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Florida Section Newsletter The Mathematical Association of America October 2005 Volume 27, Issue 1 |
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Florida Section Newsletter The Mathematical Association of America October 2005 Volume 27, Issue 1 |
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President's Message Florida Section Stephanie Fitchett |
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The 2005 Joint FL-MAA/FTYCMA Meetings, held at Manatee Community College was a great success. Many thanks to Pam Crawford for putting together a wonderful program, to the many faculty, students and invited speakers for their presentations, and to Manatee Community College and the local arrangements committee for their outstanding hospitality.
Plans for the 2006 Joint Meetings are well underway, and I look forward to welcoming you all to my home campus of Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter for the February 17-18 conference. I hope you will all consider giving a presentation at the section meeting and having your students give presentations, too! The weekend of the conference, Jupiter also hosts Artigras, an annual art festival with live music, good food, and great art. Artigras runs Saturday through Monday, and is just a few blocks from the FAU campus, so you may want to plan to visit Saturday afternoon after the conference and before you head home. Unfortunately, Artigras together with spring training mean hotels will be fully booked, so please make your hotel arrangements EARLY! (The hotel deadlines are considerably earlier this year than they’ve been in the past.) Also, on Saturday morning, let the campus police know you're attending the conference and they'll let you into the university parking lots.
On the executive side of things, the section Secretary/Treasurer, Joe Skala, resigned for personal reasons after three years of cheerfully handling the section finances. I hope everyone will join me in wishing Joe all the best and thanking him for his much appreciated service to the section. John Waters, Manatee Community College, has agreed to fill in for Joe until the February elections, and we welcome John and thank him for stepping in to fill Joe’s shoes.
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Florida Section The Awards Committee is seeking recommendations for two awards to be given at the state meeting in 2006:
Send your nominations by Friday, December 2, 2005, to the Chair of the Awards Committee:
Past award recipients can be found at http://www.spcollege.edu/central/maa/archives/. |
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Florida Section The Nominating Committee is soliciting nominations for the positions:
Please send names of any potential officers including your own if you are interested to the committee chair:
Past officers can be found at http://www.spcollege.edu/central/maa/archives/. |
 FL-MAA
Florida Section |
Honors College |
 FTYCMA Florida Two-Year College Mathematics Association |
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February 17-18, 2006 |
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| The 2006 Joint Annual Meetings will
bring together Florida’s dedicated mathematicians, professional and
non-professional, for a weekend of exciting lectures, talks, and
discussions on a variety of mathematical topics. The plenary speakers for the conference will be Underwood Dudley, Steve Dunbar, Hans-Dietrich Gronau, and James Tanton. Underwood Dudley is a native of New York City, was an undergraduate at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and was given a Ph.D. degree by the University of Michigan in 1965. After teaching in Ohio and Indiana for thirty-nine years, he saw the light and moved to Florida. He has edited the College Mathematics Journal, written four books, and is proud of having an Erdos number of 1. For more information, visit http://www.maa.org. Steve Dunbar received a bachelor's degree in mathematics at the University of Nebraska, doctorate at the University of Minnesota in 1981, and returned to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1985. His research interests are in nonlinear differential equations and applications of mathematics in all areas. In 2001, Professor Dunbar was appointed as Director of the American Mathematics Competitions. For more information, visit http://www.math.unl.edu/~sdunbar/. Hans-Dietrich Gronau, President of Mathematik-Olympiaden e.V. and German IMO Team Leader, will give a talk on Mathematical Olympiads - International and National. He will also be one of the presenters during the Special Session on Problem Solving. For more information, visit http://www.mathematik-olympiaden.de/. James Tanton, after receiving his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1994, followed the usual track of Visiting/Assistant/Associate Professor at three different institutions New College of the University of South Florida, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and Merrimack College. However, he was soon lured away by the joys of interacting with, teaching, being taught by, and publishing research articles with younger students, K – 12, at the Boston-based Math Circle. During those three years, Dr. Tanton also worked as a consultant for various teacher-training programs and college and secondary text-book editors, all under the pretext that he actually knew something about the state of secondary-level