Ron Buckmire
Curriculum Vitae
June 2008

Occidental College
Department of Mathematics
1600 Campus Road
Los Angeles, California 90041

323-259-2536 (w)
323-259-2704 (f)
323-314-2949 (c)
ron@oxy.edu
http://faculty.oxy.edu/ron

Experience

May 2005 to Present
Chair of Mathematics Department

Occidental College, Los Angeles, California


May 2004 to Present
Associate Professor of Mathematics

Occidental College, Los Angeles, California

 

August 1996 to May 2004
Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Mathematics

Occidental College, Los Angeles, California

Taught Numerical Analysis, Complex Analysis, Real Analysis, Linear Systems, Basic Calculus 1, Advanced Placement Calculus and Basic Calculus 2 in the mathematics department. Co-Created Race, Gender and Justice and co-taught it three times (Fall 1997, Fall 1999 and Spring 2002) as the Cultural Studies Program's only freshman colloquium fully-integrated with internet technologies.

 

August 1994 to August 1996
Minority Postdoctoral Scholar-in-Residence
Occidental College, Los Angeles, California

Taught Numerical Analysis, Complex Analysis and Calculus courses, created a Mathematical Modeling course, in the mathematics department. Investigated a non-standard finite-difference scheme and published the results.

 

January 1989 to August 1994

Graduate Research Assistant

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
Advisors: Donald W. Schwendeman and Julian D. Cole

Performed computations using a number of numerical techniques (e.g. finite-differences, iterative solvers, sparse matrix solvers and modified multigrid) to solve a nonlinear, elliptic-hyperbolic, partial differential equation that describes shock-free transonic flow.

Education

Graduate:

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York

Ph.D., Applied Mathematics, 1994

Thesis Title: The Design of Shock-Free Transonic Slender Bodies

Advisors: Donald W. Schwendeman and Julian D. Cole


Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York

M.Sc., Mathematics, 1992

Undergraduate:

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York

B.Sc. (in three years), magna cum laude, Mathematics, 1989

Publications

 Numerical Studies of a Nonlinear Heat Equation with Square Root Dissipative Term.” To appear in Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations (with student Karl McMurtry and Ronald E. Mickens).

 Applications of Mickens Finite Differences to Several Related Boundary Value Problems.” Advances in the Applications of Nonstandard Finite Difference Schemes. Ed. R.E. Mickens. World Scientific Publishing: Singapore. 2005. pp. 47-87

 Application of a Mickens Finite-Difference Scheme to the Cylindrical Bratu-Gelfand Problem.” Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations, Vol. 20, No. 3, (May 2004), pp. 327-337.

"Investigations of Nonstandard, ‘Mickens-type,' Finite-Difference Schemes for Singular Boundary Value Problems in Cylindrical or Spherical Coordinates." Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations, Vol. 19, No. 3, (May 2003), pp. 380-398.

"A Differential Equation Model of North American Cinematic Box-office Dynamics." IMA Journal of Management Mathematics, Volume 12, Issue 1, 2001, pp. 41-74 (with David A. Edwards).

"'Race, Gender and Justice': New Technologies and Student Empowerment." Works and Days, Vol. 16, No. 1/2, Spring/Fall 1998, pp. 319-332 (with Donna Maeda and Gabrielle Foreman). 1999.

"Race, Gender and Justice: Teaching with Technology at Occidental College." Newsletter of the American Studies Association, Vol. 21, No.3, September 1998, (with Donna Maeda and Gabrielle Foreman).

"Teaching about Race, Gender and Justice: Bridging the Digital Divide." Diversity Digest, a publication of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Vol. 3, No. 1, Fall 1998 (with Donna Maeda and Gabrielle Foreman).

"On the Design of Shock-free, Transonic, Slender Bodies of Revolution." AIAA Paper 98-2686, presented at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2nd Theoretical Fluid Mechanics Meeting in Albuquerque, NM (June 15-18 1998).

"You can't get there from here: the impact of California's Proposition 209 on same-sex marriage." Albany Law Review, Vol. 60, No. 5, 1997. pp. 1673-1676.

