Faculty Profile
Dick Forrester
Professor of Mathematics and Data Analytics (2002)
Contact Information
Data Analytics co-chair; on sabbatical Fall 2024
Tome Scientific Building Room 235
717-245-1668
http://www.dickinson.edu/dickforrester
Bio
His scholarship is at the interface of operations research, computer science, and data analytics. The majority of his research has centered around the development of techniques for solving applications that can be modeled as nonlinear 0-1 programs. He is also interested in modeling and analyzing real world problems. Some recent projects include optimal crop rotation modeling, assigning students to schools to minimize both transportation costs and socioeconomic variation between schools, and balancing faculty and student preferences in the assignment of students to first-year seminars. As an applied mathematician, his teaching interests primarily center around data analytics, statistics, operations research, computational mathematics, and computer science.
Education
- B.A., Alfred University, 1995
- M.S., Clemson University, 1997
- Ph.D., 2002
2024-2025 Academic Year
Fall 2024
DATA 201 Special Topics
Topics to be announced when offered.Prerequisite: Dependent upon topic.
Spring 2025
MATH 121 Elementary Statistics
An introduction to the science of collecting, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting data. The focus is on data presentation and statistical reasoning based upon the analysis of data sets. Topics include the study of sampling methods, observational and experimental studies, graphical and numerical summaries of data, probability, sampling distributions, significance testing, estimation, and simple linear regression. Does not count toward the major or minor in mathematics.Students cannot take this course concurrently with 225. Students who have received credit for 225 cannot take this course for credit. Offered every semester.
MATH 262 Linear Algebra
An introduction to matrix algebra and abstract vector spaces with an emphasis on writing mathematical arguments. Topics include linear systems and matrices, vector spaces, linear independence, eigenvalues and eigenvectors.Prerequisite: 211 or permission of the instructor. Offered every semester.
DATA 550 Independent Research