June 2026 Edition
This is a wrap up newsletter for the 2025-2026 academic year and we thought that you would be interested in seeing what is going on in the Mathematics Department. The events below are a roughly chronological listing of the major happenings of this year.
Joint Mathematics Meeting
The Joint Mathematics Meetings were held in Washington, D.C., from January 4 to 7, 2026. Fernando Diaz Morera gave a talk titled On the 25314 pattern in Type A, and Dr. Peter Staab gave a talk titled Are Upsets in the March Madness Tournament Predictable? Charlie Stevenson (Mathematics, ‘26) and Anji Novas (Mathematics Minor, ‘27) presented their poster titled When Noise Protects and Destroys: An Undergraduate Exploration; Joe James (Applied Mathematics, ‘26) also attended. Charlie and Anji’s poster was based on research started in Fernando’s Spring ‘25 Linear Algebra class, which continued through the Fall and Spring ‘26 semesters.
From Left to Right: Dr. Fernando Diaz Morera, Anji Nova, Joe James, Charlie Stevenson and Dr. Peter Staab
The President’s Office contributed travel funds for Charlie and Anji, who were then invited to the April 7 Board of Trustees meeting to explain their research and discuss their experiences at the conference.
Alumni Panel
The Mathematics Department hosted its nearly annual Alumni Panel event on February 18, 2026. All students were invited to listen to the stories of alumni who have graduated from the department over the past three decades.
From left to right in the photo above are Erin Denette, a Teaching Professor at the University of Rhode Island; Hannah Gates, a teacher at Clinton High School; Maggie (Dani) Chase, Global Marketing Manager at State Street; Ken Pagington, an Actuary at Milliman; and Jared Weed, a Systems Engineer at Raytheon and PhD candidate at UMass Lowell.
Elizabeth Haskins Contest
The Mathematics Department held the 45th annual Elizabeth Haskins contest on March 27, 2026. Approximately 150 high school students from the region attended. The contest has continued in its current form for many years as a 50-question multiple-choice test covering high school mathematics, especially algebra, probability, and geometry.
Awards are given to the top three students in each of grades 10, 11 and 12. The award winners (first to third) and their schools were:
- Grade 10: Nicholas Carroll (Quabbin), Benjamin Thompson (Quabbin), Warren Walters (Leominster)
- Grade 11: Daniel Hendrickson (Parker), Nate Bixby (Auburn), Andrew Roberdeau (Parker)
- Grade 12: Brian Jiang (Leominster), Zhenyu Liu (Leominster), Ty Goodrich (Auburn)
FSU Undergraduate Conference
On April 16, 2026, Fitchburg State hosted the 20th annual Undergraduate Conference on Research and Creative Practice. Many mathematics students participated.
Quintin Lemek’s research (above) was conducted for his Honors thesis with Dr. Catherine Buell as his advisor.
The following were oral presentations:
- Minecraft for Circuitry Design & STEM Communication by Stetson Daisy (Mathematics Minor, ‘27)
- RNA-sequencing Program Analysis via Mathematical Methods by Joe James (Applied Mathematics, ‘26)
- Exploring Historical Problem Solving Techniques of Islamic and Japanese Mathematicians for a Modern Audience and Integration into Higher Dimensional and Computational Application by Quintin Lemek (Mathematics ‘26)
- Solving Minesweeper with a Linear Optimization Algorithm by Aidan Thompson (Statistical Modeling, ‘27)
- A Comparative Analysis of Wartime Sexual Violence in Imperial Japan by Maeve Storti (Statistical Modeling, ‘29), which took 2nd place for Best Oral Presentation in Arts and Sciences
- Bridging the Technology Equity Gap at the Fitchburg Senior Center by Eric Edwards (Data Analytics Minor, ‘27) and others
And the following poster presentations:
- AI-driven Picar using Computer Vision and Object Detection by Stetson Daisy (Mathematics Minor, ‘27)
- Board Dungeon Delving (board game demonstration) by Eric Edwards (Mathematics Minor)
- Three point shooting in NBA by Emily Pryer (Mathematics, ‘26)
- When Noise Protects and Destroys: an Undergraduate Exploration by Charles Stevenson (Mathematics, ‘26) and Rohanji Novas (Mathematics Minor, ‘27)
Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference
The 2026 Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference took place on April 25, 2026, at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. Fitchburg State had nine faculty and students in attendance. In the photo below, the top row (from left) includes Aidan Thompson (Statistical Modeling, ‘27), Terrel Mathieu (Game Design Major, ‘28), Dr. Peter Staab, Stetson Daisy (Mathematics Minor, ‘27), and Amelia Clark (Mathematics and Data Analytics Minor, ‘27). In the bottom row (from left) are Dr. Fernando Diaz Morera, Anji Novas (Mathematics Minor, ‘27), Vanshika Patel (Data Analytics Minor, ‘27), and Dante Williams (Biology and Chemistry, ‘27). Joe James (Applied Mathematics, ‘26) also attended but is not pictured.