"A New Finite-difference Scheme for Singular Differential Equations in Cylindrical or Spherical Coordinates." Mathematics Is For Solving Problems: A Volume in Honor of Julian Cole. Eds. L. Pamela Cook, Victor Roytburd and Marshall Tulin. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics: Philadelphia. 1996. pp. 3-9.

"Modeling large gas release events from 'dry' waste tanks." Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems In Industry (June 12-16 1995). LA-UR-95-4038. Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1995 (with Mary Brewster et alia).

"The Design Of Shock-Free Transonic Slender Bodies." Ph.D. thesis. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Troy, NY. 1994.    

Works In Progress

On exact and numerical solutions of the one-dimensional planar Bratu problem.” Preprint.

“Another mathematical model of cinematic box-office dynamics: the sequels.”

“Impacts of innovative assessment practices in multivariable calculus”

“Pedagogical innovations in upper-division undergraduate applied mathematics courses.”

“Concept maps in introductory linear algebra”

Peer Reviewer

Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations
Applied Mathematics Letters
Journal of Engineering Mathematics

Research Interests

Numerical Analysis:

Nonstandard finite-difference schemes. Also known as Mickens discretizations, these are finite-difference schemes that use nonlinear functions and non-local terms in the difference-quotient definition of the derivative. The nonlinear behavior can be tailored to produce finite-difference schemes that produce solutions with either exact or substantially-reduced error. Recent applications have been to quasi-elliptic boundary value problems such as the Bratu and Bratu-Gelfand problems.

Applied Mathematics:

Mathematical Modeling. I am interested in a wide array of applications of mathematics to real-world problems. Through the Mathematical Problems in Industry workshops I have been exposed to, and participated in the construction of, many different kinds of industrial mathematical models. Recently, I have been looking at a new kind (differential equation-based as opposed to probabilistic) model of the dynamics of cinematic box-office.

Computational Fluid Dynamics. My thesis work was in, and I’m still interested in pursuing, numerical computations of solutions to the elliptic-hyperbolic partial differential equation governing transonic small-disturbance theory in cylindrical coordinates.

Teaching Interests

 

Mathematics:

Applied Mathematics courses. I am interested in teaching courses from a perspective that highlights how math can be used to solve real problems in the real world. Favorite topic would include numerical analysis, mathematical modeling, differential equations, complex analysis and perturbation methods.

Cultural Studies:

Race, Gender, Sexuality and the Law. I am interested, and have significant experience, in teaching about the imbrications of race, gender and sexuality with the concept of (American) citizenship. The specific contexts I look at are immigration law and marriage law historically and currently.  

 

Conferences, Presentations and Workshops

June 2008
            Flash in the Valley: Creating Mathlets with Adobe Flash (MAA PREP Workshop), Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA. Attendee.

February 2008           

            4th Annual National Sexual Orientation Law Moot Court Competition, UCLA Law School, Los Angeles, CA. Judge.


            7th Annual Update on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, UCLA Law School, Los Angeles, CA. Attendee.

January 2008

“Numerical Studies of a Nonlinear Heat Equation with Square Root Dissipative Term.” AMS-MAA Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Diego, CA. Contributed Presentation.

July 2007

            “Mathematic Modelling: mathematics Is For Solving Problems.” Multicultural Summer Institute, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA. Invited Talk.

April 2007
            Creating Balance in an Unjust World: Conference on Mathematics Education and Social Justice, Brooklyn, NY. Attendee.

February 2007
            Western Regional LGBTQIA College Conference: Out of the Rainbow and Into The Streets, University of California at Riverside. Invited Panellist.

 

             3rd Annual National Sexual Orientation Law Moot Court Competition, UCLA Law School, Los Angeles, CA. Judge.

June 2006

Conference of North American and Cuban Philosophers and Social Scientists, Havana, Cuba. Participant.

May 2006

Mathematics of Social Justice Workshop. Lafayette College, Easton, PA. Invited Attendee.
           
            Black Gay Men Mobilization Retreat. Black AIDS Institute, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Panellist.

November 2005

Morehouse College/Spelman College/MSRI Workshop on Modern Mathematics. Atlanta, GA. Funded Participant.

April 2005

Career Workshop on Minorities and Applied Mathematics. Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, Minneapolis, MN. Funded Participant.

