Eric Weber

My research interests span functional and harmonic analysis with applications to data science.  I’m also interested in the scholarship of teaching of mathematics, particularly how to prepare future mathematics teachers to teach data science content at the secondary level.  I collaborate with researchers in statistics, computer science, education, meteorology, and sociology.  I have current and prior support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Iowa Space Grant Consortium.  Please see the “Research” tab above for more information.

I have served as Chair of the department since July 2022.  I have several initiatives that I am pursuing in this role. 

• Grow the number of mathematics majors at Iowa State:  this includes multiple activities, one of which is a podcast series I created called “Eric’s Angle” available on YouTube (link) that describes the multitude of career opportunities that exist with a mathematics degree.
• Improve the student experience across all mathematics courses: with several faculty in the department, we have revived CEUME (now called the “Coalition for Excellence in Undergraduate Mathematics Education”).
• Incorporating AI tools in mathematics courses: a team of mathematics faculty is designing calculus content that utilize AI tools such as LLMs; this team has support from a Miller Faculty Fellowship award.

I currently serve as Director of the Iowa Higher Education Mathematics Transitions Advisory Council (I-HEMTAC; link).  I-HEMTAC is a consortium of mathematics teachers across Iowa at the high school, community college, and university levels, and is funded by a grant from the Iowa Department of Education.  We are focused on improving the student experience in mathematics courses at all levels; we are especially focused on improving students’ transition from secondary to post-secondary programs.