Levin, Oscar

Oscar Levin: A Mathematical Biography

Counting Knights and Knaves was an article recently published by the “The College Mathematics Journal.” The article was written by assistant professor Oscar Levin and undergraduate student Gerri Roberts. The authors introduce the logic game of knights and knaves. This game exemplifies the broad subject of mathematical logic, which is one of the primary fields of research conducted by Oscar Levin. Research is just one of the sides of Oscar Levin’s mathematical career. He is also a diligent student and progressive educator in addition to being a hardworking researcher.

Oscar Levin is currently an assistant professor at The University of Northern Colorado. Peculiarly, this is also where his where his education began. He initially graduated from The University of Northern Colorado summa cum laude in 2004. He earned duel degrees with a BA in Philosophy and a BS in Mathematics. After his undergraduate studies, Oscar went to the University of Connecticut. There he earned both his MS and PhD in mathematics. Upon receiving his PhD in 2009, Oscar began his work as a professor traveling to South Carolina and becoming a visiting professor at Coastal Carolina University. After two years of work at Coastal Carolina, he found himself back at The University of Northern Colorado.

While receiving his education, teaching played a large role in Oscar’s life. Oscar’s teaching began during his undergraduate education. During this time, he acted as a teacher’s assistant as well as taught a high school advanced math mini course. This prepared him for his graduate assistantship as a teaching assistant at The University of Connecticut. Oscar mainly served as a teacher’s assistant in calculus courses. However, his last two years he also served as the applied linear algebra teaching assistant. During his time at The University of Connecticut Oscar received the Louis J. DeLuca outstanding teaching assistant award. He left Connecticut ready to teach. Hence after earning his PhD, he went to work as a professor.

Oscar started teaching as a professor in 2009. At Coastal Carolina University as a visiting assistant professor, he taught five different classes: Trigonometry, Basic Concepts of Contemporary Mathematics, Calculus 1, Discrete Mathematics for Middle School Teachers, and Math Proofs and Problem Solving. Oscar then returned back to his undergraduate school, The University of Northern Colorado and became an assistant professor. He has taught Topics in Calculus, Discrete Mathematics, and Introduction to Abstract Algebra. Currently he is teaching introduction to abstract algebra and mathematical logic. His class, Mathematic al Logic, is the first graduate class that he has taught. Oscar has a rich history in teaching.

On Oscar’s webpage he has a link to his own teaching philosophy that he wrote up. The two page philosophy discusses his feelings and goals of what a math professor should strive for. This can be best summarized by the beginning paragraph, in this Oscar writes: “Mathematics is elegant, powerful, and often surprising. As a professor, I make it a priority to share these perceptions and create enthusiasm for mathematics. At the same time, it is of the utmost importance that my students master the material covered in the course. This means that students should both gain a conceptual under-standing of the subject matter, as well as learn how to actually do the mathematics involved, whether it be evaluating integrals in a calculus class or writing proofs in a more advanced course. It is my responsibility to give students every possible opportunity to accomplish this learning.”

One of the best ways that Oscar likes to connect with his students is through research. His research began during his graduate studies. During this time and after, Oscar has dug deep into his research. His primary interests are in effective algebra, computability theory, reverse mathematics and mathematical logic. On his webpage he has a link to his major research projects as well as his research philosophy. One of these research projects you can find is on Computability Theory, Reverse Mathematics, and Ordered Fields. This was his PhD thesis. In it Oscar, explored the effective content of ordered fields. He has furthered this research lately by mainly looking at the computable dimension of ordered fields.

His final thought reveals the importance he places researching stating that “I enjoy doing research primarily because I enjoy working on hard problems, especially when working together with other mathematicians. I fully intend to continue working in the area of effective algebra, but would also welcome to opportunity to branch out. I particularly enjoy problems in algebra and combinatorics, as well as theoretical computer science - computability theory can be thought of as the infinite version of computational complexity. And although the research methods in math education are quite distinct from my specialty, I am very interested in improving math education and would thoroughly enjoy collaborating on a project with an expert in that field… The true joy of mathematics is sharing it with others, so I place higher importance on the camaraderie of collaboration than on the specific questions we study.” His website provides information to everyone looking for information on any of his previous researching topics. He has even created his own YouTube videos, PowerPoints, and other websites to explain his research.

An example of this relates back to the Counting Knights and Knaves article. Oscar has done a lot of research in mathematical logic and bases most of his research around mathematical games. He has a whole additional website that is full of mathematical logical puzzles. He has collected these puzzles and added them to a page that he calls mathpuzzlewiki.com. This page has 116 puzzles that range from classics to newer, more in-depth ones. Oscar believes that these puzzles can be used in education to enhance education. He believes these puzzles will improve students’ mathematical thinking and increase interest in the subject.

While it still may be early in Oscar Levin’s career, he has made an impact in the mathematical world. He has been a strong student and an award winning teacher. He is he just a beginning professor and it is also early in his research but has already started contributing back to mathematics world. Oscar exemplifies what it means to be a mathematician by having a passion for the subject. He demonstrates this through excelling in his studies, engaging with his student to appreciate the subject, and following his interests to answer questions to help the greater mathematical community.

References
- math.oscarlevin.com
- Teaching Philosophy by Oscar Levin
- Research Statement by Oscar Levin
- www.unco.edu/NHS/mathsci/facstaff/Levin/
- Counting Knights and Knaves by Oscar Levin and Gerri Roberts
- www.mathpuzzlewiki.com