Professor of Mathematics
Department of Mathematics & Computer Science
Science & Learning Center 211D
562.907. 4441
mkozek@whittier.edu
Website
Academic History
A.B., Ed.M., Harvard University
M.A., Wake Forest University
Ph.D., University of South Carolina
Professional Interests
Number Theory Research
- Number Theory in the spirit of Paul Erdős: harmonious pairs, applications of coverings of the integers
- Erdős's minimum modulus problem
- Polygonal Riesel and Sierpiński numbers
- Composites in different bases that remain composite after changing digits
- Numbers of the form: k^r2^n+1, k^r2^n-1, and k^r-2^n
- Goldbach's conjecture for monic polynomials
Interdisciplinary Mathematics
- Mathematical themes in a first-year seminar
- Soccer analytics
- Mathematics in literature and cinema
- Mathematics in popular culture
- The mathematics and politics of military code-breaking
Professional Activity
Publications
Book
- Mathematical Themes in a First-Year Seminar (co-edited with Jennifer Schaefer, Jennifer Bowen, and Pamela Pierce), MAA Notes Series, Mathematical Association of America, Washington DC, 2021.
Articles
- Math in Pop Culture: A First-Year Writing Seminar on Mathematics, Mathematical Themes in a First-Year Seminar, MAA Notes Series, Mathematical Association of America, Washington DC, (2021), 203--212.
- Mathematics in literature and cinema: an interdisciplinary course (with H. Rafael Chabrán), PRIMUS: Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies 26 (2016) no. 4, 334--344.
- Harmonious pairs (with Florian Luca, Paul Pollack and Carl Pomerance), International Journal of Number Theory 11 (2015) no. 5, 1633--1651.
- Polygonal, Sierpiński, and Riesel numbers (with Dan Baczkowski, Justin Eitner, Carrie Finch, and Braeden Suminski), Journal of Integer Sequences 15 (2015) no. 8, 12 pp.
- Book Review: Mathematics in Popular Culture: Essays on Appearances in Film, Fiction, Games, Television and Other Media. Edited by Jessica K. Sklar and Elizabeth S. Sklar, American Mathematical Monthly 121 (2014) no. 3, 274--278.
- Composites that remain composite after changing a digit (with Michael Filaseta, Charles Nicol and John Selfridge), Journal of Combinatorics and Number Theory 2 (2011), 25--36.
- An asymptotic formula for Goldbach’s conjecture with monic polynomials in Z[x], American Mathematical Monthly 117 (2010), no. 4, 365--369.
- On powers associated with Sierpiński numbers, Riesel numbers and Polignac's conjecture (with Michael Filaseta and Carrie Finch), Journal of Number Theory 128 (2008), no. 7, 1916--1940.
