Activities for Students

VI. Activities for Students

The MAA sections should strive to include both undergraduate and graduate students in their meetings and other activities. Section members should consider the MAA student chapters and the MAA student members in their section as they provide and expand program activities for students. Most importantly, students should be made to feel that they are part of the mathematical community.

A. Section Student Activities Coordinator

Each section should have a student activities coordinator who helps to plan and encourage activities for undergraduate and graduate students in the section. The coordinator should inform the institutions of these student activities with regular letters or email messages sent to department liaisons and student chapter advisors. The coordinator should also facilitate the sharing of information about successful activities of MAA student chapters within the section.

B. MAA Student Chapters

Section officers should encourage those institutions without chapters to consider forming an MAA student chapter. Only five students and a faculty advisor are required to start a chapter. Benefits include a newsletter for chapter advisors, special career information for students, and MAA student membership at a reduced rate. Information packets on starting a student chapter can be obtained from MAA Online at www.maa.org/students/chapter_index.html.

One of the most effective ways to organize student activities is to cooperate with the active MAA student chapters in the section. The student activities coordinator of the section can serve as an information resource about active chapters in the section for the section's program committee. The students in these chapters have sound ideas to suggest for program activities and are excellent prospects for contributed papers at section meetings.

C. Student Paper Sessions

Many sections have specially sponsored student paper sessions at their meetings. In addition, some sections allow undergraduate and graduate students to present in the regular contributed paper session. A student who gives a talk at a section meeting receives a certificate supplied by the national MAA office.

Do undergraduate student papers exist? And if so, how good are they, and what do they cover? To answer the first question, yes, they do exist. In fact, almost every campus has students working on projects, solving problems, and doing minor (and sometimes major) mathematical research. Student paper sessions provide opportunities for these students to share their work and sharpen their presentation skills. Further, a paper presentation makes a good appearance on a resume when viewed by a prospective employer. Most sections allow papers on expository subjects, research projects, problems from the Monthly, and employment and internship experiences.

Because of the natural reluctance of students to present papers in front of faculty members, the key to a successful student paper session is individual contact and enthusiastic encouragement. Some sections have found that their student paper sessions started slowly but within a very few years became an integral part (some even claim the best part) of the meeting. Obvious advantages include encouraging students in their mathematical efforts, recruiting young researchers and graduate students for MAA membership, and increasing the scope of section meetings. These sessions can give students a sense of accomplishment and also expose them to a variety of mathematics and mathematicians.

Student paper sessions should be scheduled at all section meetings. Some sections place a special emphasis on student papers at one meeting each year. Students who have presented outstanding papers should be encouraged to submit these papers for consideration at the student paper sessions at MathFest and to apply for one of the travel grants available to student chapter members.

D. Organizing a Student Paper Session

A successful student paper session can be organized in much the same way as any contributed paper session, but students should be especially encouraged to participate and they should be recognized for their efforts. The following steps should ensure successful student paper sessions at section meetings.

The section chair should appoint an enthusiastic student paper chair, or possibly a committee, to organize either a student paper session at one section meeting or the student paper sessions for several years.
The announcement of the section meeting should include the student paper session with directions for applying and requirements, such as the submission of the title of the talk and a brief abstract by a specific date.
The section student activities coordinator should communicate with department liaisons about the student paper sessions so that students are informed in the fall about the opportunity for papers to be presented in the spring, and vice-versa.
The student paper chair should work directly and closely with selected faculty advisors, such as advisors of MAA student chapters, at each institution since these advisors are crucial to identifying prospective papers, to encouraging the students, and to arranging department financial support when possible. These advisors should be asked to bring other students to the meeting not only to serve as an audience, but also to encourage future participation from their campuses.
The student paper chair should inform graduate schools in the section about the student paper sessions. Graduate students nearing the end of their studies may be invited to practice their "job talks" at the MAA section meetings.
The students should give 15 to 20-minute talks with about 5 minutes for questions. A moderator, who may be the student paper chair or a carefully selected local student, should briefly introduce each speaker and enforce the time restrictions.
The program committee should schedule the student papers so that they don't conflict with major presentations and so that the times are attractive to students and faculty. Ideally no parallel sessions would be scheduled at the times for student papers.
A broad range of topics on anything related to mathematics, statistics, or computer science should be encouraged for the student talks. These subjects could range from research topics to expository papers on interesting applications, mathematics history, solutions of problems, summer employment, and internships.
Meeting registration fees for all students should be waived or greatly reduced, and presenters should be offered meals with little or no charge if possible.
The local arrangements committee and the student paper chair should arrange low cost or free student housing for section meetings that involve an overnight stay. Possibilities include the dormitories and the homes of students at the host institution. The local advisors of Pi Mu Epsilon, Kappa Mu Epsilon and MAA student chapters should be asked to help find housing.
The students should be invited to section parties, luncheons, banquets, coffees, and any other social events.
The student paper chair should obtain a supply of blank certificates for the student presenters from the national MAA office. These certificates should be completed before the student presentations, framed, and given to the students at the section meeting.
The student presenters should be recognized at another time during the meeting, possibly at the business meeting.

E. Other Student Activities

Sections should offer both undergraduate and graduate students a variety of opportunities to participate in mathematical activities. Although the student paper sessions at section meetings may be regularly scheduled, additional activities should be sponsored from time to time. These activities may involve major projects, such as a careers conference or a modeling competition. Suggestions for student activities at section meetings are listed below.

A student poster session may supplement or replace a student paper session at a section meeting. Undergraduate students can then be encouraged to participate in the student poster session at the Joint Meetings in January. Graduate students have the opportunity to meet other mathematicians and discuss their work at a higher level than would be appropriate for a general talk.
A problem-solving competition can be included in a section meeting. The section chair should appoint a committee to write the questions and then grade the solutions.
A section meeting may include a special workshop or presentation on a topic especially interesting and accessible to students. Another possibility is a banquet or luncheon with a keynote speaker for students.
A panel on careers would give information on various career opportunities in the mathematical sciences and how to prepare for these careers.
Representatives from several graduate programs in the section could describe their programs in a graduate school panel. This is a great recruiting device for the graduate schools.

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