March 2005

Black Gay Men Mobilization Retreat. Black AIDS Institute, Palm Springs, CA. Participant.

January 2005

My Three Favorite Calculus Problems.” AMS-MAA Joint Mathematics Meetings, Atlanta, GA. Contributed Presentation.

November 2004

Different Differences.” Invited Talk. Occidental College. Pi Mu Epsilon Speaker Series.

 

Blackwell-Tapia Conference and Prize Presentation. Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. Attendee.

           

Election 2004: The Gay Vote, Gay Marriage, and Prospects for Gay Rights Legislation.” UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, CA. Panel discussion. Attendee.

October 2004

Different Differences.” Invited Talk. California State University at Long Beach. Faculty colloquium

 

The Role of Race in the Race to the White House.” UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, CA. Panel discussion. Attendee.

June 2003

Application of Mickens Finite Differences to Single-Variable Bratu Problems.” SIAM Annual Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Contributed Presentation.

January 2003

“Investigations of nonstandard, ‘Mickens-type,' finite-difference schemes for singular boundary value problems in cylindrical or spherical coordinates.” AMS-MAA Joint Mathematics Meetings, Baltimore, MD. Contributed Presentation.

June 2002

Eighteenth Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Group participant.

May 2002

The Use of Empirical Research in Law and Public Policy: A Roundtable Discussion. Charles R. Williams Project on Sexual Orientation Law, UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, CA. Invited Participant.

April 2002

Exclusion & Asylum: Immigration, Sexuality, and The Law. Charles R. Williams Project on Sexual Orientation Law, UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, CA. Attendee.

December 2001

MER Conference on Reforming Courses Below Calculus. Phoenix, AZ. Attendee.

July 2001

“Investigations of a Novel Finite-Difference Scheme for Singular Boundary Value Problems in Cylindrical or Spherical Co-ordinates.” SIAM Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. Contributed Presentation.

June 2001

Seventeenth Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Group participant.

October 2000

Mt. Baldy Conference on Applied Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA. Attendee.

July 2000

SIAM Annual Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Attendee.

June 2000

“Investigations of non-standard finite difference schemes for singular boundary value problems in cylindrical or spherical coordinates.” Summer Research Seminar, Science & Math Division, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas. Invited Presentation.

 

Sixteenth Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, University of Delaware, Newark, DE. Group participant.

March 2000

“Something Borrowed, Something New: Non-standard finite differences and modeling box-office dynamics.” Graduate Seminar, Mathematical Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware. Invited Presentation.

February 2000

Race and the Law at the Turn of the Century. UCLA Law Review Symposium, Los Angeles, CA. Attendee.

August 1999

Occidental College Faculty Teaching Workshop, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA. Co-Organizer.

 

"Can 'A' Students Be Gay? Scholarly and Practical Resources on Sexual Orientation for the Classroom." University of San Diego, San Diego, CA. Invited Speaker.

June 1999

Fifteenth Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, University of Delaware, Newark, DE. Group participant.

March 1999

Technology Session, Black Agenda for the 21st Century: Towards a Synthesis of Culture, History and Social Policy, Midwest Consortium for Black Studies, University of Michigan. Invited Respondent. 

Lilly-West Conference on Excellent in College Teaching, Lake Arrowhead, CA. Attendee.

July 1998

Fourteenth Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, Troy, New York. Group Participant.

June 1998

“Find the Perfect Text: Class Formats in Upper-Division Undergraduate Analysis Courses.” SIAM  Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada. Contributed Presentation.

 

“AIAA 98-2686: On The Design of Shock-Free, Transonic, Slender Bodies of Revolution.” American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics  2nd Theoretical Fluid Mechanics Meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Invited Paper.

May 1998

SIAM Northeast Regional Mathematics in Industry Workshop, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA. Attendee.

March 1998

“Uses of Mailing Lists and Web-based Message Boards in Teaching and Learning.” Lilly-West Conference on Excellent in College Teaching, Lake Arrowhead, CA. Contributed Presentation.

November 1997

Critical Race Theory: From Theory To Practice. Yale Law School, New Haven, CT. Attendee.

