Real People Doing Real Mathematics

Steve Faulkner: Local Account and Behrend Grad By Rhonda Longo, MATH 35, Fall 2007
2000 Olympics or Physics: The Story of Pall Melsted By Harriet Langer-Williamson, MATH 35, Fall 2007
	From Counting to Golf: The Story of Paul Lichtenwalter By Tammy Smith, MATH 35, Fall 2007
Richard Chapman: Director of Purchasing and Accounting By Kayla Frost, MATH 35, Fall 2007

2000 Olympics or Physics: The Story of Pall Melsted

By Harriet Langer-Williamson, MATH 35, Fall 2007

Pall Melsted had to make a decision between the Olympics and physics when he was twenty years old. Would he run the 800 meters in the 2000 Sidney Olympic Games or see his dream of becoming a scientist come true? Pall was born on January 5, 1980, in Reykjavik, Iceland, the youngest son of Bima Sigurjonsdottir and Eyjolf Melsted. In his younger years, Pall, was quite the outdoor child, never wanted to be inside and grew into quite the athlete. When he was 6 years old, he ran the Kopavogur City run again boys two years older than him and he won. Six months after he won the city run his mother and father divorced, and Pall continued to live with his mother in Iceland, while his father moved back to his home country of Austria.

Bima Sigurjonsdotti, his mother, was the person in his life who introduced him to mathematics. Bima was the assistant principal of his school, and was very busy with profiles of mathematics didactics. Soon Pall’s love for physics and math awoke, and his life took a turn that would mold the rest of his life. His senior year, 1999, he took part in the European Contest of Young Scientists with two of his classmates. Their project/paper was on The Galaxy Cluster Ms1621+2640 and took place in Thessaloniki, Greece. The boys won 10,000 euros and an invitation to see the Nordic Planetary Observatory. The three boys stayed for a week and their task was to name a galaxy.

Pall continued to run, and was chosen to represent Iceland in the 2000 Olympics. Before he could participate in 2000 he had to attend a special training program for the Olympics. While training for the 2000 Olympics he was sent to the Physics Olympics. Through physics, his interest for mathematics developed, so he was sent to the Mathematics Olympics, too. Pall won 1^st place in all the divisions that he was registered in, and the 2000 Sydney Olympics were soon left behind.

Pall studied math and physics at the Junior College in Reykjavik, but soon switched his major to mathematics, keeping physics as his minor. The age for junior college in Iceland is 16-20 years old and university is usually a three-year program for 20- to 23-year olds. While obtaining his BS at the State University of Reykjavik, Pall changed his minor to computer science and is currently studying mathematics with applications to theoretical computer science at Carnegie Mellon University as a graduate student.

I asked Pall what his favorite math class was and he answered, “Real Analysis and Analysis of Algorithms.” He explained to me that Real Analysis is old traditional math and Analysis of Algorithms is technically computer science. In graduate school his favorite classes were “Discrete Mathematics and Random Graphs.”

The next question to Pall was, “do you have a favorite teacher that you will always remember?” “I had the same mathematics teacher for three years in junior college. He had a PhD from CalTech and his mission in life was teaching mathematics and creating math superstars. He was very strict and demanding and homework was somewhat harder that what I saw in the first years at university. But he also cared about us understanding mathematics.”

Pall says, “That there is a big transition from undergraduate mathematics to graduate school. In undergrad the focus is on learning mathematics, all possible aspects and simply the sheer amount of things you could do with mathematics. However, in graduate school it’s all about doing new mathematics, adding to what we already know. Things move a lot slower and there is no guarantee of progress, but the thrill of discovery is absolute.”

Pall works in the a field called Probabilistic Combinatorics, which means he looks for structures that arise in large random objects and graphs/networks. Pall also said, “Some of the things I work on are models for evolution or networks, e.g. the web, the internet and social networks. We try to come up with models of these phenomena that capture characteristics we see in the real world and yet are possible to analyze. Some important characteristics are power of laws for networks and small world properties. The book Linked by Barabasi contains a gentle explanation of these things.”

Pall’s definition of mathematics is very broad. “On one hand you have pure mathematics which studies objects and relations between them. On the other hand you have applied mathematics, which crosses several other scientific fields, where you have models of the real world and use mathematical analysis to tell something about them.”

