Jeff Clark
Professor of Mathematics
Department: Mathematics and Statistics
Email: clarkj@elon.edu
Phone number: (336) 278-6248
Brief Biography
I've been teaching mathematics at Elon since 1988, with a year off (1991-1992) for good behavior.
Member: Mathematical Association of America
Links
News & Notes
Education
B.S. in Mathematics, 1982, Yale University
M.S. in Mathematics, 1985, Yale University
Ph.D. in Mathematics, 1987, Yale University. Advisor: William S. Massey. Dissertation: Homological Invariants of Knots of Genus Greater Than Two
Employment History
Professor, Elon University, 2004-present
Associate Professor, Elon University, 1996-2004
Assistant Professor, Elon College, 1992-1996
Instructor, Westminster College, 1991-1992
Assistant Professor, Elon College, 1988-1991
Research Analyst, Salomon Brothers, 1987-1988
Courses Taught
Abstract Algebra
Analysis
Applied Calculus
Applied Matrix Theory
Calculus I, II
Differential Equations
Discrete Structures
Fourier Analysis and Its Applications
General Statistics
Linear Algebra
Mathematical Reasoning
Mathematical Writing
Modern Geometry
Multivariable Calculus
Numerical Analysis
Probability Theory and Statistics
Seminar I, II
Special Topics: Algebraic Topology, Combinatorics, Mathematical Writing, Philosophy of Mathematics
Statistics in Application
The Global Experience
Theory of Computation
Leadership Positions
Department Chair, 1994-2000, 2006-2012
State Director, Southeastern Section of Mathematical Association of America, 1997-2000
Webmaster, Southeastern Section of Mathematical Association of America, 2003-2010
Chair-Elect, Southeastern Section of Mathematical Association of America, 2016-2017
Chair, Southeastern Section of Mathematical Association of America, 2017-2019
Past Chair, Southeastern Section of Mathematical Association of America, 2019-2020
Vice President for Colleges, Central Region, North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1997-1999
Elon University: Chair of Curriculum Committee (2008-2011, 2014-2017), Chair of Academic Council (2003-2004), Co-Chair of Presidential Task Force on Alcohol Use (2006-2008), Academic Council ex officio (2010-2011, 2014-2017), Faculty Ombudsperson (2019-)
Chair, Mathematical Association of America's Committee on Minicourses, 2018-2024
Chair: Mathematical Association of America's Committee on Student Concerns, 2022-2024
Research
Supervision of Undergraduate Research
Dia Collins, cryptography, 1998.
Shannon Hill, error-checking codes, 1999.
Joy Blackwell, individual versus societal preferences, calendar year 2000.
Raymond Singletary, the sphere as the unit of two flats, 2000.
Julie Pelter, Newton basins, 2001.
Manda Evans, mathematics of tuning, 2002.
Katie Iwancio, factoring permutation groups, 2002.
Cara McAllister, fair division of resources, 2003.
Josh Rowan, secure coin tossing at a distance, 2003.
Diana Liberto, recursive probabilities, 2004.
David Runkle, modular arithmetic and musical chords, calender year 2005.
Amber Gathje, orbital mechanics, 2005.
Laura Sinden, traffic networks, 2006--2007
Jessica Stewart, fractal geometry and space-filling curves, 2007--2008
J.P. Mullican, geometric constructions, 2008
Rachel Scott, ballistics in different gravity environments, 2008
Anne Chichester, Markov Chain analysis of ``Chutes and Ladders'', 2009
Brenton Davis, the Brachistochrone problem with friction, 2009
Gina Giuricich, construction of Sudoku puzzles, 2010
Andrew Sutherland, drilling a square hole, 2010
Kevin Duke, optimal angles for playing pool, 2011
Eryn Eitel, linear preserver problems, 2011
Josh Goldstein, symmetry operations on chords, 2012
Matt Siggs, mental mathematics, 2012
Rachel Mitchener, cryptography, 2013
Todd Calnan, fractal image compression, 2014
Cam Blackwood, chaos theory, 2014
Maddie Edwards, derivative sign patterns, 2014-2015
Elise Pippert, self-avoiding random walks, 2014-2015
Nathan Pool, music derived from fractal images, 2015-2017
Kimberly Creel, machine-learning methods and Rubik's cube, 2021-2022
Lucas Hoffses, group extensions, 2022-2023
Current Projects
Term rewriting and how it applies to automated theorem-proving
Analyzing large permutation groups with strong generating sets.
Publications
Interactive Construction of Small Grammars, Missouri Journal of Mathematical Sciences, Vol. 26. No. 2, 2014, pp. 115-121.
