Assistant Professor Lewis Ludwig of Denison University's mathematics and computer science department was awarded a grant for $72,746 from the National Science Foundation's Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program. This year's grant was very competitive with only 97 of the 907 proposals receiving funding (10.7%).

The project, titledTechnically Speaking, plans to develop a series of instructional video vignettes, to be offered free of charge on the world wide web, that provide a completely new approach to introducing the art of mathematical communication to undergraduates. "The videos will be based on a compare-and-contrast pedagogical design," says Ludwig.

"The instruction delivered on the website will contain multiple vignettes juxtaposing effective and poor oral communication examples. To actively engage the student audience, a diverse group of undergraduate students will play various roles in the vignettes," he continued.

In addition to the video vignettes, a companion DVD will be developed that will contain high resolution copies of the video vignettes, as well as an instructive video by a nationally recognized mathematician and speaker, describing the finer points of delivering an effective talk that are not conducive to the vignette format. The DVD also will contain several articles describing various techniques used by Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) instructors who incorporate oral communication into their programs. Pilot versions of the vignettes are available at http://www.denison.edu/mathcs/techspeaking/

Ludwig joined the Denison faculty in 2002. He earned both a bachelor of science degree in computer information and business administration and a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics as well as a master's degree in education at the College of Mount St. Joseph. Ludwig also earned a master's degree in mathematics at Miami University and his doctorate in mathematics from Ohio University. He served as an instructor in the mathematics and computer science departments at Kenyon and at Miami University prior to joining Denison. Along with Professor Joan Krone, holder of the Benjamin Barney Chair in Mathematics at Denison, he was awarded an earlier National Science Foundation grant to host an international summer conference in "Topology and Its Applications" in 2004. Ludwig has had papers published in Topology Proceedings and has spoken at Joint Mathematics Meetings and at multiple seminars on topology. He was named as an outstanding teaching assistant at both Ohio University and Miami University and also was selected for the Exxon Mobil Project NExT Fellow program, a nationally based program for new Ph.D. holders that addresses the full range of faculty responsibilities in teaching, research and service.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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