Curriculum Vitæ

John Perry

http://www.math.usm.edu/perry/

University of Southern Mississippi	601·266·5505
Department of Mathematics	Email: john.perry@usm.edu
Hattiesburg,MS 39406·5045	Fax: 601·266·5818

Background and Overview Scholarship Classroom Instruction Student Research Service

Background and Overview

Education

Ph.D.	Mathematics, North Carolina State University (Raleigh), 2005 Combinatorial Criteria for Gröbner Bases Hoon Hong, Adviser
M.S.	Mathematics, Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff), 1995
B.S.	Mathematics and Math Education, Marymount University (Arlington, VA), 1993

Appointments

2011 - Present	Associate Professor, University of Southern Mississippi
2011 - 2012	Consultant, Test Development Program, Excelsior College
2006 - 2011	Assistant Professor, University of Southern Mississippi
2010 (Summer)	Reader (AP Calculus Exam), Educational Testing Service, Inc.
2008 (Summer)	Reader (AP Caculus Exam), Educational Testing Service, Inc.
2005 (Summer)	Question Writer, Advanced Instructional Systems, Inc. (WebAssign)
2005 - 2006	Assistant Professor, North Carolina Wesleyan College

Overview

Teaching experience:

More than fifteen years' experience as professor, adjunct, and graduate teaching assistant. Topics include general and traditional mathematics as well as fields within my research specialty.

Refereed publications:

Seven papers published in the last five years (2011). All publications appear in international journals with strict standards of refereeing. Citations of my work by other authors are appearing in the literature.

Invited talks:

Five during the period 2005 - 2011.

Student research:

Ten research projects for students at USM, including three undergraduate Honors Theses and two Master's theses. Both Master's students won first prize in consecutive years at the regional MAA meeting.

Collaborations:

Include interdisciplinary and international work. Collaborators include PhD students and researchers at distinguished institutions, including (but not limited to) the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, Universität Kaiserslautern, and the University of London Royal Holloway.

Software:

Implementations of algorithms designed by myself and/or others are availabe online, and have been cited in publications by other authors.

Grant awards:

Two for improvement of instruction (one at my current institution, one at another).

Scholarship

Research Interests: Applied and theoretical computational algebra, with a special concentration in Gröbner bases.

Publications

Original research in refereed journals:

• C. Eder and J. Perry (lead author), "Signature-based algorithms to compute Gröbner bases", Proceedings of the 36th International Symposium on Symbolic and Algebraic Computation, ACM Press, pp. 99-106.
• A. Arri (lead author) and J. Perry, "The F5 Criterion Revised", Journal of Symbolic Computation, Vol. 46 (2011), pp. 1017-1029.
• C. Eder (lead author), J. Gash, and J. Perry, "Modifying Faugère's F5 Algorithm to ensure termination", Communications in Computer Algebra, Volume 45 (2011), No. 2, pp. 70-89.
• D. Leggett, J. Perry (lead author), and E. Torrence, "Computing determinants by double-crossing", College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 42 (2011), No. 1, pp. 43-54.
• C. Eder and J. Perry (lead author), "F5C: a variant of Faugère's F5 algorithm with reduced Gröbner bases", Journal of Symbolic Computation, Vol. 45 (2010), pp. 1442-1458.
• J. Perry, "An Extension of Buchberger's Criteria for Gröbner basis decision", London Mathematical Society Journal of Computation and Mathematics, Vol. 13 (2010), pp. 111-129.
• H. Hong and J. Perry (lead author), "Are Buchberger's Criteria necessary for the chain condition?" Journal of Symbolic Computation, Vol. 42 (2007), pp. 717-732.

