Sandy Ganzell
St. Mary's College of Maryland
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
18952 E. Fisher Road
St. Mary's City, Maryland 20686
office: 240-895-4371 sganzell@smcm.edu fax:240-895-4996
Current Position
- St. Mary's College of Maryland.
- Professor of Mathematics.
Education
- Rice University, Houston, Texas.
- Ph.D. in Mathematics. May 2000.
- Dissertation: Complexity of Exotic IR4s.
- Advisor: Richard Stong
- Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.
- A.B. in Mathematics. June, 1992.
- High honors in Mathematics.
- Minor in Women's Studies.
- Stuyvesant High School, New York, New York.
Employment History
- St. Mary's College of Maryland: Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.
- Department Chair: 2011–2012, 2015–2017.
- Professor: 2015–present
- Associate Professor: 2009–2015.
- Assistant Professor: 2005–2009.
- University of The Gambia: Division of Arts and Sciences.
- Visiting Professor: 2012–2013.
- Pomona College: Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.
- Visiting Assistant Professor: 2001–2005.
- Rice University: Department of Mathematics.
- Instructor and Visiting Scholar: 2000–2001.
- Rice University: Department of Psychology.
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow: 2000–2001.
- With D.M. Lane and B.N. Walker: Development of sonification design theory: Metiphors, mappings, holistic sound design and data-specific sonification.
- Rice University: Department of Mathematics.
- Graduate Student: 1994–2000.
- Teaching Assistantship: 1994–2000.
- Service: Graduate faculty liaison, 1998–2000.
- Dartmouth College: Department of Mathematics.
- Teaching Assistant: 1993–1994.
- The National Gymnastics Training Center, New York.
- Coach: Summers, 1988–2000.
- Aiki Budokai, Houston. School of Ju Jutsu.
- Head Instructor, 1994–2001.
Grants
- National Science Foundation: Emerging Scholars Program REU, $284,000, 2016–2020.
- National Science Foundation: Emerging Scholars Program REU, $278,000, 2011–2014.
- SMCM faculty development grant, $2118, 2013.
- SMCM faculty development grant, $1100, 2012.
- SMCM faculty development grant, $1000, 2010.
- MAA/NSF/NSA SUMMA grant: summer REU for minority mathematics achievement, $27,000, 2009.
- Mathematical Association of America SUMMA grant: summer REU for minority mathematics achievement, $25,000, 2008.
- Mathematical Association of America SUMMA grant: summer REU for minority mathematics achievement, $25,000, 2007.
- Mathematical Association of America SUMMA grant: summer REU for minority mathematics achievement, $25,000, 2006.
Mathematics Publications
(*Indicates undergraduate coauthor)
- Derivatives of Jones Polynomials Detect Delta Moves in Virtual Knots (with V. Furlow* and M. Robinson*). Submitted.
- Reidemeister Moves in Gauss Diagrams (with E. Lehet*, C. Lopez*, G. Magallon*, and A. Thompson*). Involve, a Journal of Mathematics 14-3 (2021), 431--438. DOI 10.2140/involve.2021.14.431
- Knots with Composite Colors (with C. VanBlargen*). Submitted.
- Virtual Mosaic Knot Theory (with A. Henrich). Journal of Knot Theory and its Ramifications, Vol. 29, No. 14, 2050091, 2020.
- Restrictions on Homflypt and Kauffman Polynomials Arising from Local Moves (with M. Gonzalez*, C. Marcum*, N. Ryalls*, M. Santos*). Journal of Knot Theory and its Ramifications. Vol. 29, No. 6, 2050036, 2020.
- Unoriented Links and the Jones Polynomial (with J. Huffman*, L. Mavrakis*, K. Tademy*, G. Walker*). Involve. Vol. 12, No. 8, 2019.
- Divisibility Tests, Old and New. College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 48, Issue 1, p. 36–40, 2017.
- The Forbidden Number of a Knot (with A. Crans and B. Mellor). Kyungpook Mathematical Journal, Vol. 55, No. 2, p. 485–506, 2015.
- Local Moves and Restrictions on the Jones Polynomial. Journal of Knot Theory and its Ramifications, Vol. 23, No. 2, 2014.
- TWIST UNTANGLE and Related Knot Games (with A. Meadows and J. Ross*). Integers, Electronic Journal of Combinatorial Number Theory, Vol. 14, 2014.
- Optimal Estimators for Threshold-Based Quality Measures (with A. Abrams, H. Landau, Z. Landau, J. Pommersheim and E. Zaslow). Journal of Probability and Statistics, Vol. 2010, Article ID 752750, 15 pages, 2010.
- UNTANGLE: Knots in Combinatorial Game Theory (with A. Meadows). Geombinatorics, Vol. 18, Iss. 3 (Jan, 2009), p. 101–108.
- Chirality vs. HOMFLY and Kauffman Polynomials (with A. Kapp*). Journal of Knot Theory and its Ramifications, Vol. 17, No. 12 (2008), p. 1519–1524.
- Ends of 4-Manifolds. Topology Proceedings, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2006, p. 223–236.
- New Bounds for Forbidden Numbers of Knots (with E. Lehet*, C. Lopez*, G. Magallon*, and A. Thompson*). In preparation.
- On a 4-Braid Criterion of Jones. In preparation.
- American Pi (with C. Douglas and A. Meadows) In preparation.
Other Publications
Invited Presentations
- Joint Mathematics Meetings, Washington D.C. Mentoring Undergraduate Research in Mathematics at Two Year Colleges and Similar Institutions, January 2021.
