Vita for Shai Simonson

Graduate School of Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Ph.D. in Computer Science, August 1986
Study funded by Royal E. Cabell Fellowship

Columbia College of Columbia University, New York, NY

B.A. in Mathematics, May 1979
Van Am Mathematics Prize

Computer Science Department, Stonehill College, North Easton, MA

South Area Solomon Schechter, Middle School, Stoughton, MA

Mathematics Department, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

EECS Department, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)

EECS Department, Northwestern University

Ida Crown Hebrew High School, Chicago

Computer Science Department, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

Visiting lecturer, 1982-1983

Publications

Refereed Journals

• A Variation on the Min Cut Linear Arrangement Problem, Theory of Computing Systems, 20 pp. 235-252 (1987).
• Routing with Critical Paths, Info. Proc. Letters, Vol. 34, pp. 13-19 (1990).
• Single Tree Grammars, with Sheila Greibach and Weiping Shi, Theoretical Studies in Computer Science, edited by J. Ullmann, Academic Press pp. 73-100 (1992).
• On the Complexity of Tree Embedding Problems, with I. H. Sudborough, Info. Proc. Letters, Vol. 44, pp. 323-328 (1992).
• Geography, with A. Fraenkel, Theoretical Computer Science A, Vol. 110, pp. 197-214 (1993).
• Gems of Levi ben Gershon,  Mathematics Teacher, 93, 8, pp.659-663 (November 2000).
• The Missing Problems of Gersonides – A Critical Edition, Part I, Historia Mathematica, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 243-302 (August 2000). Main paper with translation.  Hebrew text.
• The Missing Problems of Gersonides – A Critical Edition, Part II, Historia Mathematica, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 384-431 (November 2000). Main paper with translation.  Hebrew text.
• The Hebrew Mathematical Tradition,  with T. Langermann, for Mathematics Across Cultures: A History of Western Mathematics, editor Helaine Selin, Kluwer Publishing, 2000. (Online version corrects some typos in published version).
• The Mathematics of Levi ben Gershon,  Bekhol Derakhekha Daehu 10, Bar-Ilan University Press, pp. 5-21, Winter 2000.
• Communication Methods,  In Mathematics, ed. Barry Max Brandenberger, Jr.  New York:  Macmillan Reference USA, 2002.
• A Combinatorial Card Trick, with Tara S. Holm, PRIMUS, Volume XIII, Number 3, pp. 248-269, September 2003.
• A Post-Baccalaureate Undergraduate Level Program in Computer Science, On-Site Article, Communications of the ACM Volume 45, No. 7, pp. 21-24, July 2002.
• Mathematics and Computer Science:  Exploring a Symbiotic Relationship, with Ralph Bravaco, Mathematics and Computer Education, Volume 38, No. 3,  pp. 307-317, Fall 2004.
• Public-Key Cryptography,  From Calculus to Computers: Using the Last 200 Years of Mathematical History in the Classroom, editors Richard Jardine and Amy Shell, MAA Notes, Volume 68, November 2005.
• Knowledge Change in Computer Science, Journal of Computer Science Education, with Jane Nash and Ralph Bravaco, Volume 16, Number 1, March 2006.
• A Rabbi, Three Sums, and Three Problems, to appear in MAA volume on discrete math in computer science, 2008. 

