Karen Yokley received her Ph.D. in applied mathematics with a concentration in computational mathematics from North Carolina State University in 2005.  Immediately following the completion of her Ph.D., Dr. Yokley worked as a post-doctoral fellow in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency until she joined the Elon University faculty in 2008.  Her primary research focus is modeling biological systems with ordinary differential equations, but she also is very interested in connections between art and mathematics.  She has published her research in multiple journals, including Bulletin of Mathematical Biology and Risk Analysis.  Dr. Yokley’s husband, Dr. Nicholas Luke, is also an applied mathematician, and they have one son (who may or may not follow in his parents’ mathematical footsteps).

BS in Mathematics with a minor in Biology, University of Tennessee, May 1999

MS in Applied Mathematics, NCSU, May 2002

PhD in Applied Mathematics with a concentration in Computational Mathematics, NCSU, August 2005

• August 2008 -present, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Elon University

• January 2008-July 2008, Post-Doctoral Fellow (Mentor: Dr. Jane Ellen Simmons), Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in collaboration with the United States Environmental Protection Agency

• August 2005-January 2008, Post-doctoral Fellow (Mentor: Dr. Marina Evans), Curriculum in Toxicology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in collaboration with the United States Environmental Protection Agency

Applied Mathematics Coordinator (2008-present)

Admissions Committee Chair (2011-2012)

• Mathematical modeling of synapses related to epileptic seizures.
• Agent-based modeling of transmission of malaria.
• Mathematical modeling of ventilation decrease in response to different irritants.
• Identification of arrangements of numbers that exhibit "magic" properties.

• A. Bienz*, K.A. Yokley, and C. Arangala (accepted).  Magic Polygrams. Involve, a Journal of Mathematics.

• K.A. Yokley (2013).  Investigations on ventilation equation structure in physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling of inhaled toxicants.  International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, Vol. 82, No. 1, p.95-123.

• K.A. Yokley (2012).  Sensory Irritation Response in Rats II: Recovery and Dose-Dependence.  Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, Vol. 74, No. 7, p.1673-1690 (DOI: 10.1007/s11538-012-9730-4).

• B. Draper*, D. Marcin*, A. Margolskee*, R. Murden*, A. Attarian, M.V. Evans, and K.A. Yokley (2009).  Feasibility of Metabolic Parameter Estimation in Pharmacokinetic Models of Carbon Tetrachloride Exposure in Rats.  Toxicological and Environmental Chemistry, Vol. 91, No. 3, p.521-546.

• K.A. Yokley and M.V. Evans (2008).  Physiological changes associated with aging result in lower internal doses of toluene and perchloroethylene in simulations using pharmacokinetic modeling.  Toxicological and Environmental Chemistry, Vol. 90, No. 3, p.475-482 (DOI 10.1080/02772240701594305).

• K.A. Yokley, H. Tran, and P.M. Schlosser (2008).  Sensory Irritation Response in Rats: Modeling, Analysis, and Validation.  Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, Vol. 70, No. 2, p.555-588 (DOI 10.1007/s11538-007-9268-z).

• K.A. Yokley and M.V. Evans (2007).  An Example of Model Structure Differences Using Sensitivity Analyses in Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Models of Trichloroethylene in Humans.  Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, Vol. 69, No. 8, p.2591-2625 (DOI 10.1007/s11538-007-9233-x).

• K. Yokley, H.T. Tran, K. Pekari, S. Rappaport, V. Riihimaki, N. Rothman, S. Waidyanatha, and P.M. Schlosser (2006).  Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling of benzene in humans: a Bayesian approach.  Risk Analysis, Vol. 6, No. 4, p.925-943. 

• J. Enders, S. Kas-Danouche, W. Liao, B. Rasmussen, T. Anh Vo, K. Yokley, L. Robertson, and R.C. Smith (2003).  Design of a Membrane Deployable Structure.  Proceedings of the 44th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, Norfolk, VA, AIAA-2003-1494.  (Also see CRSC Technical Report, CRSC-TR03-06 http://www.ncsu.edu/crsc/reports/ftp/pdf/crsc-tr03-06.pdf .)

• Yokley, Karen Alyse*, "Optimal Chemotherapy Strategies in an Existing HIV Model" (1999). University of Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects.
  http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj/355 (Mentor: Suzanne Lenhart).

