Mohammad Javaheri

I graduated with a B.S. in Mathematics in 1999 from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, and with a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Stony Brook University in 2005. I joined Siena College in 2011 after visiting positions at the University of Oregon (Eugene, OR) and Trinity College (Hartford, CT).

My Siena Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

At the core of my teaching philosophy is problem solving. I believe students learn mathematics most deeply not by watching it being done, but by actively wrestling with problems, testing ideas, making mistakes, and refining their reasoning. To support this, I regularly incorporate group projects and presentations into my courses. Working in teams encourages students to share strategies, question one another’s thinking, and build understanding together, while presenting their work helps them communicate mathematical ideas clearly and with confidence. This approach has been strengthened by my commitment to Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL). After attending two IBL workshops, I have implemented its techniques in several of my classes, shifting the focus from lecturing toward guiding students as they explore questions, discover key concepts, and construct arguments on their own. I have seen firsthand how this method fosters curiosity, persistence, and independence, and how it transforms students from passive listeners into confident problem solvers who take ownership of their learning.

What I Love About Siena

Siena offers the kind of academic community where both teaching and scholarship can truly flourish. Its small class sizes allow me to know my students as individuals, engage them in meaningful discussion, and offer the personal mentorship that often makes the greatest difference in their learning. I have also been fortunate to find colleagues who are welcoming, collaborative, and generous with their time and ideas, which makes Siena feel less like a workplace and more like a community. Equally important, the institution gives faculty genuine room and freedom to grow: to experiment in the classroom, pursue new research directions, and take on initiatives that matter to us. Above all, I am continually inspired by Siena’s students, whose hard work, curiosity, and determination make teaching here deeply rewarding. 

My Favorite Courses to Teach

My favorite course to teach is calculus, because it is where mathematics comes alive for so many students. Calculus begins with abstract ideas such as limits, rates of change, and accumulation, which can at first seem distant from everyday experience. What I love is guiding students as those concepts develop step by step into powerful tools with a remarkable range of applications. The same ideas can model the motion of a falling object, optimize the design of a container, describe population growth, or measure the area under a curve that represents real data. Watching students make these connections is deeply rewarding, especially the moment when an abstract definition suddenly makes sense because they see what it can do. Calculus also gives me the chance to show students that mathematics is not just a set of procedures to memorize but a way of thinking: building careful reasoning from fundamental principles and then applying it creatively to understand the world around us.

My Professional Experience

Current Research

Articles & Book Reviews

• Symmetric harmoniousness of odd-order groups
  The Australasian Journal of Combinatorics, vol. 96
  2026
• Transitive actions and purely periodic N-expansions
  Journal of Number Theory, vol. 283
  2026
• Dynamics of the Fibonacci Order of Appearance Map
  Fibonacci Quarterly
  2025
• Harmonious sequences in groups with a unique involution
  Combinatorial Theory, vol. 5
  2025
• On 2025 and Other Torn Numbers
  American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 133
  2025
• Doubly sequencable groups
  Journal of Combinatorial Designs, vol. 32
  2024
• On a Cyclic Inequality Related to Chebyshev Polynomials
  INVOLVE Journal, vol. 17
  2024
• The Distribution of Fibonacci Numbers Modulo Primes
  American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 129
  2022
• Upper Bound Residues of the Fibonacci Sequence Modulo Primes
  Fibonacci Quarterly, vol. 60
  2022
• Permutations with a distinct divisor property
  International Electronic Journal of Algebra
  2021
• Complete Generalized Fibonacci Sequences Modulo Primes
  Moscow Journal of Combinatorics and Number Theory, vol. 9
  2020
• On Sets Closed Under the Cross Product and a Property of the Octahedron
  American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 127
  2020
• A note on polynomial sequences modulo integers
  Journal of Integer Sequences, vol. 22
  2019
• Cyclic composition operators on separable locally compact metric spaces
  Topology and Its Applications, vol. 258
  2019
• On the subgroup generated by solutions of Pell's equation
  Journal of Number Theory, vol. 194
  2019
• Loxodromes on hypersurfaces of revolution
  INVOLVE Journal, vol. 10
  2017
• Projective partitions of vector spaces
  Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra, vol. 32
  2017
• Cycle double covers of infinite planar graphs
  Discussiones Mathematicae Graph Theory, vol. 36
  2016
• On transitive polynomials modulo integers
  Notes on Number Theory and Discrete Mathematics, vol. 22
  2016
• The Correlation Numerical Range and Trace-Positive Complex Polynomials
  Operators and matrices, vol. 10
  2016
• Dynamics of semigroups of linear fractional transformations
  Dynamical Systems, vol. 29
  2014
• Hypercyclic and topologically transitive semigroups of composition operators
  Topology and Its Applications, vol. 164
  2014
• Maximally transitive semigroups of nxn matrices
  Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, vol. 401
  2013
• A Collatz-type conjecture on the set of rational numbers
  Journal of Number Theory, vol. 132
  2012
• Dense 2-generator subsemigroups of 2x2 matrices
  Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, vol. 387
  2012
• Semigroups of matrices with dense orbits
  Dynamical Systems, vol. 26
  2011
• On a property of plane curves
  Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, vol. 361
  2010
• Rigidity of conformally compact manifolds with the round sphere as the conformal infinity
  Advances in Mathematics, vol. 224
  2010
• Topologically transitive semigroup actions of real linear fractional transformations
  Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, vol. 368
  2010
• Chord Theorems on Graphs
  Proc. Amer. Math. Soc, vol. 137
  2009
• Convergence of Ricci flow on R^2 to flat space
  Journal of Geometric Analysis, vol. 19
  2009
• A generalization of Dirichlet approximation theorem for the affine actions on real line
  Journal of Number Theory, vol. 128
  2008
• Dirichlet problem on locally finite graphs
  Discrete Applied Mathematics, vol. 155
  2007
• A new arrangement inequality
  Journal of Inequalities in Pure and Applied Mathematics, vol. 7
  2006

