Fall 2002 Chapter News The Newsletter for Advisors of Student Chapters of the Mathematical Association of America Available online at http://www.maa.org/students/chapter_news/chapternewsnovember02.pdf Joint Winter Meetings in Baltimore The Joint Mathematics Meetings will take place January 15-18, 2003, in Baltimore, Maryland. The location is close to the harbor, in the Baltimore Convention Center. Activities of interest to students include an opening reception for undergraduate students, the MAA Student Lecture, and the Outreach Initiative for Underrepresented students. See page 4 to find out more about these and other activities for students. Burlington MathFest MathFest 2002, the annual summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America, took place in Burlington, Vermont from August 1-3. The weather was warmer than usual for August in the northeast as the meetings unfolded in the Burlington Sheraton Hotel. Student activities began with the MAA/Pi Mu Epsilon undergraduate student reception in an inner courtyard of the meeting site. As usual, the MAA Student Paper Sessions were a highlight of the student activities at MathFest. The MAA Student Workshop and Student Lecture both attracted large audiences with their very different takes on mathematics. The Student Hospitality Center was open throughout the MathFest to provide students with a place to relax, meet others, and talk. See the Burlington Breakdown on pages 2 and 3 for details. What s Inside Burlington Breakdown: Undergraduate Student Reception 2 MAA Student Paper Sessions 2 MAA Student Workshop 3 MAA Student Lecture 3 Whassup in Baltimore: MAA Student Lecture 4 Outreach Initiative for Underrepresented Students 4 Student Chapter Spotlight 4 Contact Information 5 1
Burlington Breakdown MAA/Pi Mu Epsilon Undergraduate Student Reception Mathfest 2002 activities for students kicked off with the MAA/Pi Mu Epsilon Reception for Undergraduate Students on Wednesday, July 31, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The venue for the reception, an outside courtyard of the Burlington Sheraton, was ideal given the warm, sunny conditions that prevailed throughout the meetings. Students and other guests enjoyed a variety of appetizers and beverages as Jean Bee Chan and Richard Neal, co-chairs of the Committee on Undergraduate Student Activities and Chapters, and Robert Smith of Pi Mu Epsilon welcomed the students to the meeting. MAA Student Paper Sessions A record number of students participated in the MAA Student Paper Sessions at MathFest 2002. The sessions were held from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 1 and from 1:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. on Friday, August 2. In all there were 58 presentations involving 64 students. There were 36 students who identified themselves as participants in one of five different REU s. A Council on Undergraduate Research Award of $150 for an MAA Student Paper was presented to: Daniel G. Treat (University of Missouri- Rolla): PDE s on the Octagasket Fractal MAA awards of $150 for outstanding presentations were presented to: Katherine A. Bold (University of Texas Austin): Examining Bifurcations of the Forced Van Der Pol Equation Lisa DeKeukelaere (Colby College): Square Functions and Weights on Various Intervals Elisa Golfiniopoulos and Ryan McCarthy (jointly) (Hamilton College): Thinning Out Divergent Series Sarah Iams (Williams College): The Dynamics of R 2 Actions Robert Lopez (Williams College): Symmetries and Comparisons of Minimizing Double Bubbles Scott Nickleach (Slippery Rock University): Unordered Mastermind Michael Piatek (Duquesne University): High Performance Shoelace Tightening 2
Irma Servatius (Worcester Polytechnic Institute): How Few Radii? Amy C. Ulinski (Duquesne University): Give Me a Boost: Ups and Downs Learning Monotonic Boolean Functions MAA Student Workshop Patti Frazer Lock of St. Lawrence University presented an interactive MAA Student Workshop from 1:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. on Saturday, August 3. An audience of about 80 students and professors not only listened to but participated in her workshop on Topics in Graph Theory. It was a workshop in two parts. The first part, an application on eulerizing graphs, was preceded by a handout which put the audience to work on several routing problems. An introduction to the fundamental definitions of graph theory, Euler s Theorem, and their applications to routing problems followed. Dr. Lock noted that without Euler s Theorem people do a horrible job of minimizing routes. She