{"id":183,"date":"2020-02-24T16:07:37","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T21:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/academics\/faculty\/mikelly\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T10:47:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:47:21","slug":"mikelly","status":"publish","type":"faculty","link":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/academics\/faculty\/mikelly\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelly, Michael"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Although Michael Kelly entered college thinking about biology and pre-med, he quickly discovered his fascination for solving problems through mathematics. In his senior year, researching with a professor in mathematics and sports, he found the perfect combination of disciplines in an area called mathematical biology. And he got a taste for the real-world application of math. It propelled him through grad school and into his work as a new professor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The combination of interdisciplinary work and real-world application is at the heart of Kelly\u2019s work with students at Transylvania. \u201cBeing able to see how math applications can be used and the overlap in other disciplines\u2014that\u2019s why I\u2019m here,\u201d he says. \u201cTransylvania is a great environment for this kind of application. The sciences are in the same building on campus\u2014subjects and students overlap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The collaboration between disciplines is seen in his classes and the projects he supervises. Kelly\u2019s mathematical modeling class in May term deals with ecology, biology and economics. This summer he\u2019ll help an economics student develop a model on how media spreads through populations. The student will formulate problems to assist advertisers in deriving the most from their media buys. Kelly is already teaching the student optimal control theory (one of his main research areas) in anticipation of the research project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Engaging undergrads in research is essential to Kelly\u2019s teaching. And he explains just how approachable it is for students\u2014\u201cbecause you can think about the biological, real-world problem and translate it to a math problem and come up with interesting results.\u201d (Pre-med students get an introduction to this in his Calculus 1 class.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Biology continues to command the focus of his own research. His areas of interest include mathematical modeling in infectious diseases (prevention), invasive species (eradication) and natural resources (such as fishery management). Knowledge of biology comes in handy, he says\u2014something that a liberal arts education makes possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn mathematics you use what you know to get an answer,\u201d Kelly explains. \u201cYou\u2019re able to tackle real-world problems.\u201d Kelly lives to find solutions to these problems, teach the process and share the tools with others. It\u2019s what enthralls him\u2014and his students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns faculty-accolades is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Academic History<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>B.A. Mathematics, Franklin and Marshall College, 2008<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ph.D. Mathematics with concentration in Mathematical Ecology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2014<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Courses Taught at Transy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Differential Equations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mathematical Modeling<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Higher Analysis<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Applied Statistics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Introduction to Data Analytics and Statistics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Areas of Research<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mathematical ecology<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Applied mathematics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Optimal control theory<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ordinary and partial differential equations with applications<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Epidemiology<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Professional Memberships<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Society of Mathematical Biology<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mathematical Association of America<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Recent Publications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The impact of spatial arrangements on epidemic disease dynamics and intervention strategies (Journal of Biological Dynamics)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Optimal fish harvesting for a population modeled by a nonlinear parabolic partial differential equation (Natural Resource Modeling)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sustainable river-basin designs: siting hydropower to benefit American eels and energy production in the Roanoke river basin (Conference paper)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marine Reserves and Optimal Dynamic Harvesting When Fishing Damages Habitat (Theoretical Ecology)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Optimal implementation of the Trojan Y-Chromosome eradication strategy of an invasive species. (Journal of Biological Systems)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Exploring model distinguishability in mechanisms of transmission and loss of immunity in cholera. (Journal of Theoretical Biology)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4510,"template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"academic_division":[28,7],"class_list":["post-183","faculty","type-faculty","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kelly, Michael - Transylvania University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/academics\/faculty\/mikelly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kelly, Michael\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Although Michael Kelly entered college thinking about biology and pre-med, he quickly discovered his fascination for solving problems through mathematics. 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