Biography
Marina Skyers earned a B.A. in mathematics from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in mathematics from Lehigh University. Her research involves both probability and computability theory and studies the extent to which representations similar to those for the random walk can be given for the quantile of the random walk. Her work explicitly constructs the quantile of the random walk using the machinery of primitive recursive functions and relations. In addition, her work shows that much of the fine structure of the simple random walk boils down to number theoretical problems, in particular concerning how often the greatest integer function jumps, and the way fractional parts of certain functions are distributed in the interval of length one. Dr. Skyers is also interested in the use of visual and artistic models in exploring topics in mathematics and implementing tactile learning activities in the undergraduate classroom. Dr. Skyers is enthusiastic about mathematics at all grade levels. She has been involved in several mathematics outreach programs for middle school students and has served as a facilitator for the Pennsylvania Math Initiative workshops for elementary and secondary teachers held at the Penn State Brandywine campus.
Selected Papers and Presentations
- M. Skyers and L. Stanley, Rearrangements of the Simple Random Walk, accepted to Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, 2021.
- M. Skyers and L. Stanley, A Closer Look at the Random Walk on (0, 1), Congressus Numerantium 232 (2019) 265-270.
- V. Dobric, P. Garmirian, M. Skyers and L. Stanley, Polynomial Time Relatively Computable Triangular Arrays for Almost Sure Convergence, Illinois J. Math. 63 (2019), no. 2, 219–257.
- M. Hyatt and M. Skyers, On the Increases of the Sequence [k\sqrt{n}], Integers 15 (2015) A17.
- Rearrangements of the Simple Random Walk, 51st Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory & Computing, March 10, 2020.
- A Closer Look at the Fine Structure of the Random Walk on (0,1), 50th Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory & Computing, March 5, 2019.
- Representations of the Simple Random Walk on (0,1), AMS Spring Eastern Sectional Meeting, Hunter College, City University of New York, May 7, 2017.
- A Random Walk Theme for an Undergraduate Research Project, Joint Mathematics Meetings, Baltimore, MD, January 18, 2014.
- Primitive Recursive Representations of Skorokhod Sequences for the Standard Normal, Joint Mathematics Meetings, Boston, MA, January 4, 2012.