Winter 2012 Newsletter

From the Chair A Call for Papers
The Governor's Corner Hey Students!!
The Annual KYMAA Meeting Come to MathFest


From the Chair

The Joint Meetings in Boston were fantastic! Over 7,000 mathematicians from around the world came together to network and share their enjoyment for mathematics. It was full of excitement.

If you did not get to go to the Joint Meetings, I hope our Kentucky Section meeting is on your calendar. It too promises to be an amazing event. Our Chair-Elect, Duk Lee, our colleagues at Bellarmine University, especially Daylene Zielinski, and the executive committee, have been working hard to organize an excellent meeting. The program has an array of impressive speakers. What an opportunity! Begin talking to your fellow faculty members and your students and get them excited about participating. Make it a point to encourage folks that have never attended a KYMAA meeting to join us this year. Send your abstract well before the deadline; register early and get your first choice of hotel room.

Bellarmine University is the place to kick off your Math Awareness Month activities in 2012!

I look forward to seeing you March 30-31 at Bellarmine.

Dora Ahmadi at d.ahmadi@moreheadstate.edu
KYMAA Chair


The Governor's Corner

An unexpected surgery kept me from participating in the meeting of the MAA Board of Governors at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boston. The MAA requires that substitutes must be former governors. Dan Curtin, who is a former KYMAA governor, agreed to substitute for me at the meeting. Thanks, Dan. Here is Dan's report on the Board of Governors meeting:

The weather was remarkably mild, and the turn out for the meetings was around 7,200, by far the largest Joint Meetings ever. Attendance since 2001 has been between about 5000-6000. It was good to see many KYMAA folks there.

The MAA is in relatively good shape financially, with around $12M in net assets. Our investments have not done as well as hoped, as is true for most investors right now. One area of concern is that our reserve funds have declined to around $0.5M. For the health of the organization they should be more like $5M. The MAA is being very careful with its spending in order to build back our safety net. Membership is around 12,000 with 27% choosing journals in electronic form. Increasing this percentage could lead to savings for the MAA.

The MAA and the NCTM have issued a joint statement on Calculus that addresses the teaching of the Calculus in both high schools and universities. It can be viewed at NCSSM.

The next Joint Meeting will be in San Diego, CA, January 9-12, 2013. The following JMMs are in Baltimore, MD; San Antonio, TX; Seattle, WA; and Atlanta, GA; resp.

MathFest this summer will be in Madison, WI, August 2-4. I hope this is close enough that I will see many KYMAA members there. MathFest 2013 will be in Hartford, CT, 2014 in Portland, OR, and the 2015 meeting will be in Washington, DC. The MAA will be 100 years old in 2015 and so will be celbrating its centennial. Plans are underway for a big celebration in Washington, DC. Our own section is one of the oldest, two years younger than the MAA, so we are thinking of a celebration in 2017. Most sections are writing section histories, ours among them with myself in charge. They will form part of a history of the MAA.

Be sure to check out MAA Online and also all the excellent publications from MAA. And also, be sure to look for opportunities to share your interests and ability, either by serving the KYMAA, or the national MAA.

Dan Curtin, KYMAA Historian curtin@knu.edu.

MAA Congressional Advocacy: The Science Policy Committee of the MAA is seeking one person in each section to be a congressional advocate - to advocate for the MAA with the US Congress. An Advocacy Tool-Kit (written last July by the MAA's consultants for government relations, Dave Zook and Beena Patel of B&D Consulting) is available, and additional training and opportunities to learn about the MAA's legislative positions is available at national meetings of the MAA. If you are interested in being an advocate for the MAA to Kentucky's legislative delegation, please contact me at the adress below. I would be glad to send you information about the position. A current issue is to advocate for congressional support of efforts by the National Science Foundation to improve STEM undergraduate education.

Chris Christensen at christensen@nku.edu

KYMAA Governor


The Annual KYMAA Meeting

Our 2012 KYMAA Annual Meeting is scheduled for March 30 - 31, 2012, at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. This meeting should be outstanding and we strongly encourage you to participate. Perhaps you and/or your students can give a talk, or just come and listen to what your mathematical colleagues from across the state are up to these days.

We are very excited to have the following three invited speakers:

Erik Demaine (MIT), Bob Devaney (Boston Univ.), and Christie Perry (Morehead State Univ.). You do not want to miss these awesome speakers!

Complete program details will appear in the next newsletter on March 12, 2012. There will also be links to the meeting program and presentation abstracts.

Please note the following important dates for the 2012 KYMAA Annual Meeting:

  • Friday, March 2 : Deadline for submitting abstracts for talks at the meeting.
  • Monday, March 12 : Publication date of meeting program on this website.
  • Friday, March 16: Registration Deadline. You Must register by this date if you would like to join us for meals at the meeting since the caterer needs a headcount by this date. At the very least e-mail our section treasurer Jeff Heath at jeffrey.heath@centre.edu. Payment for meals should be in the regular (snail)mail by this date.
  • March 30 - 31 : A grand celebration of Kentucky mathematics at Bellarmine!
  • Hotel Information: Deadlines for KYMAA discount rates vary and there are a limited number of rooms available in three different hotels, so please hurry to make reservations.

Meeting registration forms can be obtained via the following links:

For speakers, the rooms will have available PCs, laptop docks, ELMO document cameras and whiteboard or chalkboard. If you need something other than any of these, indicates so under "Equipment Needs" on the abstract form. In general, the time for individual presentations will be 15 minutes, including time for questions. Special presentations can be allocated more time if necessary.

