Kurt Ludwick, Ph.D. - Associate Professor
Department of Mathematics & Computer Science
Salisbury University - Salisbury, MD

In my previous life as a graduate student, I graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA in 2001 with a Ph.D. in Mathematics. Prior to that, I received an M.A. in Mathematics (also from Temple University) in May, 1997. Prior to prior to that, I graduated from Penn State University in May, 1994, with a B.S. in Mathematics.

I joined the SU faculty in 2001 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics & Computer Science.  In 2007, I was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor.

In graduate school, my primary mathematical interests were number theory and combinatorics.  My dissertation ("The Survival of Modularity Under Congruence Restrictions") dealt with modular forms, which are complex-valued functions with special properties which make them useful in analytic number theory. I'm still interested in those areas, but recently I've been spending more time exploring connections between mathematics and music.

Currently, I coordinate Salisbury University's participation in two mathematics competitions: the Virginia Tech Regional Mathematics Contest, and the Putnam Mathematical Competition. Recently, I served as co-chair of the Eastern Shore High School Mathematics Competition from 2001-2011, and I am still actively involved in this event.

I have served on various University committees. I served on the Faculty Senate from 2007-2013, and recently began a new term (2015-18). I served as the Senate's webmaster from 2009-2012, and I have resumed this office for the Fall, 2015 semester. I have also served on the Academic Policies Committee (2004-10; as chair 2005-09) and on the Promotions Committee (2013-15). At the department level, I have served as the coordinator of the department's Math 155 common final exam, and as the director of the Math/CS Tutoring Program.

I am an active member of the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, and a former member of the Community Players of Salisbury, the Asbury Orchestra, and the Salisbury Chorale. Also, from 2002-2010 I was a member of the local rock/blues/ambiguously genred band "Pugsly." Informed and inspired by my musical endeavors, I have developed a Math 105 (math for the liberal arts audience) course on “Music & Mathematics.” I teach this course almost every semester, including every spring for Salisbury University’s “Performing Arts: Music” Living and Learning Community.

 

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite math-related quotes and one-liners. Enjoy!

  • "If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't." - Emerson M. Pugh
     
  • "Life is an even-numbered problem."
      -- Dr. E. Lee May, Jr. 
     
  • "A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems."
     -- Paul Erdös
     
  • ``Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer.
     Art is all the rest.''     -- Donald E. Knuth
     
  • "Everything I say is a lie. Except that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that."  -- Peter Griffin ("Family Guy")
     
  • An engineer thinks that his equations are an approximation to reality. A physicist thinks reality is an approximation to his equations. A mathematician doesn't care. 
     
  • The most important thing to remember about statistics is that 79.2535% of them are just made up out of thin air.

Last modified 10/16/18