October 1997

“Queer Immigration Issues.” National Lesbian and Gay Law Association Lavender Law Conference, Los Angeles, CA. Panelist.

August 1997

Occidental College Faculty Teaching Workshop, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA. Participant.

July 1997

            “Pedagogical Innovations in Undergraduate Numerical Analysis Instruction.”

SIAM Annual Meeting, Palo Alto, CA. Poster Session.

June 1997

Thirteenth Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Group participant.

March 1997

Lilly-West Conference on Excellent in College Teaching, Lake Arrowhead, CA.  Attendee.

June 1996

Twelfth Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Group participant.

March 1996

“Queer legal resources on the Internet.” Bowers vs. Hardwick at 10. John Marshall Law School, Chicago, IL Invited Presentation.

October 1995

SIAM Annual Meeting, Charlotte, NC. Contributed Presentation.

Asymptotic and Computational Methods for Applications: A Conference in Honor of Julian D. Cole, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Invited Presentation (proceedings published).

June 1995

Eleventh Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, Albuquerque, NM (proceedings published). Invited Participant.

July 1994

SIAM Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. Contributed Presentation.

June 1993

Ninth Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Group Participant.

Technical Skills

Computer Skills:

Extensive classroom and/or research implementation of a diverse set of numerical methods, including finite difference methods, iterative solvers, finite element techniques, and multigrid methods, among others.

Experienced user of Matlab for teaching and research.
Experienced use of Mathematica for research.

Extensive knowledge of Fortran.

Good working knowledge of HTML and LaTex.

Familiarity with Javascript, C, Perl, Pascal, APL and TruBasic.

Extensive knowledge of UNIX operating systems.

Systems manager for abacus.oxy.edu, a Sun Sparcstation 20 with 112MB of RAM and 2GB of disk space, since September 1994

Good working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, FrontPage

Languages:

Acceptable French reading comprehension and writing skills.

Limited French oral communication skills.

Limited Spanish oral, written and reading skills.

Academic Service

Member, NSF Division of Undergraduate Education Grant Review Panel, March 2008

Member, NSF Division of Undergraduate Education Grant Review Panel, November 2007

Member, NSF Division of Undergraduate Education Grant Review Panel, November 2006

Member, NSF Division of Undergraduate Education Grant Review Panel, March 2006
Member, Faculty Affirmative Action Committee, Fall 2005 to Spring 2006

Member, NSF Division of Undergraduate Education Grant Review Panel, July 2005

Member, NSF Division of Undergraduate Education Grant Review Panel, July 2004

Member, Faculty Admissions Committee, Fall 2000 to Spring 2002
Member, Search Committee for College Librarian, Spring 2001 and Fall 2001
Member, Faculty Library Information Services Committee, Fall 1998 to Spring 2000

Member, President's Advisory Commission on Multicultural Mission, Spring 2000
Founding Member, Faculty Committee on Occidental's Multicultural Mission
Resident Faculty Associate, Fall 1996 to Spring 2000, Haines Hall

Member, Vice-President's Internet Task Force, Spring 1995 to present

Co-organizer, Annual Black Faculty-Student Social, Fall 1994 and Fall 1995

Faculty Advisor, Mathematics Association of America Student Chapter, Fall 1994 to present

Community Service

Chair, Board of Directors, Center for Health Justice, July 2007 to Present

Judge, 3rd Annual National Sexual Orientation Law Moot Court Competition, UCLA Law School

President, Board of Directors, Barbara Jordan/ Bayard Rustin Coalition, July 2007 to Present

Member, Board of Directors, Los Angeles Tennis Association, February 2007 to November 2007

Member, Board of Directors, Center for Health Justice, January 2007 to Present

Member, Board of Directors, Being Alive Los Angeles, June 2002 to July 2006

Member, Board of Directors, Equality California, July 2002 to December 2004

Member, Board of Directors, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, September 1996 to May 2002

Member, Board of Directors, Immigration Equality, (the Los Angeles area chapter of the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force), May 1994 to May 2002

Member, Board of Directors, PlanetOut Corporation, April 1996 to August 1999

Member, Steering Committee, Los Angeles Freedom To Marry Coalition, September 1995 to September 2000

