Student Activities and Presentations
Graduate Student Activities
- Graduate Student Workshop
What’s the story? A Graduate Student Workshop on Creating a Research Presentation for Undergraduates
Thursday, August 2, 1:00 – 2:20 pm, Meeting Room R
Organizer:
Rachel Schwell, Central Connecticut State University
Sponsors:
MAA Committee on Graduate Students
Presenting our research to undergraduate students can be both fun and rewarding. It can also be difficult, however, since the gory details of our results often require a great deal of specific jargon and background. Nonetheless, the big ideas can almost always be presented at a variety of levels, and this workshop is designed to help participants develop the skills needed to formulate a presentation on their research that is appropriate for an audience of undergraduate students. Since many colleges and universities require giving such a talk as part of a job interview, almost any graduate student will have the opportunity to do so, and the ability to communicate complex mathematical ideas to students is a valued trait in a candidate. This workshop will consist of hands-on activities and audience interaction aimed toward developing and improving the necessary skills for creating an engaging and accessible presentation for undergraduates.
- Graduate Student Reception
Thursday, August 2, 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Organizers:
Estela A. Gavosto, University of Kansas
James Freeman, Cornell College
Graduate students are invited for some refreshments and to meet several of the invited speakers.
- Student Poster Session
PosterFest 2012: A Poster Session of Scholarship by Early Career Mathematicians and Graduate Students
Friday, August 3, 3:30 – 4:30 pm, Exhibit Hall
Organizer:
Jennifer Roche Bowen, The College of Wooster
Sponsors:
Early Career Mathematicians Committee, Graduate Student Committee, and the Young Mathematicians Network
This poster session will allow early career mathematicians, including untenured faculty and graduate students, to present and discuss their scholarly activities with other attendees in an informal atmosphere. Examples of scholarly activities suitable for this poster session include expository work, preliminary reports, scholarship of teaching and learning, and research reports. Presenters should have their materials prepared in advance and will be provided with a self-standing, trifold tabletop poster approximately 48 in wide by 36 in high. Proposals should be submitted at http://www/maa.org/mathfest/abstracts. Questions regarding this session should be sent to the organizers.
- Special Session For Graduate Students
Great Talks for a General Audience: Coached Presentations by Graduate Students
Saturday, August 4, 1:00 – 5:30 pm, Meeting Rooms K&L
Organizers:
Jim Freeman, Cornell College, and Rachel Schwell, Central Connecticut State University
Sponsors:
Committee on Graduate Students and the Young Mathematicians Network
Presenters in this session must be graduate students. While many graduate students will be asked to give a lecture to a general audience which includes undergraduates and non-mathematicians as part of a job interview, most students do not have experience talking to a non-research audience. This session gives graduate students the opportunity to give a 20-minute talk aimed at an undergraduate audience which has been exposed to calculus and some linear algebra. Both the talks and abstracts should be designed to excite a wide range of undergraduates about mathematics. All participants in this session will receive private feedback on their presentations from an established faculty member and an undergraduate student. Time permitting, a discussion of effective techniques for delivering great general-audience talks will occur at the end of the session.
Contact Jim Freeman or Rachel Schwell for help on writing an abstract and preparing a talk for a general audience. Graduate student participants in this session should also attend the graduate student workshop (What's the Story?) on mathematical presentations. Information on travel support will be available at www.maa.org/students/grad.html on March 1, 2012. Abstracts must be submitted by April 30, 2012.
- Panel Discusson
The Job Search I: How to Apply for Jobs - Lessons for Academia and Industry
Friday, August 3, 2:35 – 3:55 pm, Lecture Hall
Organizer: Estela A. Gavosto, University of Kansas
Panelists:
James Freeman, Cornell College; Will Hickman, Epic Systems Corporation; Joanne Peeples, El Paso Community College; Kimberly Roth, Juniata College; and Erika Ward, Jacksonville University
Sponsors:
MAA Committee on Graduate Students
This panel session will focus on the application process for both academic and industry jobs. Topics that will be addressed include where to find job postings, how to tailor your cover letter and other application material to the job that you are applying to, selecting your references, and how you can be sure that your entire application package accurately describes you. There will be multiple opportunities for Q&A during the session.
