Teaching
I am a mathematician in Department of
Mathematics, Division of Science, Mathematics and Technology, College of Arts
and Sciences. Mathematics is not only beautiful and fascinating but also
important in science, technology and our daily life. According to the data
collected by United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
more students must pursue mathematical and technical occupations because most
new jobs require mathematics skills beyond the high school level. Here is the
outlook of mathematics/statistics professions from the website of Bureau of
Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-7/big-data-adds-up.htm
My primary job as a faculty member is to help
students to learn mathematics skills so that they can succeed in their study
and future career. I have (1) taught a large variety of upper-level and general
education mathematics courses for undergraduate and graduate students with
majors in business, economics, education, engineering, mathematics, mathematics
education, science, statistics, and technology; (2) supervised independent
studies at both undergraduate and graduate levels; (3) and served as a chair or
member of graduate thesis committees. My graduate students’ thesis topics
include applications of linear algebra in analysis, geometry, data mining, pattern
recognition, and science/technology; the connections between college level
abstract algebra including number theory and high school mathematics education;
and major mathematics/statistics contributions of some women and African
American mathematicians. I feel great satisfaction to teach and nurture
students with diverse background and help them grow academically and
professionally.
Background
I hold two PhDs: the first in applied
mathematics from Chinese Academy of Sciences and the second in pure mathematics
from Washington University in St. Louis. At University of Missouri at Columbia,
I was a postdoctoral fellow for three years. Before I joined GSU, I was an
assistant professor at State University of New York at Albany. I visited many
places including the Institute for Mathematical Sciences at the National
University of Singapore (financially supported by Singapore and United
University Professions), the Institut Henri Poincare (financially supported by
France), the Center De Recherches Mathematiques (financially supported by
Canada) and Department of Mathematics, Harvard University (partially supported
by Research Award from Faculty Research Awards Program at SUNY at Albany). I
co-organized meetings in mathematics and gave talks in conferences and
seminars.
Research
My research in applied mathematics
concerns the stability problems in applied harmonic analysis and wavelets.
Applied harmonic analysis and wavelets are widely used in engineering and
science such as data compression, signal processing, image processing, pattern
recognition, computer graphics and medical images. In pure mathematics, I have worked on problems
in complex algebraic geometry and its interplay with several complex variables.
Algebraic geometry is the study of the
solutions or geometry of a system of polynomial equations and has intimate
relationship with many fields in mathematics including several complex
variables, another broad subject in pure mathematics. Applications of algebraic
geometry include coding theory, computation, control theory, cryptography, game theory, geometric modeling, graph matchings, physics and
statistics.
Service
I
have been active in professional services and university/community services. I am a reviewer of two major
international reviewing services in mathematics (invited in 2007): Mathematical Reviews (published by
the American Mathematical Society) and zbMATH (edited by the European
Mathematical Society, FIZ Karlsruhe, and the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences). I was the liaison of Mathematical Association
of America from 2009 to 2014. Now I am a
mathematics panel member of Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI) and serve university
Academic Program Review Committee, Curriculum Committee and General Education
Council. I am also a member of Division of Science, Mathematics and Technology
Policy Committee and Curriculum Committee.
See my CV here