Todd Hammond

Todd Hammond, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Truman State University has Bachelors, Masters and PhD degrees from University of California, Berkeley

Biography

Todd was born in Berkeley, California, and proceeded to do both his undergraduate and his graduate work in mathematics at the University of California, where his parents and one grandmother graduated before him. In part of this time he worked doing software development, primarily at the Real Time Systems Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His work also included some contract work for the Department of Energy. Although he made a conscious decision to move from computer science to mathematics, his work with computers has undoubtedly colored his interests in mathematics as well.
Todd moved to Chicago in 1990 for a four year post-doctoral position with the University of Chicago (partially funded by the National Science Foundation). His work in these years was primarily in computability theory. It was while he was in Chicago that he met his future wife, Kristina.
In 1994, Todd joined the faculty of the Division of Mathematics and Computer Science at Truman State University, where he teaches a variety of courses in mathematics and statistics.
He now lives just outside of Kirksville, Missouri. His family includes his wife Kristina, and their four children, Mia, Nils, Emma, and Elsa.

Academic Interests

Todd's most longstanding research interests are in mathematical logic and in computability theory (also known as recursion theory). Computability theory is sometimes described in a word as "verytheoreticalcomputerscience", and among other things studies mathematical algorithms. In recent years Todd has become increasingly interested in more applied aspects of mathematical algorithms.
A particular interest of recent years is elementary mathematics education. Following an interest in non-western mathematics, he came to do some work with Truman's Korean mathematics project directed by Dr. Jan Grow, especially in the teacher education program funded by the Eisenhower grants. His interest in mathematics education and especially elementary education has steadily increased as his work with kids has convinced him that kids' approach towards learning is shaped most significantly in elementary school. Not surprisingly, he considers that some of his most important work is with Truman's elementary mathematics teacher preparation, such as Truman's course Concrete Behavioral Foundations of Mathematics, MATH 240.
He remains very interested in the history of mathematics, and particularly of non-western mathematics and ethnomathematics. A particular interest in ethnomathematics is the use of different kinds of symmetry in the decorative arts.
Todd doesn't believe in technology as a panacea for all kinds of learning issues, but remains interest in the ways technology can aid mathematical understanding. Computer software he regularly uses in teaching include Maxima (a GPL offshoot of the early MIT MACSYMA project), Mathematica, and with elementary education Logo and Geometer's Sketchpad. Other software he also uses include Matlab, Octave, and any number of programs of his own.

Hobbies

Music. Todd has played the piano for many years. He now teaches piano to three of his four kids, and is very pleased with their progress. He and his wife have two pianos so that he and his kids can work towards some of the wonderful but neglected two piano keyboard literature. His ability to play has become fairly restricted due to repetitive stress injuries, but Todd and Kristina still occasionally play piano duets or a little two piano music. He tunes his own pianos, though admits probably not frequently enough.
Gardening. A lot with a few acres of land have given Todd and Kristina space to experiment with gardening. Although only a minority of the hundreds of trees planted in the last decade have survived, extra space has slowly been disappearing, and now the grass in the front yard is beginning to give way to little patches of gardens. A pond of an acre or so shared with two neighboring houses has also given them a great deal of pleasure. They have particularly enjoyed watching the water lilies, iris pseudacorus, and sacred lotus there. Two of his favorite trees for the climate in Northeast Missouri are amur maple, acer ginnala, and dawn redwood, metasequoia glyptostroboides. Recently he has been experimenting with the bamboo species phyllostachys nuda and phyllostachys bissettii.
When Todd has free time these days his first impulse is generally to read to his kids. Todd also is also interested in languages, art, and history. More active interests include Hiking, Cycling, and Dancing. He used to like Cooking, but his wife Kristina rarely lets him now.

Todd Hammond, Division of Mathematics and Computer Science
Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri, 63501

Office VH2250, Phone 660/785-7510, Fax 660/785-4251

thammond@truman.edu