Saint Michael's student, Kaiti Tuthill of Belmont, NH, to be published in "Journal of Applied Mathematics"

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Saint Michael's senior Kaiti Tuthill gets math paper accepted in scholarly journal.

COLCHESTER, VT (01/19/2011)(readMedia)-- Saint Michael's College senior Kaiti Tuthihll learned in December that the paper she and her colleagues produced during a summer 2010 research program has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Mathematics.

Ms. Tuthill, the daughter of Preston and Lisa Tuthill of Belmont, N.H., did the research that produced the paper while working on a grant from the National Science Foundation REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program, which took her for the summer to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. She and another student (from Illinois) and a mathematics professor from that university, are co-authors of the paper titled, "Constraint Consensus Methods for Finding Interior Feasible Points in Second Oder Cones."

Ms. Tuthill, a double major in mathematics and economics, graduated from Belmont High School before coming to Saint Michael's. She and her co-authors did work in the field of operations research, that resulted in the paper, which she describes as focused on "semidefinite programming," a field that has "recently gained popularity in the world of mathematics."

"I loved the summer in Flagstaff," she said. "We did research 40 hours a week for eight weeks; it was very exciting and the professor gave excellent guidance; we also got to do some hiking," she added. "We climbed the highest peak out there-about 12,000 feet; there was still snow on the mountains."

Graduate school in statistics

As a double major, Ms. Tuthill will be doing senior thesis work in math and economics. She says she is searching for a subject connected to the applied mathematics possibilities opening up in the statistics course she is now taking. She is so intrigued with the course, taught by SMC math professor Philip Yates, that she is thinking of getting a masters degree in statistics after graduating. "I really like how practical it is," Ms. Tuthill said, "the way it creates practical uses of applied mathematics."

Senior thesis in economics

For her economics major, Ms. Tuthill is doing a thesis on the effects of a welfare state on education, comparing education in Denmark to education in the U.S. Her adviser is economics professor, Dr. Tara Natarajan. Ms. Tuthill studied abroad in Denmark last spring, and focused on Economic Theories of Globalization. The course took her to Brussels and Frankfort, to the headquarters of the European Union and to the European Central Bank. "It was great to be there and see how it works on a global level," she said.

"Denmark is a welfare country-health care and education are totally paid for, for everyone-from day care to university," She said, "Of course it's a small country, but it's astonishing to see the difference between how it works there and in the U.S." She was amazed at seeing a doctor and being able to walk in and get attention without paying. She said she brought her European experience into a course she had in the fall on Public Finance with Economics Professor Patrick Walsh.

Oboe player

Ms. Tuthill plays oboe in the Saint Michael's College Liturgical Choir, and takes part in the Sunday evening student Mass every week. "Choir Director Jerome Monachino is great; this has become a wonderful part of my life."

"I started in order to keep up with the oboe, but now I love going-it gets me to church and I get to play with my sister," Ms. Tuthill said. Her sister, Jacqueline Tuthill, a junior at Saint Michael's, plays trombone in the Liturgical Choir.

Saint Michael's wants students to be deeply engaged in their education. Kaiti Tuthill exemplifies that concept, said her professor, Dr. George Ashline of the mathematics department.

Learn What Matters at Saint Michael's College, The Edmundite Catholic liberal arts college, www.smcvt.edu . Saint Michael's provides education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools to lead successful, purposeful lives that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's College is located three miles from Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns. It is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nations Best 371 Colleges, and is included in the 2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Saint Michael's is one of only 280 colleges and universities nationwide, one of only 20 Catholic colleges, with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Saint Michael's has 1,900 undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 100 international students. Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's top-100, Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2011 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

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