Michael Penn

Randolph professors granted tenure

Art history professor Lesley Shipley, theatre professor Stephanie Earl, and mathematics professor Michael Penn have all been granted tenure by the Randolph College Board of Trustees.... READ MORE >>

Summer research looks at symmetries in mathematical objects

Summer Research 2021 Penn

Their project involves vertex algebras, an important class of mathematical objects that serve as a bridge between seemingly disparate areas of mathematics and quantum physics—from number theory to string theory.... READ MORE >>

Making it count: Randolph math professor finds success on YouTube

At the beginning of 2020, he had 1,000 subscribers, which grew to 50,000 by the end of that summer and continues to climb. At the end of March, he had more than 135,000 subscribers and was averaging 1.5 million views a month.... READ MORE >>

Math professor publishes book chapter and presents at special session

Michael Penn

Randolph College mathematics professor Michael Penn recently published a chapter in the Springer INdAM book series. The chapter, titled “Permutation Orbifolds of Fermionic Vertex Superalgebras,” was part of the book Affine, Vertex, and W-algebras. The work described orbifold algebras for rank 3 free and symplectic fermion algebras, and in the case of the free fermion... READ MORE >>

Penn publishes article in International Journal of Mathematics

Michael Penn

Randolph mathematics professor Michael Penn recently published an article in the International Journal of Mathematics. The article is titled “Principal Subspaces of Twisted Modules for Certain Lattice Vertex Operator Algebras” and ends a series of papers exploring these structures. This work was co-authored with Christopher Sadowski from Ursinuns College and Gautam Webb from the University... READ MORE >>

Randolph mathematics professor publishes papers, organizes workshop

Michael Penn

Randolph math professor Michael Penn has published two new works. The first was co-authored with Chris Sadowski of Ursinus College and Corina Calenescu of the City University of New York and was titled “Principal subspaces of higher level twisted A22 modules.” The article was published in the journal, Algebras and Representation Theory, and is the... READ MORE >>

Penn’s research published in Communications in Algebra

Michael Penn

Randolph mathematics professor Michael Penn recently co-authored a paper that was published in the academic journal, Communications in Algebra. The article is entitled “Z/2Z Invariants of the Free Fermion Algebra” and details the uncovering of an interesting connection between orbifolds of free field vertex algebras and affine W-algebras. Read the article in its entirety here.... READ MORE >>

Fun times with finite group invariants

Jude Quintero '20 (left) and mathematics professor Michael Penn work on an equation

One of the things Jude Quintero ’20 enjoys most about his Randolph experience is getting to know and work with his professors. This summer, he and mathematics professor Michael Penn are bonding over some advanced algebraic equations. “We’ve had a lot of fun,” Penn said. “If you understand this level of math and the language,... READ MORE >>

Penn co-authors paper in Journal of Algebra

Michael Penn

Randolph mathematics professor Michael Penn co-authored a paper that will be published in the February 2018 issue of the Journal of Algebra. The paper concludes a series of four articles—three co-authored by Penn—which examine the principal subspaces of level one standard modules of twisted affine Lie algebras using vertex algebraic techniques. Vertex algebras are a... READ MORE >>

Penn joins mathematics faculty

Michael Penn

A mathematician who specializes in abstract algebra—and pizza making—is the newest member of Randolph’s mathematics department faculty. In his first semester at Randolph this fall, math professor Michael Penn is teaching Calculus 1 and Linear Algebra and Differential Equations courses. He previously worked as a visiting professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, Bowdoin College,... READ MORE >>