Two years ago Pall married his wife, Joanna and they moved to Pittsburgh so both could attend graduate school in the United States. Pall and Joanna both are studying biostatistics and will graduate at the same time. After completing a post-doctoral they hope to return to Iceland.

Pall and his wife’s biggest accomplishment is the birth of their daughter Greta Bjorg on October 7, 2007. Greta now has dual citizenship and will have to declare which nationality she will retain by her 17^th birthday. Pall states that, “the US has been very good his young family and was very privileged to be able to study here.”

Steve Faulkner: Local Account and Behrend Grad

By Rhonda Longo, MATH 35, Fall 2007

Steve Faulkner is a recent graduate of Penn State Behrend. He has always enjoyed math and recalls that it’s always been easy for him. He really started to take a profound interest in math in the ninth grade. This is when he realized his particular talent in the field of mathematics. Steve described his all time favorite teacher, Mr. Czytuck, as being crazy, but in the best of ways. He was Steve’s favorite teacher, partially because he showed him a different side of mathematics, and partially because he was also his football coach. Steve explained that he had a great relationship with his teacher, and Mr. Czytuck would let him get away with things that most other teachers probably wouldn’t.

Steve’s all time favorite math class was his Algebra 2 class that he took his sophomore year in high school. This is when he realized how much he actually enjoyed math. He feels that a student’s relationship with their teacher is important, but it’s how much one applies themselves that yield the real results in math. Steve says that there are always definite answers in math; you just have to know where to find them. He said “you’re either right or you’re wrong. I like the instant feedback of that. There is no guess work in finding out whether or not you did the math right.”

After Steve graduated from Cathedral Prep in 2003, he attended Penn State Behrend. Upon his graduation, his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting earned him full time employment with the Felix and Gloekler Accounting Firm here in Erie. He worked for this firm part time while attending college, and was then hired as a full time employee. He mostly works on tax preparations. He says that he doesn’t really use the equations he learned in Algebra class. He uses math every day in his job to solve problems and predict trends. He says that he uses a lot of basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. He also uses ratios to aide in trend predictions. Steve said “it is all about figuring out the different ways to come up with different numbers to solve different problems.”

I asked Steve what his favorite thing about math was. He stated that he did it all for the kids. He loves to “walk up to kids on a street corner and work out an equation with them and see the delight in their eyes. They always tell me that I’m the coolest guy they ever met.” He was joking of course, but I enjoyed his sense of humor. It really broke the image of the boring accountant that so many people assume to be true. Although his humor doesn’t cover the fact that he drives a Toyota Camry, which is the most accountant- like car ever made! The thing he truly enjoys about his professions is when he completes a tax return by himself, he says it gives him a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction to know he solved it himself.

Steve credits the financial hardship of being a college student, and the student loan payments as the biggest obstacle that he has encountered in the pursuit of his career. He also had some trouble with his parents. His parents desperately wanted him to become a priest, but his passion for mathematics became his driving force. He stated “I was always good at math and I like it, so I thought I should make money doing what I like.”

Mr. Faulkner hopes to continue in this field until his retirement. He really enjoys working with people. He considers himself a people person. His goals include opening his own firm or partnering in a firm by the time he’s 35. He wants to have a family someday, but is focused on his career now. He says he doesn’t have time for women and they are “usually too much trouble anyway.” He wants to retire by the time he’s 55, and move south so that he can play golf year-round. He also said that he would love to open up a little shop or something, not for the money, but for the interaction with others. He has a great idea of where he’s going, and how he’s going to get there.

From Counting to Golf: The Story of Paul Lichtenwalter

By Tammy Smith, MATH 35, Fall 2007

Paul Lichtenwalter was born April 14, 1959 in Erie Pennsylvania. While in high school, he developed a liking for mathematics and also possessed a natural talent for golf. When asked how he could apply math to golf he said, “it’s all about angles and distance.”

Paul graduated from Academy High School in 1979, and not surprisingly was awarded a Golf Scholarship to Gannon University. He earned a degree in Finance and Accounting in 1983. Although he was a natural at golf, he thoroughly enjoyed working with numbers. When asked who his favorite teacher was, two names came to mind: his tenth grade geometry teacher, Mrs. Russell, and his twelfth grade calculus teacher, Mr. Bendig. But his favorite type of math was (and still is) Algebra because he likes to “figure things out.”

