Up: Geometry Center Staff
Activities at the Geometry Center
Michelle's work at the Geometry Center falls into three
main categories: outreach/interaction, software development, and
system maintenance.
Outreach/interaction includes tours, dissemination of information and
images, working with visitors and answering questions in person or via
the phone or email. Recently, she has coordinated and participated in
several tours. One was for a group from Apple Corp., another was for
a group of elementary teachers and a third was for a group of
community college students. She also gathered images and added
captions for several exhibits, galleries and educational boards.
Her main software development project is the implementation
of Kaleidotile
on the PC. In addition, she plans to develop an online tutorial to
accompany the PC version.
Michelle assists in maintaining the Center's computer network, in
particular the PCs, and is responsible for updating certain portions
of the Center's web site. Currently, she is working on a slight
restructuring of the External Links pages. She also oversee the
Downloadable Software and Seminars sections of the web.
Background
At the age of ten, Michelle was introduced to mathematics that required
creative visualization to solve problems. Instantly, she was
hooked, and has playing with mathematics and computers ever since.
Between 1984 and 1993, she tutored mathematics students, wrote
and presented mini-lessons on intriguing mathematics concepts and
problems, facilitated discussion groups and gave talks. Her favorite
topics were Polyomino fitting problems, construction of the Platonic
solids and techniques to circumvent Math Phobia.
She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and in Computer
Science in 1993 at Gonzaga University. Upon graduation, she worked as
a Statistician for business and then as a Software Engineer for
industry.
In August of 1995 she began work as an apprentice at The Geometry
Center. She also is working toward
a Masters in mathematics at the University of Minnesota.
Education
-
Bachelor of Science: Mathematics (May, 1993)
Bachelor of Science: Computer Science (May, 1993)
Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington
Professional Experience
-
Recent Employment
- 1995-Present, Technical Apprentice
The Geometry Center
- Maintain equipment
- Gather information and images for museums,
galleries and other displays
- Port software to PC's
- Give tours, demonstrations and talks on the
Center's work
- Maintain a subset of the Center's WWW pages
- Answer questions and work with visitors via
phone, email and in person
- 1993-1995, Software Engineer
Itron, Inc.
- Analyzed program's use of memory and developed a
solution to minimize the program size
- Served on a team to optimize the functionality
and create a user protocol for a test lab
- Verified, solved and implemented solution to
problems reported from the field
- Designed, coded and tested software development
for handheld computers
- Maintained and modified firmware to facilitate
communication with new meter modules
- 1988-1993, Computer Operations Assistant, Computer Lab
Attendant, Mathematics Department Tutor
Gonzaga University
- Taught library staff members how to use new
software packages
- Used AutoCAD to create schematics of the
network's nodes, servers, wiring and communication jacks
- Created and updated accurate records of all the
library's computer equipment
- Troubleshoot PC, communication network and
problems
- Operated and maintained network servers and did
tape backup and report generation
- Setup writing, communication packages and menuing
system for network access
- Assisted students with analysis, evaluation and
problem solving of math concepts
Talks/Presentations/Demonstrations/Software
- Demonstration: "Exploring Symmetry Groups with
Kaleidotile" - created for tour groups visiting the Geometry Center
- Facilitator: "Why learn math?" - discussion group formed
for High School seniors and juniors considering what to study in
college
- Software Module: "Cube to Dodecahedron with the Golden
Ratio" - written to graphically display the construction and to teach
the underlying mathematics.
- Software Package: "Exploration of Pentomino Fitting
Problems" - currently the package finds all
possible fittings in a given n x m rectangle. In the
future it will be fleshed out into an educational/research tool.
- Talk: "An Overview of Hyperbolic Geometry and the use of
Mathematica, Hypercad and a Unix pipe to help in its Visualization" -
based on Mark Phillips paper, "Using Mathematica as an Interface to an
Interactive Mathematical Graphics Program"
- Talk: "Pentominoes and the Monominoes Necessary and Sufficient
to Exclude them from an 8x8 Board" - drawn from research done in 1993
- Talk: "Change of Base" - demonstrated tricks, tools and
the mathematical reasoning behind a change of base.
- Workshop: "Tangrams and Other Math Toys" - presented to
small groups of girls, grades 1-6
Up: Geometry Center Staff
The Geometry Center Home Page
Comments to:
webmaster@www.geom.uiuc.edu
Created: Nov 29 1995 ---
Last modified: Feb 19 1996