Other publications:

• Preprints on arxiv not listed above
• Solutions acknowledged in the "Problems" sections of MAA journals
• Articles in popular mathematics journals
• Book reviews on MAA Reviews (6)
• Software
  • An implementation of the F5 algorithm for the SINGULAR computer algebra system, with optimizations that are original to this implementation (see related publication above).
    F5
    F5R
    F5C
  • An implementation of the F5 algorithm for the Sage computer algebra system, with optimizations.
    f5.py
  • An implementation of a generic signature-based algorithm to compute Gröbner bases, which implements several specific algorithms as plugins
    basic_sigbased_gb.py
  • Several enhancements and bug-fixes of the Sage computer algebra system
    (participated in 19 tickets, contributed 8 patches)

Invited Talks

2011	Interactive Calculus + "SAGElets" Sage Education Days 3, University of Washington
2009	Gröbner bases and F5 University of Cincinnati, OH
2009	Understanding and Implementing F5 Sage Days 12, University of California at San Diego
2008	Understanding and Implementing F5 Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany
2005	Combinatorial Criteria for Gröbner bases Young Researchers' Session, Applications of Computer Algebra, Nara, Japan

Other talks (selection)

2011	Signature-based algorithms to compute Gröbner bases ISSAC 2011, San Jose
2011	Geometry of Hilbert polynomials and Gröbner bases University of Mississippi, regional MAA meeting
2008	Determinants in Wonderland Western Florida University, regional MAA meeting
2007	From Gauss to Gröbner bases Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University, Seton Hall University, University of Southern Mississippi
2006	Criteria on leading terms for S-polynomial representations Universität Passau, Germany
2005	Combinatorial criteria for Gröbner bases Moscow State University, Russia

Other conferences or workshops

2006	Special semester on Gröbner bases and related methods Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria Organized by RICAM (Radon Institute for Computational and Applied Mathematics) and RISC (Research Institute for Symbolic Computation)

Grant Awards

• Summer Grant for the Improvement of Instruction: Development of Online, Interactive Calculus Text and Software (2008)
  Co-PIs: Joseph Kolibal and Sungwook Lee
  Amount awarded: $3,237
  Funding Agency: University of Southern Mississippi Provost's Office
• Leslie H. and Evelyn G. Garner Leadership Award: Calculus and Maple (2006)
  Co-PI: Carol Lawrence
  Amount awarded: $3,900
  Funding Agency: North Carolina Wesleyan College

Programming Language Experience

Java, Matlab, Modula-2, Oberon-2, Pascal, Perl, Rexx, Visual BASIC (in conjunction with Microsoft Excel), Mathematica, Singular

Regular use:	Maple, Python (via Sage), Cython, Sage
Past use:	C, C++, Eiffel

Classroom Instruction

"Overall rating of the instructor" on student evaluations, out of 5.

• Mean: 3.96
• Median: 4.08

Courses taught in last five years

Undergraduate:

Trigonometry (Summer 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011)
Elementary Statistics (2005-2006)
Brief Applied Calculus (Summer 2011)
Applied Calculus for Engineering Technology I (Summer 2009), II (fall 2010)
Calculus I, II (2006-2010)
Honors Calculus I, II (2007-2010)
Mathematical Computation (Fall 2007, Fall 2009, Fall 2011)
Differential Equations (Spring 2006)
Financial Mathematics (Fall 2008, independent study)
Linear Algebra (Fall 2005)
Number Theory (Summer 2011)
Modern Algebra I (each Spring 2007-2011, Fall 2010, Fall 2011)
Modern Algebra II (Fall 2007, Spring 2011)

Graduate:

Modern Algebra (Fall 2010)
Topics in Algebra: Algebraic Computation (Fall 2008)
Topics in Algebra: Algebraic Biology (Fall 2010)
Topics in Algebra: Galois Theory (Spring 2011)

Have also taught:

Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra, Precalculus

Innovations in teaching

• Algebraic Biology (Fall 2010).
  Curriculum development. Masters’ students in biology must take a 600-level course in a non-biology field. To accomodate one student who expressed interested in doing this in mathematics, I am developing a class that would give biology students the algebraic background necessary to papers in algebraic biology, a new and growing subfield of computational algebra.
• Honors Calculus Seminar (Spring 2010).
  Members of the mathematics department answer the question, "What do mathematicians do for research?" Students in the Honors College must perform research in their major, but they don’t know whom to approach, let alone how to go about doing their research. This seminar, scheduled during meetings of Honors Calculus class, addressed this need. The Honors College graciously provided financial support.
• Mathematical Computation with Sage (Fall 2009, ongoing).
  Mathematics majors take MAT 305, Mathematical Computing. In Fall 2009 I revised the course to use a dif- ferent computer algebra systesm. The presentations are listed on the Sage library at www.sagemath.org/library.html, and have been adopted by others.
• Interactive Worksheets for Calculus I (Summer 2008, ongoing).
  Drs. Joseph Kolibal, Sungwook Lee, and I developed a series of lessons, worksheets, and labs that supple- ment traditional Calculus instruction with interactive lessons, worksheets and labs using the Sage computer algebra system. The material is online at www.math.usm.edu/sage/ I first used this material during the Fall of 2008, and intend to continue using it. It is also listed on the Sage library.
• Undergraduate participation at meeting of local MAA Section (Spring semester 2008, 2009, 2010).
  In 2008, I started taking students to the annual meeting of the Louisiana/Mississippi Section of the Mathematical Association of America. Students attend talks, participate in competitions, and give talks on their undegraduate and graduate research.
• Honors Calc field trip to NASA Stennis (Spring 2008, Spring 2009).
• Oral exams.
  In Modern Algebra I, I have adopted a technique in use at European universities, and administer an oral exam in addition to a written exam.

Student Research

Awards won by students

• Deanna Leggett, Spring 2011: First prize, student paper competition, graduate category, annual meeting of the LA-MS Section of the MAA.
• Miao Yu, Spring 2010: First prize, student paper competition, graduate category, annual meeting of the LA-MS Section of the MAA.

Graduate research students

• Deanna Leggett, Spring 2010-2011: Fraction-free computation of determinants. Master’s Degree, May 2011.
• Miao Yu, Spring 2009-2010: An F4-style algorithm to compute involutive bases of polynomial ideals. Master’s Degree, August 2010.

Undergraduate research students

• Matthew Dixon, Fall 2010: Tropical Geometry.
• Lorrin Debenport, Honors research, Fall 2009-Spring 2011: Sparse Matrix Reduction with Fixed Columns.
• Elisabeth Palchak, Honors thesis, May 2010: Identifying Stressors in Nonlinear Equations Using Gröbner Bases. This work will be incorporated into a paper in preparation by the student, myself, and Alexander Pozhitkov, formerly of the Gulf Coast Research Lab, now of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology.
• Ashley Sanders, undergraduate research experience, Spring-Fall 2008: Problems and Solutions.
• Deanna Leggett, undergraduate research experience, Spring 2008: Understanding and modifying Dodgson’s Method to compute determinants. This work has been accepted for publication in The College Mathematics Journal (see publications).
• Courtney Bright, Honors research, 2007-2008: Curriculum, methods, and assessment strategies in different countries.
• Jonathan O’Rourke, undergraduate research experience, Spring 2007: Universal Algebra (with Dr. Sung- wook Lee).

Service

Professional Service

2011-Present	Departmental graduate committee
2011-Present	Section Vice Chair, LA/MS Section of the Mathematical Association of America
2010-Present	Departmental curriculum reform commitee
2010-2011	Scholarship Committee, College of Science and Technology
2009-Present	Developer, Sage computer algebra system
2007-Present	Departmental commitees, library liaison
2009	Judge, Mississippi High School Science Fair competition
2008-2009	Committee to evaluate Summer Grants for the Improvement of Instruction
2007	Co-organizer (with Haiyan Tian), MAA High School Mathematics Contest
2007, 2011	Judge, MAA Undergraduate Poster Session at the 2007 Joint Meeting of the AMS and MAA
Spring 2007	Math Zone tutor

Referee:

• ISSAC 2011, three articles
• SODA 2010, one article
• ISSAC 2010, one article
• ISSAC 2008, one poster
• International Chaos Theory Workshop (various years), twenty-four papers (with Jiu Ding)
• Journal of Symbolic Computation (various years), four articles
• Asian Symposium on Computer Mathematics, one article

Professional Societies

2008 - Present	Mathematical Assocation of America
2004 - Present	Association for Computing Machinery (SIGSAM)
1999 - Present	American Mathematical Society

Community Service

2009-2010	Booster Club, Sacred Heart School, Hattiesburg MS
2009-2010	Saint Vincent DePaul Society
2008-Present	Dads' Club, Sacred Heart School, Hattiesburg MS
2007-Present	Lector, Sacred Heart Church, Hattiesburg MS