Finally, our schedule of hosts for future section meetings is:

March 29-30, 2013 Transylvania University in Lexington
March 28-29, 2014 Murray State University

Please contact any officer of KYMAA if you would interested in hosting a future meeting; we're always on the lookout for a good meeting site!

Links to abstracts, programs, and a map can be found at KYMAA meetings

Complete program details will appear in the next newsletter on March 12, 2012. There will also be links there to the meeting program and presentation abstracts.

Lodging

  • There is a block of 15 non-smoking rooms with two double beds at the Red Roof Inn (502-456-2993) at Newburg Road exit off of the Watterson (I-264) for $55.99 plus tax for Friday night, March 30th. This price is good through March 14th, then the price goes up to at least $69.99 plus tax. Say you're part of "KYMAA at Bellarmine" to get the group rate.
  • There is a block of 30 non-smoking rooms in a variety of bed arrangements at the Best Western (502-456-4411) at Newburg Road exit off of the Watterson (I-264) for $82 plus tax for Friday night, March 30th. These rooms include a continental breakfast on Saturday morning. This price is good through March 10th, then the price goes up to at least $109 plus tax. Say you're part of "KYMAA at Bellarmine" to get the group rate.
  • There is a block of 20 non-smoking rooms in a variety of bed arrangements at the La Quinta Inn (502-368-0007) at Preston Highway exit off of the Watterson (I-264) for $85 plus tax for Friday night, March 30th. These rooms include a continental breakfast on Saturday morning. This price is good through February 29th, then the price goes up to at least $115 plus tax. Say you're part of "KYMAA at Bellarmine" to get the group rate.

  • BOOK YOUR ROOMS EARLY. There are several events in Louisville the weekend of our conference.

  • Directions: Click for a map → MAP (pdf)


    A Call for Papers

    The deadline for submitting abstracts is passed.

    Click here to see the abstracts and a schedule of events:

    • Abstracts of Talks(PDF)

    • Programks(PDF)

      Excitement is in the air as we prepare for a celebration of mathematics! It is time to begin planning your talk for our 2012 Annual Meeting of the Kentucky Section of the Mathematical Association of America. The meeting will begin March 30 and conclude on March 31 at Bellarmine University in Louisville. Faculty and students, both graduate and undergraduate, from across the state and beyond are encouraged to present a talk. We look forward to presentations from faculty and students! Whether you wish to present recent research, the solution to an interesting problem, or share some pedagogical insight, your submission is welcome. We are also always very glad to hear from undergraduates about work they have done in summer research projects, competitions, or on honors projects. If you wish to organize a panel discussion, please let us know

      For both faculty and students, if you wish to make a presentation, fill out the Presentation Abstract Form and submit it by March 2. A copy of the form can be obtained here: Presentation Abstract Form (MS Word) or Presentation Abstract Form (PDF). In general, the time for individual presentations will be 15 minutes, including time for questions. Special presentations can be allocated more time if necessary. For speakers, the rooms will have available PCs, laptop docks, ELMO document cameras and whiteboard or chalkboard. If you need something other than any of these, indicates so under "Equipment Needs" on the abstract form.

      Please note any special needs and a time preference on the form, and please submit (e-mail strongly preferred) to:

      Duk Lee

      E-mail: duk.lee@asbury.edu

      Phone: 859-858-3511 ext. 2235


      Hey Students!

      I hope your fall term went well. Seniors who are planning to go to graduate school are busy applying to graduate programs - and working hard to finish their undergraduate studies strong! If you will still be an undergraduate in the Fall Semester of 2012, then you should consider participating in a summer REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates). Check out http://www.maa.org/students/undergrad/research.html for more information. Faculty members can help you determine which REUs you would like best, and they can help you apply. Depending on the REU, the application deadline may be any time from the end of January through late March.

      April is Mathematics Awareness Month. This year's theme is "Mathematics, Statistics, and the Data Deluge". For information concerning activities and to download a poster, check out http://www.mathaware.org/. Encourage your mathematics and computer science clubs to organize activities during the month of April.

      You can also kick off the 2012 Mathematics Awareness Month celebration by organizing a trip to attend the Annual KYMAA Section Meeting, March 30-31, 2012 at Bellarmine University. The KYMAA Section Meeting is a great opportunity for students to give a talk to a friendly audience. Twenty-one of the papers presented at the 2010 meeting involved undergraduates. Start thinking about a presentation, discuss it with a professor at your institution and get ready. Here are some ideas: Discuss your team's work in the MCM or ICM. If there is a mathematics or computer science topic you would like to investigate, do the work, then share what you learned at the section meeting. This activity makes your resume more attractive. When you register for the meeting, register for the Friday evening banquet, too. Meals for students will again be at a discounted price. Students who have attended the banquet in the past have truly enjoyed it. Don't miss it!

      I will be writing a newsletter to be included with the registration packet at the section meeting, and I need your help providing highlights of your activities. Please have one of your club members send a brief summary to m.dobranski@moreheadstate.edu. Your responses are highly appreciated.

      If you have any questions about the information above, please feel free to contact me.


      Mike Dobranski, KYMAA Student Chapters Coordinator


      Come to MathFest this August

      MathFest is the annual national summer meeting of the MAA. This August it returns to Madison's Monona Terrace Convention Center, the beautiful facility designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Those who attended the fabulous 2008 MathFest there will want to come back, and those who didn't, -- DON'T MISS IT THIS TIME!. Click below for more information.