Taalman earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1994.[1] She completed her Ph.D. at Duke University in 2000; her dissertation, Monomial Generators for the Nash Sheaf of a Complete Resolution, was supervised by William L. Pardon.[1][2] On finishing her doctorate, she joined the James Madison faculty; she has also worked as the mathematician-in-residence at the National Museum of Mathematics in 2014–2015.[1]
In 2013–2014, after becoming head of the 3d printing lab at James Madison University, Taalman set out on a project of printing one 3d model per day. Her models have included subjects from mathematics including knots, fractals, and snap-together polyhedra.[3][4]
Books
With Peter Kohn, Taalman is the author of a textbook Calculus.[5] She is also the author of a different text, Calculus I with Integrated Precalculus.
In 2005, Taalman won the Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished
Teaching by a Beginning College or
University Mathematics Faculty Member, given by the Mathematical Association of America.[9]
Her book Taking Sudoku Seriously was the 2012 winner of the PROSE Awards in the popular science and popular mathematics category.[10]
