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SIGMAA
Special Interest Groups of the MAA
The SIGMAA program establishes and supports communities of colleagues who share a common interest that advances the MAA mission. Within these communities, members gain access to opportunities for networking, professional development, and discussion of issues relevant to the represented interest. In addition to enhancing interactions among their members, each SIGMAA facilitates interactions between their members and the greater mathematics community by providing resources and expert knowledge relevant to their special interest.
Membership in a SIGMAA requires an annual dues payment of $12 per group, in addition to your MAA membership. To learn more about an individual SIGMAA, click on a tab at the bottom of the page or visit the SIGMAA webpages using the links on the left. If you have any questions, email us at communities@maa.org
Learn About Each SIGMAA
There are currently seventeen Special Interest Groups of the MAA.
Mathematics and the Arts
The purpose of the SIGMAA is to support and encourage the interest of MAA members in the connections between mathematics and the arts including, but not limited to, the visual, sculpture, architecture, origami, textile and fiber art, literature, drama, dance, music, multimedia art, and digital art. The SIGMAA will pursue this purpose by encouraging the awareness of, pedagogy in, and interdisciplinary research and publication in the areas of mathematically inspired art, the use and role of visualization in mathematics, applying mathematics to analyze art and/or the creative process, and mathematics as art.
Business, Industry, Government
BIG SIGMAA serves as a unifying link between business, industry and government mathematicians, academic mathematicians, and mathematics students. The SIGMAA provides resources and a forum for MAA members who share an interest in mathematics used in business, industry and government, aids in professional development, helps build partnerships between industry and academics, and increases awareness of opportunities for mathematicians in business, industry and government.
Mathematical and Computational Biology
The focus of BIO SIGMAA is on the pedagogy of mathematical and computational biology at the undergraduate level. This includes the support of curriculum development, faculty development, and undergraduate research in those fields. The purpose of BIO SIGMAA is to support those activities that will enhance the exchange of ideas and access to educational opportunities among undergraduates and undergraduate faculty in the fields of mathematical and computational biology. This necessarily includes interaction with all concerned departmental structures (i.e. mathematics, computer science, biology, and other related departments) and also institutions and organizations that feed into, and from, the undergraduate programs.
Environmental Mathematics
The mission of SIGMAA EM is to provide a forum for those interested in solving problems arising from environmental sources. SIGMAA EM also promotes awareness of environmental issues and especially the role that mathematics plays in analyzing such issues.
History of Mathematics
The mission of HOM SIGMAA is to provide a forum through which those interested in the history of mathematics can meet, interact, exchange ideas, provide support for one another, and foster increased awareness of the historical background of mathematics.
Inquiry-Based Learning
Inquiry-based learning (IBL) in Mathematics is a pedagogical framework in which students develop deep mathematical insights through collaborative, communicative, and comprehension-building activities. The purpose of IBL SIGMAA is to bring practitioners and others interested in IBL together to share teaching resources and experiences, encourage and publicize research related to IBL, and to promote the proliferation of IBL in Mathematics through conversation and professional development. Teachers and researchers come to the IBL community for diverse reasons, and this SIGMAA is committed to a broad and inclusive definition of IBL in terms of both classroom implementation and the populations it can serve, including those populations historically underserved by our discipline.
SIGMAA on Math Circles for Students and Teachers
The goal of this SIGMAA is to give math circles – both student math circles and math teacher circles – greater visibility and a permanent presence in the mathematical and educational landscape. This SIGMAA will support MAA members who share an interest in developing, supporting and running math circles and will facilitate vertical integration of elementary, middle and high school students, their teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty up through high-level research mathematicians.
Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching
SIGMAA MKT is a community for all who work on preparation or development for teaching K-12 mathematics. Our members teach courses or conduct research that may involve examining, designing, developing, piloting, and revising tasks and curricula focused on mathematical knowledge for teaching in grades K-12. These questions guide SIGMAA MKT: What evidence, experience and values guide us in how to prepare and develop K-12 teachers?How do we improve the mathematical education of prospective and practicing K-12 teachers? How do we strengthen the professional community of mathematics faculty working on mathematical preparation or development for teaching K-12 mathematics? How do we strengthen connections and community among such mathematics faculty and practicing K-12 teachers?
Philosophy of Mathematics
The mission of POM SIGMAA is to stimulate interest in the philosophy of mathematics in the wider mathematical community; to inform this community of concepts, issues and recent developments in the philosophy of mathematics; and to encourage research in the philosophy of mathematics.
Quantitative Literacy
SIGMAA QL aims to provide a structure within the mathematics community to identify the prerequisite mathematical skills for quantitative literacy (QL) and find innovative ways of developing and implementing QL curricula. We also intend to assist colleagues in other disciplines to infuse appropriate QL experiences into their courses and hope to stimulate the general national dialogue concerning QL.
Recreational Mathematics
Recreational mathematics is not easily defined because it is more than mathematics done as a diversion or playing games that involve mathematics. Recreational mathematics is inspired by deep ideas that are hidden in puzzles, games, and other forms of play. The aim of the SIGMAA on Recreational Mathematics (SIGMAA-Rec) is to bring together enthusiasts and researchers in the myriad of topics that fall under recreational math. We will share results and ideas from our work, show that real, deep mathematics is there awaiting those who look, and welcome those who wish to become involved in this branch of mathematics.
Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education
RUME's mission is to foster research on learning and teaching undergraduate mathematics and to provide a support network for those who are involved in this area of study. RUME also welcomes those who teach secondary mathematics and/or are interested in the findings in research of undergraduate mathematics education.
Mathematics and Sports
The Sports SIGMAA exists to support, encourage, and disseminate MAA members’ interests in connections between mathematics and sports, notably including those in the interdisciplinary field of sports analytics. Because sports-related issues are often accessible and interesting to students, the group will support and promote the involvement of undergraduates in related research projects. The SIGMAA will also encourage the development of instructional and assessment tools for the learning of mathematics and statistics, and promote quantitative problem-solving in the context of sports.
Statistics Education
The mission of the SIGMAA on Statistics Education is to provide a forum for those who are interested in statistics education to meet, interact, offer support, and foster increased awareness of statistics education.
Teaching Advanced High School Mathematics
The mission of SIGMAA TAHSM is to support MAA members who share an interest in issues related to post-precalculus mathematics at the secondary school level by providing a forum for exchanging ideas, fostering increased understanding of these issues within the MAA, increasing the dialogue between the MAA and high school teachers, and utilizing expertise of the members in guiding and improving mathematical opportunities for advanced high school students.
SIGMAA on Undergraduate Research
The purpose of UR SIGMAA is to promote and broaden participation in undergraduate research in mathematics by supporting faculty serving as mentors and by supporting interested students. Specific objectives include Facilitating discussion among mathematicians and mathematics educators interested in undergraduate research. Promoting undergraduate research within the MAA, through greater awareness of the work in this area currently underway, and by providing encouraging members to become involved. Providing development opportunities for faculty interested in beginning work in undergraduate research. Recognizing accomplishment in undergraduate research in mathematics.
Mathematics Instruction Using the Web
The mission of WEB SIGMAA is to educate its members about the use of the Web for instruction in mathematics; encourage and facilitate project members using the Web for mathematics instruction; create an interactive community of MAA members interested in using the Web for mathematics instruction; and act as a resource for all MAA members seeking to use the Web for undergraduate instruction.
