Greetings! This is the homepage of Melanie Pivarski.

I am a Visiting Assistant Professor with the mathematics department at Texas A&M University. I study analysis on metric measure spaces. My office is 641F in Blocker Hall.

Here is a link to my Ph D thesis on the arXiv. Here is a pdf version of the talk "Heat Kernels on Euclidean Complexes" that I gave in the Math Physics and Harmonic Analysis seminar at Texas A&M on September 15, 2006. It is very similar to the slides from my thesis defense. If you are curious about the material in it or find any typos, feel free to e-mail me! I can furnish a more complete bibliography for it upon request.


Background
I graduated in the summer of 2006 with a PhD from the Cornell mathematics department. While at Cornell, my thesis advisor was Laurent Saloff-Coste. My dissertation is on heat kernel asymptotics on Euclidean polytopal complexes.

Previously, I was an undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon University, where I earned a bachelors degree in mathematics with a minor in computer science. I participated in two REUs (research experiences for undergraduates): a matrix themed one advised by Shaun Fallat at the College of William and Mary in 1997 and one themed on a knot theory led by Alan Durfee at Mount Holyoke College in 1998.

Here is a rather long pdf version of my cv (last updated June, 2007).


Teaching
During Fall 2007, I am teaching Math 131, in Blocker 165 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:55-5:10 and 5:30-6:45. This course is an Applied Calculus course. Here are some notes used in class, as well as a link to the first day handout: Math 131 Handouts and Information .


During Spring 2007, I taught Math 172, Section 502. This is a second semester calculus course. Here is the webpage for my section: Math 172 Handouts and Information .

During Fall 2006, I taught Math 141, Section 520 in Blocker 158 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:55-5:10. This course is Finite Mathematics for Business Majors. Here are some notes used in class, as well as a link to the first day handout: Math 141 Handouts and Information .


I've happily had the opportunity to be involved in a number of different teaching experiences. In past semesters I've taught calculus 1 and 2 for non-majors and finite math at Cornell. I've been a grader for both analysis 2 and graduate analysis at Cornell. In the summer of 2001 I was the graduate assistant for Robert Strichartz's fractal REU at Cornell. I was also a teaching assistant for engineering calculus 1, 2, and linear algebra at Cornell, and calculus for business majors and modern mathematics at Carnegie Mellon. I assisted with mathematics and computer programming labs using Maple, Mathematica, and C++ while at Carnegie Mellon. I've also helped with the graduate student TA training at Cornell and led discussions in "pizza 500" (the graduate student teaching seminar).


Outreach
Texas A&M held an Expanding Your Horizons (at A &M) day on Saturday, November 11 2006. Maria Belk and I co-lead a game theory workshop, "The Secret of Nim". Expanding Your Horizons is a day long series of workshops designed to help middle school girls learn more about math and science though hands-on activities.
I was involved in Expanding Your Horizons at Cornell. I helped to design and lead workshops on many different topics in math.
Click here to find descriptions of these workshops.


Contact Information
My e-mail address is pivarski AT math DOT tamu DOT edu
My office is 641F Blocker Hall.