The mathematics department is thrilled to welcome Maggie Regan, one of two new faculty members joining the department this year in support of the applied math program.

Growing up in Montclair, New Jersey, Maggie discovered an early love of math and teaching.  In 5th grade, she belonged to both an extracurricular math club and a chess club; she was tutoring others in math by the time she was in middle school.  At that time, she began planning her high school courses in anticipation of majoring in math in college.  She has always felt like math was a puzzle to be solved and particularly appreciated the sense of accomplishment when all the pieces of the puzzle come together.

As an undergraduate at Swarthmore College near Philadelphia, Maggie majored in physics and math and even earned a secondary teaching certification in math and physics.  After graduation, she worked for a short time in finance before deciding to attend graduate school at the University of Notre Dame, where she was drawn to their emphasis on applied math and its connections to physics and engineering.

Maggie’s research is in numerical algebraic geometry and the design and implementation of algorithms for finding solutions to systems of polynomial equations.  Problems in this area originate in engineering; one application of her work can be used to understand the possible configurations of a robot and its motions and to reconstruct a three-dimensional scene based on a set of two-dimensional photographs.

Not content to focus only on her research, Maggie had a few other notable experiences during her time in graduate school.  For example, she taught a math class for incarcerated students at Westville Correctional Facility through nearby Holy Cross College.  She also led a conference on leadership and time management for high school females and coached a swim team in Niles, Michigan.

After earning her Ph.D. at Notre Dame, Maggie had a three-year postdoctoral position at Duke University in North Carolina.  She found this to be a rewarding experience as it provided her with the opportunity to grow as an independent teacher and to expand her research beyond her work in graduate school.  She then moved into a tenure-track position at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.  During her two years at Holy Cross, she began to implement alternative teaching strategies, such as standards-based grading, and came to see how she could align her teaching practices with her values as an educator.

Though she enjoyed her time at Holy Cross, a position at Grand Valley offered many opportunities.  She was already familiar with the work of several of the faculty here and was influenced by their writing on teaching and pedagogy.  The fact that there was an established applied math program to which she could contribute was also enticing as was the fact that she could continue her applied math research.

In addition, Maggie already had many friends in west Michigan through her involvement in the open-water swim community.  Maggie is an ultra-marathon swimmer who regularly completes swims of ten miles or more.  Or as she says, “I do these crazy swims.”  She is currently working toward becoming the first female to complete a collection of long-distance swims known as the Stillwater Eight, eight particularly challenging swims in freshwater lakes around the world.  In March, Maggie completed the swim in Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, which is difficult due to the cold temperatures and altitude (over 12,000 feet) in addition to the distance.  She has now finished three of the eight swims and holds the record for the fastest time on one of two established routes across Lake Ontario.  This summer, Maggie will be completing a 14.6 mile swim across Lake Malawi in Malawi, Africa, the fourth of the Stillwater Eight.

When not solving systems of polynomial equations, helping others learn new mathematics, or training for her next swim, Maggie is an assistant coach for the girls’ and boys’ swim teams at Byron Center High School.  She is also painting the house she just moved into and enjoys spending time with her dogs.

We’re so glad Maggie joined our department and appreciate all her contributions to our community and our students.