Vickie Van Dresar

Vickie Van Dresar, joined the Ashland University faculty in 1996. She was the faculty advisor of Ashland University's student chapter of the MAA from 1998 through 2006. She has served the Ohio Section as a member and chair of CONSACT and as a member of the Program Committee. She was chair of the Program Committee in 2004 - 2005 and is President of the Ohio Section for the current year (2008-2009). Vickie earned a BS in Mathematics from Shenandoah University (1981), a MS in Mathematics from the University of Akron (1993), and a Ph.D. in Educational Mathematics from the University of Northern Colorado (1996). She has taught a wide range of classes from Math content courses for early childhood and middle grades majors to Calculus and Numerical Analysis. She is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and just recently returned fulltime to the classroom after serving as the Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs at Ashland University from 2006 - 2008. Vickie resides in Litchfield, OH with her husband, Neil, the ÒRocket Scientist.Ó

Abstract

"Canoe do Math"

My husband and I have taken many canoe trips in Alaska and in various areas of the North East (including Algonquin Park in Canada). This talk will look at several areas of mathematics that can be useful for planning and participating in a canoe trip. We will look at problems ranging from how much weight can safely be carried in a canoe (volume and displacement) to how to paddle safely (if not foolishly) across a lake in the middle of a storm (vector analysis).