mathematics education. He didn’t. He eventually decided to try practicing what he preached by heading into the secondary scene. Dr. Tanton worked at Milton Academy for a short stint and now finds himself to be a regular high-school teacher at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Massachusetts. He has never worked harder in any aspect of his mathematical career and is still in a state of shock over what he is really learning about life as a high-school math teacher. And just to keep sanity completely out of reach, Dr. Tanton is also the founding director of a new Institute of Mathematics at St. Mark’s School. For more information, visit http://www.stmarksschool.org/smtoday/math/. In addition to these four distinguished plenary speakers, there will be invited talks by some of the state’s leading mathematics professionals as well as student presentations. Other events include:
More information will be available in the January issue. |
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FL-MAA
Florida Section |
Honors College |
 FTYCMA Florida Two-Year College Mathematics Association |
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| February 17-18, 2006 | |||||
| Friday, February 17, 2006 | ||||
| 8:00-10:45 | FTYCMA Workshop | |||
| 11:00-12:30 | FTYCMA Business Meeting and Luncheon | |||
| Welcomes 12:45-1:00 |
Stephanie Fitchett, President, FL-MAA Martha Goshaw, President, FTYCMA |
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| Plenary Session 1:00-1:50 |
Underwood Dudley, Tallahassee Formulas for Primes |
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| Contributed Paper Sessions 2:00-4:45 |
To Be Announced | To Be Announced | To Be Announced | Special Session on Problem Solving |
| Plenary Session 5:00-5:50 |
Steve Dunbar, University of Nebraska The MAA American Mathematics Competitions: Easy Problems, Hard Problems, History and Outcomes |
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| 6:40-7:30 | Conference Banquet and Awards Ceremony | |||
| Plenary Session 7:40-8:30 |
Hans-Dietrich Gronau, University of
Rostock Mathematical Olympiads - International and National |
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| Saturday, February 18, 2006 | ||||
| Contributed Paper Sessions 9:00-11:45 |
To Be Announced | To Be Announced | To Be Announced | Special Session on Problem Solving |
| Plenary Session 12:00-12:50 |
James Tanton, St. Mark's School More than a Dozen Proofs that 1=2: A Misguided Review of all of Mathematics |
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| Farewells 12:50-1:00 |
Stephanie Fitchett, President, FL-MAA Martha Goshaw, President, FTYCMA |
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| 1:00-2:30 | Conference Luncheon and Annual Business Meeting of FL-MAA | |||
Abstracts
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FL-MAA
Florida Section |
Honors College |
FTYCMA Florida Two-Year College Mathematics Association |
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| February 17-18, 2006 | |||||
One of the five concurrent sessions will focus on Math Contests and Problem Solving. This special session will emphasize the importance of challenging problem solving in school and undergraduate curriculum, teacher’s training, and research. Contributed talks or workshops identified for this special session may address (but not limited to) the following sample issues.Call for Papers
We invite talks and workshops (45 minutes) from mathematicians in the State University System, the Florida Community College System, and the state’s private colleges and universities. Undergraduate students are also invited to participate with presentations (20 minutes).
Those who wish to be considered for the program should send their name, institutional affiliation, category of the presentation (research, exposition, pedagogy, student paper, problem-solving session, etc.), title, and an abstract of fifty words or less to the Vice-President for Programs:
Li Zhou
Polk Community College
lzhou@polk.edu
The deadline for submission is December 15, 2005.
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FL-MAA
Florida Section |
Honors College |
FTYCMA Florida Two-Year College Mathematics Association |
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| February 17-18, 2006 | |||||
Accommodations
We have blocked rooms at the following three
properties under an FAU designation (some of them also have MAA on
the records, but ask for the FAU group). Rooms will be held
only until January 16th, so
please make your reservations early!!! All hotels have a 10.5%
room tax in addition to the quoted rates.
Here are some other possibilities. These places will not block rooms in high season, so the rates below are those that were available when we called. Ask for a AAA discount if you’re a member, and don’t be surprised if rooms are more expensive (or not available) at later dates.
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FL-MAA
Florida Section |
Honors College |
FTYCMA Florida Two-Year College Mathematics Association |
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| February 17-18, 2006 | |||||
Food Service
Banquet: Friday, February 17th,
6:40 PM
Luncheon: Saturday, February 18th, 1:00 PM
For those planning to eat on their own, there are several restaurants within a few blocks of FAU. They are all in the Abacoa Town Center (northeast of FAU), which is the area bounded by University Drive, Main Street, and Central Boulevard. |
Circle all that apply.
