Dr. Eric West

Dr. Eric West is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has taught at Benedictine College since August, 2001. His favorite areas of math are abstract algebra and the mathematics of cryptology. He is a member of the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the mathematics honor society, Kappa Mu Epsilon.

Eric enjoys playing the string bass, is a member of the Atchison/Benedictine College Orchestra, and teaches bass lessons at the Mount Conservatory of Music. Eric and his wife, Lara, enjoy hiking and camping, and travel to Colorado most summers for some relaxation.

EDUCATION

B.A., Bethany College, 1989

M.A., University of Kansas, 1993

Ph.D., University of Kansas, 2001

CLASSES

MA 121, MA 122, MA 233 – Calculus I, II, III

MA 356, MA360 – Modern Algebra I, II

MA 315 – Probability and Statistics

MA 331 – Cryptography

MA 493 – Directed Research

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Commutative rings and modules, particularly asymptotic properties of multigraded modules. (One example of a multigraded module is the set of all polynomials in three variables with real number coefficients. “Asymptotic” in this context essentially means as the degree of the polynomials gets bigger and bigger.)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Primes associated to multigraded modules; Journal of Algebra 271 (2004), no. 2, 427-453.

A linear function associated to asymptotic prime divisors; Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society 132 (2004), no. 6, 1589-1597. (with D. Katz)