Contact Information: jbelding@math.harvard.edu I am a preceptor in the Mathematics Department at Harvard University. In Fall 2009, I am teaching Math Ma (an integrated Calculus and Precalculus) and Math E-301 (Math For Teaching Number Theory). I am also a co-coordinater of the Calculus Course Assistant Program and Math Table, the dinner-time seminar for undergraduate math concentrators.
My mathematical research interests are algebraic number theory and arithmetic geometry, with an eye towards cryptography. I completed my PhD in Mathematics in May 2008 at the University of Maryland , working with Professor Larry Washington, on number theoretic algorithms for elliptic curves. Here is a copy of my thesis.
My other main interest is in math education at the secondary and undergraduate levels. I'm particularly interested in how to create opportunities for current and future math educators to experience what mathematicians do in their daily work. Along those lines, I worked this summer as a counselor with the PROMYS for Teachers program at Boston University where secondary math teachers spend six weeks immersed in elementary number theory.
Courses Fall 2009
Math Ma: Introductions to Functions and Calculus I
Math E-301: Math For Teaching Number Theory
Current Papers and Talks
Pairings on Hyperelliptic Curves , with Jennifer Balakrishnan, Sarah Chisholm, Kirsten Eisentrager, Katherine Stange, and Edlyn Teske. Submitted to the proceedings volume of the Women in Numbers Workshop, November 2008 at BIRS in Banff, Alberta.
Here are slides from a talk ''Computing the Hilbert Class Polynomial Using p-adic Lifting'' at M.I.T. STAGE: Seminar on Topics in Arithmetic, Geometry, Etc., May 2009.
Here are slides from a talk `` 'Mathematician' Meets 'Math Educator': The Experience of Co-teaching a Math Inquiry Course Course'' presented at the Mathematics Colloquim at the University of New Hampshire, April 2009.
Here are slides from a talk at the Joint Math Meetings in DC, January 2009, on the same course as above, a mathematical inquiry course for math education doctoral students.
For more on my past talks, teaching and publications, check out my old University of Maryland website.