Sloan Evans Despeaux

Curriculum Vitae

Address:

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

Western Carolina University

Cullowhee , NC 28723

Phone : (828) 227-3825

E-mail : despeaux at wcu dot edu

Web Page: http://paws.wcu.edu/despeaux

Research Area: History of Mathematics

Education:

 1997 - 2002: University of Virginia

August, 2002: Ph.D. in Mathematics

 Dissertation Advisor: Karen H. Parshall, University of Virginia

Dissertation : “The Development of a Publication Community: Nineteenth-Century Mathematics in British Scientific Journals”

1995 -1997: Florida State University

August, 1997: M.S. in Mathematics

1992 -1995: Francis Marion University

May, 1995: B.A. in Mathematics, Summa Cum Laude

Employment History:

2008 - present: Associate Professor of Mathematics, Western Carolina University

 2002 - 2008: Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Western Carolina University

1997-2001: Graduate Teaching Assistant of Mathematics, University of Virginia

1995-1997: Graduate Teaching Assistant of Mathematics, Florida State University

1993-1995: Student Teaching Assistant of Mathematics, Francis Marion University

Fellowships, Scholarships, and Honors:

• Western Carolina University Arts and Sciences Teaching Award, 2008, Recipient .
• Western Carolina University Arts and Sciences Teaching Award, 2006, Finalist.
• Western Carolina University Liberal Studies Teaching Award, 2006, Finalist.

• Western Carolina University ’s Summer Research Grant Recipient, 2003
• Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Year Fellowship Recipient, 2001/02.
• Presidential Scholar, Francis Marion University, 1992-1995.

Grants:

• National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Mathematics Conferences Grant (NSF grant DMS-0241090) for Smoky Mountain Undergraduate Research Conference on the History of Mathematics (SMURCHOM) conference held at Western, 5 February 2005.
• National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Mathematics Conferences Grant (NSF grant DMS-0241090) for the second Smoky Mountain Undergraduate Research Conference on the History of Mathematics (SMURCHOM II), 22 April 2006.
• National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Mathematics Conferences Grant (NSF grant DMS- 0536991 ) for the third Smoky Mountain Undergraduate Research Conference on the History of Mathematics (SMURCHOM III), 31 March 2007.
• National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Mathematics Conferences Grant (NSF grant DMS- 0536991 ) for the Fourth Smoky Mountain Undergraduate Research Conference on the History of Mathematics (SMURCHOM IV) 26 April 2008

Academic Activities in the History of Mathematics:

• Co-editor of the Abstracts section of Historia Mathematica, Fall 2004 – Spring 2006.
• Editor of the Abstracts section of Historia Mathematica, Summer 2006- August 2008.

• Conference Organizer, Smoky Mountain Undergraduate Conference on the History of Mathematics (SMURCHOMs I, II, III, and IV), 5 February 2005, 22 April 2006, 31 March 2007, and 26 April 2008.

Publications:

REFEREED PUBLICATIONS:

• “International Mathematical Contributions to British Scientific Journals: 1800-1900," in Mathematics Unbound: The Evolution of an International Mathematical Community, 1800-1945, ed. Karen Hunger Parshall and Adrian C. Rice ( Providence: American Mathematical Society and London: London Mathematical Society, 2002): 61-87
• “ ‘Very Full of Symbols’: Duncan F. Gregory, the Calculus of Operations, and the Cambridge Mathematical Journal,” in History of Algebra in the 19 th and20 th Centuries, ed. Jeremy Gray and Karen Hunger Parshall ( Providence: American Mathematical Society and London: London Mathematical Society, 2007).
• “Launching Mathematical Research without a Formal Mandate: The Role of University Affiliated Journals in Britain, 1837-1870,” Historia Mathematica, 34 (1) (2007): 89-106 ( available online 22 September 2006).
• “ Mathematical Societies and Journals in Victorian Britain,” in Mathematics in Victorian Britain, ed. Raymond Flood, Adrian Rice, and Robin Wilson ( Oxford: Oxford University Press, to appear).
• “Mathematics Sent Across the Channel and the Atlantic: Nineteenth-Century British Mathematical Contributions to International Scientific Journals,” Annals of Science 65 (1) (2008): 73-99.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS:

• University of Virginia Department of Mathematics: Professors 1825 through 1900 (with Laura Martini, Karen Hunger Parshall, and Adrian C. Rice), (Department of Mathematics, University of Virginia, 1999) available at: http://www.math.virginia.edu/MathHistory/home.htm.
• “The University of Virginia, 1825-1900: A Case Study of the Institutionalization of Mathematics in the United States," (with Laura Martini, Karen Hunger Parshall, and Adrian C. Rice) in The History of Undergraduate Mathematics in America: Proceedings of a Conference Held at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, June 21-24, 2001, ed.Amy Shell-Gellasch, pp. 237-254.
• “GLAISHER, James Whitbread Lee (1848-1928),” “HOPKINS, William (1793-1866),” “ROUTH, Edward John (1831-1907),” and “WILSON, James Maurice (1836-1931),” in Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Scientists, ed. Bernard Lightman ( Bristol, UK: Thoemmes Press, 2004).

