Brunelleschi's
Dome
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The MAA Student Lecture at this
year's MathFest in Providence Rhode Island was given by Mario Martelli
of Claremont-McKenna College in California. In giving his talk,
The Secret of Brunelleschi's Cupola, Professor Martelli was assisted by
his wife, Ann and student Adam Cox as narrator and assistant.
Martelli gave his talk as Brunelleschi, and given his natural Italian
accent and his period costume, the disguise was quite convincing.
Martelli refuted some popular conjectures on how the dome of Florence's
cathedral was constructed, and put forth his own very convincing theory
on how Brunelleschi, with some mathematical help, built his
masterpiece. The talk was standing room only and popular with
students and non-students alike.
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Professor Martelli as Brunelleschi
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"Workshop"
on Fractals
Professor Benoit Mandelbrot of Yale University led the MAA Student Workshop
at the Summer, 2004, MathFest in Providence, Rhode Island. He entertained an over-crowded room of
students and friends for two hours (and only a 10-minute break). Students
listened intently; all were awed by the presence
of Professor Mandelbrot. They asked interesting
questions throughout the talk.
During
the short
break, students surrounded Professor Mandelbrot to ask more
questions. To the question "What is
the definition of 'Fractals'?", Professor Mandelbrot answered aptly, "If you tell me the definition of 'Complex
Analysis' or ’Probability Theory',
I'll tell you the definition of 'Fractals'"
All
in all, everyone had an enjoyable time at the MAA Student Lecture. |
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Professor Mandelbrot explains fractals
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MAA
Student Paper Sessions
Sixty-eight
undergraduate
students participated and competed in eight sessions of student paper
presentations at this year's MathFest. They
demonstrated a wonderful enthusiasm for
and mastery of all sorts of matters
mathematical, and they relished the opportunity
to hobnob with kindred spirits from other colleges and universities. A complete list of the MAA student speakers,
titles, and abstracts can still be found at http://adm.hfcc.net/~tkelley/ (look for
the MathFest 2004 section on Tom Kelley's web page).
The best-in-session awards were presented
to the following
students:
Christina Brakken-Thal, Williams
College, White
Blood Cell Models
and Chemotherapy
Nathanial Burch, Grand
Valley State
University, Higher
Order Lanczos’ Derivatives
Anthony DeLegge, Benedictine
University, Regular
Stick
Numbers of (2,q) Torus
Knots
Shawn Elledge, Arizona
State University, From Number Theory
to Groups
via Graph Pebbling
Stephanie Hurder, Harvard
University, Curvature
and
Surfaces with Density
Matthew Katschke, Ohio
Northern University, San Gaku
Problems in
Other Geometries
Kari Lock, Williams
College, Simultaneous
Approximation of Generalized Golden Ratios
Robert Willenbring, St.
John’s University, Combinatorial
Representations
of RNA Secondary Structures
In addition, Nicholas
McClure of St. John’s University
(Minnesota), won the MAA
SIG
award in environmental modeling for
his paper, A Population Model of Dispersal and Extinction, and
Mohammed Haque of Columbia College
won the CUR award for
his paper, Applications of the Omega Transform
in Algebraic Geometry |
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Professor
Mandelbrot
(right) poses with MAA Student Papers best-in-session winners. Front (l-r): Stephanie
Hurder, Kari Lock, and Christina Brakken-Thal. Back
(l-r): Matt Katschke, Robert Willenbring,
Nicholas McClure, and
Nathanial
Burch, winner of the MAA environmental math SIG award. Not shown: Shawn Elledge,
Anthony DeLegge
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MAA
MCM Winners
The 2004 Mathematical Contest in Modeling
posed two
problems:
A: Are Fingerprints Unique?
