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Mark Branson
Contact
443-394-9710
Office Location

MAC S171

Mark Branson Ph.D.

Professor and Chair
Mathematics & Physics | Fine School of the Sciences

Education

  • B.A. in Mathematics, B.S. in Computer Science, University of Oklahoma (2003)
  • M.Phil, Ph.D. in Mathematics, Columbia University (2010)

Professional Experience

  • Stevenson University Assistant Professor, Mathematics 2013-present
  • Technion, Israel Institute of Technology Postdoctoral Fellow 2010-2013
  • NASA Ames Research Center Education Associate 2003-2007

Research

My research is in the area of Geometry & Topology and Mathematics & Social Justice. My thesis and postdoctoral research was in the area of symplectic topology, but I have been pursuing applied geometry since coming to Stevenson. I am interested in the geometry of urban spaces and how we can use geometric invariants to describe the cities in which we live. I am also interested in how we can teach mathematics more effectively using social justice topics, and one of the co-leaders of the Math For the People project, an OER textbook designed to teach quantitative literacy through social justice.

Publications

  • “Math for the People,” https://web.stevenson.edu/mbranson/m4tp/. Editor & Contributor. Licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0.
  • “Fighting Alternative Facts: Teaching Quantitative Literacy through Social Issues,” Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, PRIMUS 29 (2019), no. 3-4, 228-243.
  • “Action-Maslov Homomorphism for Monotone Symplectic Manifolds,” Algebr. Geom. Topol. 11 (2011), no. 2, 1077-1096.
  • “MARTE: Technology development and lessons learned from a Mars drilling mission simulation,” Journal of Field Robotics, Volume 24, Issue 10, Date: October 2007, Pages: 877-905 (with Howard Cannon, Carol Stoker, Stephen Dunagan, Kiel Davis, Javier Gomez-Elvira, Brian J. Glass, Lawrence G. Lemke, David Miller, Rosalba Bonaccorsi, Scott Christa, José Antonio Rodriguez-Manfredi, Erik Mumm, Gale Paulsen, Matt Roman, Alois Winterholler, and Jhony R. Zavaleta)
  • “DAME: Planetary-Prototype Drilling Automation,” Space 2006 Conference Proceedings, AIAA, 2006 (with B. Glass, H. Cannon, S. Hanagud, and G. Paulsen)
  • “A Tabulation of Legendrian Knots by Ambient Isotopy,” The Honors Undergraduate Research Journal, Spring 2003

Teaching

  • MATH 215 – Mathematics and Art
  • MATH 218 – Geometry
  • MATH 222 – Calculus III
  • MATH 301 – Mathematical Structures
  • MATH 312 – Mathematical Statistics I
  • MATH 313 – Mathematical Statistics II
  • MATH 314 – Biostatistics
  • MATH 342 – Time Series Analysis
  • MATH 418 – Mathematical Modeling
  • MATH 425 – Scientific Computer Programming
  • MATH 442 – Numerical Analysis
  • MATH 475 – Capstone Seminar

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