PROFILE: Dwight Lahr
EDUCATION: Lahr, 61, stayed in his native Philadelphia to earn his 1966 B.A. in mathematics at Temple University, then went on to Syracuse University for a masters (1968) and Ph.D. (1971).
TEACHING EXPERIENCE: After a one-year visiting assistant professorship at Amherst College, Lahr came to Dartmouth in 1975. He served as dean of the faculty from 1984-89. Courses taught include "Single and Multi-Variable Calculus," "Fourier Analysis and Integration" and "Real Analysis." He also teaches two Math 5 courses, intended to help humanities students fulfill the quantitative and deductive science requirement. "The World According to Mathematics" gives students a glimpse into historically important math topics still vital today. Lahr also enjoys teaching "A Matter of Time," a course co-designed and co-taught with his wife, Spanish and Portugese professor Beatriz Pastor. Cross-listed with the comparative literature department, the course uses mathematics, literature and the arts to explore the concept of times importance to the development of Western culture.
CALCULUS ON DEMAND: Lahr, professor emeritus Donald Kreider and Susan Diesel of Norwich University have formulated what they know about teaching calculus with computers into a Web site called Calculus on Demand (www.math.dartmouth.edu/~m3cod/). Funded by grants from the National Science and Mellon foundations, the site uses applets that run over the Internet to provide an introductory calculus education that includes problem sets, quizzes and video tutorials. The course is designed to demonstrate how calculus can be used to model real-world issues such as population data, spread of the AIDS virus and flood patterns.
INSPIRATION: "Urban and rural areas are falling further behind in math education, and bringing what we know here at Dartmouth to the rest of the world is a dream of mine."
WHY TEACHING: Initially planning a career in computer programming, Lahr spent summers between academic terms working for the government (analyzing flight for pilots during the Vietnam War) and IBM (showing companies how to improve business by using mathematics and computers). After receiving his Ph.D. he worked at Bell Laboratories, monitoring telephone traffic flow and its associated probabilities to assure good service and reduce costs. Hoping to work with theoretical mathematics but continue using computers in teaching, Lahr was lucky: "When I came to Dartmouth we didn't have a computer science department, but because of John Kemeny's legacy, I could teach math and use the computer in the classroom both as an illustrative and functional method of learning."
THOUGHTS ON DARTMOUTH: "I have never met a Dartmouth student who wasn't a great kid, but maybe we are fortunate in the math department and students are more serious when they come to us," chuckles Lahr. What could use improvement, he says, is communication around campus. "Somehow that gap has to be bridged," he says.
OFF CAMPUS: Lives with Pastor in Lyme. The couple has two children together, ages 18 and 11, and Lahr has three from a previous marriage. An avid woodworker, he doesn't watch TV's Numbers but enjoys movies—especially foreign films and thrillers.