* indicates undergraduate during course of research

• “Mathematical Modeling Investigations of Epileptic Seizures.”  Faculty scholarship for CELEBRATE! 2013, Elon University, Elon, NC, April 23, 2013.  (poster)

• “Sensory Irritation Response in Rats: Recovery and Dose-Dependence.”  2012 Joint Mathematics Meetings, Boston, MA, January 4-7, 2012. (presentation and abstract published in Abstracts of papers presented to the American Mathematical Society)

• “Exploring Applications of GeoGebra.”  (Jan Mays and Karen Yokley, presenters.)  North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCCTM) State Mathematics Conference, Greensboro, NC, October 27-28, 2011. (presentation)

•  “Math & Malaria: How Probability Can Be Used to Describe Disease Spread.”  Sonia Kovalevsky Day, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, October 22, 2011. (invited presentation)

• “Investigations on a Mathematical Model for the Simulation of Epileptic Seizures,” preliminary report.  American Mathematical Society (AMS) Fall Southeastern Section Meeting, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, September 24-25, 2011. (presentation)

• “An Agent-Based Approach to Modeling Malaria Infection.”  North Carolina Symposium for Women in Mathematics and Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, Saturday, April 16, 2011. (presentation)

• “Using Differential Equations in Mathematical Biology.”  Seminar, High Point University, High Point, NC, November 3, 2009. (invited presentation)

• Career Discussion, North Carolina Regional Chapter Society of Toxicology (NCSOT) Fall Meeting “Translational Medicine and Biomarkers,” National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Durham, NC, October 13, 2009. (panelist)

• “An Agent-Based Approach to Modeling Malaria Infection.” (Karen Yokley and Todd Lee, presenters.)  Department of Mathematics faculty presentation for the 6^th Annual CELEBRATE! week at Elon University, Elon, NC, April 28, 2009.  (presentation)

• “Establishing metabolic changes in the rat during exposures of carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethylene through the use of physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling.”  (K.A. Yokley, M.V. Evans, and J.E. Simmons, authors.)  American Mathematical Society (AMS) Spring Southeastern Section Meeting, Raleigh, NC, April 4-5, 2009.  (presentation)

• “Establishing changes in metabolism of carbon tetrachloride in the presence of trichloroethylene in the rat through the use of physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling.”  (K.A. Yokley, M.V. Evans, and J.E. Simmons, authors.)  The 46^th Annual Society of Toxicology Meeting, Charlotte, NC, March 25-29, 2007.  (poster)

• “Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling in Aging Humans: Early Issues and Examples.”  Biomathematics Seminar Series, North Carolina State University, February 6, 2007. (invited presentation)

• “Modeling Sensory Irritation Response in Rats.”  Joint Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)-Society for Mathematical Biology (SMB) Conference on the Life Sciences, Raleigh, NC, July 31-August 4, 2006.  (presentation)

• “An Example of Model Structure Differences Using Sensitivity Analyses in Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Models of Trichloroethylene in Humans.”  The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) Workshop at the 2006 Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, July 11-12, 2006. (presentation)

• “Physiologically Based Model Development and Parameter Estimation: Respiratory Irritation Response in Rats.”  (K.A. Yokley, H.T. Tran, and P.M. Schlosser, authors.)  The 45^th Annual Society of Toxicology Meeting, San Diego, CA, March 5-9, 2006.  (poster)

• “Physiologically Based Model Development and Parameter Estimation: Respiratory Irritation Response in Rodents.”  The 6th Annual Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Southeast Conference on Control and Its Applications (held jointly with the 2005 SIAM Annual Meeting), New Orleans, LA, July 11-14, 2005.  (presentation)

• “Physiologically Based Model Development and Parameter Estimation: Respiratory Irritation Response in Rodents.”  The 29th Annual Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Southeast Atlantic Section Meeting, Citadel and College of Charleston, March 25-26, 2005. (presentation)

• “Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling of benzene in humans: a Bayesian approach.”  Southeastern Atlantic Regional Conference on Differential Equations, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, October 22-23, 2004. (presentation)

• “Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling of benzene in humans: a Bayesian approach.”  (K.A. Yokley, H.T. Tran, and P.M. Schlosser, authors.)  Southeastern Atlantic Mathematical Sciences Workshop (also known as “Cha-Cha Days”), College of Charleston, September 17-19, 2004. (poster)

• “Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling of benzene in humans: a Bayesian approach.”  (K.A. Yokley, H.T. Tran, and P.M. Schlosser, authors.)  North Carolina Society of Toxicology Spring Meeting, Environmental Protection Agency (RTP), March 11, 2004. (poster)

• Untitled Cover Art, Fundamentals of Algebra and Trigonometry Workbook (Custom Edition for North Carolina A&T State University), with contributions from K. Cousins-Cooper, N.S. Luke, and R. Noble (Taken from: Algebra and Trigonometry, 4^th ed., by Beecher, Penna, and Bittinger), Pearson, Boston, MA, 2012.

• “Golden Approximation:” Acrylic painting, 8”x10” 2010.  Featured in 2012 Joint Mathematics Meetings Exhibition of Mathematical Art, Boston, MA, January 4-7, 2012. (http://gallery.bridgesmathart.org/)

• Elon University Admissions Committee (2010-2012, Chair 2011-2012).
• Elon University School of Arts and Sciences Internship Committee (2011).
• Elon University Neuroscience Advisory Committee (2011-present).
• Elon University Women and Gender Studies Advisory Committee (2012-present).
• Elon University GlaxoSMithKline Women in Science Scholarship Committee (2013-present).