Franklin College grad delivers public math lecture March 10

FRANKLIN, Ind. - Joe Fox, a 1999 alumnus of Franklin College and current professor and chair of mathematics at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, will give a public lecture at Franklin College on Tuesday, March 10, at 7 p.m. in the Branigin Room of the Napolitan Student Center.

The lecture, titled “Doing Math in the Dark,” will explore the idea that the process of making a mathematical discovery can be as difficult as finding the light switch in a dark room. Fox will discuss topics that include online games and critically important moments in world history. He will also explain how the skills a mathematics education offers can inspire individuals to enter their own mathematical dark rooms.

Fox graduated from Franklin College with a degree in pure and applied mathematics. He received his Ph.D. from Western Michigan University in 2006 and taught at Salem State University in Massachusetts before returning to Michigan in 2013 to teach at Aquinas College.

He will also be speaking at a colloquium focused on recreational math, or math that some may see as useless and not used in what he says students call the “real world.” The conference will take place in Branigin Room East on Wednesday, March 11, at 4 p.m.

Both events are free and open to the public.