CONWAY, Ark. (December 17, 2013) – Hendrix junior Luke
Evans, a mathematics major from Conway, Ark., was recently awarded Student Undergraduate Research
Fellowship (SURF) by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.
Evans will work over the next year on a project titled “The
Chaotic Dynamics and Fractal Dimension of Newton’s Method.” In the
project, Evans will consider the surprising chaotic nature of Newton’s Method
for polynomials on the Complex Plane, as well as determine the fractal
dimension of the sets created by these dynamics, and will form the basis of his
senior thesis.
The grant, which totals $1,746 with an additional
institutional match of $1,250, will support the purchase of the computer
algebra program Mathematica and fund travel to at least one professional
meeting. It will also provide Evans the opportunity to work full-time on
the project this summer.
“Luke intends to go to graduate school in mathematics, and
this project will enable him to learn how to do research in mathematics and
combine ideas from many different courses,” said Hendrix mathematics instructor
Lars Seme, a 1995 Hendrix alumnus, who is Evans’ academic advisor and research supervisor.
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in
engaged liberal arts and sciences education. For the sixth consecutive year,
Hendrix was named one of the country’s “Up and Coming” liberal arts colleges by
U.S. News and World Report. Hendrix is featured in the latest edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change
the Way You Think about Colleges,
as well as the 2014 Princeton Review’s The Best 378 Colleges, Forbes magazine's list of America's Top Colleges, and
the 2014 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United
Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.