also observed that street sweepers in New York City saved $1.5 million per year by using Euler s Theorem to design the most efficient routes for cleaning the throughways of the Big Apple. The second part of the workshop was devoted to Ramsey Theory, which is based on the idea that there is order even in events which seem completely random. Several handouts led the audience through the process of finding the Ramsey Number of a variety of graphs. Dr. Lock observed that amazingly little is known about Ramsey Numbers. She also indicated that Ramsey Theory has been used to understand patterns found in the cosmos. MAA Student Lecture Colin Adams of Williams College provided an MAA Student Lecture that was both mathematically informative and highly entertaining. The Emerald Ballroom of the Burlington Sheraton was filled nearly to capacity to hear a tale of adventure on the high seas. In the guise of Sir Randolph Skipper Bacon III (with an occasional transformation into Mel Slugbait), Dr. Adams introduced the audience to the introductory elements of knot theory and how its use saved Sir Randolph s bacon in a regatta some years ago. MAA Prize Winners of the 2002 Mathematical Contest in Modeling This year s Mathematical Contest in Modeling received a total of 525 papers. Of these, 280 presented solutions in the continuous modeling problem category while 245 papers provided solutions in the discrete modeling problem category. MAA prize winner in continuous modeling problem category: Wind and Waterspray, Tate Jarrow, Colin Landon, Mike Powell, Prof. David Sanders (Advisor) United States Military Academy MAA prize winner in discrete modeling problem category: Airline Overbooking, Daniel Boylan, Michael Schubmehl, Wesley Turner, Prof. Michael Moody (Advisor) Harvey Mudd College For information on the 2003 Mathematical Contest in Modeling contact Ben Fusaro at fusaro@math.fsu.edu. 3
Whassup in Baltimore MAA Student Lecture The MAA Student Lecture will be presented by Donna Beers of Simmins College. Her topic will be What Drives Mathematics and Where is Mathematics Driving Innovation. See the October Issue of FOCUS for further details. Other Activities of Interest to Students at the Joint Winter Meetings The Student Hospitality Center will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. throughout the Baltimore meetings. Undergraduate Student Poster Session, Friday, 4:00-6:30 p.m. Who Wants to be a Mathematician, Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Outreach Initiative for Underrepresented Students There will be mini-grants available for faculty in the Baltimore area to help underrepresented undergraduate students to attend the MAA/AMS Joint Winter Meetings in Baltimore. Students are expected to attend the MAA Student Lecture (1-1:50 p.m., Friday, January 17) and other lectures and events accessible to undergraduate students. Interested faculty in the Baltimore area should contact Jean Bee Chan at jbchan1@attglobal.net to express their intent to apply for the mini-grants as soon as possible. Student Chapter Spotlight MAA Student Chapter at Southwest Texas Junior College at Del Rio The student chapter at Southwest Texas Junior College at Del Rio has plans for a very active year, according to chapter advisor Edward Koslowska. The chapter has already set up a website. Check out http://plato.swtjc.net/mc_dr to visit it. The chapter meets twice a month to discuss activities including fund raisers, working on problems, preparing students to become teachers in school districts, working with the school district to tutor high school students, and other topics. Plans call for having two guest lecturers during the fall semester. A monthly newsletter is published which includes a problem section. Student solutions to problems appearing in this section will be published in future issues of the newsletter. 4
Contact Information How to Reach the MAA For Membership Information, Subscriptions, and Publications orders contact: The MAA Service Center P.O. Box 9112 Washington, DC 20090-1622 800-331-1622 or (301) 617-9415 (301) 206-9789-FAX For the MAA Headquarters: The Mathematical Association of America 1529 Eighteenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-1385 800-741-9415 or (202) 387--5200 (202) 265-2384-FAX To Contact the Chapter News Editor Suggestions, concerns, and/or contributions of articles for this newsletter may be sent to: James P. Marshall Illinois College Department of Mathematics 1101 W. College Ave. Jacksonville, IL 62650 (217) 245-3432 FAX: (217) 245-3034 jmarshal@hilltop.ic.edu May the MATH be with you! 5