Drew Pasteur

Biography

Drew Pasteur received his BS and MEd degrees from the University of Florida, then was a teacher/coach at Fuquay-Varina (NC) High School high school for several years. Upon completing his MS and PhD at N.C. State, he joined the Wooster faculty in 2008. Drew primarily teaches applied/computational upper-level math courses, calculus, and the liberal arts math course. With a background in mathematical biology, he frequently advises students double majoring in the applied sciences. Drew has mentored dozens of students on sports analytics research projects and was the founding chair of the MAA’s <a href=”https://sites.google.com/view/sportssigmaa/”>Sports SIGMAA</a> group in 2018. He co-led Wooster’s Mathematical & Computational Sciences department from 2019 to 2023 and has served as a Faculty Athletic Representative to the college’s NCAA athletic program since 2016.

Courses Taught

First Year Seminar
Calculus
Calculus with Algebra
Differential Equations
Numerical Analysis
Mathematical Modeling
Introduction to Mathematical Biology
Math in Contemporary Society
Problem Seminar

Selected Publications & Presentations

R.D. Pasteur, E. Howerton*, P. Pozderac*, S. Young*, J. Moore, “A Flight-Based Metric for Evaluation of NFL Punters,” Journal of Sports Analytics, Pre-press, pp. 1-13, 2018.
R.D. Pasteur and J. David,”Evaluation of Quarterbacks and Kickers,” in Handbook of Statistical Methods for Design and Analyses in Sports, CRC Press, 2016.
R.D. Pasteur and K. Cunningham-Rhoads*, “An expectation-based metric for NFL field goal kickers,” Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 10(1), 2014.
A. Blaikie*, A.D. Saines*, M. Schmitthenner*, M. Lankford*, R.D. Pasteur, and J.F. Lindner, “Order and chaos in the rotation and revolution of two massive line segments,” Physical Review E, 89, 042917, 2014.
G.H. Nguyen*, J. Kedia*, R.F. Snyder*, R.D. Pasteur, and R.D. Wooster, “Sales Forecasting using Regression and Artificial Neural Networks,” Proceedings of MCURCSM 2013.
S. Visa, S. Strand, R.D. Pasteur, and W. Morgan, Interdisciplinary Teaching and Research at a Liberal Arts College on Computational Biology Proceedings of the 16th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics, and Informatics, Special Track on Interdisciplinary Research, Education, and Communication, pp. 196-201, Orlando, 2012
J. David, R.D. Pasteur, M.C. Janning*, and M.S. Ahmad*, NFL Prediction Using Committees of Artificial Neural Networks Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 7(2), 2011.
A.D. Blaikie*, G.J. Abud*, J.A. David, and R.D. Pasteur, “NFL and NCAA Football Prediction using Artificial Neural Networks,” Proceedings of the Midstates Conference for Undergraduate Research in Computer Science and Mathematics, Denison University, Granville, OH, 2011.
R.D. Pasteur and M.C. Janning*, Monte Carlo Simulation for High School Playoff Seed ProjectionJournal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 7(2), 2011.
R.D. Pasteur and J.F. Selgrade, “A Deterministic, Mathematical Model for Hormonal Control of the Human Menstrual Cycle”, Chap. 3 (pp. 39-58) in W. Dubitsky, J. Southgate, and H. Fuss (eds.), Understanding the Dynamics of Biological Systems: Lessons from Integrative Systems Biology, Springer-Verlag, 2011.
A.M. Licking*, K.R. Reid*, R.D. Pasteur, and J.R. Ramsay, “A non-elliptical model for steel cord cross-sections,” Proceedings of the Midstates Conference for Undergraduate Research in Computer Science and Mathematics, Wittenberg University, pp. 34-42, 2010.
R.D. Pasteur, “When Perfect Isn’t Good Enough: Retrodictive Rankings in College Football,” Chap. 11 (pp. 131-146) in J.A. Gallian (ed.), Mathematics and Sports, Mathematical Association of America, 2010.
R.D. Pasteur, “Extending the Colley Method to Generate Predictive Football Rankings,” Chap. 10 (pp. 117-129) in J. A. Gallian (ed.), Mathematics and Sports, Mathematical Association of America, 2010.
NSF Grant ($174,363 for College of Wooster) for “Robust organ patterning by OFPs, TRMs and SUNs in plant morphogenesis” (Co-pi in collaboration with E. van der Knaap and C. McGregor from Univ. of Georgia; and I. Goldman from Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison), 2020-2025.
NSF Grant ($396,970 for College of Wooster) for “Exploitation of genetic and epigenetic variation in the regulation of tomato fruit quality traits” (Co-pi in collaboration with E. van der Knaap), 2015-2019.
Mellon Grant for a Pedagogical Project ($9,700) for developing a Tesseract-based Optical Character Recognition System to Transcribing Early Modern Texts Having Non-standard Fonts, 2015-2016.
NSF Grant ($156,000 for College of Wooster) for “Discovery of Genes and Networks Regulating Tomato Fruit Morphology” (Co-pi in collaboration with E. van der Knaap, B. McSpadden Gardener, C. Catala), 2009- 2013.
Best Master of Science Thesis Award for 2002-2003, Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Honors & Awards Ceremony, University of Cincinnati, 2003.
NATO Advance Studies Institute Grant for “Artificial Intelligence and Heuristic Methods for
Bioinformatics”, San Miniato, Italy, October 1-11, 2001.

