Petra Bonfert-Taylor

Professor of Engineering

Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion

Professor Bonfert-Taylor's research interests include engineering education, student-centered learning, and broadening participation.

Research Interests

Complex analysis; geometric function theory; discrete groups; complex dynamics; engineering education; student-centered learning; broadening participation

Education

  • Vordiplom (BA equivalent), Technical University of Berlin 1990
  • Diplom (MA equivalent), Technical University of Berlin 1994
  • PhD, Technical University of Berlin 1996

Awards

  • Fellow, Ivy+ Faculty Advancement Network Leadership, Dartmouth, 2022
  • Fellow, Class of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), 2020
  • edX Prize for Exceptional Contributions in Online Teaching and Learning, 2019
  • NH High Tech Council TechTeacher of the Year, 2018
  • Excellence in Teaching Award, Dartmouth Engineering, 2016

Professional Activities

  • Member, Committee for Women in Mathematics of the International Mathematical Union
  • Member, American Mathematical Society
  • Member, Association for Women in Mathematics
  • Member, American Society for Engineering Education
  • Referee for NSF proposals, Complex Variables, Conformal Geometry and Dynamics, Duke Mathematical Journal, Illinois Journal of Mathematics, Israel Journal of Mathematics, Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society, Journal d'Analyse Mathematique, Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, Michigan Mathematical Journal, Proceedings of the AMS, Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, among others.
  • Reviewer for Math Reviews
  • "Green City" German/Engineering FSP: development of joint foreign study program, successfully piloted in 2022
  • Dartmouth Emerging Engineers (DEE) Program: support and mentoring for underprepared students with interest in engineering
  • Development and implementation of seven MOOCs with R. Sharrock, Institut Télécom Paris Tech: C-Programming with Linux on the edX platform
  • Development and implementation of a MOOC Introduction to Complex Analysis on Coursera

Research Projects

  • AAU STEM Project on Teaching Evaluation

    AAU STEM Project on Teaching Evaluation

    With support from the Association of American Universities (AAU), we are creating a system for teaching evaluation that integrates evidence-based evaluation data from three sources: student course assessments, peer observation, and self-reflection. Existing student course assessments are being augmented to focus on observable best practices, rather than students' intuitive impression of the instructor. Peer observations are conducted in accordance with a consistent protocol, which includes guided pre-briefing and debrief sessions between the observer and observee. Self-reflection allows each instructor to note and report on their progress toward the implementation of best teaching practices. The system is currently being piloted and assessed en route to broader implementation. Learn more

  • DIFUSE

    DIFUSE

    DIFUSE is an NSF-funded Dartmouth project aimed at creating opportunities for undergraduates to learn and use data science in introductory STEM courses and beyond. We work with teams of undergraduates, PhD students, and faculty to develop data science "modules" to integrate into existing course curriculum. We also offer opportunities for undergraduate and PhD students to apply data science and data visualization through Internships and work in the DALI Lab.

Selected Publications

  • R.F. Kizilcec, A.J. Saltarelli, P. Bonfert-Taylor, M. Goudzwaard, E. Hamonic, E., and R. Sharrock, Welcome to the Course: Early Social Cues Influence Women's Persistence in Computer Science, Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2020), Honolulu, HI, USA.
  • N. Agarwal, C. Araujo, P. Bonfert-Taylor, M. Mahmoudi, M.F. Ouedraogo, O. Paris-Romaskevich, M-F. Roy, E. Strickland and A. Vera Gajardo, May 12: Celebrating Women in Mathematics. From One Idea to One Hundred Events, Notices of the American Mathematical Society (2019), vol 66, no. 11, 1879–1886.
  • P. Bonfert-Taylor, R. Canary, and E.C. Taylor, Quasiconformal Homogeneity after Gehring and
    Palka, Computational Methods and Function Theory 14 (2014), no. 2, 417–430.
  • P. Bonfert-Taylor, F. Leblond, Robert Holt, Kenneth Tichauer, B. Pogue, and E. Taylor, Information Loss and Reconstruction in Highly Diffuse Fluorescence Tomography, JOSA A, 29 (2012), no. 3, 321–330.
  • P. Bonfert-Taylor, K. Matsuzaki, and E. Taylor, Large and Small Covers of a Hyperbolic Manifold, J. Geom. Anal. 22 (2012), no. 2, 455–470.
  • P. Bonfert-Taylor, G. Martin, A. Reid and E. Taylor, Teichmuller Mappings, Quasiconformal Homogeneity, and Non-amenable Covers of Riemann Surfaces, Pure Appl. Math. Q. 7 (2011), no. 2, 455–468.

Courses

  • ENGS 20: Introduction to Scientific Computing
  • ENGS 28: Embedded Systems

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