Alumna Continues Research at Conferences, Graduate School January 30, 2017 - 1 minute read Megan Sorenson ’15 started her mathematical research at Concordia University Irvine and is currently continuing her studies at CU Denver. While at Concordia University Irvine, she presented research about fractals at the Pacific Coast Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, explaining how imaginary numbers allow one to create computer screen backgrounds with intricate designs that repeat endlessly and never lose their intricacy. She attended a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at James Madison University, working with Dr. Eva Strawbridge, modeling the movement of a C.elegans (a small worm) swimming through salt water. Sorenson presented this work at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in 2015 and at the Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics. She also published a joint paper at the International Conference on the Theory and Practice of Natural Computing. While a student at Concordia University Irvine, she attended Nebraska's IMMERSE program in preparation for her graduate studies at CU Denver. Megan continued her mathematics research at CU Denver, receiving her master's degree in Fall 2017 completing a genome analysis between normal facial variation and copy number variants in a study of Bantu African children. She is currently teaching undergraduate courses and working on her Ph.D. at CU Denver, studying how mathematicians can implement external controls into research studies, especially in genetics. Megan came to Concordia University Irvine from Boise to play volleyball and fell in love with mathematics through Dr. Schulteis’s “contagious” influence, she says. “I had always liked math, but now I absolutely love math which, I didn’t really see coming," Sorenson says. "The CUI professors are really good. I love the problem-solving aspect of it and how there is always an answer. Math applies to almost everything in your life: music, art and so on. You can see math in everything once you get into it." Read more about Concordia University Irvine women in STEM. Facebook Twitter Email