Conference Papers and Papers Read

• NP-Complete Problems with Bandwidth Constraints, Computer Science Seminar, Tel Aviv University (1983).
• On the Complexity of Binary Tree Embeddings, with I. H. Sudborough, 15th Southeastern Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Computing, Baton Rouge (1984).
• The Complexity of Planar Graph Problems, UIC EECS Forum, (1987).
• Parallel Matrix Multiplication, UIC EECS Forum, (1988).
• The Complexity of Graph Layout Problems, UIC EECS Forum, (1989).
• A Variation on the Game Geography, with J. Vilimek, Proceedings Argonne Symposium for Undergraduates in Science, Engineering and Mathematics, No. 26 (1990).
• What Machines Cannot Do - Teaching Undergraduate Theory of Computation,Teaching Seminar, Duke University, (1993).
• Levi ben Gershon and Early Uses of Mathematical Induction, with Zeev Barel, Institute in History of Mathematics, Washington, DC, (1996).
• Using Medieval Mathematics in Teaching History of Mathematics, Institute in History of Mathematics, Washington, DC, (1997).
• Levi ben Gershon and Reading Manuscripts, Institute in History of Mathematics, Washington, DC, (1997).
• History of Mathematical Ingenuity, Mathematical Association of America Mathfest, Atlanta, (August 1997).
• Maaseh Hoshev - The Arithmetic, Algebra and Combinatorics of Levi ben Gershon, Regional Meeting of the American Mathematical Society, Montreal, (September 1997).
• The Mathematics of Levi ben Gershon, Joint Mathematics Meeting AMS/MAA, Baltimore, (January, 1998).
• Math of Levi ben Gershon, Mathematics Lecture, Stonehill College, (April 1998).
• Square Root Algorithm of Levi ben Gershon, Invited Lecture Suffolk Community College, (April 1998).
• Some Unpublished Problems of Levi ben Gershon, Yom Iyun - Some Leaves from the Scientific Jewish Bookcase, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, (December 1998).
• The Mathematics of Levi ben Gershon, Invited Lecture, Jerusalem College of Technology, Jerusalem (May, 1999).
• Decisive Mathematical Developments of the 20^th Century, Stonehill College, November 1999.
• Series of Lectures on Using Medieval Mathematics in the Classroom, Invited Lectures, MAA/NSF Symposium for Secondary School Mathematics Teachers, Washington DC,  July 2001.
• A Combinatorial Card Trick, Invited Lecture, Proceedings IWHIT, University of Aizu, March 2002.
• Math in Unexpected Places, Invited Lecture, Mass Gamma Chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon Induction Ceremony, Bridgewater State College, April 2004.
• Technology in the Classroom, Invited Lecture, South Area Solomon Schechter Day School, February 2008.
  

Other Publications

Unpublished Manuscripts

• Bravaco, Ralph and Simonson, Shai, From Pascal to C++ - A Workshop for Secondary School Teachers of Computer Science, Distributed at Stonehill College Summer C++ Workshop (1998-1999).
• Bravaco, Ralph and Simonson, Shai, Java and Object-Oriented Programming - A Workshop for Secondary School Teachers of Computer Science, Distributed at Stonehill College Summer Java Workshop (Summer 2003).

Books in Preparation

• How Computers Work:  an Introductory Programming Text for Non-majors using Logo.
• Rediscovering Mathematics - You Do the Math, a Popular Math Book for Middle School Age through Adult.
• Java Programming - from the Ground Up, with Ralph Bravaco, McGraw Hill, to appear in 2009.
  

Courses Taught

Undergraduate Mathematics

Calculus I, Calculus II, Techniques of Calculus, Discrete Mathematics, Graph Theory, History of Mathematical Ingenuity.

Undergraduate Computer Science

How Computers Work, Introduction to Computer Programming, Data Structures, Algorithms and Complexity, Digital Logic Design, Machine Organization and Assembly Language Programming, Computer Architecture, Theory of Computation, Artificial Intelligence, Programming Languages, Data Bases.

Graduate Mathematics and Computer Science

Complexity Theory, Combinatorial Optimization, Automata Theory, Graph Theory, Algorithms.

• Merit Committee (3 years)
• Intercultural Affairs Committee (6 years)
• Academic Standing Committee (2 years)
• Goldwater Fellowship Committee (3 years)
• Small Grants Committee (4 years)
• Catholic Jewish Dialogue Program
• Ad-hoc Computer Assessment Committee (1 year)
• Rank and Tenure Committee (1 year)
• Honors Program Committee (2 years)
• Rank and tenure Committee (3 years - current)
  

Hobbies

Go, Bridge, Bicycling, Hiking, Cantorial Chanting, Disc Golf.