MAA and Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013
Source: NASA
MAA is a participating partner in Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013, a year-long program to publicize and promote the role of mathematics in developing a better understanding of dynamic processes affecting Planet Earth, ranging from geophysical systems governing climate to economic and financial activity.
The MPE 2013 effort will provide a platform to showcase the essential relevance of mathematics to planetary problems, encourage research to identify and address fundamental questions, coalesce activities currently dispersed among institutions, and create a context for mathematical and interdisciplinary developments that will be necessary to address myriad issues and meet global challenges in the future.
MAA's contributions to the MPE 2013 effort are outlined below, and many other organizations have a variety of resources available. The Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, for example, hosts an engaging website with much to offer even those who can't make it Down Under for MPE 2013: The Conference: blog posts, classroom resources, media highlights... Check it out!
Lectures
Public lectures held in MAA's Carriage House feature some of the foremost experts within the field of mathematics, known for their ability to make current mathematical ideas accessible to non-specialists. The lectures provide an opportunity for attendees to learn more about current trends in mathematics and the relationship between mathematics and broader scientific, engineering, and technological endeavors. For those unable to make it to the MAA Carriage House, MAA offers written recaps and videos of the lectures, as well as interviews with the presenters. MAA bookended Mathematics Awareness Month 2013—the theme of which was mathematics of sustainability—with two lectures treating MPE 2013 topics.
Harnessing Math to Understand Tipping Points
Mary Lou Zeeman
Sustainability or Collapse? An Exploration of Key Dynamics That May Determine Our Future
Charles Hadlock
MAA PREP Workshops
The MAA offers a broad range of professional development opportunities for those teaching and working in the mathematical sciences. Several programs on tap for 2013 offer perspectives on the Mathematics of Planet Earth.
Math for a Sustainable Future
Ben Galluzzo, Helena Le Roux, Debra Rowe, Corrine Taylor
March 15-17, 2013
Washington, DC
Read a recap of the workshop or browse teaching activities.
"Big Data" and Data Mining for Mathematicians
Dick De Veaux, Bernhard Klingenberg
June 17-19, 2013
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Mathematical Biology: Beyond Calculus
Raina Robeva, Robin Davies, Terrell Hodge
July 14-19, 2013
Sweet Briar, Virginia
Undergraduate Sustainability Experiences in Mathematics (USE Math) on Campus
Ben Galluzzo, Corrine Taylor, James Hamblin
July 22-26, 2013
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
MAA MathFest 2013
Hartford, Connecticut, July 31-August 3, 2013
This meeting will feature a number of speakers and sessions that emphasize the Mathematics of Planet Earth. These include:
Climate and Geophysical Modeling (invited paper session)
Saturday (8/3) afternoon
Organizer: Matthew J. Hoffman, Rochester Institute of Technology
Speakers: Lewis Mitchell, University of Vermont; Raj Saha, Bowdoin College; Corban Harwood, George Fox University; Louis-Philippe Nadeau, NYU; Steven Penny, University of Maryland
The Mathematics of Planet Earth in the College Mathematics Curriculum (invited paper session)
Saturday (8/3) afternoon
Organizers: Ben Galluzzo, Shippensburg University; Monika Kiss, Saint Leo University
Sponsor: SIGMAA EM
The Mathematics of Planet Earth in Research (invited paper session)
Friday (8/2) afternoon
Organizers: Ben Galluzzo, Shippensburg University; Monika Kiss, Saint Leo University
Sponsor: SIGMAA EM
Environmental Mathematics (minicourse)
Part 1, Friday (8/2), 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Part 2, Saturday (8/3), 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Presenter: Ben Fusaro, Florida State University
Mathematical Expeditions in Polar Science (minicourse)
Part 1, Thursday (8/1), 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Part 2, Saturday (8/3), 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Presenter: Lynn Foshee Reed, Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, NSF-Polar Programs
Making Math Relevant: A Multidisciplinary Sustainability Module for Calculus (minicourse)
Part 1, Thursday (8/1), 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Part 2, Friday (8/2), 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Presenters: Thomas J. Pfaff, Department of Mathematics, Ithaca College; Jason Hamilton, Department of Environmental Sciences and Studies, Ithaca College
2014 Joint Mathematics Meetings
Baltimore, Maryland, January 15-18, 2014
USE Math: Undergraduate Sustainability Experiences in the Introductory Mathematics Classroom
Saturday morning (1/18)
Organizers: Ben Galluzzo, Shippensburg University; Monika Kiss, Saint Leo University; and Corrine Taylor, Wellesley College
Humanity continually faces the task of how to balance human needs against the world's resources while operating within the constraints imposed by the laws of nature. Mathematics helps us better understand these complex issues that span disciplines: from measuring energy and other resources, to understanding variability in air and water quality, to modeling climate change. Moreover, these and other real-world-driven sustainability topics have the potential for motivating students to pursue STEM courses and fields of study more deeply. This session seeks proposals from faculty interested in integrating sustainability-focused activities, projects, and modules into the introductory college mathematics curriculum. Abstracts of accepted papers will be published on the SIGMAA EM website, and authors will be encouraged to submit classroom-ready materials for broader dissemination on the USE Math website hosted by SERC, the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College. Sponsored by the SIGMAA on Environmental Mathematics.
