Margaret Menzin
Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics and Program Director of Mathematical Sciences
Margaret Menzin teaches in both the Computer Science and Mathematics departments. She is interested in where those fields intersect – including cryptography/coding theory, algorithms, and big data – and in pedagogical issues related to those fields. She is particularly interested in pedagogical issues centered on teaching students to become independent learners. She is always eager to experiment with new approaches to teaching. This has included the use of writing, small group learning, teaching without textbooks (i.e., from professional books and articles), hybrid learning, and flipped classrooms.
Menzin’s efforts include using mathematics to reinforce students' understanding of computer science and vice-versa, and, more generally, integrated teaching of multiple fields.
In mathematics itself, her interests focus broadly on abstract algebra and on mathematical modeling. In Computer Science, her interests focus on web programming and applications, on databases and on algorithms, including those important for bioinformatics. If you are curious about the field of computer science, you might enjoy her OMG:CS. Finally, she has done a lot of work encouraging young women to pursue careers in mathematics and computer science.
Education
- MS, PhD, from Brandeis University
- BA, Swarthmore College
Courses
- MATH 118 Introduction to Statistics
- MATH 210 Discrete Mathematics
- MATH 211 Linear Algebra
- MATH 310 Modern Algebra
- MATH 319 Introduction to Financial Mathematics
- MATH 343 Mathematical Modeling
- CS 321 Web Centric Programming and Web Technologies
- CS 221 Data Base Management Systems
- CS323 Algorithms
- CS 112 with BIO 221 Using Computers to Investigate Disease
Research/Creative Activities
Dr. Menzin maintains a highly regarded annotated bibliography for web programming.
She has written a book, About jQuery, published by LeanPub.
Her other publications can be found on ResearchGate.net