B: A Faster QuickPass System
From the 599 solution papers presented
(202 for
A; 397 for B), the MCM judges chose
three A
papers and four B papers as Outstanding and Publishable. From these papers, the MAA judges chose one
award-winning team in each category. At a special MathFest session, members of the
winning teams made presentations of
their solutions. The Problem A
team’Brian Camley, Pascal Getreuer, and Bradley Klingenberg with advisor
Anne Dougherty’was from the University
of Colorado,
Boulder. The Problem
B team’Ivan Corwin,
Sheel Ganatra, and Nikita Rozenblyum with advisor
Clifford Taubes’came from Harvard
University |
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MCM winners Corwin & Rozenblyum
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Student
Hospitality Center
The Student Hospitality Center,
sponsored
by the Mathematical Association of America, was a success at Mathfest
2004. Hundreds of students and professors
came by to enjoy refreshments and interact. Student
speaker programs,
meeting updates, math puzzles, copies of Math Horizons,
and refreshments awaited the students and professors. Located
in the exhibit hall, the Student Hospitality Center was open during the entire meeting. For information
about the Student Hospitality Center,
contact Richard or Araceli Neal at 1-800-229-1725 or at PO Box 60434, Oklahoma City, OK 73146. |
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Enjoying
some refreshments at the Hospitality Center
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National
Math Championship
The seventh
annual US National Collegiate Mathematics Championship took place in Providence during Mathfest 2004. On Saturday
evening, the last day of Mathfest, several dozen students were present
to
compete in the final event of The Problem Solving Competition. This competition is a monthly problem-solving
activity for colleges and universities. Colleges send their top problem solver to
the US
National Collegiate Mathematics Championship held at MathFest each year.
Competing
students were given several math problems to solve. Students all started with the same problem,
and they were then given each subsequent problem only after solving its
predecessor. The
winner was the first person to solve all
seven problems.
First place in
the
US went to Eric Malm of Harvey Mudd College.
Harvey Mudd has entered students in the championship each year of the
last
seven. Second place went to Michael
Hoffman of the University of Utah.
Third place went to Zavosh Koshravi and fourth place went to Jeremy
Hamilton of Youngstown State University.
All winning
students received beautiful red white and blue plaques. All participants received T-shirts and silver
medallions. The first place prize was a
TI-92 calculator and an internship to the Lawrence Livermore National Research Laboratory
For information
on how your students can participate in The Problem Solving Competition
and the
US National Collegiate Mathematics Championship, contact Dr. Richard
Neal at by
email at rneal@ascm.org or by calling 1-800-229-1725.
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Participants
in the Problem Solving Competition |
In Other News......
New
Student Web Page
The
new, improved student web page is online! Go to http://www.maa.org, click on Students, and then on
Undergraduate Students. Many thanks to Michael Pearson and Chris Proesel for all their help.
Back to Top
Whassup
in Atlanta?
Student
Poster Session
The 2005
Undergraduate Student
Poster Session will take place on Friday January 7 in Atlanta,
Georgia
,
at the Joint Annual Meeting of the AMS, MAA, and AWM.
Prof. Mario
Martelli of Claremont McKenna
College
is the organizer. The MAA Committee
on
Undergraduate Students Activities and Chapters (CUSAC) sponsors
the Session. Please apply early, since the space is limited! Posters
are
expected to present a new result, or
a
different proof of a known theorem, or
an innovative solution of a Putnam problem etc. Purely expository
posters cannot be accepted. Send items 1-6 below to Prof. Mario
Martelli,
Mathematics Department, Claremont
McKenna College,
Claremont, CA 91711
or
e-mail to mmartelli@claremontmckenna.edu
(PDF format,
TeX, or
Microsoft Word).
1. Title of the project
2. Abstract (not longer than ½ page)
3. Names and affiliation of all authors
4. Name, e-mail, and telephone of the student
who will be in touch with Prof. Martelli regarding the logistics of the
presentation
5. Name(s) and affiliation(s) of advisors
6. Sources of financial support
Each poster will be
evaluated
by at least three judges. Prizes will be awarded to the best posters
with money
provided by the AMS, MAA, AWM, CUR, PME and by the Moore
Foundation.
Prof. Diana
Thomas (thomasdia@mail.montclair.edu)
is
in charge of coordinating the accommodations
of students
participating in the Poster Session. Please get in touch with her if
you are
interested in this service.
Mathematical
Experiences for Students Outside the Classroom
MAA
special session: Saturday afternoon; Kay B. Somers*, Moravian
College (somersk@moravian.edu), and Jody M. Sorensen, Grand
Valley State
University.
Mathematics "happens" both inside and outside the classroom, and, in
fact, many mathematics majors are drawn to the subject through a
special event
sponsored by a student chapter or math club. This session seeks
presentations by academic, industrial, business, and/or student
mathematicians
so that the audience will be encouraged to organize and run special
events for
their students. Descriptions of non-classroom activities could
include, but
are not limited to, special lectures, workshops for students, math
days, math
fairs, research projects for students, math career days, student
conferences,
recreational mathematics activities, problem-solving activities and
contests,
general community-building activities, and student consulting projects.
