“I am one of the mathematicians at Eastern and teach the Harmonia course in the Templeton Honors College. My specialty is in Functional Analysis and Operator Theory but I also dabble in the Philosophy of Mathematics. I teach courses like Real Analysis, Chaos and The Philosophy of Mathematics course in the major. As the wearer of many hats, I’m also sometimes tapped to teach a bit of Computer Science. I can be found studying Ill-posed Problems Mathematical Ontology and some of the theological questions that arise in Mathematics.
I genuinely love the classroom and forming students through these fields by training them to see the eternal truths found in them. I’m certainly not the first to think that Mathematics is a fantastic way to discover the Good, the True and the Beautiful, and ultimately Christ. The Honors College is a perfect environment to have these interdisciplinary conversations.
When not doing math, I enjoy running and cycling slowly. ”
I genuinely love the classroom and forming students through these fields by training them to see the eternal truths found in them. I’m certainly not the first to think that Mathematics is a fantastic way to discover the Good, the True and the Beautiful, and ultimately Christ. The Honors College is a perfect environment to have these interdisciplinary conversations.
When not doing math, I enjoy running and cycling slowly. ”
Dr. Walter Huddell is the Mathematics and pre-Engineering program director at Eastern University, and has been teaching at Eastern since 2000. His research interests include functional analysis, ill-posed problems, and the philosophy of mathematics, specifically the ontology of number. His articles appear in The Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, The Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, and Christian Scholars Review, as well as in the book Computational Approaches in Advancing Modern Science and Engineering.
When not thinking about the existence of mathematical objects, Dr. Huddell may be found running or lost on his bicycle. He also serves as a Bible school teacher at his church. Finally, he is blissfully married to his wife of more than twenty years, Alicyn and is the proud father of twin daughters Amy and Amber.
Education
- Ph.D., Bryn Mawr College: Mathematics
- M.A., Bryn Mawr College: Mathematics
- M.A., West Chester University: Mathematics
- B.A., The King’s College: Mathematics
Undergraduate Templeton Courses
HON 204 Mathematics in the Western Tradition (3 credits)
This course engages in a study of mathematical thought in the Western Tradition from Euclid, through modernity and to the present. Attention is paid both to the mathematical work of key figures, and the relationship between their mathematical system and the concurrent development of philosophical thought. Students will read the primary texts of mathematicians and philosophers, learn fundamental mathematical skills, and explore the ways in which mathematical thought has influenced, and been influenced by the broader tradition. (GE indicator addressed: Quantitative Reasoning)
Publications: Articles & Essays
Articles & Essays
- “Mathematical Knowledge and Divine Mystery: Augustine and his Contemporary Challengers” – Christian Scholars Review
- “Smooth Approximations of Singular Perturbations” – Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, YJMAA8535
- “Smooth Approximations of Finitely-many relativistic Point Interactions” – Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, A/188642/SPE/121946
- “The Ontology of Number, Platonic and Postmodern Considerations”
- "Continuous Dependence on Modeling in Banach Space Using a Logarithmic Approximation", (Matthew Fury-Penn-State Abington and Beth Campbell-Hetrick-Gettysburg College, corresponding authors), as chapter in Mathematical and Computational Approaches in Advancing Modern Science and Engineering, (Editors Belair, Frigaard, Kunze, Makarov, Melnik, Spiteri), Springer, Switzerland, 2016.