Dr. Meghan De Witt was a beloved professor, mentor, colleague, and friend whose impact reached far beyond the classroom. She dedicated herself to her students and to the St. Thomas Aquinas College community, sharing not only her knowledge and expertise, but also her compassion, encouragement, and genuine care for those around her. Though her life was far too short, Meghan leaves behind a lasting legacy through the many students whose lives she touched and the countless people who were fortunate to know her.
Please see below for her biography, and here for the Scholarship created in her memory.
Dr. De Witt grew up in an army family and traveled all over the world, but believed New York (which contains the entire world in one city) was the perfect place to settle down. She attended Brigham Young University and then the University of Wisconsin at Madison studying pure mathematics, before quickly realizing that applying mathematics to the world made life fun. She was the 3D printer/LEGO/toy guru on campus, and we will miss her dearly.
Research Interests
Group theory applied to natural phenomena. Extending group theory to group-like structures. Bayesian inference.
Publications
Finding Galois Representations Corresponding to Certain Hecke Eigenclasses with Darrin Doud. International Journal of Number Theory. 5 (1), 2009. Minimal Ramification and the Inverse Galois Problem over the Rational Function Field. Journal of Number Theory. 143, 2014.
Recent Presentations
Joint Mathematics Meetings, 2020. The Group-Like Structure of Swarms Mathematical Association of America, Metro New York Section, 2019. Swarms and Group Theory with Isabella Diaz (class of 2020). Teaching Inside: The Experience of a Math Professor Inside Maximum Security Joint Mathematics Meetings, 2019. Swarms and Group Theory with Isabella Diaz (class of 2020). X-Lab: Interdisciplinary Research Combining Math, Biology, Computer Science, and Business Joint Mathematics Meetings, 2018. Course Notes to Augment a Flipped Classroom. Joint Mathematics Meetings, 2017. Symmetries of the Hypercube with Lindsey Heiberger (class of 2017). They Really Can Do Research in Pure Math: Group-Theoretic Problems Accessible to Underprepared Students. Girls Exploring Mathematics. First Steps in IBL with Students who Have Never Proved a Mathematical Result Before.
Additional Info
Runs the Girls Exploring Mathematics outreach program to help close the gender-gap in mathematics.
Courses Taught
College Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, History of Math, Math for Educators, Topics in Quantitative Literacy, Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra, Operations Research, Numerical Analysis, Math of Finance, Life Contingencies, Geometry, Topology, Complex Analysis