Dr. Robert W. Vallin

Full Professor
Department of Mathematics
Slippery Rock University of PA
229 Vincent Science Hall
Slippery Rock, PA 16057
(724) 738 - 2856
Fax (724) 738 - 4807
robert.vallin @sru.edu

I am on leave of absence from SRU until Fall 2008. During this time I will be working in Washington, DC for the Mathematical Association of America as the Associate Director for Student Programs.


G.H. Hardy
"The mathematician's patterns, like the painter's or the poet's, must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colors or the words must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in this world for ugly mathematics."

Education

Ph.D. North Carolina State University, 1991
                Thesis: Shell Porosity in Metric Spaces (M.J. Evans, Advisor)
M.S.  North Carolina State University, 1989
B.S.   University of Maryland, 1986

John Slaughter
"Research is to teaching as sin is to confession. If you do not participate in the former you have very little to say in the latter. "

Research Interests: Real Analysis and Topology

Papers

  1. Symmetric porosity, dimension, and derivates, Real Analysis Exchange, 1992
  2. An introduction to shell porosity, Real Analysis Exchange, 1992
  3. Writing in intermediate algebra, Writing and Learning, a publication of SSHE, 1993
  4. Writing and learning, with D. Mathews, Emphasis on Teaching, 1993
  5. Qualitative symmetric differentiation, with M.J. Evans, Real Analysis Exchange, 1993
  6. A supplemental laboratory for business calculus (a study of the Krankheit bottled water company), 1993
  7. Letters to a friend, PRIMUS (Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematical Undergraduate Studies), 1994
  8. Doing time for the Krankheit bottled water company, PRIMUS, 1995
  9. Simultaneous recovery of Baire one functions, with C. Freiling, Real Analysis Exchange, 1996
  10. More on the metric space of metrics, Real Analysis Exchange, 1996
  11. A subset of metric preserving functions, Int. J. Math. and Math. Sci., 1998
  12. Metric preserving functions and infinite derivatives, Acta-Math. Univ. Comenianae, 1998
  13. Admissible strings and iterative function systems, Fractals, 2000
  14. Continuity and differentiability aspects of metric preserving functions, Real Analysis Exchange, 2000
  15. The Borel structure of the collections of sub-self-similar and super-self-similar sets, with M. McClure , Acta-Math. Univ. Comenianae, 2000
  16. On preserving (R, Eucl.) and almost periodic functions, Tatra Mountains Mathematical Publications, 2002
  17. Cantor sets, thickness, and porosities, Real Analysis Exchange, 2002
  18. Separately continuous functions: approximations, extensions, and restrictions, with  Z. Piotrowski, Int. J. Math. and Math. Sci., 2003
  19. Taming mathematical monsters, Math Horizons, 2004
  20. On preserving Lebesgue spaces, with Z. Piotrowski, Commentationes Mathematicae, 2003
  21. Conditions which imply continuity, with Z. Piotrowski, Real Analysis Exchange, 2004
  22. Gangs of new math, Math Horizons, 2005
  23. Planar approximations and convergence, with Z. Piotrowski, (submitted)
  24. Voting theory (a DIMACS module), with Andy Felt et. al.
  25. On the separately open topology, with Z. Piotrowski and E. Wingler (submitted)
  26. The pointwise limits of separately continuous functions, (submitted)

Memberships

American Mathematical Society
Mathematical Association of America
Association of Women in Mathematics


Paul Halmos
Q: What's the best part of being a mathematician?

PH: ...it's almost like being in touch with God when you're thinking about mathematics. God is keeping secrets from us, and it's fun to try and learn some of the secrets.

Sites of  Interest

Learn who Paul Erdos was. Check out this site. My Erdos number is 3 .
The Math Quotations Server
Math Biographies
Women of Mathematics
The Math Genealogy Project tells who you're related to.
        My genealogy goes:
Abraham Kaestner --> Johann Pfaff --> Carl Gauss --> Frederick Bessel -->Heinrich Scherk --> Karl Weierstrass and Ernst Kummer --> Georg Frobenius --> Edmund Landau --> Henry Blumbert --> Casper Goffman --> Cliff Weil --> Mike Evans --> Myself, Dean Oppegaard, Dave Renfro
It's amazing how you can love THE TEAM and yet despise the owner. 
Zentrallblatt Author Lookup (3 for free)
The best comics.
Frazz is the man with Funky not far behind.
CNN
Dave Barry
For students: A list of  REU opportunities
Fins to the left, fins to the right,...
Crosswords, Sudoku, and more