January, 1998 - Electronic Visualization Laboratory



March, 2006

Janet Simpson Beissinger

205 North Cuyler Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois 60302

Phone: 708-383-2686 (home), 312-413-2168 (work)

e-mail: beissing@uic.edu

EDUCATION

University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D., 1981

Field: Combinatorial Enumeration

Thesis Advisor: Professor Herbert S. Wilf

University of Pennsylvania, M.A., 1977

Western Carolina University, North Carolina Teacher Certification, 1975

Cornell University, A.B., “Cum Laude in Mathematics & With Distinction in All Subjects,” 1974

EMPLOYMENT

1995-present Research Assistant Professor, Institute for Math and Science Education, University of Illinois at Chicago.

1992-1995 Visiting Program Associate, University of Illinois at Chicago.

1981-1991 Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago (several family leaves taken during this period).

1975-1980 Teaching Assistant, Department of Mathematics, University of Pennsylvania.

Summer 1979 Mathematician at Quantics, Inc., Valley Forge, Pa., a mathematics and operations research consulting firm.

1974-75 Teaching Intern, National Teacher Corps, Sylva, North Carolina. Taught seventh and eighth grade.

Summer 1973 Actuarial Trainee, Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, Newark, New Jersey.

HONORS

• University-wide Graduate Student Teaching Prize, University of Pennsylvania, 1979.

• Mathematics Department teaching awards, University of Pennsylvania, each year from 1975-1980.

• Consistently very high ratings in department teaching evaluations, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1981-1991.

MATHEMATICS TEACHING EXPERIENCE

• Taught a variety of mathematics courses at UIC, including Combinatorics (graduate and undergraduate), Probability (undergraduate), Combinatorial Algorithms (graduate), Graph Theory, Computer Programming (FORTRAN), Pre-calculus, Calculus (both first and second year), Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, College Algebra, and Discrete Mathematics.

• Taught a variety of students, including graduate and undergraduate mathematics majors; liberal arts, business, and engineering majors; freshmen needing remediation; pre-service elementary school teachers; and in-service elementary and secondary school teachers.

• Supervised several undergraduate honors projects.

• Served on Ph.D. thesis committees and Ph.D. oral exam committees for several graduate students.

MATHEMATICS EDUCATION TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Work with In-service teachers:

• Cryptography pilot teacher workshops. Principal Investigator of N.S.F. grant to develop cryptography materials for middle-grade teachers (2001-present). Pilot teachers come for summer training workshops and evening meetings throughout the year to discuss issues of implementation. We visit their classrooms to observe students using the materials.

• Math Trailblazers. Co-author and senior curriculum developer of the N.S.F.-supported Teaching Integrated Math and Science (TIMS) Project mathematics curriculum, Math Trailblazers, which is a complete curriculum for grades K-5, including textbooks and teacher’s guides. Development of first edition included visiting elementary school classrooms and leading professional development workshops for several years (1991-2000).

• TIMS Project. Trained teachers in a pilot implementation of TIMS in District 89 over a three year period 1990-1992. Trained teachers in advanced TIMS topics at a summer program at Fermilab (1991). Trained teachers to implement Math Trailblazers.

• Discrete Mathematics. Designed and taught (several times) a UIC Continuing Education course in Discrete Mathematics course for in-service high school teachers.

Work with Pre-service teachers:

• Taught Integrated Math and Science course to undergraduate elementary education students at UIC.

•. Taught UIC’s Math for Elementary Teachers, a course primarily in geometry.(Spring 2000)

Other Math Education Experience:

• UIC-Community College Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation. Participant in Faculty Development Workshop on Teaching (June 1999) and follow-up sessions 1999-2000.

• Family Math Leader Training. With Marty Gartzman and Steve Jordan, established UIC as a regional training center for Family Math (1990-2000). The goal of Family Math, an internationally acclaimed program which originated in Berkeley as part of Project Equals, is to increase enjoyment and understanding of mathematics by encouraging families to do math activities together. Trained approximately 1000 Family Math leaders in over 30 workshops at both UIC and several other sites around the Midwest. State of Illinois Scientific Literacy Grants have supported this program. Trained 100 teachers in 4 workshops for Chicago Public Schools in 2003-04.

• Professional Development Program (PDP). Helped in the early development of the Professional Development Program at UIC (1988). The purpose of this program was to encourage peer support of advanced minority calculus students.

GRANT SUPPORT

Cryptography: The Mathematics of Secret Codes, National Science Foundation (#0099220), 9/01-8/05. ($398,109 + $25,000 supplement) Principal Investigator.

Cryptography for the Middle Grades: Web and Computer Software, UIC Campus Research Board 7/04-6/05 ($10,525) Principal Investigator.

Cryptography for the Middle Grades: Evaluation and Website Revision, UIC Center for Learning, Instruction, and Teacher Development, 7/04 ($10,000) Principal Investigator

INVITED TALKS AT PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS

“Colorful proofs of generating function identities,” Special Session on Graph Theory, A. M. S. Annual Meeting, San Francisco, Jan. 1981.

“Enumeration of connected combinatorial objects,” American Women in Mathematics regional conference, Chicago, April 1982.

“Factorization and enumeration of labeled combinatorial objects,” Special Session on Bijective Proofs in Generalized Partition Theory and Enumerative Combinatorics, A.M.S. Summer Meeting, Toronto, Aug. 1982.

“A recursive construction of shiftable Young tableaux,” Special Session on Enumerative Combinatorics, A.M.S. regional meeting, Minneapolis, Nov. 1984.

“The threshold measure of caterpillars,” Meeting of ORSA/TIMS (Operations Research Society of America/The Institute of Management Science), Atlanta, Nov. 1985.

“Generating functions in combinatorics,” Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics Meeting, Urbana, Oct. 1988.

“Teaching multiplication with patterns, graphs, and story writing using the TIMS curriculum,” National Council of Teachers of Mathematics regional meeting, Chicago, March 1995.

“Integrating mathematics and science through volume activities,” National Council of Teachers of Mathematics regional meeting, South Bend, Nov.1996.

"Integrating mathematics and science through volume activities," National Council of Teachers of Mathematics regional meeting, San Jose, March 1997.

"Ratio and proportion: integrated mathematics and science activities from the TIMS Project," National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual meeting, Minneapolis, April 1998.

“Teaching cryptography, the mathematics of secret codes,” (with V. Pless), National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual meeting, Chicago, April 2000.

“ Cryptography: The Mathematics of secret codes,”,National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual meeting, San Antonio, April 2003.

“ Cryptography in the Classroom,” National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual meeting, Philadelphia, April 2004.

“Teaching Cryptography,” Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual meeting, Springfield, October 2004.

“Cryptography on the web,” National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual meeting, Anaheim, April 2005.

“Involutions and Young Tableaux”, Graph Theory with an Altitude Conference, Denver, May 2005.

“ The Cryptoclub: Using Mathematics to Make and Break Secret Codes,” National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual meeting, St. Louis, April 2006.

SELECTED COLLOQUIA , SEMINARS, AND WORKSHOPS

• Stanford University Combinatorial Seminar, “On external activity and inversions in trees,” Oct. 1980.

• University of California at San Diego Combinatorics Seminar, “A correspondence between trees with external activity k and trees with k inversions,” Oct. 1980.

• M.I.T. Combinatorics Seminar, “Factorization and enumeration of labeled combinatorial objects,” Oct. 1981.

• U.I.C. Combinatorics Seminar, “Factorization and enumeration of labeled combinatorial objects,” Nov. 1981.

• Columbia College, “Classical problems in combinatorics,” Jan. 1983.

• U.I.C. Combinatorics Seminar, “Inversions in trees,” May 1983.

• U.I.C. Combinatorics Seminar, “Similar constructions for Young tableaux and involutions, and their application to shiftable tableaux,” March 1987.

• Lincoln School, San Jose, Costa Rica, "Mathematics Activities for Elementary School Children", 2 day workshop, May 1997.

• Math Trailblazers Summer Institutes 1997-1999.

• Chicago Public Schools, Family Math Leader Training Workshops (4 workshops) 2003-04.

PAPERS/CHAPTERS

1. On external activity and inversions in trees, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 33 (1982), 87-92.

2. The enumeration of irreducible combinatorial objects, J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 38 (1985), 143-169.

3. Similar constructions for Young tableaux and involutions, and their application to shiftable tableaux, Discrete Math. 67 (1987), 149-163.

4. Enumeration of labelled threshold graphs and a theorem of Frobenius involving Eulerian polynomials (with U. Peled), Graphs and Combin. 3 (1987), 213-219.

5. On the MacWilliams identity for linear codes (with R. Brualdi and V. Pless), Linear Algebra Appl. 107 (1988), 181-189.

6. A note on major sequences and external activity in trees (with U. Peled), Electronic Journal of Combinatorics 4 (1997).

7. Student learning and achievement in Math Trailblazers (with A. Carter, C.Kelso, M. Gartzman, A. Cirulis, and P. Wagreich), chapter in Standards-Oriented School Mathematics Curricula: What does the research say about student outcomes? S. Senk and D. Thompson., Eds., Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (2002).

BOOKS

• Math Trailblazers: A Mathematical Journey Using Science and Language Arts (with H. Goldberg, P. Wagreich, and the TIMS Project staff), a complete mathematics curriculum, including student textbooks and teacher’s manuals for grades K-5, developed with support from the N.S.F. Published by Kendall-Hunt, Dubuque, Iowa. My writing focused on grades 3-5.

Third Grade student text and teacher’s manuals. (May, 1996)

Fourth Grade student text and teacher’s manuals. (May, 1997)

Fifth Grade student text and teacher’s manuals. (May, 1997)

• Saunders MacLane: A Mathematical Autobiography, J. S. Beissinger, editor, A K Peters, Ltd., Wellesley, MA, 2005.

• The Cryptoclub: Using Mathematics to Make and Break Secret Codes (with V. Pless), A K Peters, Ltd., Wellesley, MA, to be published June, 2006.

• Math Trailblazers Teacher Enhancement Resource Modules,2nd edition. (Beissinger, editor/co-author) Kendall-Hunt, Dubuque, Iowa (2004)

Operations: Meaning, Invention, Efficiency, Power (80 pages)

Why Reform?(87 pages)

Area: A Look Across the Grades

Fractions: Developing Concepts and Skills

Mass and Volume: Mathematics Through Measurement

Length: A Look at the TIMS Laboratory

Teaching Mathematics Through Classroom Discussion

Number Sense and Estimation in Grades K-5

Assessment 3-5: Philosophy and Components

Decimals: Developing Concepts and Skills

Place Value in K-5

Grade1 First Units

Grade 2 First Units

Grade 3 First Units(103 pages)

Grade 4 First Units

Grade 5 First Units

Kindergarten First Lessons

INTERACTIVE WEBSITE

, under development (with NSF- support). This interactive site provides activities for middle-grade students and teachers to support the teaching and learning of cryptography and related mathematics.

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