DisplayBio.aspx

Department of Mathematical Sciences Display Biographical Details

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FR Gabriel Costa

Professor of Mathematics
DoD Civilian

Contact Information:
Office Location: Thayer Hall, Room 235A
Phone: 5625
Email: gabriel.costa@usma.edu

Father Costa currently teaches MA 153 Advanced Multivariable Calculus and MA 255 Mathematical Modeling & Introduction to Differential Equations.

I was born in Jersey City, NJ in 1948 and raised in Hoboken, NJ. I graduated from Hoboken High School in 1966 and went to Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) on a four-year scholarship. After graduation in 1970, I took a position as a Teaching Assistant at SIT, completing my M.S. in the spring of 1972. After a year of teaching high school, I began studies for the Roman Catholic priesthood. I was ordained a priest on 26 May 1979 for service to the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ. A year later I was assigned to the faculty of the Mathematics (now Mathematics and Computer Science) department of Seton Hall University. I received my doctorate in 1984. After receiving tenure as an Associate Professor, I took a year's sabbatical (1991-1992). During my sabbatical year, I was invited to present a talk to the Department of Mathematical Sciences at USMA. This was my introduction to the department. Since then, I have spent three previous tours here: 1992-1993, 1995-1996, 1999-2001. Presently, I am on an extended Academic Leave from Seton Hall University.

Publications

“The Inner Confrontation: A Victory” The CORD, Vol 35, No 5, May 1985, St. Bonaventure, NY 14778
“Teaching a Course on Francis of Assisi” The CORD, Vol 36, No 11 December 1986
With L. E. Levine, “Polynomial Solutions of Certain Classes of Ordinary Differential Equations” International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, Vol 20, No 1 January - February 1989 United Kingdom
“Three Perspectives of Francis of Assisi: A Reflection” The CORD, Vol 41, No 6 June 1991
“Baseball in the University Classroom: Sabermetrics” EDUCATION, Vol 112, No 2 Winter 1991 Chula Vista, CA 91910
“Polynomial Solutions to Certain Second Order Differential Equations” IJMEST, Vol 23, No 1 January – February 1992
“Francis of Assisi and the Use of Titles: A Reflection on The Canticle of the Creatures” The CORD, Vol 42, No 5 May 1992
With L. E. Levine “Families of Separable Partial Differential Equations” IJMEST, Vol 24, No 5 September – October 1993
“The Total Power Quotient” The Baseball Research Journal (SABR), Vol 22 1993 Cleveland, OH 44101
“Baseball’s Greatest Hitter: Williams or Ruth?” Elysian Fields Quarterly, Vol 12, No 3 1993 Madison, WI 53744
“All Alone: The Diocesan Priest” Pastoral Life, Vol 44, No 1 January 1994 Canfield, OH 44406
With L. E. Levine, “A Generalization of the Steady State Equation for a Solid Sphere” IJMEST, Vol 25, No 1 January – February 1994
“Was Cobb’s Batting More Dominant than Ruth’s Slugging?” EFQ, Vol 13, No 2 1994
“The Continuing Challenge of Francis of Assisi” The CORD, Vol 44, No 12 December 1994
“…protect us from all anxiety…” SWORD, Vol 55, Nos 1&2 1995 Cresskill, NJ 07626
“The Father, The Babe and The Holy Ghosts” FAN: A Baseball Magazine, No 21 Winter 1996 Atlanta, GA 30361
With L. E. Levine, “Classes of Second Order Differential Equations with Two Linearly Independent Finite Polynomial Solutions” IJMEST, Vol 27, No 4 July – August 1996
With John T. Saccoman, “The Keystone Combination: Team Teaching in a Sabermetrics Course” PRIMUS, Vol III, No 7 September 1997 West Point, NY 10996
With Mary Ashworth, et al., “Percentage of Extra Base Hits” BRJ, Vol 26 1997 Cleveland, OH 44101
With L. E. Levine, “Nth-Order Differential Equations with Finite Polynomial Solutions” IJMEST, Vol 29, No 6 November – December 1998
“Babe Ruth Dethroned?” BRJ, Vol 31 2003
With J. Picciuto, “Do I really need to know mathematics?” Teaching Mathematics & its Applications, Vol 24, No 1 February 2005 United Kingdom
“Parallel Lives?”, THE Priest, Vol 61, No 5 May 2005 Huntington, IN 46750
With Michael R. Huber and John T. Saccoman, “Cumulative Home Run Frequency and the Recent Home Run Explosion” BRJ, Vol 34 2005
With Richard Bronson, Schaum’s Outlines: DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS Third Edition June 2006 McGraw Hill Publishers New York, NY 10121 ISBN: 0-07-145687-2
With M. Gorak and B. Melendez, “Visualization of two dimensional to three dimensional transformations – exploration through technology” IJMEST, Vol 37, No 7 October 2006
With Richard Bronson, Linear Algebra: An Introduction Second Edition March 2007 Academic Press Publishers San Diego, CA 92101 ISBN: 978-0-1208-8784-2 and 0-12-088784-3
With Michael R. Huber and John T. Saccoman, Understanding Sabermetrics January 2008 McFarland & Company, Inc. Jefferson, NC 28640 ISBN: 978-0-7864-3388-9
With Archie Wilmer, “Solving Second - Order Differential Equations with Variable Coefficients” IJMEST, Vol 39, No 2 March 2008
With Richard Bronson, Matrix Methods: An Introduction Third Edition Fall 2008 Academic Press Publishers San Diego, CA 92101 ISBN: 978-0-1237-4427-2
With Michael R. Huber and John T. Saccoman, Practicing Sabermetrics Fall 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc. Jefferson, NC 28640 ISBN: 978-0-7864-4177-8
With Michael R. Huber and John T. Saccoman, Reasoning with Sabermetrics Fall 2012 McFarland & Company, Inc. Jefferson, NC 28640 ISBN: 978-0-7864-6071-7

