Dr. Michael A. Lane, mathematics department chair, is Allen University’s 2020 SCICU Excellence in Teaching award recipient. He joined the Allen University faculty in 2015 and became chair of mathematics in 2019. Dr. Lane holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of South Carolina. He earned a B.A. in mathematics from Charleston Southern University, another SCICU member university.

Dr. Lane teaches a wide variety of mathematics courses ranging from introductory level for non-majors to senior courses in real and complex analysis. He has designed and pioneered new courses for both general education students and mathematics majors. Dr. Lane often utilizes the flipped classroom model, in which he has generated numerous full lesson-based videos to maximize student learning and achievement. His approach to teaching encourages students to bring their existing knowledge into the classroom and build on that knowledge consistently.

Dr. Lane’s research focuses on the combinatorics on words, specifically the concept of avoiding certain types of patterns on strings of symbols. He also mentors numerous undergraduate students conducting research projects on topics in graph theory.