Send check and Pre-registration Form by February 2, 2006 to:
Note: Pre-register by February 2, 2006, to be entered into a random drawing for six $50.00 awards. Only one entry per person is allowed. For additional information, contact John Waters Jr. at watersj@mccfl.edu or (941) 408-1492. |
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Circle all that apply.
Send check and Pre-registration Form by February 2, 2006 to:
For additional information, contact John Waters Jr. at watersj@mccfl.edu or (941) 408-1492. |
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Student Activities Florida Section Daniel Jelsovsky |
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This year we had nine students present papers at the annual meeting. Presenters were Laura Lynch (Florida Atlantic University Honors College), Sean Simms (Florida Southern College), Desirae Chamblin (Florida Southern College), Matthew Williamson (University of South Florida), Myriam Anez (Florida Atlantic University), Colleen Block (University of Miami), Valentine Sobirov (Florida Atlantic University Honors College), Stephanie Sunberg (Jacksonville University), and Sabrina Lyon (Jacksonville University).
We also had 11 students from four different schools [Manatee Community College, Florida Atlantic University Honors College, Out-of-Door Academy (High School), and University of South Florida] compete in an integral contest. Thanks to Bill Albrecht, Jimmy Chang, Kenneth D. Henderson, Jr., David Kerr, Masahiko Saito, and Li Zhou, for submitting questions for the test. The winner was Sovandy Hang, a sophomore from Manatee Community College. The runner-up was Laura Lynch, a senior from Florida Atlantic University Honors College.
We will offer a $25 stipend next year for student presenters. They will also receive a free banquet. We will continue the integral contest next year, and are looking for people to contribute problems with solutions.
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Regional Meetings Florida Section Jacci White |
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If anyone is interested in holding a meeting in your region or has a particular topic of interest you would like to see presented in your region, please contact me at jacci.white@saintleo.edu for assistance or more information.
The Math Department at Manatee Community College celebrates several professional achievements. Two new full-time faculty, Jana Bryant and Ena Salter, join the current faculty; Julie Francavilla was promoted from Instructor to Assistant Professor; and Arumugam Muhundan received his PhD from the University of South Florida in math education. Lori Holdren had an article published in the NADE journal describing an activity-oriented course in pre-algebra, and Joni Pirnot will have an article published in the upcoming issue of International Journal of Foundations of Computer Science describing some results from her doctoral dissertation on formal languages and automata theory.
The MCC math faculty also has increased efforts to support the community and their campus. Altay Özgener is in the process of helping all full-time math faculty to create and maintain individual web pages to better facilitate communications on campus and in the community. On campus, the math department participated in a "Show Your Colors" day commemorating the lives lost on September 11, 2001. The colorful display included a flag signed by Coast Guard personnel from 2001, a display of patriotic license plates, and a huge poster of the twin towers. The math department has also initiated a mentoring program for adjuncts. Each adjunct is in a mentoring relationship with a full-time math person for sharing teaching ideas and teaching concerns. In the community, many members of the math department are participating in the Heart Walk on Siesta Key on October 22, 2005. Proceeds go to the National Heart Association. A raffle has been organized to encourage contributions. Finally, each full-time math faculty member is a contact person for one of the local high schools, visiting the school and providing information to encourage students to complete as much math as possible while in high school in order to place above the developmental level once enrolled in college.
Jim Rutledge gave a presentation at the 5th Annual MERLOT International Conference in Nashville in July. He also took part in editorial and administrative policy meetings and workshops in advance of the conference.
Jim Rutledge has authored a project-based Liberal Arts math textbook entitled Math Is Everywhere! Explore and Discover It! The text was published by Pearson in August, 2005, and is now available. More information may be obtained at the Pearson textbook Web site, http://www.pearsoncustom.com under the category Computer Science and Math.
Sharon Griggs, J.C. Campbell, Sonja Hensler and Betty Pate attended the FTYCMA Mathematics in the Sun Retreat at Central Florida Community College in Ocala in September. Sharon Griggs is currently serving as the Treasurer of FTYCMA.
Nagle Lecture Series
Last Spring, the Nagle Lecture Series was proud to sponsor a lecture by Andrew Odlyzko, Director of the Digital Technology Center at the University of Minnesota, on Cybersecurity, Mathematics, and the Limits of Technology. The Nagle Lecture Series will continue to invite leading figures in the mathematics communities to come to USF to speak, so stay tuned.
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