Member Profile: Paul E Pfeiffer

Username: perhp

Contact: perhp@earthlink.net

Interests: Applied Probability

Author of: 69 Modules and 2 Courses (view statistics)

Coauthors: Daniel Williamson

Biography:

I retired in 1998 after 51 years---21 in Electrical Engineering and 30 in Computational and Applied Mathematics (CAAM), formerly Mathematical Sciences (MASC) but later renamed.

My primary career emphasis has been on teaching and course development. I have written several textbooks. These, based on my courses, sought to make available to undergraduate and beginning graduate students advanced material, particularly some previously available only in research publications.

In addition to regular faculty assignments, I have served as chairman of two different departments, as dean of students for the university, and as temporary Master of two residential Colleges.

CONNEXIONS began as I was completing my tenure. An unpublished textbook I developed for an undergraduate course in applied probability was modularized for CONNEXIONS. However, lack of technical support and some limitations on the software delayed publications until recently. Sid Burrus and Daniel Williamson have provided support and guidance in the process of publication.

Currently I am enjoying reading in a variety of fields, mostly non technical, and following the development of Rice University, which is in a transformational stage. Also, I am intrigued and heartened by some of the developments in national and international affairs, which are also at a critical, but potentially promising and creative, stage.