- Panel Discussion
The Job Search II: Interviewing and Hiring for Academic Jobs - Lessons from Both Sides of the Trenches
Thursday, August 2, 4:10 – 5:30 pm, Lecture Hall
Organizer:
Jenna Carpenter, Louisiana Tech University
Panelists:
Gulden Karakok, University of Northern Colorado; John Travis, Mississippi College; John Hamman, Montgomery College Germantown Campus; Louis Deaett, Quinnipiac University; and Michael Stob, Calvin College
Sponsor:
Professional Development Committee
This panel session will focus on best practices and tips for successfully navigating the interview and hiring process for academic jobs. Panelists will include recent applicants, department chairs, and hiring committee members from a variety of institutions, from community colleges to liberal arts institutions to large state universities with a strong research focus. There will be a Q&A session at the end.
Undergraduate Student Activities
- MAA-PME Student Reception
Wednesday, August 1, 4:30 – 5:30 pm - Face Off!
Wednesday, August 1, 5:30 – 6:30 pm, Ballroom A
Organizers:
Ken Price and Steve Szydlik, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Are you an undergraduate student looking for a fun and engaging activity at Mathfest? Look no further than the Wisconsin Section's own "Face Off!" the mathematics game show. Teams of 3 to 4 students compete to answer questions from the broad realm of mathematics. And we really mean broad! If it's mathematical, it's fair game for the game. There is space for up to 10 teams to compete for fame and fun, so form a team and contact the organizers. Schools and REU's are welcome, but even if your organization can't field a full team, let us know and we can form hybrid teams. For more information, visit the "Face Off!" website. "Face Off!" is also on Facebook.
- Student Hospitality Center
Thursday, August 2, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Friday, August 3, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Saturday, August 4, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Organizers:
Richard and Araceli Neal, American Society for the Communication of Mathematics
The Student Hospitality Center (SHC) provides a place for students and other MathFest attendees to meet for informal conversation, refreshments, and mathematical diversions. Programs for the MAA and Pi Mu Epsilon student paper sessions, packets for the MAA student presenters, and information on MathFest activities of interest to students are available in the SHC.
- MAA Lecture For Students
Geometreks
Thursday, August 2, 1:00 – 1:50 pm, Ballroom A
Speaker:
Ivars Peterson, Mathematical Association of America
Few people expect to encounter mathematics on a visit to an art gallery or even a walk down a city street (or across campus). When we explore the world around us with mathematics in mind, however, we see the many ways in which mathematics can manifest itself, in streetscapes, sculptures, paintings, architectural structures, and more. This illustrated presentation offers illuminating glimpses of mathematics, from Euclidean geometry and normal distributions to Riemann sums and Möbius strips, as seen in a variety of structures and artworks in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal, New Orleans, Madison, Wisconsin, and many other locales.
- MAA Undergraduate Student Activity
Entertaining Math: Juggling, Magic and Circus Tricks
Friday, August 3, 1:00 – 1:50 pm, Ballroom B
Speaker:
Tim Chartier, Davidson College
- MAA Undergraduate Student Activity
Mathematical Untuition - just how far astray can your mathematical common sense mislead you?
Friday, August 3, 1:00 – 1:50 pm, Ballroom C
Speaker:
Brian Conrey, American Institute of Mathematics
During this session we will discover some simple but truly surprising mathematical facts.