The conference is a one-day event featuring talks throughout the day. The keynote speaker was Jose Perea, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Northeastern University, whose talk was titled Topological Time Series Analysis. Three talks were given by Fitchburg State attendees: Joe James, RNA-Sequencing Program Analysis; Aidan Thompson, Solving Minesweeper with a Linear Optimization Algorithm; and Peter Staab, NYT Pips Game: A Linear Algebraic Look.
Pi Mu Epsilon Induction Ceremony
Six students were inducted into the Fitchburg State chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honor society, on April 7, 2026. This year’s inductees were Stetson Daisy (Mathematics Minor, ‘27), Rohanji Novas (Mathematics Minor, ‘27), Vanshika Patel (Data Analytics Minor, ‘27), Abby Phelps (Secondary Education, ‘28), Charlie Stevenson (Mathematics, ‘26), and Duc Tran (Mathematics and Data Analytics Minor, ‘27).
The invited speaker was Dr. Leah Sturman from Southern Connecticut State University, who spoke about generating functions. We discovered that she had taken Linear Algebra from Dr. Catherine Buell at Bates College!
Additionally, during the ceremony, we celebrated our Mathematics Department award winners:
- Outstanding Mathematics Student – Charles Stevenson
- Mathematics Scholarship Award – Aidan Thompson
- Mark Snyder Memorial Scholarship – Abby Phelps
- Outstanding Mathematics Minor – Anji Novas
Mathematics Seminars
We had a great set of speakers in our Mathematics Seminar Series again this year. We featured a blend of external regional speakers, mathematics faculty, a student panel, and alumni. Highlights included:
- Dr. Padi Fuster (NSF MPS Ascend Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado Boulder) gave a talk entitled The world through an analyst's lens… on October 31, 2025.
- Dr. Leah Sturman (Assistant Professor at Southern Connecticut State University) gave a talk entitled: Counting Methods from the Perspective of Integer Partitions for the Pi Mu Epsilon Induction Ceremony on April 7, 2026.
- Marc Forget (FNZ Senior Risk Manager and former Fitchburg State student) gave a talk entitled: Mathematics after the Classroom on March 30th, 2026
The seminar series aligns with the Freshman Seminar in Mathematics class, which introduces early-career students to the possibilities of a career in mathematics and the breadth of the field.
National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEM Program Year 1 Wrap Up and Celebration
Faculty and student mentors from Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, Engineering Technology, and Mathematics involved in the National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEM Project gathered in President's Hall for the Year 1 Wrap-Up and Celebration. Members of the first-year cohort and their student mentors were recognized for their involvement. The project is committed to improving the student experience for STEM majors in these disciplines.
Alpha Alpha Alpha Induction Ceremony
Aidan Thompson (Statistical Modeling, ‘27) was inducted into the Fitchburg State Chapter of Alpha Alpha Alpha, the national honors society for first-generation college students. The photo below shows Aidan receiving his induction certificate.
Mathematics Graduate Celebration
The Mathematics Department hosted the first Mathematics Graduate Celebration on May 13, 2026, to honor graduates from Fall 2025 and Spring 2026.
Mackenzie Dodge and Roger Cormier graduated in Fall 2025, while Charlie Stevenson, Evan Pritchard, Emily Pryer, Joe James, and Teddy Kingori graduated in May 2026.
Commencement Ceremony
On Saturday, May 16, 2026, Fitchburg State University hosted its 130th Commencement Ceremony. In addition to the graduates listed above, the winner of the 2026 Robert V. and Jeanne S. Antonucci Award was Charles Stevenson, a Mathematics and Computer Science double major.
A finalist for the award was another Mathematics and Computer Science double major, Evan Pritchard, whose story of returning to college was featured in this article in the FSU Magazine.
Top row (L to R): Dr. Nermin Bayazit, Dr. Fernando Diaz Morera, Dr. Peter Staab, Dr. Jessie Oehrlein, Dr. Sarah Wright, Dr. Amy Wehe; Front row (L to R): Emily Pryer, Charlie Stevenson, Mackenzie Dodge, Quintin Lemek, Evan Pritchard.
Dr. Gerry Higdon Sabbatical Project
Longtime professor Dr. Gerald (Gerry) Higdon will present a year-long, six-part colloquium series during the 2026/2027 academic year. This series is the result of his sabbatical project during the Spring of 2026. The series is titled “Sequences, Series, Generating Functions, Summability, Probability, Approximability (Approximation Theory).” The talks will be geared toward students at the level of Calculus II or above. While each presentation is designed to be self-contained, the talks will build on material from previous sessions. The first presentation is titled “Everything You Knew or Need to Know About Sequences and Series.” The sixth talk is titled “Exponential Generating Functions, Formal Exponential Power Series, Borel, Bell.” Dr. Higdon will be entering his 50th year as a mathematics professor at Fitchburg State in the Fall of 2026.