Holy Cross Professors Receive $429,000 in Math and Neuroscience Research Grants

WORCESTER, Mass. – Two Holy Cross professors in the department of mathematics and computer science have been awarded research grants totaling more than $429,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Constance Royden, assistant professor of computer science, received an award in the amount of $297,365 for her project, "Cortical Processing of Moving Objects by Moving Observers." Her research, which looks specifically at the brain mechanisms involved in human vision, will use computer models to examine how people locate and determine the direction of moving objects when they themselves are moving. The results will be useful in understanding how drivers make judgments about the motion of other cars or pedestrians. In addition, the project will be helpful in policy decisions regarding drivers and traffic rules.

Royden earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, San Francisco and her bachelor's degree in biology and engineering from the California Institute of Technology. She has taught at Wellesley College and was a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Optometry at the University of California, Berkeley and at the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A resident of Needham, Mass., she has taught at Holy Cross since 2000.

Thomas Cecil, professor of mathematics, received a $132,000 award for his project, "RUI: Differential Geometry of Submanifolds." This award marks his eighth research grant from the NSF.

Cecil's research is in the mathematical area of differential geometry. Closely related to relativity theory in physics, differential geometry uses calculus and linear algebra to examine geometric objects. Cecil is particularly interested in the study of submanifolds, geometric objects that are contained in larger geometric spaces, including curves and surfaces. Recently, certain types of submanifolds have been associated with computer-aided geometric design.

During the period of the grant, Cecil will supervise one undergraduate research assistant for each of the next three summers. Each of these students will complete an independent study and write an honors thesis based on their research. Over the past 15 years, 13 students have written undergraduate theses in geometry under Cecil's direction, most of whom have continued their work at the graduate school level.

Cecil earned his Ph.D. in differential geometry from Brown University and his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Holy Cross. A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1978, he is the author of several journal articles and two books, and co-editor (with S.S. Chern) of a third book, Tight and Taut Submanifolds. Cecil is a resident of Worcester.