Andy Long
Andy Long
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Office Location: MEP 443
Office Phone: 859-572-5794
Email Address: longa@nku.edu
webpage
Mailing Address:
Department of Mathematics
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights, KY 41099
Professional Interest:
I am an applied mathematician, especially interested in biological applications (but also interested in most problems with a scientific bent). I've worked lately on problems involving raccoon rabies, US citizens' access to physical activity, forensic fly identification, and mapping of alpine plant species. (My doctoral dissertation concerned spatial interpolation and mapping.) I'd like to return to my early interest in physics one of these days. I'm sorry to report that issues of environmental remediation are an interest, made so primarily because we haven't done a very good job of taking care of the earth.
I enjoy teaching a course in interdisciplinary science (SCI110) in which we discuss problems caused by humans, and solutions humans could undertake if they weren't involved in frivolous wars and unbridled give-aways to the rich. I enjoy pedagogical tools and devices that illustrate concepts in mathematics, and have been pursuing a device that my father and I call a function box (for illustrating multivariate function surfaces) for many years. I believe that math and science should be fun, and these sorts of devices encourage that. I'm also very interested in software for demonstrating concepts in mathematics, and am supporting various pieces of software freely available as web applications. My programming language of choice is lisp, and my favorite operating system is unix. Software should be free. Windows is a necessary evil.
I enjoy working with kids on math and science in summer camps, especially those who may be falling through the cracks of our educational system. I believe that we need to do more to encourage minority and economically-challenged students to pursue careers in math and science. I also believe that our educational system is on its head: we should be spending the big bucks in the elementary schools. Kids seem to have lost, rather than kindled, their interests by the time they reach us. We should have the best teachers teaching elementary school.
Last Modified: Monday, 1 December 2008