Paul said he has been very fortunate to have everything handed to him in life and is very thankful, but admits to many self-imposed obstacles. His greatest accomplishments are his two children (11-year old daughter and 9-year old son), whom up to this point have shown little interest in math (or golf, for that matter). He can tell by the math homework they bring home that it seems far more advanced than when he was in grade school. But, then again he doesn’t really remember much about grade school in the late 1960s.

Another couple of his accomplishments worth mentioning are a great golf score of 63 (which averages out to about 3.5 swings per hole), and his two hole-in-ones in 1994, and two more again in 2005. He sees a pattern developing here, and predicts that he’ll get two more hole-in-ones in the year 2016.

Today he works at city hall as an Assistant Finance Director. His responsibilities include managing all the city budgets; including bank reconciliation, interest rates, bonds, taxes, savings accounts and meeting the payroll of all the city employees including the police and fire departments. His favorite part of the job is moving the numbers around, and making it work every month.

One day he would like to own his own Accounting Firm which would include financial planning and filing income taxes. And while he’s wishing, why not have his own golf course too? After all, golfing is what got him to where he is now, doing all this counting and getting paid for it. But that’s a little further down the road. Or at least until Mayor Sinnott’s term is up, and Paul’s is hoping that’s not for another ten years or so. He enjoys his current job working for the City of Erie.

By the time he gets his Accounting Firm/Golf Course, maybe he can take his employees out on the golf course to witness his two hole-in-ones in 2016 if his 11-year pattern holds true. I asked Paul what his definition of math is. He said, “I would say it’s the science of numbers.” But simply put, to him it’s just “figuring stuff out.”

Richard Chapman: Director of Purchasing and Accounting

By Kayla Frost, MATH 35, Fall 2007

Richard Chapman is the director of purchasing and accounting at A.C. Dellovade Inc., a company which specializes in supply, engineering, metal roofing, siding, and ventilation projects. Mr. Chapman has always enjoyed math, even in school. His favorite subjects were Math (Algebra, to be exact), Chemistry, and Drafting. He didn’t go to college, but instead went to the Pittsburgh Technical Institute after high school to study drafting. His career began in drafting, which uses mathematics a lot. He has been working in purchasing and accounting for over twenty years. The math that is involved in his job is usually based on the size of the building to be fabricated and erected. The math is based on pricing by square footage of material required, number of pieces required, and fabrication cost of the material. The example he gave me was: Building Size: 250,000 square feet, Cost of Material: $5.65 per square foot, Total Cost of Material: $1,412,500.00.

It is also required of him to figure out the man hours required to complete the project. He enjoys being in the purchasing and accounting part of a company, using mathematics to figure out what each project would cost with the estimates and actual cost. Project costs usually range from $10,000 to $10,000,000. Mr. Chapman didn’t have any favorite teachers that he remembers, but he said that mathematics has always been one of his strong points. He isn’t a fan of how mathematics is taught in school, because he said that there’s too much calculator use in the classroom and not enough teaching of the basic way of figuring out the problems. He defined mathematics in their business as “using the numbers and formulas to calculate the cost of doing business.”

On the personal side of things, Mr. Chapman seems as though he is a very well rounded individual with a lot of accomplishments. As a child, he played baseball and soccer, and was good at both. He had a few obstacles to overcome in his life, one of them being the death of his father, and the other was closing down two companies that required career altering decisions. He still has goals at age 53, like putting his two children (Kim and Greg) through college. He is comfortable where he is work-wise, as the purchasing manager for a $60,000,000/ year company. He’s accomplished a lot in his life, almost getting his daughter all of the way through college (she is currently a junior at Penn State Behrend) and he has a son that is a senior in high school who is getting ready for college as well. He is also in the position to control and handle the purchasing and invoicing for a large construction company, which is not something many people can say they are a part of.

Mr. Chapman was a very interesting man to interview, and I thought it was neat to learn that even though he didn’t go to a four-year college, he has still made a very good living for himself. It didn’t seem like anyone helped him out along the way either, so it seemed as though he was much more appreciative of what he has earned.