JENNIFER A. BLUE, Ph.D.

jenblue@nycap.rr.com

 

EXPERIENCE

Lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences
Union College, Schenectady, NY

  • Fall 2004 to present: Courses taught include Number Theory, Differential Calculus, Integral Calculus, Differential Vector Calculus, Integral Vector Calculus, and Calculus 1, Calculus 2, and Pre-Calculus for HEOP/AOP Summer Program.

 

Adjunct Professor in the Department of General Education
Kaplan University, Online

  • Spring 2008 to present: Courses taught include Statistics, College Algebra, and Survey of Mathematics.

 

Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Computer Science
Adjunct Professor in the School of Engineering
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Psychology, and Cognitive Science
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

  • Summer 1998 to December 2008: Teach at RPIs Malta NY campus for graduates of the Navy Nuclear Power Training School.
  • Summer 1998 to June 2009: Teach at RPIs Troy campus.
  • Courses in Malta: Calculus I, Calculus II, Differential Equations, Programming in C, Advanced Engineering Mathematics, Logic, Advanced Calculus, Multivariate Calculus & Matrix Algebra, Methods and Analysis of Uncertainty.
  • Courses in Troy: Teaching Skills Seminar, Computational Optimization, Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Calculus 1 for Management, and Multivariate Calculus and Finite Mathematics for Management.
  • January 2001 to August 2002: Research. Exploring new methods for characterizing the near optimal solutions to linear programming problems.

 

Adjunct Professor
Dowling College at State Farm, Ballston Spa, NY

  • June 2008 to March 2009
  • Courses taught include:  Operations Research, Statistics, and College Algebra.

 

Instructor
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

  • Calculus I: Spring 1993, Summer 1993, Summer 1994, Spring 1996
  • Calculus II: Fall 1996
  • Linear Algebra: Spring 1994, Spring 1995, Summer 1995

 

Fellowship
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

  • Fellowship in Applied Mathematics by the Department of Education: Fall 1992, Spring 1993
  • National Science Foundation Applied Mathematics Graduate Research Traineeship: Spring 1997, Fall 1997, Spring 1998

 

Research Assistant
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

  • Summer 1996
  • Summer 1997

 

Teaching Assistant
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

  • Calculus I: Fall 1992
  • Calculus II: Fall 1993
  • Workshop Calculus I: Fall 1994
  • Workshop Calculus II: Fall 1995

 

PRESENTATIONS

"The Psychology of using iClickers in the Math Classroom" 16th Annual Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, Union College, April 18, 2009, Schenectady NY.

"iClickers Many Uses: Lecture and Recitation," Teaching Seminar, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, September 29, 2008, Troy, NY.

"iClicker: The Fun is Infinite!" 15th Annual Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, St. Lawrence University, April 19, 2008, Canton NY.

"MAXIMIZE! Even with all those imposing constraints," 9th Annual Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, Hamilton College, April 27, 2002, Clinton NY.

"The Trouble with Flying," 8th Annual Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, Skidmore College, April 28, 2001, Saratoga Springs NY.

"What is a Neural Network?" 7th Annual Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, Vassar College, April 8, 2000, Poughkeepsie NY.

"An Introduction to Data Classification," 6th Annual Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, Siena College, April 17, 1999, Loudonville NY.

"An Extreme Point Tabu Search Method for GTO," DSES Colloquium, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, April 1, 1997.

"Neural Tree Networks via Tabu Search," Invited Talk, INFORMS 5th CSTS Conference on Computer Science & Operations Research, January 8, 1996, Dallas TX.

"Optimal Decision Trees Through Multilinear Programming," Invited Talk, INFORMS, November 3, 1996, Atlanta GA.

"Comparing Cognitive Maps," Mathematics Department Seminar, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, April 20, 1994.

PUBLICATIONS

J.A. Blue, "The Benefits of Attending Seminar," My Community, KU Campus, Kaplan University, to appear.

J.A. Blue, and K.P. Bennett, "Hybrid Extreme Point Tabu Search," European Journal of Operational Research, 106(2-3):676-688, 1998.

K.P. Bennett and J.A. Blue, "A Support Vector Machine Approach to Decision Trees," In Proceedings of the IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, pages 2396-2401, Anchorage, Alaska, 1998.

J.A. Blue, "A Hybrid of Tabu Search and Local Descent Algorithms with Applications in Artificial Intelligence," PhD Thesis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1998.

A.P. Massey, D.L. Clapper, and J.A. Blue, "An interdisciplinary approach for exploring the impact of individual characteristics in the context of GSS research," Annals of Operations Research, 72:75-101, 1997.

J.A. Blue, and K.P. Bennett, " Optimal Decision Trees," R.P.I Math Report No. 214, 1996.

J.A. Blue, and K.P. Bennett, " An Extreme Point Tabu Search Method for Data Mining," R.P.I Math Report No. 228, 1996.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. Mathematics August 1998
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

  • Developed a hybrid algorithm in which a local descent algorithm and a tabu search are alternately applied. Developed a math programming formulation for decision trees which utilizes extreme point solutions. Extended Vapnik's support vector machines to develop a formulation for decision trees in which each decision is a support vector machine. The hybrid algorithm was applied to both decision tree formulations with strong results.

 

M.S. Mathematics December 1993
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

  • Awarded Huston Prize for excellence in teaching.
  • Graduated with 3.9 GPA.

 

B.S. Mathematics, B.A. Physics December 1991
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

  • National Merit Scholar
  • President's Endowed Scholar

 

Computer Skills

Skills in all of the following:  Maple, Matlab, MINOS, WeBWorK, MML, CNOW, Blackboard, HTML, Minitab, SPSS, SAS, Word, Excel, Power Point, VPN, Putty, WINSCP3, C, Fortran, iClicker (classroom response system), SKYPE, and AIM.

REFERENCES

Available Upon Request