MAA Sections
Sections of the MAA are encouraged to include in their meeting programs for 2013 at least one invited speaker to touch on topics encompassed by the Mathematics of Planet Earth effort. They are also welcome to designate contributed papers and other program elements as part of MAA's contribution to MPE 2013. Section activities related to MPE 2013 include:
MAA North Central Section Summer Seminar: Conceptual Climate Models
Anna Barry, Richard McGehee, Samantha Oestreicher, James Walsh, Esther Widiasih
July 22-24, 2013
Minneapolis, MN
MAA Journals
The Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 Collection--articles published in the three primary journals of the MAA that are related to MPE 2013--is now available as part of Classroom Capsules and Notes.
Sample: David Smith examines world population growth models in the 1977 paper, "Human Population Growth: Stability or Explosion?". The data are somewhat old, but the models and issues are still relevant.
The November 2013 issue of The College Mathematics Journal, with a special color cover and color illustrations, will be devoted to the Mathematics of Planet Earth.
Look for the MPE 2013 logo on articles in all MAA periodicals throughout the year to find additional material.
MAA Books
 | New MAA Book Six Sources of Collapse: A Mathematician's Perspective on How Things Can Fall Apart in the Blink of an Eye by Charles Hadlock Spectrum Series, 207 pp., Hardcover, 2012 Print edition ISBN: 978-0-88385-579-9 Electronic edition ISBN: 978-1-61444-514-2 Member Price: $40.00 | Buy in MAA Store Beginning with the dramatic disappearance of the passenger pigeon in the 19th century, Hadlock surveys collapses that range from extreme weather events and evolutionary processes to technological disasters and crashing companies and markets. He argues that one or more of just six fundamental types of dynamics underlie all of these drastic changes, and that mathematics offers the key to understanding them. Charles Hadlock's engaging book provides a mathematical framework for understanding all varieties of collapse - that of civilizations caused by environmental factors or destructive wars, companies caused by competition or poor management, and humans infected by contagious diseases. It inspires one to think about the reasons for collapse (Hadlock suggests six sources), and their mathematical basis, thereby providing guidance to the development of detailed, more specific models.-Steven Brams, Professor of Politics, New York University |
 | Mathematical Modeling in the Environment by Charles Hadlock MAA Textbooks, 312 pp., Paperbound, 1998 ISBN: 978-0-88385-709-0 Member Price: $52.95 | Buy in MAA Store Based on the author's environmental and risk consulting experience with the firm of Arthur D. Little Inc., this book takes three key environmental issues and shows how mathematical modeling is used routinely in the real world to investigate them. These three issues are groundwater contamination, air pollution, and hazardous materials accidents. There is an elementary and an advanced chapter on each of these topics, readily separable to allow this book to be used with different audiences. The book is heavily illustrated, and the problems reflect the kinds of issues encountered in practice. There is a highly interdisciplinary tone throughout with necessary background introduced as needed. |
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Supplementary Material & Solutions Manual for Mathematical Modeling in the Environment 150 pp., Paperbound, 1998 ISBN: 978-0-88385-713-7 Member Price: $16.95 | Buy in MAA Store |
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| A Course in Mathematical Modeling by Douglas Mooney and Randall Swift MAA Textbooks, 500 pp., Paperbound, 1999 ISBN: 978-0-88385-712-0 Member Price: $52.95 | Buy in MAA Store This book is intended as a text for a modeling course accessible to students who have mastered a one-year course in calculus. Mooney and Swift present a unique approach to modeling. It balances theoretical versus empirical models, analytic models versus simulation, deterministic versus stochastic models, and discrete versus continuous models. Examples are drawn from real-world data or from models that have been used in various applied fields. |
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Environmental Mathematics in the Classroom, B. A. Fusaro and P. C. Kenschaft, Editors. Classroom Resource Materials, 268 pp., Paperbound, 2003 ISBN: 978-0-88385-714-4 Member Price: $46.00 | Buy in MAA Store This collection of articles highlights the role of mathematics in solving and illuminating pressing environmental challenges. It does so at an elementary level, demonstrating a wide variety of significant environmental applications that can be explored without resorting to calculus. Topics include ground-level ozone, pollution and water use, preservation of whales, mathematical economics, the movement of clouds over a mountain range, population models, the spread of infections, the survival of buffalo after the 19th century slaughter, groundwater dissipation, and the cleaning up of oil spills. |
MAA 2013 Mathematical Study Tour: Alaska's Inside Passage, July 9 - 17, 2013
The MAA is offering the perfect trip for the Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 initiative - a small ship cruise of Alaska's inside passage. Travelers will get up close to thundering tidewater glaciers and see stunning wilderness and wildlife through the eyes of expert naturalists, Expedition Leaders, and First Nations interpreters. Embarking from Sitka, Alaska, the itinerary includes Glacier Bay National Park, Juneau, the state capital, and out-of-the-way exclusive places like Hobart Bay. Evening programs will explore the challenges of educating the population spread across the largest state in the Union and provide resources for teaching about native Alaskan mathematics. For more information, visit http://www.maa.org/studytour/