Information on how such activities are organized and carried out, what
activities especially grab students' interests, how students are
contacted and
encouraged to participate, and how the events are funded will be
especially
helpful. This session is organized by the MAA Committee on
Undergraduate
Student Activities and Chapters.
MAA
Student Lecture
Robin J. Wilson,
The Open University, Victorian Combinatorics, Friday, 1:00 p.m.
An expert in graph theory, Dr. Wilson is the author
of many articles and books on the subject, including Graph
Theory, 1736-1936 (with co-authors Norman Biggs and Keith
Lloyd). He is also a popular lecturer. MAA Associate
Secretary Jim Tattersall, who schedules rooms for talks at the Joint
Mathematics Meetings, learned at the 1999 meeting that a room with
capacity for 500 could not accommodate all those to wished to
hear Dr. Wilson, and ever since, he has ’never failed to schedule Robin
in the largest room available.â? As Dr. Tattersall notes, ’Robin’s
mathematical and historical research is first class as is his ability
to give brilliant lectures. He is known in the educational, historical,
and mathematical communities in the States as a highly regarded
mathematician who can deliver interesting, informative, and
entertaining lectures to a wide range of audiences. He is an excellent
lecturer and well-respected scholar.â?
Student Hospitality Center
Wednesday ’ Friday, 9:00 a.m. ’ 5:00 p.m., and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. ’ 3:00 p.m., organized
by Richard Neal, University
of Oklahoma. A reception
for undergraduates will be held here on
Wednesday, 4:00 p.m . ’ 5:00 p.m.
Joint PME and MAA Student Chapter Advisors'
Breakfast
Friday, 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.
Credits
News: Student Reception, New Student Web Page’Betty
Mayfield; MAA Student Lecture’Jody Sorenson;
MAA Student Workshop’Jean Bee Chan;
National
Mathematics Championship and Student
Hospitality Center’Richard
Neal; Student Paper
Sessions’Thomas Kelley.
Photos: Student Reception’Betty
Mayfield; MAA Student Lecture’Jody Sorenson;
Student Hospitality
Center’Hal
Nesbitt;
MCM winners’Frank Morgan; others’Editor.
!!Important Change to Student Chapter
Membership!!
The MAA has made a change in your undergraduate student’s membership to
better serve them. We have heard from you that a calendar year
membership does not work well for students, so we are changing
that.
- Undergraduate student memberships are transitioning to the school
year with a start date of September 1, 2004 and an end date of August
31, 2005.
New chapter members will simply adopt the new start and end
dates. Renewing chapter members have already paid through
December 31, 2004 so they will receive a renewal notice from the MAA
for a September 1, 2004 through August 31, 2005 membership with a
rebate lowering the price by the amount of the dues they already paid
for the period September 1 through December 31, 2004. If chapter
members do not renew for the new year, they will still maintain their
membership and all benefits through December 31, 2004.
P.S. - Chapter members can now join or renew their MAA membership
online! See below for details.
MAA Student Chapter Members Renew or
Join the MAA Online
Student chapter members can now join the MAA or renew their existing
membership online.
Instructions
for Renewing Members:
- Go to
- Go to "Join MAA"
- Click on "Renew Your Membership"
- Log-In - Initially your username is your member ID number
(located on your paper renewal or FOCUS newsletter mailing label) and
your password is your last name
Instructions
for New Members:
- Go to
- Go to "Join MAA"
- Click on "Join MAA"
- Select "Undergraduate"
The online membership system is intended for individuals to renew their
MAA membership or join the MAA; all applicable credits and adjustments
will appear in the online system.
Students renewing online may use Visa or MasterCard to pay their dues.
Back
to Top
Contact
Information
How to Reach the MAA
For Membership Information,
Subscriptions, and Publication Orders contact:
The MAA Service Center
P.O. Box 9112
Washington, DC 20090-1622
800-331-1622 or (301)617-9415
FAX: (301) 206-9789
For
the MAA
Headquarters:
The Mathematical Association of
America
1529 Eighteenth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036-1385
800-741-9415 or (202) 387-5200
FAX: (202) 265-2384
How
to Contact the Chapter Newsletter Editor
Suggestions,
concerns, and/or contributions of articles for the CUSAC newsletter may
be sent to:
John
Holte
Department of Mathematics and Computer
Science
Gustavus Adolphus College
800 W. College Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
(507) 933 - 7465
holte@gustavus.edu