Awards & Distinctions

• COTFD Fellowship Award
  Category: Research
  Siena College, 2016
• COFTD Fellowship Award
  Category: Research
  Siena College, 2014
• COTFD Fellowship Award
  Category: Research
  Siena College, 2012
•  
  Category: Research
  Stony Brook University, 2005
•  
  Category: Teaching
  Stony Brook University, 2003
•  
  Category: Other
  Sharif University of Technology, 1999
•  
  Category: Other
  Sharif University of Technology, 1996
•  
  Category: Other
  IMO, 1995
• IPM Fellowship Award
  Category: Other
  IPM, Iran, 1995

Presentations

• A Note on Polynomial Sequences Modulo Integers
  2020
  Joint Mathematics Meetings, Denver, Colorado
• Fair partitions of polygons
  April, 2018
  SUNY Oneonta, Oneonta, New York
• Cycle double covers of infinite planar graphs
  July, 2017
  Mathfest, Chicago, Illinois
• Non-existence in Mathematics
  March, 2015
  Siena College Mathematics Colloquium, Loudonville, New York
• Dynamics of semigroups of LFT
  January, 2015
  Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Antonio, Texas
• Continued fractions and other mathematical adventures
  November, 2014
  Union College Mathematics Colloquium, Union College, Schenectady, New York
• Proofs without words
  March, 2014
  Department of Mathematics Colloquium, Loudonville, New York
• Paul Erdos, the traveling mathematician
  March, 2013
  Department of Mathematics Colloquium, Loudonville, New York
• Dense 2-generator subsemigroups of 2x2 matrices
  January, 2012
  American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts
• Maximally transitive semigroups of matrices
  2012
  The 9th AIMS conference on Dynamical systems, Differential Equations, and Applications, Orlando, Florida
• Semigroups of matrices with dense orbits
  January, 2010
  American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California
• Semigroups of real functions with dense orbits
  November, 2009
  CCSU colloquium, New Britain, Connecticut
• Rigidity of conformally compact manifolds with the round sphere as the conformal infinity
  April, 2009
  AMS central section spring meeting, Urbana, Illinois
• On a property of plane curves
  January, 2009
  American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America Annual Meeting, Washington, District of Columbia
• On a property of plane curves
  November, 2008
  CCSU colloquium, New Britain, Connecticut
• Harmonic functions via inverse mean-value theorems
  January, 2008
  American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America Annual Meeting, San Diego, California
• Dirichlet problem on locally finite graphs
  November, 2007
  University of Oregon Geometry Seminar, Eugene, Oregon
• Chord Theorems on Graphs
  April, 2007
  MAA Pacific northwest section meeting, McMinnville, Oregon
• A combinatorial-analysis invariant of graphs
  January, 2007
  American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Conformally compact Einstein metrics with symmetry in dimension 5
  October, 2006
  AMS central section fall meeting, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Conformally compact Einstein metrics with symmetry in dimension 5
  March, 2006
  Oregon State University Analysis seminar, Corvallis, Oregon