Vice-President, Board of Directors, Overnight Productions, 1995 to present

Co-founder, Digital Queers Los Angeles, 1995

Member, Board of Directors, Eleanor Roosevelt Democratic Club (Albany, NY), 1993 to 1994

Senior Reporter and Editorial Columnist, The Rensselaer Polytechnic, Fall 1991 to Fall 1993

Creator, Queer Resources Directory, the first widely used source of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender and AIDS/HIV information on the Internet, Spring 1991

Successful Co-plaintiff, ACLU et al. vs. Reno (521 U.S. 844), United States Supreme Court case which struck down the Communications Decency Act of 1996 as unconstitutional abridgement of free speech.

Manager, at http://lists.qrd.org of numerous Internet mailing lists such as

  • QueerLaw, sexual orientation and the law
  • Marriage, same-sex marriage
  • GLBPOC, gay/lesbian/bisexual people of color
  • QueerPolitics, politics of LGBT movement
  • QueerPlanet, worldwide LGBT news
  • GLBMATH, network of LGBT mathematicians
  • QI, queer immigration issues
  • LA-MOTSS, Los Angeles area “members of the same sex”

Manager, at majordomo@cecs.pdx.edu of NA-TEACH, on the teaching of Numerical Analysis

Awards

Postgraduate:

Mellon Technology Fellow, Summer 1996, 1999 and 2001
Mellon Technology Faculty Development Grant, Spring 1999

Minority Scholar-In-Residence Postdoctoral Fellowship, Occidental College, 1994 to 1996

Graduate:

Certificate of Leadership, Archer Center for Student Leadership Development, May 1993

Undergraduate:

Honorable Mention, Mathematical Contest In Modeling, March 1989
Dean's List, all undergraduate semesters, 1986 to 1989

Other:

1st Annual Community Service Award, Digital Queers, 1995

Miscellaneous

Chess:

United States Chess Federation Senior Master, currently rated 2419, which means that I am ranked in the Top 250 of all chess players in the USA

World Chess Federation FIDE Master, currently rated 2320

1985 New York Open Champion (Under-2200)

1985 World Open Champion (Under-2400)

4-time Barbados National Junior Champion, 1982-86

3-time Barbados National Champion, 1983-86

Invited to and participated in:

1987 United States Junior Invitational Championship (Amherst, MA)

1986 Oakham International Invitational Biennial (Oakham, England)

1986 British National Championship (Torquay, England)

1985 World Junior Championship (Helsinki, Finland)

Other:

Avid tennis, scrabble and boggle player

 

Teaching Experience

 

Fall 1994

Math 370 (Numerical Analysis)

 

 

Spring 1995

Math 124 (Calculus 2 Experienced)

 

 

Fall 1995

Math 496 (Mathematical Modeling)

 

 

Spring 1996

Math 312 (Complex Analysis)

 

Math 120 (Calculus 2)

 

 

Fall 1996

Math 110 (Calculus 1)

 

Math 310 (Real Analysis)

 

 

Spring 1997

Math 120 (Calculus 2)

 

Math 370 (Numerical Analysis)

 

 

Fall 1997

CSP 2 (Race, Gender and Justice)

 

 

Spring 1998

Math 120 (Calculus 2)

 

Math 312 (Complex Analysis)

 

 

Fall 1998

Math 110 (Calculus 1)

 

Math 370 (Numerical Analysis)

 

 

Spring 1999

Math 120 (Calculus 2)

 

 

Summer 1999

Multicultural Summer Institute (American Culture)

 

 

Fall 1999

CSP 1 (Race, Gender and Justice)

 

 

Spring 2000

On Leave

 

 

Fall 2000

Math 110 (Calculus 1)

 

Math 370 (Numerical Analysis)

 

 

Spring 2001

Math 120 (Calculus 2)

 

Math 214 (Linear Systems)

 

 

Fall 2001

Math 118 (Advanced Placement Calculus)

 

Math 312 (Complex Analysis)

 

 

Spring 2002

CSP 52 (Race, Gender and Justice)

 

 

Fall 2002

Math 118 (Advanced Placement Calculus)

 

Math 370 (Numerical Analysis)