Manhattan College HomepagePresidential InaugurationJaspers for Haiti

Faculty Profile

Kathryn C. Weld

Kathryn C. Weld

Kathryn C. Weld

Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science

 

 

Education:

  • Ph.D.in Algebraic Topology - Graduate School and University Center of the City University of N.Y.
  • B.A. State University of N.Y. at Postsdam


I am a mathematician by happy accident. Attending S.U.N.Y. at Potsdam, and studying, in turn, English, Philosophy, and Biology ; I took Calculus solely to satisfy the College’s distribution requirements. Instead, I found myself, finally, very much at home in a discipline which combines a need for absolute rigor and imagination. I owe an enormous debt to the mathematics faculty at Potsdam, who certainly played a major role in my career shift and, by example, kindled my interest in teaching.

In graduate school at the Graduate School and University Center of C.U.N.Y., I studied Algebraic Topology with Eldon Dyer. More recently my research interests have turned towards modeling and population dynamics.

I came to Manhattan in 1988, after several years of teaching at Baruch College, C.U.N.Y. At Manhattan, I became interested in the role of technology as an aid to learning mathematics. I currently supplement the traditional Calculus curriculum with projects using the Computer Algebra System Maple. My students also use software for exploration in upper division classes such as Foundations for Higher Mathematics, Algebra I, and Introduction to Higher Geometry. I believe technology can have significant value in the educational experience, but that it must be solidly supported with a traditional foundation of both computational and theoretical work, and with a personal, caring relation with ones students.

Research Interests:

Published several papers in Homotopy Theory but current interest involves the use of technology as a teaching tool, and mathematical modeling.

Selected Publications:

Computability of Homotopy Groups of Nilpotent Complexes, Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra 48, (1987), 39-53.

Computability, Homotopy and Twisted Cartesian Products, Proceedings of the AMS, Vol.108 no.4, April 1990.

Using the cT Language to Create Interactive Tutorials and Demonstrations for the Calculus Sequence, (with C. Hurwitz), Proceedings of the Eastern Small College Computing Conference, October, 1991.

Splines and Roler coasters, A Calculus Project with Maple, PRIMUS, June 1996.

 

Contact Information: