Dr. Michael Rosas
Welcome!
I am currently a clinical assistant professor in the department of mathematics at the University at Buffalo (UB). I joined the math department at UB in July 2019 as the Calculus Coordinator. Previously, I was an assistant professor in the department of mathematical sciences at the United States Military Academy (USMA).
I earned a PhD in mathematics from the University at Buffalo in June 2016. My PhD thesis involved the representation theory of symmetric groups. I also have interests in math pedagogy. In the past few years, I have discovered my passion for developing projects. In particular, I enjoy creating projects for my courses.
Two examples of linear algebra projects may be found below. In these projects, students gain hands-on experience with defining linear transformations. I created animations using Mathematica for your viewing pleasure!
In my free time, I enjoy exercising and cooking. I can make a nice guacamole! Fun fact: I grew up in southern California. My favorite NFL team growing up was the Buffalo Bills. No one I know seems to believe this, but it is true.
rotateA.aviLinear algebra project
Students are to construct an affine transformation that rotates points in 2-dimensional Euclidean space about a fixed point. The animation demonstrations rotation about the point (1,1).
aircraftanimation.aviLinear algebra project
Students used change of basis to manipulate the attitude (pitch, roll, yaw) of an aircraft. The challenging part of this project involved manipulating the principal axes of the aircraft which will not be along the standard coordinate axes. For example, suppose you'd like to roll the aircraft after the nose has been lifted. Well a change of basis can be used to rotate the principal axes back to the standard axes, roll the aircraft, and then transform back.