Using Escher's Work to Demonstrate Symmetries of the Plane, New York State Mathematics Teachers' Journal, Volume 63, Number 2, 2013.
Derivative Sign Patterns. College Mathematics Journal, Volume 42, Number 5, November 2011.
Business Statistics (with Douglas Downing). Barron's, Woodbury, New York, 2010 (fifth edition).
E-Z Statistics (with Douglas Downing). Barron's, Woodbury, New York, 2009.
Elementary Grobner Basis Theory, Missouri Journal of Mathematics, Volume 16, Number 2, Spring, 2004.
Introductory Statistics TI-83 and TI-83 Plus Graphing Calculator
Manual, with Prem S. Mann. John Wiley &Sons, 2003.
The graph of cosine is a horizontal line, Centroid, Fall 1997.
Forgotten Statistics, with Douglas Downing. Barron's, Woodbury, New
York, 1996.
Knowledge worth more than a semester. Mind Matters, Spring 1994.
An APL implementation of Todd-Coxeter Coset Enumeration. APL Quote
Quad, pages 7-11, March 1991.
A History of Algebraic and Differential Topology by Jean Dieudonne
(copy-edited). Birkhauser, Boston, 1989.
Quantitative Methods, with Douglas Downing. Barron's Business Review
Series, Woodbury, New York, 1988.
Dictionary of Business Terms, contributing author. Barron's Business
Guides, Woodbury, New York, 1987.
Statistics the Easy Way, with Douglas Downing. Barron's Educational
Series, Woodbury, New York, 1983.
Presentations
"Multivariable Calculus and Physics", MathFest, Sacramento, CA, August 7, 2025.
"Animations in Multivariable Calculus'", International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, San Diego, CO, March 7, 2025.
"How Many Dice Do You Need for a Bell Curve?'', Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, High Point, NC, February 28, 2025.
"Animations in Multivariable Calculus'', MathFest, Indianapolis, IN, August 8, 2024.
"Partially Ordered Sets and Designing Classes in Object-Oriented Programming", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, Knoxville, TN, March 15, 2024.
"Seeing What's Going On in Abstract Algebra'', MathFest, Tampa, FL, August 4, 2023.
"Encouraging Students to Write Mathematics: LaTeX and Mathematica'', Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, Conway, SC, March 10, 2023 and an expanded version of the same talk at the International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, Denver, CO, March 18, 2023.
"Playing Wordle with Entropy'', MathFest, Philadelphia, August 6, 2022
"Wordle and Entropy", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, Berry Colege, Mount Berry, GA, March 11, 2022
"How Do We Know There Are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 Different Positions for Rubik's Cube?", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, virtual, March 6, 2021
``How Technology Can Help Develop Student Writing Skills'', International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, Phoenix, AZ, March 15, 2019
``Using Mathematica in the Teaching of Calculus-Based Probability'', International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, Washington, DC, March 17, 2018
``Using Galois Theory as a Motivation for Learning About Permutation Groups'', Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Diego, CA, January 13, 2018
"Rationals, Irrationals, and Commensurable Magnitudes: Euclid and the Real Numbers'', MathFest, Chicago, IL, July 29, 2017
"Linear Inequalities", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, Mercer, GA, March 10, 2017
"Teaching Combinatorics to Diverse Student Interests'', Joint Mathematics Meetings, Atlanta, GA. January 7, 2017
"Exploring the Fibonacci Word", MathFest, Columbus, OH, August 5, 2016
"No Fractions: Integer Solutions of Linear Equations", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Assocation of America, Birmingham, AL, March 25, 2016
"Mentoring Mathematical Programming", Joint Mathematics Meetings, Seattle, WA, January 6, 2016
"Revising for Clarity", MathFest, Washington, DC, August 5, 2015
"Using Advanced Tools to Teach the Fundamentals of Numerical Analysis'', International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, Las Vegas, NV, March 13, 2015
"A Topology of Subdivision for the Real Numbers", MathFest, Portland, OR, August 8, 2014
``Honest Multivariable Calculus'', Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, Cookeville, TN, March 15, 2014
"Using Counterexamples of Calculus to Teach Real Analysis", Joint Mathematics Meetings, Baltimore, MD, January 15, 2014
"Unit Acceleration Vectors", MathFest, Hartford, CT, August 13, 2013
"Derivative Sign Patterns", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, Rock Hill, SC, March 15, 2013
"Stressing Physics Content in a Multivariable Calculus Class", Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Diego, CA, January 8, 2013
``Finding a Balance Between Rigor and Exploration in a Non-Euclidean Geometry Course'', Mathfest, Madison, WI, August 3, 2012
"Using PageRank to Teach Markov Chains", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, Morrow, Ga, March 9, 2012
"Using Escher's Work to Demonstrate Symmetries in the Plane", Joint Mathematics Meetings, Boston, MA, January 4, 2012
"Using Python to Teach Numerical Analysis", International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, Denver, CO, March 18, 2011
"Mentoring Undergraduate Research for All Mathematics Majors", Joint Mathematics Meetings, New Orleans, January 7, 2011
