Tim Chartier


Department of Mathematics
Box 6908
Davidson, NC 28035-6908
Phone: (704) 894-2838
Fax: (704) 894-2005
Email: tichartier@davidson.edu
Office: Chambers 3044

Introduction

I am an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Davidson College. I hold both a B.S. degree in applied mathematics and a M.S. degree in computational mathematics from Western Michigan University. I received my Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. During 2001-2003 I held a VIGRE postdoctoral position in the Mathematics Department at the University of Washington. For more information on my activity, see my curriculum vitae (last modified Fall 2008).

Online Publications

The following articles were published either in the Journal of Online Mathematics and its Applications or Loci, but are all available through Loci as this journal is an aggregation of a few online journals of the Mathematical Association of America. The following articles all contain interactive java applets.
Mountains of Fractals - Learn to produce coastlines in 2D and mountains in 2D and 3D by adapting ideas related to the construction of fractals. Introductory mathematical issues in random number generation are discussed. Java applications allow interactive exploration, (published in the Journal of Online Mathematics and its Applications).
Modeling a Changing World (co-authored with N. Dovidio) - Events in our world are often modeled with differential equations. This article develops numerical solvers for ODEs. Interactive applets explore topics including slope fields and numerically solving definite integrals and differential equations, (published in the Loci).
Integer Programming Model for the Sudoku Problem (co-authored with A. Barlett, A. Langville and T. Rankin) - Let binary integer linear programming solve Sudoku puzzles and variations on the game for you. Also, learn to prove theorems regarding puzzle creation. Java applets allow for interactive exploration, and exercises and challenge problems are included, (published in the Journal of Online Mathematics and its Applications). For a PDF version of the article, click here.

Selected Teaching Resources

Using the Force of Math in Star Wars - makes mathematical connections to the special effects used to digitally create the character of Yoda.
Math Murder Mystery - Resources for hosting a Math Murder Mystery prepared by Davidson College math majors from the class of 2006.
Rising to the occasion of modeling card shuffling - contains an interactive applet for this famous model
Online Academic Review Games

Research

My research focuses on the development, study, and analysis of numerical algorithms for partial differential equations. Increasing computer power drives a need for algorithms whose performance scales linearly as the problem size increases. The breadth of computational science is closely intertwined with the successful development of such algorithms. In particular, my research focuses on multigrid and specifically, Algebraic Multigrid (AMG) methods. For a short introduction to MG methods, click here.

Awards

2007 Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Beginning College or University Mathematics Faculty Member -- awarded by the Mathematical Association of America. To read more about the award, click here. To read an article about my receiving the award, click here
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship -- awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. To read more about the award, click here. To read an article about my receiving the award, click here.

Misc

Mathematical Art: the art of raytracing - a web page designed to introduce Calculus students to raytracing
Tim and Tanya Chartier's Art - a personal web site on rather nonmathematical interests of the Chartiers

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