Faculty Profiles

In 1987, Dr. Paul Isihara joined Wheaton's faculty after lecturing two years at Rochester Institute of Technology while completing his dissertation. He enjoys teaching students in many different areas and levels of college mathematics, and has been involved with undergraduate research in several different fields including atonal music theory, knot theory, cwatset theory, relational database and coding theory, wind turbines, dynamical systems in epidemiology, typhoon prediction, disaster relief and most recently, urban data analysis in collaboration with Wheaton in Chicago. Dr. Isihara is also passionate about ministry and has experience working with inner-city youth, mentally ill, homeless, and international students. He helped develop an engineering college in Tigray, Ethiopia and is currently supporting humanitarian work and gospel outreach to that region. He has a lifelong interest in playing classical and worship music on violin.

SUNY Buffalo
Ph.D., 1987

Houghton College
B.A., 1979

• Community Based Operations Research
• Discrete Math
• Math Modeling

• Mathematical Association of America: member
• Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences: member

Creativity in Undergraduate Mathematics
SonSet Solutions, Elkhart, IN

Finite Fields and Error-Correcting Codes
North Central College, Naperville, IL

The Mathematical Samaritan: For All Humanitarian Purposes
Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin

Mobile and Mapping Tools for Emergency Disaster Response
HCJB Global Tech Center, Elkhart, IN

HCJB Applied Math Seminar: Mathematics of Digital Signal Processing
HCJB Global Tech Center, Elkhart, IN

 

• Math 101 Quantitative Skills
• Math 218, 221, 231, 232, 331 Calculus at Different Levels
• Math 243, 343 Discrete Math
• Math 385 Topics in Applied Math: Community Development Models

• Discrete Math
• Math Modeling
• Community Based Operations Research
• Research Experiences for Undergraduates

A Groundwater Contaminant Extraction Model Using Complex Potentials (ILAP Module),  UMAP Journal  Isihara, P.,  Henneker, L.,  Luhmann, A., Bowden, N., Bremner, D., Higgins, J., McKay, S., and Reyes, J. 2022.

A College Teacher’s Introduction to Python Jupyter Notebooks, International Journal for Technology in Mathematics Education Isihara, P. 2021. 

The Chicago Hardship Index: An Introduction to Urban Inequity, Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education  Isihara, P., Wood, H.,  Jantsch, P., Cameron,  C., Varberg, N.,  Crawford, D.,  Ferguson, S., Henneker, L.,  Holmberg, A.,  Johnson, G., Pearsall, O.,  Peterson, A.,  Plimpton, C.,  and Rogers, K. 2021.

 Data Detectives: Homicides in Chicago, Journal of Undergraduate Mathematics and its Applications, Isihara, P. 2021

Identifying most typical and most ideal attribute levels in small populations of expert decision makers: Studying the Go/No Go decision of disaster relief organizations, Journal of Choice Modeling
Isihara, P., Shi, C., Ward, J., O'Malley, L., Laney, S., Diedrichs, D., and Flores, G. 2020

A priori assessment of a smart-navigated aerial vehicle disaster cargo fleet, Simulation
Larson, J., Isihara, P., Flores, G., Townsend, E., Diedrichs, D., Bars, C., Kwon, S., McKinnon, W., Nussbaum, J., Steggerda, C., and Yan, J. 2020

Introducing PEARL: A Gini-like index and reporting tool for public accountability and equity in disaster response, Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Carlson, C., Isihara, P., Sandburg, R., Boan, D., Phelps, K., Lee, K., Diedrichs, D., Cuba, D., Edman, J., Gray, M., Hesse, R., Kong, R., Takazawa, K., 2016

Number parity duality, non-distributivity, and a nonlinear error-correcting code, Pi Mu Epsilon Journal
Isihara, P., Dinkins, H., Edman J., Flora, S., McNeil, C., Swain, E., Thomas, H., Varberg, N., and Diedrichs, D., 2016

Quantifying Communication Effects in Disaster Response Logistics: A Multiple Network System Dynamics Model, Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Diedrichs, D, Phelps, K., Isihara, P., 2016

The Schedule Effect: Can Recurrent Peak Infections be Reduced Without Vaccines, Quarantines or School Closings?, Mathematical Biosciences
Diedrichs D, Isihara P, Buursma D, 2014

The CWS Model of Alzheimer's Disease, UMAP Journal
Isihara, P., Bowen, A., Brown, I., Dennison, T., Hanna, W., and Williams, K., 2013

Multipeg Tower of Hanoi, The College Mathematics Journal
Isihara, P. and Buursma, D., 2013