- Sectional meeting of the AMS, Univerity of Virginia, Virtual Mosaic Knot Theory, March 2020.
- UnKnot IV, Seattle, WA. Local Moves and Link Polynomials, July 2019.
- Washington and Lee University, Mathematics Faculty Seminar. Jones-HOMFLYPT-Kauffman Ideals and Elementary Combinatorics of Links, May 2019.
- Joint Mathematics Meetings, Baltimore, MD. Restrictions on Homflypt and Kauffman Polynomials Arising from Local Moves. January 2019.
- AMS Sectional Meeting, Greensboro, NC. Ideals Generated by Local Moves in Link Diagrams. November 2014.
- Washington and Lee University, Mathematics Colloquium. Open Problems in Knot Theory that Everyone Can Try to Solve. March, 2014.
- Mathfest, National Meeting of the MAA, Hartford, CT. The Forbidden Number of a Knot. August 2013.
- UNKNOT Knot Theory Conference, Denison University. Unknots in Combinatorial Game Theory. July 2012.
- Trinity College Colloquium. Building a Better Mathematics
Program Community. May 2012.
- Joint Mathematics Meetings, Boston, MA. Are We Selling Mathematics as a
Major Community? January 2012.
- MathFest, National Meeting of the Mathematical Association of America, Lexington, KY. Building a Better Math
Program Community. August 2011.
- MathFest, National Meeting of the Mathematical Association of America, Portland, OR. Hot Jones! August 2009.
- St. Mary's College of Maryland Natural Sciences and Mathematics Colloquium. Knots, Mirrors and Mutants. November 2008.
- James Madison University REU Seminar. Knots, Mirrors and Mutants. June 2007.
- James Madison University Knot Theory Seminar. An Actual Introduction to Virtual Knots. June 2007.
- St. Mary's College Mathematics Research Seminar. Invariants of Graphs, Links and Manifolds. November 2005.
- Lewis & Clark College Undergraduate Mathematics Colloquium. Knots and Mirror Images. February 2005.
- James Madison University Mathematics Colloquium. 4-Manifolds: From Beginning to Ends. February 2005.
- Claremont Colleges Mathematics Colloquium. 4-Manifolds: From Beginning to Ends. January 2004.
- AMS Sectional Meeting, Chapel Hill, NC. Special session on Knots, Links and Embedded Graphs. Ends of 4-Manifolds. October 2003.
- University of Georgia VIGRE Seminar. 4-Manifolds: From Beginning to Ends. January 2003.
- Claremont Colleges Topology Seminar. Ends of 4-Manifolds. October 2002.
- Claremont Colleges Mathematics Colloquium. Coxeter Groups and Artin Groups: A Topologist's Perspective. February 2002.
- Rice University Topology Seminar. Complexity of Exotic IR4s. April 2000.
Memberships
- American Mathematical Society, since 1994.
- Mathematical Association of America, since 1999.
- Association for Women in Mathematics, since 1999.
Classes Taught
- Survey of Mathematics: S07, S10, S17
- Calculus I: F05, F06, F07, S09, F09, F10, F11, S12, S15, F16, F20
- Calculus II: F99r, F01p, F02p, F04p, S05p, F05, S06, F06, S07, F07, F09, F11, S12, F19, S21
- Discrete Mathematics: S18
- Vector Calculus: Su98r, S02p, S10, F20
- Linear Algebra: F01p, F02p, S03p, F03p, S04p, F04p, S06, S07, F08, S11, S12, F14, S17, S20, F20, S21
- Foundations of Mathematics: F09, S10, S13g, F13, S14, S15, F16, S17, F19
- Set Theory: F03p
- Analysis I: S03p
- Abstract Algebra I: F07, F08, F14, F15, F17
- Abstract Algebra II: S07, S08, S15, S16, F18
- Combinatorics: F13
- Complex Analysis: S20
- Topology: S02p, F06, S09, S11, S13g, S21
- Differential Topology: S05p
- Knot Theory: F05, F10, S14, F19
- Topology of 4-Manifolds: S01r
at SMCM, or rRice University, pPomona College, gUniversity of The Gambia
College Service
- College Evaluation Committee, 2009–2011, 2020–present.
- College Parliamentarian, 2013–2016, 2020–present.
- Math/CS Department Chair, 2011–2012, 2015–2017.
- Math/CS Department Search Committee, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017.
- Chair, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017.
- Faculty Merit Compensation Committee 2016–2017.
- Faculty Senate, 2006–2008, 2013–2015.
- Faculty Issues Committee 2013–2015.
- Search Committee, Interim VPAA/Dean of Faculty, 2014
- PEACE professor, University of the Gambia, 2012–2013.
- Physics Department Evaluation Committee, 2012.
- DeSousa-Brent Advisor, 2011–2012, 2013–2014.
- Curriculum Review Committee, 2007–2008.
- Admissions Advisory Group, 2007–2008.
- Faculty Advisor and coach for Women's Ultimate Frisbee team.
- Faculty Advisor and coach for Men's Ultimate Frisbee team.
- Faculty Advisor for SMCM climbing club.
Additional Information
- Ultimate: World Beach Ultimate Cup champion 2000, 2003, 2004.
- Gymnastics: All-American, 1992. Academic All-American 1991, 1992.
- Martial Arts: 4th Dan Ju Jutsu (ATAMA), 1st Dan Judo (USJA).
back