and talk" in such fundamental areas of mathematics as single and multi-variable calculus, linear algebra, modern abstract algebra, real and complex analysis, ordinary and partial differential equations, geometry, topology, mathematical statistics, graph theory, and numerical analysis. By "walking and talking" we mean that our goal is for our students to be not only technically sound, but also conversant in mathematics. Each year, several of our majors participate in summer research, either here at W&L or at other universities. Since 1990, our students have written four software packages, developed five websites, published seven expository papers, and authored or co-authored twelve articles appearing in prestigious professional journals such as the American Mathematical Monthly, Linear Algebra and its Applications, and the Transactions of the American Mathematical Society.
At the Joint Mathematics Meetings held in New Orleans January 2011, Wendy Shang '11 participated in a poster session sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). Her presentation, titled "Exploring the Weighted Composition Operators on the Hardy and Bergman Space," was among those declared winners by MAA judges. Each judge rated posters on mathematical content, student answers to questions, and poster design. The MAA pronounced the session "a great success with more than 350 students presenting 250 different posters."
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Ms. Shang's poster, pictured above right, describes work she completed at W&L, jointly with Lu Li '11, during the summer of 2010. Her work as well as that of Ms. Li's was supported by W&L's Lee-Scholars Program. |
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Christy is an analyst at Metron Aviation, Inc.