archive
Welcome New Faculty!
The Department of Mathematics & Statistics has some new additions this semester: Minhao Gu, Corinne Herrmann, Xiaoli Kong, Shuwen Lou, and Alla Podolny. Read more about their educational background and research interests!
Minhao Gu
How did you get involved in teaching mathematics?
Upon graduation, I joined the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Loyola as a part-time instructor. I also held a part-time teaching position at DePaul College Prep. This is my second year teaching at Loyola University Chicago, but first time as a full-time instructor.
What's your favorite part of teaching?
My favorite part of teaching is conveying new knowledge to students using easy-to-understand terms, having students communicate or demonstrate that they have grasped the material, and building up their confidence level in solving math problems. I love seeing students having the 'lightbulb' moment --- a moment that a students goes ''oooohhhh". Teaching is also a great opportunity to learn about myself, my strength, my weakness as a teacher and a person. I also enjoy getting unexpected thank you notes from my former students.
What classes have you taught?
MATH 100 Intermediate Algebra; MATH 108 Real World Modeling; MATH 117 Precalculus 1; MATH 131 Applied Calculus 1. (as well as Honors Geometry at DePaul College Prep)
Corinne Herrmann
How did you get involved in teaching mathematics?
I started tutoring fellow classmates from an early age (in first grade)! I have always found joy in helping others understand concepts that they find difficult, generally mathematics but other subjects as well. I formally started teaching as an adjunct at a local community college and at an alternative high school, after completing my undergraduate studies. I continued my education into graduate work with the intention of pursuing a career in higher education.
What's your favorite part of teaching?
The interaction with students and developing an interactive class dynamic are often the highlights of my teaching days. I, also, enjoy seeing students confidently grasping concepts that they may have found difficult in the beginning.
What classes have you taught?
I have taught most of the developmental math courses that can be found at the university or community college level, Pre-Algebra, Beginning Algebra, and Intermediate Algebra, as well as College Algebra and Applied Calculus at previous institutions.
Xiaoli Kong
How did you get involved in teaching statistics?
Usually, I provide students theoretical result or analytic tool for each topic. Then I give them examples and practice problems. I let students work some of questions in class and share their work and result. I encourage students participation in class. I believe it is important for students to gain the ability to learn by themselves in future. So I would like to show them how to get help when they have problem, for example, refer the help file or manual if they are learning software packages or programming.
What's your favorite part of teaching?
My favorite part of teaching is "I can share the knowledge and skills in statistics or mathematics to help students solve real life problems. I hope that by the time students leave my class they have really understand relevant materials and are able to apply them in their future study or career"
What classes have you taught?
STAT 335 Introduction to Statistics; STAT 408 Applied Regression Analysis.
What is your research interest?
My research interests include multivariate analysis, non-parametric analysis, high-dimensional data, applied statistics; Lie algebra, Kac-Moody algebra and representation theory.
Shuwen Lou
How did you get involved in teaching statistics?
I started teaching probability classes when I was doing my first postdoc at UIC. The first statistics class that I taught was a class facing senior undergraduates, called statistics and finance. It was at University of Toronto.
What's your favorite part of teaching?
The most memorable part was once I found on my teaching form that one of my student put "I am actually starting to like math". That was my final year in graduate school, and the class was introduction to differential equations. I think this is the best reward a teacher can ever possibly receive.
What classes have you taught?
I have taught a variety classes in math and statistics as instructor, including precalculus, differential equations, introduction to probability, advanced probability theory (measure theory based), statistics and finance. Currently I am teaching introduction to probability and introduction to biostatistics.
What is your research interest?
My research interests span probability, statistics, and analysis. To be more specific, I am interested in Markov processes, rough path theory, and their applications in machine learning and data science.
Alla Podolny
How did you get involved in teaching mathematics?
Teaching is a part of the academic profession that I enjoy enormously. I enjoy interacting with students, both inside and outside of the classroom, and I feel that I learn from my students. I have a definite conception of the essential nature of Mathematics and I try toconvey this in my teaching. I feel that Mathematics, at all levels, contains significant and beautiful ideas that constitute the essence of the subject. Thus, I tend to emphasize the conceptual, as opposed to the computational, aspects of courses that I teach.
What's your favorite part of teaching?
In my teaching, I always try to show the general importance and applications of the material I present in order to motivate the interest of the students. I always try to learn more about the majors of my students and I try to bring in examples connected with their major. I attempt to provide my students with the tools necessary to study real world problems rather than merely train them to perform mathematical exercises with no connection to science and technology. A clear view of the physical problem that we study helps the students to better understand the methods and models they are taught, and the mathematically derived results make much more sense when they are related to the underlying physical phenomena.
What classes have you taught?
Precalculus, Differential and integral calculus 1, Differential and integral calculus 2, Honors differential and integral calculus 1 and 2, Honors multivariable calculus, and Ordinary differential equations.