"Undergraduate Research and Latex", Mathfest, Pittsburgh, PA, August 5, 2010
"Scaling Graphs of Curves", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, Nashville, TN, March 13, 2009
"Writing in Undergraduate Mathematics", Joint Mathematics Meetings, Washington, DC, January 8, 2009
"Term Rewriting and Simplification", Faculty Research Presentations, Elon University, April 29, 2008
"A Brief Introduction to Term Rewriting", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, Charleston, SC, March 29, 2008
"Teaching Students LaTeX, International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, San Antonio, TX, March 7, 2008
"Refactoring and Lattice Theory", Southeastern Section of the Mh 16, 2007
"Computational Group Theory and Symmetry", Joint Mathematics Meetings, New Orleans, LA, January 5, 2007
"Teaching Mathematics Majors How to Write Mathematics", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, Auburn, AL, March 31, 2006
"Using Free Software for the Construction of Complex Course Documents", International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, Orlando, FL, March 17, 2006
"Using History to Make Differential Calculus Come Alive", Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Antonio, TX, January 13, 2006
"Giving Students Their Own Curves", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America in Raleigh, NC, March 11, 2005
"Using Art to Teach Group Theory", Joint Mathematics Meetings, Atlanta, GA, January 6, 2005
"Describing Mathematical Figures with MetaPost", International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics in New Orleans, LA, October 30, 2004
"Truth and Consequences", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America in Clarksville, TN, March 26, 2004.
"Using Term Rewriting Systems in Algebra", Joint Mathematics Meetings in Phoenix, AZ, on January 8, 2004.
"An Introduction to Term Rewriting Systems", Elon University's Association for Computing Machinery Student Chapter, November 5, 2003.
"Parsing Permutations", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America Conference, March 21, 2003.
"Examining Data Collection and Criteria Selection in Introductory Statistics", Joint Mathematics Meetings, January 18, 2003
"Preparing Documents for Print, HTML, and PDF", International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, November 2, 2002.
"Elementary Grobner Basis Theory", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, March 9, 2002.
"Elementary Modelling and the Olympics", Joint Mathematics Meetings, January 8, 2002.
"The LINK Graph Software Package: a Status Report", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, March 31, 2001.
"An Introduction to Demography", North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, March 1, 2001.
"Exploring Finite Topologies", Joint Mathematics Meetings, January 13, 2001.
"An Introduction to Large Permutation Groups", Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, March 11, 2000.
"Mathematical Writing with LaTeX." Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, March 12, 1999
"Filters for Beginners." Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, April 14, 1997
"C Classes for Group Programming." Joint Mathematics Meetings, January 8, 1997
"The Use of Graded Journals in Mathematics Classes." Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, April 1, 1995
Commentary for video "Not Knot." Carolinas Mathematics Conference, October 6, 1994
"Minimal Writing Standards in Freshman Mathematics Courses." Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, April 8, 1994
"Elementary Game Theory." Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, April~3, 1993 and to the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference, September 30, 1994
"Use of Ungraded Journals." Workshop held at the Elon College Writing Center, Spring 1989.
Professional Activities
- Member of the Mathematical Association of America's Committee on Minicourses, 2015-2024
- Member of the Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America's Service Award Committee, 2015-2020
- Member of the Mathematical Assocation of America's Committee on Virtual Programming, 2021--present
- Member of the Mathematical Association of America's Committee on Student Concerns, 2022--present
- Member of the Mathematical Association of America's Committee on Section Bylaws, 2023--present
Service Activities
- Member of Elon's Institutional Review Board (2014-2016)
- Member of University Curriculum Committee (2016-2019)
- Faculty Ombudsperson (2019-present)
Personal Information
I was born and raised in Norristown, PA, where most of my family still lives.
I am married to Laura Clark, a clinical psychologist.
We have two children, David and Elizabeth.
I sing bass. I have sung with Elon's Camerata (Chamber Singers in its earlier incarnation) for most of my time at Elon. As part of a large choral ensemble I sang Faure's Requiem at Carnegie Hall on June 8, 2024.
Skills
Fluent with LaTeX and Python
Used to be skilled in C and Perl
Was paid to program in APL and Fortran decades ago
Can wiggle my ears
Awards
- Distinguished Service Award of the Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America, awarded March 13, 2015
- Elon College Excellence in Service-Leadership Award, awarded August 17, 2015