*indicates student co-author

Independent Study Advising

She Shoots, She Scores: Creating a Mathematical Model to Predict Expected Shot Values in Women’s NCAA Division III Basketball (Paige McKean, 2018)
Sports Analytics with Computer Vision (Colby Jeffires, Math and Computer Science, 2018)
The Shot Heard Around the World: Determining the Influence of the Spread of the Anti-Vaccination Ideology on Measles Outbreaks Using Epidemiological Models (Jennifer Shepherd, Public Health/Epidemiology, 2018)
Dispatches from the Fly Killer: A mathematical model that studies the correlation between sleep fragmentation and longevity in Drosophila melanogaster (Vedica Jha, Math and Biology, 2018)
Crime Around the World: Using Mathematical Modeling Techniques to Model Aggregated Worldwide Crime Rates (Kelly Steurer, 2018)
Are We There Yet? A Traveling Salesman Approach to Road-trip Optimization (Lauren Burke, 2018)
Predicting NCAA Division I Softball At-Large Bids (Madelynn Chase, 2018)
Smallball: A statistical Analysis of the 2016 SEC Baseball Season (Jacob Kail, 2017)
Reinforcement Learning in Card Games: No Thanks! (Robin Morillo, 2017)
A Mathematical Modeling Examination of the Changing Social, Economic and Environmental Indicators for Infant Mortality Across the United States (Sophia Anderson, 2017)
The Use of Data and Statistical Analysis to Predict an Outcome (Colin Woodward, 2015)
Why Apply? Building a Predictive Model to Quantify the Factors that Lead a Domestic Student to Apply to The College of Wooster (Joshua Foerst, 2015)
XH-π bonding in systems of indole and benzene using IBBCEAS and a bioinformatics analysis of protein secondary structure using graph theory (Meredith Schervish, Math and Chemistry, 2015)
Conquering Carcassonne (Andrew Hoover, Math and Computer Science, 2015)
Analysis of Factors that Influence the Probability of a Goal in the National Hockey League (Josephine Rey, 2014)
Go with the Flow Developing Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations According to the Navier-Stokes Equations (Danielle Shepherd, Math and Physics, 2014)
Modeling for our Lives: A Theoretical Study of HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Through Mathematical Modeling (Jacob Malone, 2014)
Creation of a Mathematical Model and Investigation of the Kinetics of the Reaction Between the Oxalic Acid Species and the Hydroxyl Radical (Sarah Laper, Math and Chemistry, 2014)
The Entanglement and Relaxation of Liquid Crystal Shaped Granular Media (Theresa Albon, Math and Physics, 2013)
A Theoretical and Experimental Pattern Analysis of Electrohydrodynamic Convection in a Liquid Crystal System (Matt Schmitthenner, Math and Physics, 2013)
An Agent-based Model of Influenza Within a College Population (Matt Lambert, Math and Computer Science, 2013)
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Optimizing Integer Arithmetic for Public Key Cryptography (Spencer Hall, Math and Computer Science, 2013)
Entrapment and determination of lipase embedded in swellable organosilica, modeling particle aggregation and aging of colloidal sol-gels (Kemar Reid, Math and BCMB, 2012)
Prediction of professional basketball games using artificial neural networks and linear models (Keisha Butler, 2012)
Experimental and theoretical investigation of the dimerization of oxalic acid, a potential reaction within secondary organic aerosols (Melissa Venecek, Math and Chemistry, 2012)
Using mathematical models to evaluate NFL field goal kicking (Kyle Cunningham-Rhoads, 2012)
Modeling human papillomavirus with vaccination (Meredith Kiefer, 2012)
Model looking at the expected number of shots to hole out on a golf course (Blake Sword, 2012)
Exploring the Effects of Initial Conditions on the Kinetics of the Decomposition of Dichloroacetic Acid through a Hydrogen Peroxide and Ultraviolet Radiation Oxidation Process (Pamela Wales, Math and Chemistry, 2011)
An Introduction to Game Theory and its Application to Biology (Hannah Kurtz, 2011)
An Evolutionary Study of Multimeric Phosphagen Kinases Using Ancestral Protein Reconstruction and the Prediction of Phosphagen Kinase Substrate Specificity Using Artificial Neural Networks (Jason Van Houten, Math and BCMB, 2011)
What Factors Really Affect Jurors’ Decisions: A Mathematical Modeling Approach to a Common Psychological Question (Dustin Eisele, Math and Psychology, 2011)

Awards & Honors

Spring 2023 College Citizen Award (recognizes one employee for "outstanding service and performance in the workplace, exemplifying excellence in their values, honesty, integrity, cooperation, and collaboration while motivating and inspiring colleagues to continually improve.")
2023 Most Valuable Professor Award (annually honors one faculty member for support of Wooster Scots athletics, selected by a vote of student-athletes)