Presentations

Topic: What is Sabermetrics? Colloquium for the Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ 07030 Spring 1988
Topic: Polynomial Solutions of Some Sturm-Liouville Equations Ninth Annual Southeast Atlantic Conference on Differential Equations University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC 28223 14 October 1989
Topic: Sabermetrics in the University Classroom SABR XXI Conference for the Society for American Baseball Research New York, NY 10018 28 June 1991
Topic: Special Differential Equations and Solutions Colloquium for the Department of Mathematical Sciences United States Military Academy West Point, NY 10996 16 October 1991
Topic: The Mathematical Comparisons Between Babe Ruth and Other Sluggers Baseball and the Sultan of Swat Conference Commemorating the 100th Birthday of Babe Ruth Hofstra University Hempstead, NY 11550 27 April 1995
Topic 1: Priesthood and Loneliness: A Changed Lifestyle Topic 2: The Diocesan Priesthood and Franciscan Spirituality: A Reflection Ninth Annual Institute for Priests National Institute for Clergy Formation of Seton Hall University West End, NJ 07740 3 July 1996
With John T. Saccoman Topic: Team Teaching a Course on Sabermetrics Center for Faculty Development Seminar Department of Mathematical Sciences United States Military Academy West Point, NY 10996 21 January 1997
Topic: Strategies for Teaching Algebra New Jersey Catholic Schools Math Academy Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ 07079 25 June 1999
With John T. Saccoman Topic: “The Keystone Combination: Team Teaching a Sabermetrics Course” Twenty-Ninth Annual Mathematics and Statistics Conference: Statistics in Sports Miami University Oxford, OH 45056 28 September 2001
Topic: The Teaching of Sabermetrics Center for Teaching Excellence Department of Mathematics Marist College Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 29 October 2004

