Dr. Sarah J. Greenwald's home page

Office phone (828) 262-2363     Department Fax 265-8617     E-mail address greenwaldsj@appstate.edu or greenwaldsj@gmail.com
Mailing address Dr. Sarah J. Greenwald, 121 Bodenheimer Drive, Department of Mathematics, 326 Walker Hall, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608
I am a professor in the Department of Mathematics and a Women's Studies core faculty member at Appalachian State University in the northwestern mountains of North Carolina, and a winner of a 2005 MAA Alder Award for distinguished teaching, the 2010 Appalachian State University Wayne D. Duncan Award for Excellence in Teaching in General Education, and the 2011 College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher of the Year. In 2010 I was also inducted into the Appalachian State University College of Arts and Sciences Academy of Outstanding Teachers. I co-edited the 3-volume Encyclopedia of Mathematics & Society, which was named a "Best Reference 2011" by Library Journal. I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and my B.S. in math from the Department of Mathematics at Union College in Schenectady, NY. I was born in Charlotte, NC, but grew up in Buffalo, NY. For more information, see my academic cv and recent talks and a short biography.

Spring 2012 Teaching


MAT 1010-121 Introduction to Mathematics
MAT 4040 Senior Capstone
MAT 4140/5530 Differential Geometry
Research on Women in Mathematics with Alison McClay

For students, the best way to contact me is
office hours or as an ASULearn Message
[Participants / my picture / Send message].

Previous courses and student research
Bender's Big Score: Greenwaldian Theorem

Encyclopedia of Mathematics & Society

Jill Thomley and I co-edited the Encyclopedia of Mathematics & Society, which was published by Salem Press in October 2011 and named a "Best Reference 2011" by Library Journal on March 1, 2012.

Research in Riemannian Geometry

Rubik's Cube games on spheres - my research description aimed at undergraduate math majors.
Diameters of Spherical Alexandrov Spaces and Constant Curvature One Orbifolds, Indiana University Mathematics Journal, 49(4), Winter 2000, pp. 1449-1479.
Asymptotic Expansion of the Heat Kernel for Orbifolds, with Emily Dryden, Carolyn Gordon and David Webb, Michigan Mathematical Journal, 56(1), July 2008, pp. 205-238. Diameters of 3-Sphere Quotients, with Bill Dunbar, Jill McGowan and Catherine Searle, Differential Geometry and its Applications, 27(2), March 2009, pp. 307-319.

Select Scholarship and Research in Mathematics Education, Popular Culture as it Pertains to Mathematics, and Women and Minorities in Mathematics
  • I am creating a table of contents and searchable database for the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) Newsletter. I am also the associate editor of the newsletter and a co-editor, with Alice Silverberg, of the media column.
  • Incorporating the Mathematical Achievements of Women and Minority Mathematicians into Classrooms, in "From Calculus to Computers: Using the Last 200 Years of Mathematics History in the Classroom" (eds. Richard Jardine and Amy Shell-Gellasch), MAA Notes, Volume 68, 2005, pp. 183-200. Also see project assignment, references for students, and Mon Feb 18- Mon Feb 25 for the mathematics discussed after each student presentation.
  • NCCTM Centroid Columns on Women and Minorities in Mathematics - Incorporating Their Mathematical Achievements Into School Classrooms
  • Futurama πk - Mathematics in the Year 3000, with Tom Georgoulias, and Marc Wichterich, Math Horizons, Vol 11, Num 4, April 2004, pp. 12-15.
  • PRIMUS Special Section on Popular Culture in the Mathematics Classroom, guest editor with Andrew Nestler, Vol XIV, Num 1, March 2004, pp. 1-39.
  • Taking Full Advantage of Sketchpad 4 - Why You Can't Live Without It, with Brian Felkel, ICTCM Proceedings, November 2003, pp. 85-89. Sketchpad 4 Classroom Activities and Explorations
  • Coffee Cooling on A TI-CBL Unit and in Maple, with Bill Bauldry, ICTCM Proceedings, November 2001, pp. 151-154. Related Web Resources.
  • The Use of Letter Writing Projects in Teaching Geometry, PRIMUS, Vol X, Num 1, March, 2000, pp. 1-14.

    Select Talks and Workshops

  • Recent Abstracts and a Short Biography
  • Good News, Everyone! Mathematical Morsels from The Simpsons and Futurama, SimpsonsMath.com and Futurama Math, Various Locations, and Media Coverage and Articles
  • Geometry of the Earth and Universe Labs: From the Classroom to Current Research, Creative Visualization Labs, session of talks organized with Cathy Gorini and Mary Platt, Joint Mathematics Meeting, Baltimore, MD, January 18, 2003.
  • What is a Mathematician? Math is Not Only a Young Man's Game, and Women in Math: Combining the Disciplines of Mathematics, Women's Studies and History, MathFest 2000.
  • Rubik's Cube Games on Spheres: Geometry of Orbifolds

    Other Interests

  • My mathematical ancestors from The Mathematics Genealogy Project
  • I am the project coordinator of the Bialobrzegi ShtetLink and the Book of Remembrance of the Community of Bialobrzeg for JewishGen: The Home of Jewish Genealogy. The projects strive to research and preserve information about small Jewish communities that were destroyed in World War II. My great-grandmother lived here (it was the Russian empire back then!) in the late 1800s.

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