Homepage for Patrick Van Fleet
Biographical Sketch
Game 3 - 2004 World Series
- Education
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I was raised about 20 miles west of Peoria, IL in Farmington, IL (pop. 2483). I earned a Bachelors of Science degree at Western Illinois University and my Masters of Science and PhD at Southern Illinois University. At WIU, I played on the tennis team. At SIU I did my doctoral work with Edward Neuman and my master's work with David Kammler. David taught me many wonderful things about Fourier analysis.
- Employment
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I spent 1991-1992 as a postdoc at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. In 1992, I moved to Huntsville, TX and worked for six years at Sam Houston State University. During my time at SHSU, I was fortunate to work with four mathematicians - Peter Massopust, David Ruch, Wasin So, and Jianzhong Wang - as part of a research group in (multi)wavelets. We received National Science Foundation funding for research in multiwavelets and Wasin and I also worked on a grant from the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). This agency does environmental research for the Department of Defense.
In 1998, I accepted the endowed position as Director of the Center for Applied Mathematics in the Mathematics Department at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. The goal of CAM is to promote applied mathematics at the undergraduate level and to make undergraduates aware of the type of jobs available to applied mathematicians in business, industry, and education. CAM sponsors a summer undergraduate research program, an academic year colloquium series, a visitor program, and much more. Please check out the website for more information!
- Research Interests
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My main research interests are in the area of (multi)wavelets. I am also interested in problems in spline theory and their connections to special functions. Lately, I have spent much of my "free" time writing an undergraduate text on wavelets and their applications. Please visit my vita to see my research papers on wavelets and other areas and check out the wavelets page to learn about the book, sign up for an upcoming wavelet workshop, or download some software for working with wavelets.
- Personal Information
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I am married to Verena Van Fleet-Stalder. She is a microbiologist from Switzerland. We have three children - Sam (13), Matt (10), and Rachel (5). In my spare time, I like to play tennis and guitar. I am also a huge St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan.
- Fun Fact
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My Erdös number is 3 (Wang, Chui, Erdös). To compute yours, go here.
- Website