mathematics

Sue Geller

Sue Geller is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sue Geller rather than just read about it. In short: Sue Geller is an American mathematician and a professor emerita of mathematics at the department of mathematics at Texas A&M University. She is noted for her research background in algebraic K-theory, as well as her interdisciplinary work in bioinformatics and biostatistics, among other disciplines.

Key takeaways

Sue Geller belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sue Geller to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sue Geller from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sue Geller is an American mathematician and a professor emerita of mathematics at the department of mathematics at Texas A&M University. She is noted for her research background in algebraic K-theory, as well as her interdisciplinary work in bioinformatics and biostatistics, among other disciplines.

Research Sue Geller has an extensive and largely interdisciplinary research background with a variety of focus areas, including bioinformatics, biostatistics, computational biology, algebraic K-theory, cyclic homology, and mathematics education. Throughout her career as a mathematician, Geller has published over thirty research publications, earning her notability as an accomplished interdisciplinary researcher. Geller's research in the fields of algebraic K-theory, cyclic homology, and Hochschild homology focuses on determining the relationships between K-theory and homology theories and exploiting these relationships to provide algorithms for computing K-theory and cyclic homology. Her algebraic research has been published in a variety of academic journals, as well as presented at the 1983 Summer Research Conference held by the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Her foray into the fields of bioinformatics and biostatistics has led her to research methods of addressing challenges faced when analyzing data produced by microarray technology, which provides ways of studying active genes in different cell tissue types. Primarily, Geller investigates methods of analyzing relatively small samples using new statistical methods. Though she has not published any formal research in mathematics education, Geller developed a keen interest in the subject in 2000 and has since served as a doctoral advisor for two students with a mathematics education specialty. She also began conducting research on the information available from college applications and how it correlates to success in university honors programs for freshman students. Within this, she is researching the correlation of the Math Placement Exam incoming college students take and their success in their recommended math class with a goal to improve advising.

Education Sue Geller obtained her B.S. in mathematics from the Case Institute of Technology in 1970. Upon graduation she continued her education at Cornell University, where she earned her M.S. in mathematics in 1972, followed by her Ph.D. in mathematics from the same institution in 1975. Studying under advisor and Cornell faculty member Stephen Chase, the primary focus of Geller's graduate research was in algebraic K-theory, as reflected in the title of her doctoral dissertation, On the GE(sub n) of a Ring and Some New Algebraic K-Groups. She also worked as a teaching assistant and lecturer for Cornell during her graduate studies. Geller was one of twenty-one women awarded a doctorate in mathematics at Cornell University during the years 1868 to 1939, in which one hundred doctorates total were awarded by the Cornell Department of Mathematics.

Career Most recently, Sue Geller held three positions at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, including professor of mathematics, professor of veterinary integrative biosciences, and director of honors programs in mathematics. Some of the courses Geller primarily taught include a Survey of Mathematical Problems, History of Mathematics, Seminar in Algebra, and independent study courses in various algebraic topics. Upon completion of her education at Cornell University, Geller worked for six years as an assistant professor at Purdue University before transitioning to a Faculty Fellow position at Harvard University. With the exception of an interim year as an associate research professor at Rutgers in 1987–1988, Geller joined the faculty at Texas A&M University in 1981 as an associate professor, where she worked for over thirty years in a total of five different faculty positions before her retirement. She also worked as a research biostatistician at the University of California at Davis in 2001–2002. In addition to her career as professor of mathematics at Texas A&M University, Geller founded the first department-level honors program at the university and served as the Director of Honors in Mathematics for several years. In her time at Texas A&M, she has supervised over 100 masters students and mentored many undergraduates. Due to her deep interest in and commitment to mentoring students, the Department of Mathematics renamed its Mathematics Undergraduate Research Lecture Series in 2018 to the Sue Geller Undergraduate Lecture Series, honoring Geller's dedication and service. Geller is a strong advocate for women in mathematics and served on the Mathematical Association of America's Committee on the Participation of Women January 1990 through July 1994. Her major contribution was a compilation of skits that highlighted micro-inequities that women face in their mathematical careers. She consistently made efforts to utilize humor to combat these inequities and work towards women's equality in mathematics. Geller has also been very active in the activities of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM). She was elected as an At Large Member of the executive committee and served from 1989 - 1991. She again was on the executive committee as Clerk in 1999 - 2001.

Honors and awards In 2015, Geller was recognized with the 2015 Distinguished Achievement Award in Student Relations by The Association of Former Students at Texas A&M, cited to have had a "transformative effect on the pedagogical mission of the Department of Mathematics" at the university. One year prior, Geller was selected by the Texas A&M Women's Faculty Network as the recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Mentoring Award for her efforts to guide and support junior faculty members at Texas A&M, and in 2012, she received the Director's Award for Outstanding Service to Honors Programs from Texas A&M's office of Undergraduate Studies. Geller is also a three-time winner of the Texas A&M Department of Mathematics Outstanding Teaching Award. Geller was elected to the 2023 class of fellows of the Association for Women in Mathematics "for her extensive and effective support of women in mathematics through research, publications, teaching, outreach and mentoring; for addressing microaggressions via both public awareness and private mentoring; and for her long record of leadership and service related to women in mathematics in professional societies."

References

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sue Geller

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sue Geller claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sue Geller before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sue Geller ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sue Geller

In research: Sue Geller appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sue Geller in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sue Geller is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American statisticians, 21st-century American women mathematicians, American biostatisticians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sue Geller outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sue Geller in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sue Geller means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sue Geller out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sue Geller in simple terms?

Why does Sue Geller matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sue Geller?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sue Geller.