 |
Iowa Section of the Mathematical Association of America |
 |
| Call for papers | Elections | Campus Information | Lodging | Schedule and Abstracts | Preregistering |
The fall meeting of the Iowa Section of the Mathematics Association of America will feature MAA Vice President Carol Schumacher from Kenyon College, giving invited talks on Friday evening and Saturday.
Friday night talk, 7:00-8:00 p.m.: All Tangled Up
Toys have inspired a lot of interesting mathematics. The Spirograph™ helps children create lovely curves by rolling a small circle around the inside or the outside of a larger circle. These curves are called hypotrochoids and epitrochoids and are special cases of mathematical curves called roulettes. A roulette is created by following a point attached to one curve as that curve “rolls” along another curve. Another children's toy, the Tangle™, inspired some students and me to investigate roulettes that we get by rolling a circle around the inside of a “tangle curve,” which is made up of quarter circles. The resulting roulettes we named “tangloids.” In this talk, we will look at many pretty pictures and animations of these curves and discuss some of their interesting properties. As a bonus, I will discuss the nature of generalization, which is very important in mathematics.
Saturday morning talk, 8:30-9:30 a.m.: Fast Forward, Slow Motion
A graphical link between fast and slow time scales: The world is shaped by interactions between things that develop slowly over time and things that happen very rapidly. Picture a garden. A bud takes hours to open up into a flower. A bee takes seconds to fly in, pollinate the flower and then depart. It can be difficult to fully consider both fast and slow time scales at the same time—yet it is the interaction between these events that makes the garden work. Mathematicians have developed a number of techniques for analyzing systems that include both fast and slow time scales. We will consider a graphical method for predicting what happens when fast and slow interact.
As usual, we hope for a wide variety of talks from our own members. If you have something interesting to say about mathematics or teaching, contribute a talk and share with the rest of the section. Students (both undergraduates and graduates) are encouraged to participate.
Proposals for talks are due by October 11. Please use the electronic submission form, if at all possible. (Logging in first will make it easier, so you are encouraged to do so.) If you are unable to use the submission site, please send the following information to Chris Spicer at Morningside College - spicer@morningside.edu:
Contact information for Chris Spicer: Chris Spicer, Ph.D. Morningside College 712.274.5103 spicer@morningside.edu
We will be holding elections for a new vice-chair elect at the meeting. The candidates for vice-chair elect are Steve Butler (Iowa State) and Susan Crook (Loras).
The Science and Technology Center (also known as the Science Building) is located on Defender Way. Registration and talks will be held in this building. Section NExT activities will be in the Terrace Room on the lower level of the Campus Center. See the printable map of the Dordt University campus. Lot 2 is the closest visitor parking lot to both buildings.
Remember to tell hotels that you are with the Iowa Section of the MAA when reserving your room by phone.
A block of rooms has been reserved at the EconoLodge and the Holiday Inn Express & Suites for Friday, October 25.
Here is a link to the schedule: Schedule
If you have questions, please contact the
Chair, Angela Kohlhaas angela.kohlhaas@loras.edu (for general issues);
Vice-Chair, Chris Spicer spicer@morningside.edu (for program issues);
Vice-Chair Elect, Melissa Lindsey melissa.lindsey@dordt.edu (for local, on-site issues);
or Secretary, Ross Sweet ross.sweet@simpson.edu (for registration or other issues).
Thank you for considering preregistering for the upcoming meeting. This will save you time at the meeting, make it easier for our secretary at the meeting, and increase the efficiency in gathering the data that the MAA headquarters asks of us for each meeting (including gender, whether you are a presenter, and student/faculty/other status). When you come to the registration table at the meeting, indicate that you have already preregistered. Your name will be looked up from the list gathered from this registration tool and you will only need to pay the registration fee ($15) to complete the process. If you want to prepay using PayPal, this is done in the paragraph below. Preregistration takes place here. Note that you can use this page whether you are currently in our database or not (see below), but the process will be much easier if you already are.
The registration fee for those who have to pay (people who aren't students or invited speakers) is $15 and can be paid below. Note that this is a second step to the registration process.
We are trying to maintain an up-to-date database of all section members to provide better communication, save expenses on mailings, and help with the registration and proposal process. If you have not already updated your information, you may do so by using the log in page here. The credentials that you need here are your email and your password. If you forgot your password, you can always have it sent to by using the "I forgot my password" link on the log in page (log in). This assumes that you are in the system. If you are not sure if you are or not, check here. If you are not in the system, use the Contact menu there to send a message to request to be added.