Director, Center for Initiatives in Pre-College Education; Professor of Mathematical Sciences

Education:

Ph.D., New York University

Research Areas:

Rubenfeld has research interests in the areas of bifurcation theory and asymptotic expansions as applied to programs in elasticity theory, electromagnetic theory and fluid dynamics. He has written two books entitled “Advanced Calculus” and “A First Course in Applied Complex Variables” which are used in junior, senior and beginning graduate courses for science and engineering students.

Recently, however, his active interests have turned to pre-college mathematics and science education. Emphasizing the theme of many recent reports critical of the science and mathematics education in high school and grade school, he and others have been working closely with several local school districts, and with the New York State Education Department, to develop up-to-date programs and materials which can be used in the pre-college mathematics classrooms.

As part of these activities, he has been appointed Director of Rensselaer’s Center for Initiatives in Pre-College Education. He is also a Principal Investigator on a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation to the New York State Department of Education which seeks to reform mathematics, science and technology education in the six largest urban school districts in New York State. He is also working on the development of K-12 interactive, multimedia materials.

Selected Publications:

“A notebook of ideas on problems for Courses I-II-III Mathematics Sequence,” New York State Department of Education Report, (jointly with Edith H. Luchins, Bernard Fleishman and David Isaacson).

“The RPI Report on the New York State High School Mathematics Curriculum: Courses I-II- III,” New York State Mathematics Teachers Journal, Vol. 35, No. 3, 1985 (jointly with Edith H. Luchins and Bernard Fleishman).

Contact Information:

Lester Rubenfeld
(518) 276-6906
rubenl@rpi.edu

More Info:

http://eaton.math.rpi.edu/faculty/Rubenfeld/ruben.html