Congratulations to Kiko Kawamura for winning a 2013 UNT Mathematics Department Faculty Teaching Award.
Dr. Kawamura, affectionately known among UNT's student population simply as Kiko, teaches a wide variety of mathematics classes, ranging from introductory general interest courses to senior-level courses in advanced probability. Dr. Kawamura is perhaps the department's most popular calculus instructor. Based on the strength of her reputation, her Math 1720 class in Spring '14 was the first to fill to capacity, and she is beloved by UNT and TAMS students alike. Many of UNT's math majors decided to consider majoring in mathematics because of the inspiration and encouragement they found in one of Dr. Kawamura's calculus classes. Dr. Kawamura strongly believes that mathematics is best learned by active participation in class, and she structures her classroom to be a warm and welcoming environment for her students to share their mathematical ideas. To ensure that everyone participates, Dr. Kawamura encourages the most active participation each day by designated small groups of students that she selects at the start of each class, rotating through the entire class over the course of the term. She also encourages her students to work together in teams during class and to come share their ideas with their classmates at the board. Dr. Kawamura herself loves pictorial illustrations of calculus ideas, and her students appreciate some of the novel and beautiful insights she provides in class. As anyone who has walked down the hallway containing her office and overheard Dr. Kawamura discussing mathematics with one of her students can attest, Dr. Kawamura has an infectious enthusiasm for her subject.
Dr. Kawamura regularly conducts research in fractal analysis (the rigorous study of geometric objects that naturally arise in analysis but which typically have non-integral dimension) and has published in excess of 11 research papers. Her research area is filled with colorful and awe-inspiring pictures as well as peppered with objects that possess equally colorful names, such as the Lévy Dragon, pictured at the right. Dr. Kawamura has also incorporated undergraduate students into her research projects as part of UNT's RTG Summer Undergraduate Math Scholars and via independent study coursework.
You can read more about Dr. Kawamura's life and thoughts about mathematics teaching and research on her personal website: math.unt.edu/kiko-kawamura