Date: May 03, 2011

THE SCIENCE OF BASEBALL

Hofstra professor presents “Talking Baseball: Engineering, Math, Science and the ERA” Thursday, May 5th 7:30-9pm at the Helene Fortunoff Theater, Monroe Lecture Center, South Campus

Hofstra University Hempstead, NY – Hofstra University's IDEAS institute wraps up its 2010-2011 Science Evenings with IDEAS series with the interesting connection between baseball and science.  Dr. Richard Puerzer, associate professor of Engineering delves into the history of baseball and its roots in science and engineering.

From the time of "scientific baseball" in the early 1900's to the application of "moneyball" today, baseball has been closely linked to applications in engineering, science, and math. Such diverse fields as statistical analysis and optimization, ergonomics, material science, as well as organizational behavior and management theory all apply to baseball. This presentation explores several of these applications from both historical and contemporary points of view.

"Baseball is widely known as America's pastime, but not many people see it as a scientific entity," said Eloise Gmur, director of the IDEAS institute.  "Listening to Dr. Puerzer discuss the scientific element of the sport may change how you watch and think about baseball."

Dr. Richard Puerzer is an Associate Professor of Engineering and the Chairperson of the Engineering Department at Hofstra University, where he has taught since 1996.  He has researched, presented, and written on a broad array of baseball topics and his work has been published in the journals: Nine, The National Pastime, The Proceedings of the Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, Spitball, and Fan.  He presented the spring 2003 Hofstra University Distinguished Faculty Lecture on Engineering and Baseball and he is on the editorial board for the journal Nine: The Journal of Baseball and Culture.  He has also published work in the fields of engineering education and radio frequency identification technology applications.  He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research.

IDEAS Institute of the School of Education, Health and Human Services – Creating Public Visibility for Advances in Science and Technology
Since January of 2003, IDEAS has been dedicated to increasing public understanding of science. It further seeks to encourage greater interest in advanced study in the sciences and technology by enhancing the skills of pre-college and college science and technology educators. Science Evenings with IDEAS is one of the activities IDEAS engages in to achieve these goals.  For more information visit www.hofstra.edu/IDEAS

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution of higher education where more than 12,000 full and part-time students choose from undergraduate and graduate offerings in liberal arts and sciences, business, engineering, communication, education, health and human services, honors studies, a School of Law and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.  With a small average class size (22 students) and low student-teacher ratio (14-1), the University also provides excellent facilities with state-of-the-art technology, extensive library resources and internship programs that match students' interests and abilities with appropriate companies and organizations.  The Hofstra community is driven, dynamic and energetic, helping students find and focus their strengths to prepare them for a successful future.  Located in Nassau County, New York, on over 240 acres, the University is less than an hour from midtown Manhattan.

##