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STUDENTS PRESENT RESEARCH AT PA. STATE CAPITOL |
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March 31, 2009
GROVE CITY, Pa. – Three students from the Grove City College Department of Mathematics presented a research poster at the Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., on March 24.
The students, seniors Michael Ginter of Newville, Pa., and James McNamara of Cincinnati, Ohio, and junior Susannah Johnson of Willow Grove, Pa., presented their project, “The Strong Symmetric Genus of Small Generalized Symmetric Groups,” at the “Undergraduate Research at the Capitol – Pennsylvania” program – a day-long opportunity for undergraduate students. The program’s purpose is to bring together college students, faculty and Pennsylvania legislators to share the experiences of students engaged in research or scholarship at their colleges and universities.
The math majors spent last June on campus doing research with the department’s Student Opportunities in Accelerated Research program, which was funded by Grove City College’s Swezey Fund for Scientific Research and Instrumentation. They were among 11 students in the Albert A. Hopeman Jr. School of Science and Engineering completing Swezey-funded research on campus last summer. It was the first year the math department received Swezey Fund money.
Ginter, McNamara and Johnson studied symmetric groups, and found all the ways a certain group of objects could be permuted or arranged. Dr. Michael Jackson, assistant professor of mathematics, is the program adviser.
“The main point of the program is to allow the students a research experience,” Jackson said. “This is something that [was] not known before they did the work, so they were the first to find strong symmetric genus for these particular groups.” Jackson said that this research experience will help them when applying to graduate school or any other research-oriented position.
Jackson came up with the problem the students worked on and met with the students throughout the month-long research session. The students solved the problem, and then created a poster of their work.
The program featured 32 other research posters that were presented to students and professors from other colleges and universities. The Grove City students were also able to present their research to Dick Stevenson, state representative for the 8th District, and Bob Robbins, state senator for the 50th District. All of those presenting were recognized on the floor of the House Chamber during a session.
Participating schools with under 10,000 students are invited to send one poster to the program. More information on the URC-PA program can be found at www.widener.edu/urc-pa/.
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