Research-related talks:

(1) “Mathematics in Navigation,” Graduate Student Seminar, Florida State University, 2 December 1996. *

(2) “Mathematics at U.Va. During the Nineteenth Century,” Graduate Seminar, University of Virginia, 7 May 1999. *

(3) “International Contributions to British Mathematical Journals, 1800-1865,” Mathematics Unbound: The Evolution of an International Mathematical Community, 1800-1945, an international conference hosted by the University of Virginia, 28 May 1999. *

(4-6) “International Contributions to British Mathematical Journals, 1800-1900” 10th Novembertagung Conference on the History of Mathematics, Holbæk, DENMARK 30 October 1999; * Special Session on the History of Mathematics, AMS/MAA Millennial Meeting, Washington, D.C., 21 January 2000; * Graduate Seminar, University of Virginia, 4 February 2000. *

(7) “The Development of a Publication Community: Nineteenth-Century Mathematics in British Scientific Journals,” Special Session on the History of Mathematics, AMS Meeting, Williamstown, MA, 13 October 2001. *

(8) “Turning the Pages: Tracing the Development of Nineteenth-Century Mathematics in Britain through the Pages of Its Scientific Journals,” Special Session on the History of Mathematics, AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meeting, San Diego, CA, January 2002. *

(9-14) “The First Attacks on a ‘Man-Eating Problem’: the Four Color Problem in Nineteenth-Century Britain,” Mathematics Colloquium, Highpoint University, 6 February 2002; * Mathematics Department Colloquium Series, University of North Carolina - Asheville, 28 October 2003; * Science Colloquium, Francis Marion University, March 2004; * Mathematics and Computer Science Colloquium, Western Carolina University, 3 October 2005; * Keynote Address, East Tennessee State University Mathematics Awards Dinner, 12 April 2007; * Brevard College Mathematics Colloquium, 29 November 2008.

(15-16) “A Century of Mathematics: Nineteenth-Century British Mathematics and Mathematicians Through the Lenses of Scientific Journals,” Mathematics Department Colloquium Series, Appalachian State University, 24 October 2002; * Open University, Milton Keynes, ENGLAND 28 May 2003.*

(17-18) “Giving Direction by Directing a Journal: Thomson, Stokes, Applied Mathematics, and the Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal,” History of Mathematics Commonwealth Consortium, University of Virginia, 15 November 2002; * Special Session on the History of Mathematics, AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meeting, Baltimore, MD, January 2003. *

(19) "Breathing Life into the History of Nineteenth-Century British Mathematics," Western Carolina University "Historians at Work" Colloquium Series, 18 February 2003. *

(20) “ ‘Very Full of Symbols’: Duncan F. Gregory, the Calculus of Operations, and the Cambridge Mathematical Journal,” “Workshop on the History of Algebra in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,” Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), Berkeley CA, 21-25 April, 2003. *

(21-22) “Guarding the Gates: the Role of the Refereeing Process in Nineteenth-Century Mathematical Articles Published by the Royal Society of London,” History of Mathematics Commonwealth Consortium, University of Virginia, 17 November 2003; * Joint Meeting of the British Society for the History of Mathematics and the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics, Clare College, Cambridge University, Cambridge ENGLAND, 11-13 July 2004. *

(23) “Before the PhD: Mathematical Mentoring in Nineteenth-Century Britain,” an international conference on Exploring the History of Mathematics: How do we know what questions to ask?, University of Richmond, 12-15 May 2004. *

(24) “Purpose through Publication: Catalysts for Research by Junior Mathematicians in Nineteenth-Century Britain,” Fall Eastern Sectional Meeting of the AMS, Pittsburg, PA, 5-7 November 2004. *

(25) “ ‘…work done, and, if done correctly, …done for all time’: James Whitbread Lee Glaisher and the Early BAAS Mathematical Tables Committee,” Special Session on the History of Mathematics, AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 5-8 January 2005. *

(26) “Statesmen of British Mathematics: Scientific Society Involvement of Mathematicians in Nineteenth-Century Britain,” Special Session on the History of Mathematics, AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meeting, San Antonio , Texas , 15 January 2006.*

(27) “Victorian Mathematical Societies and their Journals,” Spring Southeastern Sectional Meeting of the AMS, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, 1 April 2006. *

(28) “Victorian Mathematical Societies and Journals,” Victorian Mathematics Weekend, in association with the British Society for the History of Mathematics and the Centre for the History of the Mathematical Sciences at the Open University, Kellogg College, Oxford University, Oxford ENGLAND, 3-4 June 2006. *

(29) “Mathematics sent Across the Channel and the Atlantic: Nineteenth-Century British Mathematical Contributions to International Scientific Journals,” Joint Meeting of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics and the British Society for the History of Mathematics. Montreal, CANADA, 27-29 July 2007.

(30) “The Mathematics of Nature,” Special Session on the History of Mathematics, AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meeting, San Diego, California, 6-9 January 2008. *

* Indicates an invited lecture.