Mathematics students as consultants
Professor of Mathematics Mike Kahn is the lead faculty member for the Statistics program at Wheaton, the director of quantitative analysis, 
and is presently team-teaching MATH 285 - "Mathematical and Statistical Consulting" with Professor of Mathematics Tommy Ratliff. Between teaching, watching his boys play ball, and working on experiments in genomics, we caught up with Mike.
We hear you taught a "Consulting course" at St. Olaf before you arrived at Wheaton. What is a consulting course?
It is simply a course in which students act as consultants on mathematical, or statistical projects for clients from local businesses, government agencies, or research institutes. We put a team of four students on a project and they work on the project for an entire semester,
meeting with the client several times to provide updates of their work, ask questions about the project and to gain insights on possible new questions or directions that might be of interest to the client. At the end of the semester, the students present a formal colloquium at the client's offices, to an audience interested in the issues and results of the project. It is a terrific experience as the students not only learn how to apply some of the mathematics and statistics they have learned in the classroom, but they also work very hard at presenting a professional colloquium to experts, which is something very valuable and often lacking in undergraduate mathematics programs.
What are the most recent set of student projects?
One project concerns measuring the quality of water in NY shell fishing estuaries. The project is sponsored by Battelle. There are a variety of questions regarding methods of sampling the water and uncertainty regarding the sampled contaminant values and how they relate to the various limits placed by the EPA and local authorities on contaminants that determine whether the waters are safe for fishing.
The second project regards predicting monthly average temperature and precipitation values for six weather stations in the New England area. The project is sponsored by the National Weather Service. The issue is not simply can they predict monthly average temperature and precipitation three months out, but what relationship, if any, do various global measures have with our local temperatures and precipitation amounts. For example, there is an area in the South Pacific where oscillations in surface pressure (known as the El Nino Southern Oscillation) can have long-ranging effects on global weather patterns. There are three other oscillations measured around the globe that are thought to affect our weather. The students are investigating what effect, if any, these oscillations have on local weather predictions and the uncertainty associated with those predictions.
How did you find these projects?
Jerry Murphy (Professor of History at Wheaton) put us in contact with researchers at Battelle last spring. Through those contacts we were able to work with John Brawley at Battelle who had a project that he wanted help with and did not have time for his office to work on. The National Weather Service (NWS) project was found by simply calling their office. We started calling local companies that we thought might be interested in some help on a project and David Vallee at NWS was very excited to get some help gathering and analyzing some data. They have all been very accomodating and helpful with these projects.
What books have you been reading lately?
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn by Colin Dexter
Too Far From Home: A Story of Life and Death in Space by Chris Jones
Reel Baseball: Baseball's Golden Era, The Way America Witnessed It - In the Movie Newsreels by Les Krantz (not really fair as it comes with a DVD of old news reels to watch too)
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