Brian T. Gill, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair
Mathematics Department
Seattle Pacific University

Affiliate Associate Professor
The Information School
University of Washington

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Teaching:
  Introduction to Analysis
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   Research Interests
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  Service
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Biographical Sketch

Dr. Brian Gill is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Mathematics Department at Seattle Pacific University. He is also an Affiliate Associate Professor in The Information School at the University of Washington.  Dr. Gill joined the faculty at SPU in 1999 immediately after completing a Ph.D. in Mathematics and an M.S. in Biometry and Statistics at the State University of New York at Albany.  In 1999, Dr. Gill was selected as a fellow in Project NExT, a program of the Mathematical Association of America for new Ph.D.’s who are dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics.

Dr. Gill teaches a wide range of courses at SPU, with a primary focus on probability and statistics (both introductory courses and our more advanced courses), real and complex analysis, and calculus.

Research Interests

Dr. Gill has three main areas of research interests:

  • Complex analysis.  His research in pure mathematics is in the area of geometric function theory, a branch of complex analysis.  His work relates primarily to properties of the density of the hyperbolic metric in domains in the complex plane.
  • Applied statistics. Much of his current scholarly work involves applications of statistics in collaboration with researchers in other disciplines, particularly in social and health sciences.
  • Undergraduate mathematics and statistics education.  Dr. Gill is also very interested in issues in undergraduate mathematics education, with a particular focus on two areas: (i) how students build an understanding of mathematics and statistics through discovery based learning, and (ii) the impact of classroom technology on student learning.  As a result of these interests, he has been PI or co-PI on three grants supporting changes in the calculus sequence at SPU.  More recently, his focus has shifted toward introductory statistics courses rather than calculus. 

For the past few years, most of Dr. Gill's scholarly work has been in the area of applied statistics.  In 2003, he became the statistician for the Value Sensitive Design Research Lab in the Information School at the University of Washington.  For the past six years, he has been a major collaborator on a $2.5-million NSF grant, serving as the statistician on a wide variety of studies relating to human interaction with technological systems.  Currently, Dr. Gill is funded on NSF grants as the statistician both in the VSD Lab and in the Human Interaction with Nature and Technological Systems Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington.

Education

  • Ph.D., Mathematics, The University at Albany, State University of New York, 1999.
  • M.S., Biometry & Statistics, The University at Albany, State University of New York, 1999.
  • M.A., Mathematics, University of Kentucky, 1994.
  • B.S., Mathematics, Truman State University, 1991.

Employment

  • Seattle Pacific University, Mathematics Department
    • Chair, 2007-present
    • Associate Professor, 2005-present
    • Assistant Professor, 1999-2005
  • University of Washington, Information School
    • Affiliate Associate Professor, 2007-present
    • Statistician, Value Sensitive Design Research Lab, 2003-present
  • University of Washington, Mathematics Department
    • Lecturer, summer 2009
    • Auxiliary Faculty, summer 2003
  • The University at Albany, State University of New York, Department of Mathematics & Statistics
    • GAANN Fellow, 1997-1999 (U.S. Department of Education Fellowship, Graduate Assistants in Areas of National Need)
    • SUNY Presidential Fellowship, 1994-1997
  • New York State Department of Health, Division of Nutrition, Evaluation and Analysis Unit
    • Statistical internship, 1997-1999
  • University of Kentucky, Mathematics Department
    • Teaching Assistant, 1992-1994

Publications

Melson, Gail F., Peter H. Kahn, Jr., Alan Beck, Batya Friedman, Trace Roberts, Erik Garrett, & Brian T. Gill. (2009)  “Children’s Behavior Toward and Understanding of Robotic and Living Dogs,” Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(2), pp. 92-102.

Borning, Alan, Batya Friedman, Janet L. Davis, Brian T. Gill, Peter H. Kahn, Jr., Travis Kriplean, & Peyina Lin. (2009) “Public participation and value advocacy in information design and sharing: Laying the foundations in advance of wide-scale public deployment,” Information Polity, 14(1-2), pp. 61-74.

Kahn, Peter H., Jr., Batya Friedman, Brian T. Gill, Jennifer Hagman, Rachel L. Severson, Nathan G. Freier, Erika  N. Feldman, Sybil Carrère, & Anna Stolyar.  (2008) “A Plasma Display Window? – The Shifting Baseline Problem in a Technologically-Mediated Natural World,” Journal of Environmental Psychology, 28(2), 192-199.

Friedman, B., Höök, K., Gill, B., Eidmar, L. & Sallmander Prien, C. (2008)  “Personlig Integritet: A Comparative Study of Perceptions of Privacy in Public Places in Sweden and the United States.” Proceedings of the Fifth Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction - NordiCHI 2008 (pp. 142-151). New York, NY: ACM Press.