Miscellaneous

Creator of First-ever University credited course on Sabermetrics Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ 07079 1988
Awarded Certificate of Appreciation for ten years of service Adjunct Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Fairleigh Dickinson University Teaneck, NJ 07666 9 May 1989
Nominated for Seton Hall Professor of the Year Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ 07079 March 1992
Recipient of The Outstanding Civilian Service Medal United States Military Academy West Point, NY 10996 4 June 1993 1 May 1996
Recipient of Federal Grant (Program Number 100 – 297) Faculty Workshop: The Teaching of Mathematics Academy of St. Benedict Newark, NJ 07105 June 1993
Recipient of the Hoboken Public Schools Distinguished Graduate Award Presented by the Hoboken Board of Education Hoboken, NJ 07030 7 May 1994
Member of the Records Committee Society for American Baseball Research Cleveland, OH 44101 May 1995 – Present
Named in Great Minds Salutation to Graduates for the 125th Anniversary of Stevens Institute of Technology The Chronicle of Higher Education Washington, DC 20037 12 January 1996
Award Recipient Reception for Faculty Excellence Hosted by Board of Regents Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ 07079 25 September 1996
Recipient of the Human Relations Citation Presented by the Human Relations Council Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ 07079 4 December 1996
Recipient of An Award of Recognition Presented by the Educational Opportunity Program Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ 07079 1 March 1998
With John T. Saccoman Radio – Phone Interview News and Views Topic: Talking Baseball and Sabermetrics WSOU 89.5 FM Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ 07079 Fall 1998
Cited/Referenced in Young Babe Ruth, Brother Gilbert, CFX, (H. Rothgerber, ed.) McFarland & Co., Inc. North Carolina, USA Page 170 1999
Inducted into PI MU EPSILON United States Military Academy Chapter West Point, NY 10996 12 May 2000
Recipient of the Commander’s Award For Public Service Medal United States Military Academy West Point, NY 10996 17 May 2001
With Ed Connors and John Bracey Math Medley Radio Show Topic: How To Make The Teaching Of Mathematics More Interesting WALE 990 AM Providence, RI 02904 18 August 2001
Contributed to Papers presented to the American Mathematical Society • “Loading the Bases: Teaching a Statistics Course with the WWW, the Smart Board and Baseball” ,Michael R. Huber, Presenter (Reference Number: 993-C1-192) • “Sabermetrics: Giving College Credit for Studying Baseball”, Michael R. Huber, Presenter (Reference Number: 993-W1-190) • “Visualization of 2D to 3D Transformations – Exploration Thru Technology”, Mark Gorak, Presenter; Barbra S Melendez, Contributer (Reference Number: 993-G1-1058) ABSTRACTS from Phoenix, AZ Meeting, Vol 25, No 1 7 January 2004 – 10 January 2004
Review on Back Jacket of Baseball and Philosophy, Edited by Eric Bronson Open Court, Chicago and LaSalle, IL 2004
Cited/Referenced in “You Can’t Spell SpORts Without O.R., but…You Can Teach O.R. With Sports”, OR/MS Today, Vol 31, No 4 James J. Cochran Marietta, GA 30060 August 2004
Featured in “The Path Less Traveled”, The Stevens Indicator, Vol 122, No 2 Beth Kissinger Stevens Institute of Technology Alumni Association Hoboken, NJ 07070 Spring 2005
Featured in “Priest teaches baseball stats to West Point cadets” Catholic Start Herald, Vol 55, No 17 Mark Pattison (Catholic News Service) Catholic Star Herald 15 North 7th Street Camden, NJ 08102 26 August 2005
Contributed to Paper presented to the American Mathematical Society “Modeling Problems and Remodeling Attitudes” Michael R. Huber, Presenter Alex Heidenberg, Richard Brown and Jay Miseli, Co-contributors (Reference Number: 1014-G1-749) ABSTRACTS from San Antonio, TX Meeting, Vol 27, No 1 12 January 2006 – 15 January 2006
Inducted into SIGMA PI SIGMA United States Military Academy Chapter West Point, NY 10996 28 February 2006
Inducted into PHI KAPPA PHI United States Military Academy Chapter West Point, NY 10996 3 May 2006
Featured in “Doing the math: Father Costa adds up his ministry as a chaplain and professor” The Catholic Advocate, Vol 55, No 16 Ward Miele Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark 171 Clifton Avenue Newark, NJ 07104 6 September 2006
Cited/Referenced in EMPOWERMENT: The Competitive Edge in Sports, Business & Life Gene N. Landrum Morgan James Publishing, Garden City, NY Pages 53, 54 2007
Contributed to Paper presented to the American Mathematical Society “Modeling Cumulative Home Run Frequencies and the Recent Home Run Explosion” Michael R. Huber, Presenter John Saccoman and Brandon Stern-Charles, Co-contributors (Reference Number: 1046-N1-210) ABSTRACTS from Washington, DC Meeting, Vol 30, No 1 5 January 2009 – 8 January 2009
Recipient of the Commander’s Award For Civilian Service Medal United States Military Academy West Point, NY 10996 January 2010
Author of “By The Numbers” blog for WFAN 660 AM radio Link: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/tag/father-gabe-costa/ June 2010 - Present

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