Neil Sigmon's Homepage

Personal Information                Office Hours Summer 2025
Neil P. Sigmon                                           Whitt 226
Department of Mathematics                         
Radford University                                      Other times by appointment
P.O. Box 6942                                            Schedule 
Radford University                                      
Radford, VA 24142                                                                                    

Phone: (540) 831-5325                                    
Fax: (540) 831-6452
email: npsigmon@radford.edu

Education: B.S., M.S., Ph. D. from North Carolina State University

• Cryptology Classical and Modern with Maplets, a textbook from CRC Press written with Dr. Richard Klima of Appalachian State University. This text gives an introduction to cryptology for students with less mathematical training. Topics of coverage include classical ciphers such as substitution, transposition, the Enigma cipher, a verbal simulation of the Navajo code, the Hill cipher, and more modern ciphers including RSA, ElGamal, AES, and message authenication  including digital signatures and public key infrastructures. Easy to use technology requiring no background programming knowledge using Maplets is integrated into each topic. 

• Applied Abstract Algebra with Maple and MATLAB, Third Edition, a textbook from CRC Press written with Dr. Richard Klima of Appalachian State University and Ernest. L. Stitzinger of North Carolina State University. This text explores common abstract algebra applications such as block designs, error correcting codes, cryptography, Polya enumeration, and music theory  with relevant programs, examples, and exercises written for Maple V and MATLAB.

• WeBWorK is a highly successful program designed to deliver Internet-based mathematics homework to students. Designed by Professors Michael Gage and Arnold Pizer at the University of Rochester with support from the National Science Foundation, this program was introduced at Radford University in college algebra and has been integrated into several other courses. The work at Radford University was initially supported by the National Science Foundation Grant DUE project 0125586. Click Jacksonville presentation to see a presentation involving WeBWorK.
  

• Other Publications

   "The ElGamal Cryptosystem on the TI-83", with Blake Rice and Bill Yankosky, Mathematics and Computer Education,
   Volume 43, No. 1, 2009, 29-35.

  "Using Web-based Multimedia Applications to Enhance Mathematics Instruction with Reed-Solomon Codes”, with Gregory Gibson. The Electronic Journal of Mathematics and Technology, Volume 2, No. 1, 2008, 20-37.

  "Teaching Cryptography in a Wireless Environment using Maplets”, The Electronic Journal of Mathematics,
  and Technology, Volume 1, No. 2, 2007, 156-164.
  
  "Elliptic Curve Cryptography with Java”, with Richard Klima, Mathematics and Computer Education,
  Volume 39, No. 2, 2005, 113-119.
  
  "Using the TI-92 Plus to Introduce the RSA Cryptosystem”, with Rob Harger,  Missouri Journal
  of Mathematical Sciences, Volume 17, No. 2, 2005, 106-117.

        "Determination of Satellite Orbits with Vector Calculus", The UMAP Journal, Volume 24, No. 1,
         2003, 27-52.

        "RSA Encryption with the TI-82", with Bill Yankosky, Mathematics and Computer Education,
         Volume 36, No. 1, 2002, 13-23.

        "Applications of Maple to Algebraic Cryptography", Mathematics and Computer Education,
        Volume 3, No. 3, 1997, 220-228.

        "Applications of Maple to Reed-Solomon Codes", with Ernest L. Stitzinger, MapleTech,
        Volume 3, No. 3, 1996, 53-59.

        "Parallelization of a Global Circulation Model", with J. S. Scroggs, Proceedings of the Sixth Siam
        Conference on Parallel Processing for Scientific Computing, Volume 1, 1993,  76-78.