Kahn, Peter H., Jr., Carol D. Saunders, Rachel L. Severson, Olin E. Myers, & Brian T. Gill. (2008) “Moral and Fearful Affiliations with the Animal World: Children’s Conceptions of Bats,” Anthrozoös, 21(4), pp. 375-386.

Friedman, Batya, Alan Borning, Janet L. Davis, Brian T. Gill, Peter H. Kahn, Jr., Travis Kriplean, & Peyina Lin. (2008) “Laying the Foundations for Public Participation and Value Advocacy: Interaction Design for a Large Scale Urban Simulation,” Proceedings of the 9th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (dg.o2008), (pp. 305-314).  Montreal, Canada: Digital Government Society of North America.

Stanton, Cady M., Pater H. Kahn, Jr., Rachel L. Severson, Jolina H. Ruckert, & Brian T. Gill. (2008) “Robotic Animals Might Aid in the Social Development of Children with Autism,”  Proceedings of the 3rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robotic Interaction, (pp. 271-278). New York, NY: ACM Press.

Miller, Jessica K., Batya Friedman, Gavin Jancke, & Brian Gill. (2007) “Value tensions in design: The value sensitive design, development, and appropriation of a corporation’s groupware system,” Proceedings of GROUP 2007, (pp. 281-290).  New York: ACM Press.

Gill, Brian T. and Thomas H. MacGregor. (2006) “The Hyperbolic Density near an Isolated Boundary Point”, Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics, 36(6), pp. 1873-1884.

Friedman, Batya, Peter Kahn, Jennifer Hagman, Rachel Severson, & Brian Gill. (2006) “The Watcher and The Watched: Social Judgments about Privacy in a Public Place”, Human-Computer Interaction, 21(2), pp. 235-272.

Gill, Brian T. and Thomas H. MacGregor. (2003) “Minimum Points and Level Sets of the Hyperbolic Density”, Complex Variables, 48(3), pp. 225-234.

Funded Grants

“Maternal Age, Smoking, and Low Birth Weight: Interaction Effects in Logistic Regression.” (2006). Senior Faculty Research Grant, Seattle Pacific University.  Brian Gill (PI).

“Incorporating the use of computers and Maple into Calculus I and II.” (2004-2005). Academic Renewal Grant, College of Arts and Sciences, Seattle Pacific University.  Brian Gill (PI), Wai Lau, Steve Johnson, and Robbin O’Leary.

“Adaptation and Implementation of Research-based Curricula in Introductory Physics Courses.” (2003-2005). NSF Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement Grant, DUE-0310583. Stamatis Vokos (PI), Brian Gill (Co-PI), John Lindberg (Co-PI), and Lane Seeley (Co-PI).

“Interactive Web-Based Materials for Calculus Using LiveMath.” (2000-2001). Digital Materials Development Grant, Northwest Academic Computing Consortium.  Brian Gill (PI).

Other Substantial Grant Funding (as collaborator, but not PI or co-PI):

“Social and Moral Interaction Patterns with a Personified Robot." (2008-2010)  NSF HCC-SGER Grant. ($199,960)  Peter H. Kahn, Jr. (PI), University of Washington.  (Brian Gill funded as statistician)

“Value Sensitive Design - Integrating Values into the Design of Information and Computer Systems.” (2003-2009)  NSF Information Technology Research Grant IIS-0325035.  ($2,512,000)  Batya Friedman (PI) and Peter Kahn (co-PI), University of Washington.  (Brian Gill funded as statistician)

“Augmented Reality of the Natural World and Its Psychological Effects: A Value-Sensitive Design Approach.” (2001-2004)  NSF Grant IIS-0102558. ($523,908)   Peter H. Kahn, Jr. (PI), Batya Friedman (Co-PI), University of Washington, and Alan Beck (Co-PI), Purdue University.  (Brian Gill funded as statistical consultant)

Conference Papers

Kahn, P. H., Jr., Friedman, B., Gill, B., Hagman, J., Severson, R. L., Freier, N. G., Feldman, E. N., Carrère, S., & Stolyar, A.  Does it Matter that Nature's "Real"? – A Plasma Window's Effect on Heart Rate Recovery from Low Level Stress.  Poster presented at Society for Research in Child Development Bienniel Meeting, Boston, MA, March 2007.

Friedman, B., Höök, K., Gill, B., Eidmar, L., Sallmander Prien, C., & Severson, R. “Who is Watching You? A Comparative Study of Views of Privacy in a Public Space in Sweden and the U.S.”  SPU European Studies Symposium, Seattle, WA, February 2007.

Saunders, C. D., Kahn, P. H., Jr., Severson, R. L., Gill, B. T., & Myers, O. E., Jr. Fear and caring: Children’s conceptions of bats.  Society for Human Ecology meeting, Bar Harbor, ME, October 2006.

Kahn, P. H., Jr., Friedman, B., Gill, B., Hagman, J., Severson, R. L., Freier, N. G., Feldman, E. N., Carrère, S., & Stolyar, A.  Does it matter that nature’s “real”? – A plasma window’s effects on looking behavior and heart rate recovery from low level stress.  Poster presented at the meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Baltimore, MD, June 2006.

