Norman Johnson Fund

Norman W. Johnson Endowed Fund in Mathematics and Computer Science

Established in 2000 by Penny Johnson Burns and Robert O. Burns in honor of Mrs. Burns’s brother, Norman W. Johnson, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, this fund is to be used at the discretion of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science to promote better understanding of, and greater appreciation for, mathematics and computing in the greater Wheaton community. Appropriate projects for support include, but are not limited to, annual lectures, symposia, or other public events.

The past events that have been sponsored by the Johnson Fund are:

  • Dr. Susan Loepp, Williams College, March 30, 2016, “To Detect Errors is Human, to Correct Them Divine: Using Math to Correct Errors”
  • Dr. Ray Jackendoff, Tufts University, April 4, 2013 “Language, Meaning, and Rational Thought”
  • Dr. Norman Johnson, Wheaton College, October 2, 2008 “Symmetry”
  • Dr. Andries van Dam, Brown University, September 26, 2007 “When is the Pen Mightier than the Keyboard?”
  • Dr. Robert L. Devaney, Boston University, March 22, 2007 “Chaos Games and Fractal Images”
  • Ronald Graham, University of California, San Diego, March 27, 2006 “Searching for the Shortest Network”
  • Ezra Brown, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, November 18, 2004 “Love Letters, Circe’s Cave, and Chocolate Key Cryptography”
  • Doris Schattschneider, Moravian College, October 29, 2003 “Ingenious Mathematical Amateurs: M.C. Escher, Artist, and Marjorie Rice, Homemaker”
  • Donald Saari, University of California, Irvine, November 7, 2002 “Elections and Selections: We Need Not Get What We Want”
  • Gregory Rawlins, Indiana University, April 2, 2002 “Why Napster Doesn’t Matter: Intellectual Property in the Age of Piracy”
  • Thomas Banchoff, Brown University, November 13, 2000 “Geometry in Hyperspace and Cyberspace”