Robert W. Bell

Robert Bell

Robert W. Bell , Ph.D.

Associate Professor
He/Him
LB Course Subject Area: Mathematics
Department of Mathematics

Holmes Hall, W-26C
919 E. Shaw Lane
East Lansing, MI 48824
United States

bellro@msu.edu

LBC Courses Taught

LB 117: Functions and Trigonometry
LB 118 Calculus I, Special Section for Life Science Majors
LB 118: Calculus I
LB 119: Calculus II
LB 220: Calculus III

Biography

I am a mathematician. I have a passion for teaching mathematics, especially to undergraduate students. I regularly teach LB mathematics courses taken by first and second year students. I also teach advanced courses in the Department of Mathematics. I enjoy sharing my curiosity and passion for problem solving with my students, and I have also enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with students on research projects.

Education

  • Ph.D., Mathematics, The Ohio State University, 2003
  • M.S., Mathematics, Syracuse University, 1996
  • A.B, Mathematics, Boston College, 1995

Research

My primary research interests are within the specialization called geometric group theory; the objectives are to quantify and classify symmetry and algorithmic structures by using large-scale invariants that arise naturally in geometry and topology. My secondary research specialization is the study of pursuit-evasion games on graphs; I have supervised many undergraduate research projects within this specialization. During summers, I am often involved in or directing a research program for undergraduates in mathematics: the SURIEM REU Program.

Current Funding

PI, REU Site: REU in Discrete and Applied Mathematics, National Science Foundation, NSF Award No. 2244461, 9/1/2023--8/31/2026, amount awarded: $259,119.

Selected Previous Funding

  • PI, Summer Undergraduate Research Institute in Experimental Mathematics (SURIEM), National Security Agency, NSA Award No.H98230-23-1-0005, 04/26/2023--4/30/2024, amount awarded: $96,814.
  • PI, Summer Undergraduate Research Institute in Experimental Mathematics (SURIEM), National Security Agency, NSA Award No. H98230-21-1-0025, 5/1/2021--4/30/2022, amount awarded: $77,164.
  • PI, Summer Undergraduate Research Institute in Experimental Mathematics (SURIEM), National Security Agency, NSA Award No. H98230-20-1-0006, 5/1/2020--4/30/2021, amount awarded: $103,214.
  • PI, REU Site: REU in Discrete and Applied Mathematics, NSF Division of Mathematical Sciences, NSF Award No. 1852066, 5/1/2019--4/30/2022, amount awarded: $261,739.

Publications

  • Robert W. Bell and Rita Gitik. Quasi-positivity and recognition of products of conjugacy classes in free groups. Available at arXiv:1808.03291, 2019.
  • Taylor Ball, Robert W. Bell, Jonathan Guzman, Seppo Niemi-Colvin, and Nikolas Schonsheck. The cop number of generalized Petersen graphs. Discrete Mathematics. Online: available November 2016. Print: Volume 340, Issue 6, June 2017, pp. 1381--1388.
  • Robert W. Bell and Matt Clay. Right-angled Artin groups, in Office Hours with a Geometric Group Theorist, M. Clay and D. Margalit, editors, Princeton University Press, 2017.
  • Bell, Robert W. & Zeleke, Aklilu. Starting and Sustaining an Undergraduate Research Program: The SURIEM Experience at Michigan State University, PRIMUS, doi:10.1080/10511970.2016.1240730. Published online: 10 October 2016.
  • Robert W. Bell. Combinatorial Methods for Detecting Surface Subgroups in Right-Angled Artin Groups. ISRN Algebra, vol. 2011, Article ID 102029, 6 pages, 2011. doi:10.5402/2011/102029.
  • Robert W. Bell and Dan Margalit. Injections of Artin groups. Commentarii Mathematici Helvetici, 82 (2007), no. 4, 725-751.
  • Robert W. Bell and Dan Margalit. Braid groups and the co-Hopfian property. Journal of Algebra, 303 (2006), no. 1, 275-294.
  • Robert W. Bell. Three dimensional FC Artin groups are CAT(0). Geometriae Dedicata, 113 (2005), 21-53.