Gill, Brian T.  Behavior of the Hyperbolic Density Near the Boundary of a Planar Domain.  PNW MAA Annual Meeting, Walla Walla, Washington, June 2003.

Gill, Brian T.  Interactive Web-Based Materials for Calculus Using LiveMath.  Invited presentation at NWACC/EDUCAUSE Conference, Portland, Oregon, June 2001.

Gill, Brian T.  Interactive Web-Based Materials for Calculus Using LiveMath.  Pacific Northwest Project NExT Workshop, Seattle, Washington, April 2001.

Gill, Brian T.  Interactive Web-Based Materials for Calculus Using LiveMath.  AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meetings, New Orleans, Louisiana, January 2001.

Gill, Brian T. Teaching Elementary Statistics Using Active Learning.  Pacific Northwest Project NExT Workshop, Vancouver, B.C., June 2000.

Gill, Brian T. and MacGregor, Thomas H.  Domains with a Prescribed Number of Minimum Points of the Hyperbolic Metric. AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meetings, Washington, D.C., January 2000.

Gill, B., Pruzek, R., Stratton, H., & Woelfel, M. L. WIC Participation and Low Birth Weight among Medicaid Birth Mothers in New York State.  Poster presented at American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, November 1999.

Gill, Brian T. Minima of the Hyperbolic Metric in Planar Domains.  Syracuse Graduate Mathematics Conference, Syracuse, New York, April 1999.

Teaching & Advising

  • Courses Taught at Seattle Pacific University:
    • Calculus I
    • Calculus II
    • Multivariable Calculus
    • Introduction to Analysis
    • Real Analysis II
    • Complex Variables
    • Applied Analysis
    • Linear Algebra
    • Mathematics Seminar
    • Introduction to Statistics
    • Statistics for Business and Economics
    • Probability Theory
    • Applied Statistics
    • Probability and Statistics for Science & Mathematics
    • Mathematical Statistics
    • University Seminar ("Does God Play Dice")
  • Courses taught at University of Washington:
    • Introduction to Mathematical Reasoning
    • Matrix Algebra
  • Courses taught at State University of New York at Albany:
    • Calculus I
    • Calculus II
    • Calculus of Several Variables
    • Precalculus
    • Business Calculus
    • Elementary Statistics
  • Courses taught at University of Kentucky:
    • Business Calculus
    • Computer lab sections for Calculus I and Calculus II
       

  • SPU University Scholars Honors Theses Advised:

    Samuelson, Bethany. (2006) “Hepatitis C: an Epidemiological Profile and Suggestions for Prevention and Management.” (2nd reader)

    Morse, Heather. (2005) “Gaming Nation: The Factors Affecting Consumer Demand for the Sony Playstation Two.” (2nd reader)

    Marston, Matthew J. (2002) “Wavelet-Based Image Compression.” (1st reader)

Professional Memberships

  • Mathematical Association of America
    • Project NExT Fellow of Mathematical Association of America (Brown Dot, 1999)
    • Statistical Education SIGMAA, Mathematical Association of America
  • American Statistical Association

Service to Professional Societies

  • Member, Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Curriculum Reform Across the First Two Years (CRAFTY) Subcommittee of the Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics (CUPM), 2009-2012
  • Consultant, MAA's national Project NExT, 2006-present
  • Newsletter Editor, MAA Pacific Northwest Section (PNW MAA), 2001-2003
  • Exploratory committee for 2004 PNW MAA meeting in Anchorage, Alaska
  • Member of advisory board for Pacific Northwest Project NExT, 2000-2004
  • Organizing committee for 2002 joint PNW MAA-AMS meeting in Portland, Oregon
  • Local Arrangements Chair, PNW MAA, 200-2001
    • Organized 2001 annual PNW MAA meeting, hosted by Seattle Pacific University

University Service 

  • Chair, Mathematics Department, Seattle Pacific University, 2007-present

  • Instructional Development Committee, Seattle Pacific University, 3 year elected term, 2001-2004

    • Chair, 2003-2004

  • Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable, Seattle Pacific University, 2000-2001

  • Technology Task Force, Seattle Pacific University, 1999-2000

  • Webmaster, Seattle Pacific University Mathematics Department web pages, 1999-present

  • Coordinator for implementation of MINITAB in Elementary Statistics, Mathematics Department, The University at Albany, 1997-1999

Community Service 

  • School Board Vice Chair, Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic School, Bremerton, WA, 2003-2005
  • School Board Member, Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic School, 2002-2005

 

Send questions or comments to Brian Gill or call (206) 281-2954.
Copyright © 2008 Seattle Pacific University.

Mathematics Department
Seattle Pacific University
3307 Third Avenue West
Seattle, Washington 98119-1997
United States of America