May 22, 2026

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Suzanne Sumner Delivers Invited Talk at VCU

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Suzanna Sumner

Professor of Mathematics Suzanne Sumner, together with Dr. Wyatt Mangum, adjunct faculty member, recently delivered the invited talk “Worker Bee Aggression towards a Foreign Queen: Modeling from Data” for the Progress on Difference Equations international conference hosted at Virginia Commonwealth University.  The talk addressed their continued research into the mathematical modeling associated with the behavior of bees.

Kelli Slunt Serves as Head Mentor for International Competition

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Kelli Slunt, professor of chemistry, served as the head mentor for the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad team.  Twenty of the brightest high school chemistry students were trained by Slunt, three other mentors, and the faculty at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado this June.  Slunt accompanied the top four students to compete at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Washington, D.C.   The team performed well, receiving one gold and three silver metals.  For more information, see http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/web/2012/07/South-Korea-Dominates-Chemistry-Olympiad.html.

 

Debra Hydorn and Kathryn Loesser-Casey Present Poster

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Debra Hydorn

Professor of Mathematics Debra Hydorn and Professor of Biology Kathryn Loesser-Casey recently presented the poster “Tennis Balls Four Ways” at the 2012 Joint Statistical Meetings in San Diego, Calif.  The poster described an activity on accuracy and precision in research from BIOL 260 The Reserach Process, a course jointly created and taught by Hydorn and Loesser-Casey.

Kathryn Loesser-Casey

Randall Helmstutler Publishes in PRIMUS

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Associate Professor of Mathematics Randall Helmstutler recently co-authored an article published in the journal PRIMUS – Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies.  The article, “Finite Topological Spaces as a Pedagogical Tool,” looks at the use of finite topological spaces as examples in a point-set topology class especially suited to help students transition into abstract mathematics.

Gary Richards Presents at Conference in D.C.

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On Sunday, August 5, Gary Richards, assistant professor of English, presented a paper, “Statues, Stories, and Hominy Grits: The Light in the Piazza, Grey Gardens, and the Complicating of the United States South in the Contemporary American Musical,” at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference in Washington, D.C. The paper was part of a panel entitled “Broadway Musicals as Sites of American Identities and American Histories.”

Richards also was the University of Mary Washington’s chapter delegate to the Forty-Third Triennial Council of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which met in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, August 2 through Saturday, August 4.

Mehdi Aminrazavi Publishes an Article

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Professor of Philosophy and Religion Mehdi Aminrazavi’s article chapter “He Who Knows Himself, Knows His Lord: Reflections on Avicenna’s Suspended Man Argument” appears in “The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Heritage: Philosophical and Theological Perspectives.” The book, published by Marquette University Press in June 2012, is edited by Richard C. Taylor and Irfan A. Omar.

Mark Snyder’s “cold winds staffco remix” Released on Mine All Mine Records

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Assistant Professor of Music Mark Snyder’s remix of cold winds was released on let the waves carry us by the bell monks on Mine All Mine Records.

let the waves carry us is the culmination of a year-long recording project, throughout 2011, for which bell monks wrote, recorded, and released a 2-track mini-album each month (nearly 2 hours in total). at the end of the year, friends and musicians were invited to remix some of their favorites. the finished album, let the waves carry us, includes 9 of the original 24 songs, with some re-recorded and new additional parts, and is being released along with 12 remixes, most of which are dramatic re-imaginations of the original tune.