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

I joined the SU faculty in 2001 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics & Computer Science.  In August, 2001, I graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA 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.

My primary mathematical interests are 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.

Since coming to SU, I've found many ways to occupy the free time I don't have. For example, I serve as co-chair of the Eastern Shore High School Mathematics Competition, coordinator of the department's Math 155 common final exam, and until last year I was the director of the Math/CS Tutoring Program (currently directed by Dr. Don Spickler). Additionally, I serve on the University Senate as well as the Academic Policies Committee.

Other interests (i.e., stuff I do when I should probably be sleeping or something)

• Music
  I am an active member of the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, the Salisbury Chorale, and the Asbury Orchestra. Also, I am a member of the SU-faculty band Pugsly. (The photo of me on this page is from a Pugsly gig -- not from a calculus lecture, as you may have guessed. Don't feel bad; everybody makes that mistake.) Also, as of Fall, 2008, I am teaching a Math 190 course on Music & Mathematics.
   
• Theatre
  Although I have not performed in the past few years, I have been (and hopefully will again be) actively involved in local community theatre. Most recently, I was a cast member of the Salisbury Community Players' 2005 production of "You Can't Take It With You". Less recently, I was in the casts of The Mouse That Roared" (2004),"How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (2004), "My Three Angels" (2002) and "Lie, Cheat and Genuflect" (2002).  Offstage, I was rehearsal assistant for "An Inspector Calls" (2004).
   
• Film
  In addition to my theatrical endeavors, I have somehow become involved in locally produced independent films. I had a small part in  "7even Days", an SU student film which was written and directed by Josh Chamberlain and Justin Szech. More recently, I am "Deputy Allen" in the locally produced Dimension 5 Productions film "The Lumberjack of All Trades".

I'll wrap this up 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 8/10/2009