National Officers and Others Available as Speakers
for Section Meetings
Each MAA section is eligible each year to have one person from this list visit its section meeting and speak, with all travel expenses borne by the MAA. The purpose of this program is to maintain close links between the national organization and the sections. In addition to speaking, a visiting national officer will participate in as much of the section meeting as is possible (participate fully in the section's officers meeting, be on the agenda of the business meeting, share ideas at the liaisons meeting and section NExT, heartily enjoy banquets and social events, etc.); he/she will then report back to the Executive Committee. This practice is valuable to a section, which gets a "free" invited speaker, and healthy for the MAA.
A section should make its own arrangements with the invited speaker of its choice. Because many section meetings are scheduled for a short "window" in the Spring, the speakers are in high demand at that time, so a section should make its speaker selection and extend an invitation as early as possible. The MAA Secretary and Chair of the Committee on Sections will assist if a section has problems in scheduling a speaker from the list, but early planning is essential.
It is customary for the section to waive any registration, banquet
and social fees. The speaker will pay his/her own travel expenses and
will be reimbursed by the national organization. We ask that a section
be a thoughtful host. In the crush of meeting details and the
distribution of duties amongst section officers and local arrangements
faculty, it is sometimes easy for responsibilities to fall through the
cracks. Please be sure to consider your visitors' arrangements for
travel, lodging, meals, local transportation and registration. In the
days of "Saturday night stayovers", it is especially cordial that the
section consider Saturday evening dining arrangements. At least give
visiting speakers options ("a ride would be great" or "I'll catch a
cab") for airport pickups, get-togethers at meals, etc.
In order to ensure that the reimbursements are processed correctly,
please notify Kerry Sullivan at ksullivan@maa.org
of your section meeting speaker plans as soon as arrangements are made.
Donald J. Albers, Books Editorial Director
Mathematical Association of America, 1529 18th St., NW, Washington, DC
20036
Email: dalbers@maa.org
David Bressoud, President
Macalester College, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, St.
Paul, MN 55105-1899
Email: bressoud@macalester.edu
Richard Cleary, Budget and Audit Committees,
Bentley College
Department of Mathematical Sciences, Bentley College, Waltham, MA 02452
Email: rcleary@bentley.edu
Steve Dunbar, Director of Competitions, American
Mathematics Competitions
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0658
Email: sdunbar@unl.edu
Joe Gallian, Past President, Univeristy of Minnesota Duluth
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Duluth, MN 55812-2496
Email: jgallian@d.umn.edu
Rick Gillman, Chair, Committee on Sections
Email: rick.gillman@valpo.edu
Department of Mathematics & Computer Science, Valparaiso University, 1900 Chapel drive, Valparaiso IN 46383
- A Geometric Introduction to Bargaining Games
- Everyday Questions: Not-So-Everday Mathematics
- Arithmetic Functions on the Mosaid of an Integer
- A Game Theory Approach to Quantitative Literacy (workshop)
John Kenelly, Treasurer, Mathematical Association
of America
303 Eagles View Drive, Seneca, SC, 29678-1627
Email: kenellj@clemson.edu
Betty Mayfield, First Vice-President, Mathematical
Association of America
Department of Mathematics, Hood College, Frederick, MD, 21701
Email: mayfield@hood.edu
Gerbert was a tenth century scholar and churchman who eventually was named Pope Sylvester II. In the Year 1000, he probably knew more mathematics than anyone else in Europe. We'll explore how that came to be.
2. Women and Mathematics in the Time of Euler
Over the past months, we have celebrated Everything Euler – his life, his work, his legacy. This talk examines some female contemporaries of Euler, some famous, some not so famous. We will also look at mathematics that was written both by and for women in the time of Euler.
3. The parabolic equation method in underwater acoustics
This talk gives a glimpse into the world of underwater acoustics, a world where mathematicians, engineers, and physicists perform experiments and use computer models to model the propagation of sound under water. Mathematicians rarely hear their talks or read their papers, but the field is a rich one for research, even for undergraduates.
Michael Pearson, Director of Programs and Services
Mathematical Association of America, 1529 Eighteenth St. NW,
Washington, DC 20036
Email: pearson@maa.org
Ivars Peterson, Director of Publications for
Journals and Communications
Mathematical Association of America, 1529 Eighteenth St. NW,
Washington, DC 20036
Email: ipeterson@maa.org
Mary Shepherd, Audit and Budget Committees, MAA
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Northwest Missouri State
University, 800 University Drive, Maryville, MO 64488
Email: msheprd@nwmissouri.edu
Martha J. Siegel, Secretary, Towson University
Dept. of Mathematics, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252
Email: siegel@towson.edu
Tina H. Straley, Executive Director
Mathematical Association of America, 1529 18th St., NW, Washington, DC
20036
Email: tstraley@maa.org
Gerard Venema, Associate Secretary, Calvin College
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI 49546
Email: venema@calvin.edu
Daniel J. Teague, Second Vice-President,
Mathematical Association of America
NC School of Science and Mathematics, 1219 Broad Street, Durham, NC
27705
Email: teague@ncssm.edu
Given that one must make their selection before seeing all the “candidates”, how can you use some probability and a little calculus to maximize the probability that you select your best match?
Group Testing: A Non-Standard Optimization Problem
How can you group individuals prior to testing to minimize the number of tests used? This talk presents several inventive student solutions to the classic group testing problem.
The Infamous Five Color Theorem
Sure, its kid brother, the Four Color Theorem, gets all the big press, but the Five Color Theorem has its own rich history and is much more fun.
Talks for students and faculty:
The High School to College Transition: A View From Below
The challenges faced in smoothing the transition from high school mathematics to college mathematics are considered from the high school perspective.
Dan Velleman, American Mathematics Monthly Editor,
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Amherst College,
Amherst, MA 01002
Email: djvelleman@amherst.edu