- MAA Student Paper Sessions
Thursday, August 2, 8:30 – 10:25 am and 2:00 – 6:15 pm
Friday, August 3, 8:30 – 11:45 am and 2:00 – 6:15 pm
J. Lyn Miller, Slippery Rock University and Daluss Siewert, Black Hills State University - Pi Mu Epsilon Student Paper Sessions
Thursday, August 2, 2:00 – 6:15 pm
Friday, August 3, 8:30 – 10:30 am and 2:00 – 5:00 pm
Angela Spalsbury, Youngstown State University - Pi Mu Epsilon Student Banquet And Awards Ceremony
Friday, August 3, 6:00 – 7:45 pm
All PME members and their supporters are welcome. See the registration form for more information on this ticketed event.
- Pi Mu Epsilon J. Sutherland Frame Lecture
Friday, August 3, 8:00 – 8:50 pm, Ballroom AB
The Chemistry of Primes
Speaker:
Melanie Matchett Wood, University of Wisconsin Madison
We are familiar with the prime numbers as those integers that cannot be factored into smaller integers, but if we consider systems of numbers larger than the integers, the primes may indeed factor in those larger systems. We discuss various questions mathematicians ask about how primes may factor in larger systems, talk about both classical results and current research on the topic, and give a sense of the kind of tools needed to tackle these questions.
- MAA Ice Cream Social
Friday, August 3, 9:00 – 10:00 pm
Besides cake and ice cream, we will recognize all students who gave talks in the MAA Student Paper Sessions, and award prizes for the best of them. All are invited.
- MAA Mathematical Competition In Modeling (MCM) Winners
Saturday, August 4, 9:00 – 10:30 pm, Hall of Ideas F
Organizer:
Ben Fusaro, Florida State University
About 400 American teams, each consisting of three undergraduates, entered the 2012 MCM in February. The contest consists of two real(istic) problems, one discrete, one continuous. The teams have four days to deal with the challenge during which time they may use or consult anything inanimate - computers, libraries, the Web, etc. MAA judges choose one continuous and one discrete winner from the top contenders. The two MAA winning teams of students will present the results of their four-day challenge.
- Student Problem Solving Competition
Saturday, August 4, 1:00 – 2:15 pm, Meeting Rooms K&L
Sponsor:
Richard Neal, American Society for the Communication of Mathematics
This event is the finals of the Problem Solving Competition. Universities and colleges that participate monthly on their own campuses by holding problem solving contests are invited to send a contestant. Each contestant will be required to solve a series of mathematical problems. Based on the outcome, a champion along with 2nd through 6th place winners will be named.
- Great Talks for a General Audience: Coached Presentations by Graduate Students
Saturday, August 4, 1:00 – 5:30 pm, Meeting Rooms K&L
Organizers:
Jim Freeman, Cornell College and Rachel Schwell, Central Connecticut State University
Sponsors:
Committee on Graduate Students and the Young Mathematicians Network
Presenters in this session must be graduate students. While many graduate students will be asked to give a lecture to a general audience which includes undergraduates and non-mathematicians as part of a job interview, most students do not have experience talking to a non-research audience. This session gives graduate students the opportunity to give a 20-minute talk aimed at an undergraduate audience which has been exposed to calculus and some linear algebra. Both the talks and abstracts should be designed to excite a wide range of undergraduates about mathematics. All participants in this session will receive private feedback on their presentations from an established faculty member and an undergraduate student. Time permitting, a discussion of effective techniques for delivering great general-audience talks will occur at the end of the session.
Contact Jim Freeman or Rachel Schwell for help on writing an abstract and preparing a talk for a general audience. Graduate student participants in this session should also attend the graduate student workshop (What's the Story?) on mathematical presentations. Information on travel support will be available at www.maa.org/students/grad.html on March 1, 2012. Abstracts must be submitted by April 30, 2012.
Love math but felt ever stuck on how to get someone else excited? How about juggling, presenting a magic trick, or performing a circus trick like balancing an object on your hand to teach or motivate a mathematical idea? This activity will explore ways to demonstrate and discuss mathematics using techniques generally associated with entertainment and the performing arts. Come ready to learn a few tricks and possibly some new math!