More information is provided below, including a description of the
invited talks, a call for papers, and information
for students. Please note the following important dates for the KYMAA
Annual Meeting:
Friday evening:
The Truth of Proofs, David Bressoud, Macalester College.
Abstract: Mathematicians often delude themselves into thinking that we
create proofs in order to establish truth. In fact, that which is "proven"
is often not true, and mathematical results are often known with certainty
to be true long before a proof is found. I will use some illustrations
from the history of mathematics to make this point and to show that proof
is more about making connections than establishing truth.
Bio: David Bressoud is DeWitt Wallace Professor of Mathematics at
Macalester College and President-Elect of the MAA. He has received the MAA
Distinguished Teaching Award (Allegheny Mountain Section), the MAA
Beckenbach Book Award for Proofs and Confirmations, and has been a Polya
Lecturer for the MAA. He has published over fifty research articles in
number theory, combinatorics, and special functions. His other books
include Factorization and Primality Testing, Second Year
Calculus from Celestial Mechanics to Special Relativity, A Radical
Approach to Real Analysis (now in 2nd edition), and, with Stan Wagon,
A Course in Computational Number Theory. His latest book, A
Radical Approach to Lebesgue's Theory of Integration, has just been
published by the MAA.
Saturday morning:
The Evolution of the Cryptologic Bombe, Chris Christensen, Northern
Kentucky University
Abstract: Early successes by the German military in the blitzkrieg
attack in Europe and the Battle of the Atlantic were in part due to the
ability of the German military to quickly transmit secure tactical
messages. One of the machines used to secure German messages was Enigma.
Part of the Allied defeat of Germany can be attributed to the Allies'
breaking of Enigma. One of the devices used to break Enigma was called the
bombe. We will consider an initial version of the bombe that was
constructed by the Polish mathematician Marian Rejewski during the 1930s,
a second generation bombe that was developed by the British mathematician
Alan Turing and improved by the algebraic geometer Gordon Welchman, and
the US Navy's cryptologic bombe that was built by Joseph Desch, an
engineer at National Cash Register in Dayton, Ohio.
Bio: Chris Christensen is in his twenty-fifth year of teaching
mathematics at Northern Kentucky University. His mathematical genealogy is
a sequence of algebraic geometers. More than a decade ago, he read Robert
Harris' Enigma and thought "that's interesting" and "it's fifty years
later, a lot of mathematics has been developed in the meantime, this would
probably be easy today." It's not. Today, he still finds cryptology
interesting, and he has developed a great deal of respect for the
mathematicians (and other codebreakers) at Bletchley Park and for the
cryptographers and cryptanalysts who preceded them and followed them.
Mathematics as a Mechanism for Cohesion in Biology, Louis J. Gross,Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Abstract: Biology is a tremendously diverse field covering systems operating at vastly different scales, with differing levels of interaction between these. Perhaps one of the greatest challenges in biology is that of representativeness: how representative are observations and methods we develop for one biological system applicable to other systems, at different locations, in different organisms, or at different levels of organization in the hierarchy of biology? This inherently theoretical question underpins much of the past effort in mathematical biology, driven typically by the desire to develop the general principles by which biological systems are organized and operate. Yet at the same time there are demands for answers to quite specific questions to better manage natural systems, to enhance human health, and to plan for the future impacts of human actions. Some argue that we have not been tremendously successful to date in moving from theory to practice. I will give a variety of examples of projects in mathematical ecology that lie at this interface between theory and practice, providing some indication of the utility of quantitative methods to elucidate general patterns of natural systems and how these have proven useful in application. I'll conclude this positivist view of mathematical biology with some suggestions as to how we might best develop collaborative endeavors to build a more cohesive theory in biology.
Bio: Louis J. Gross is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics and Director of The Institute for Environmental Modeling at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He completed a B.S. degree in Mathematics at Drexel University and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at Cornell University, and has been a faculty member at UTK since 1979.
He has led the effort at UT to develop an across trophic level modeling framework to assess the biotic impacts of alternative water planning for the Everglades of Florida. He has co-directed several courses and workshops in Mathematical Ecology at the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, has edited or co-edited four books, served as Chair of the Theoretical Ecology Section of the Ecological Society of America, as President of the Society for Mathematical Biology and as Chair of the National Research Council Committee on Education in Biocomplexity Research. He is the 2006 Distinguished Scientist awardee of the American Institute of Biological Sciences.
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 2008, 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.
Don't forget the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) and the
Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM). These are four day
competitions that start at 8pm on Thursday, February 14 and end at 8pm on
Monday, February 18. This competition is for three-student teams. Your
institution may have more than one team, but a student may be on only one
team and each team works on only one problem. More information is
available from http://www.comap.com/undergraduate/contests/mcm/.
The registration deadline is 2pm on Thursday, February 14.
April is Mathematics Awareness Month. This year's theme is Mathematics
and Voting. 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 2008 Mathematics Awareness
Month celebration by organizing a trip to attend the Annual KYMAA Section
Meeting, March 28-29, 2008 at Western Kentucky University.
The KYMAA Section Meeting is a great opportunity for students to give a
talk to a friendly audience. Fifteen undergraduate students presented
papers at the 2007 meeting. 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. Student presenters will have a
choice of a free one-year subscription to the Mathematical Association of
America, which includes a monthly publication of the student's choice, or
a book.
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 at m.dobranski@moreheadstate.edu
KYMAA Student Chapters Coordinator
Hotel Information
Blocks of rooms are reserved for the night of March 28, 2008 -- all prices are base prices without taxes and fees.
Each location has the block of rooms under KYMAA (There will also be reference to WKU and Math)
Courtyard by Marriott (20 rooms)
10 kings / 10 queens at $79
Rooms were held until 3/3/08
1-888-236-2427
Drury Hotel (40 rooms)
4 kings at $79.99 / 36 doubles at $69.99 (both prices are single occupancy)
$10 for each additional person
Rooms were held until 2/28/08
1-800-378-7946
Hampton Inn (40 rooms)
20 kings / 20 doubles @ $79
Rooms will be held until 3/14/08
1-270-842-4100
Please contact any officer of KYMAA if you would interested in
hosting a future meeting.
The KYMAA is soliciting applications for the third installment of the
wildly successful KYNExT program!
Modeled after the National Project NExT, the mission of the Kentucky
Section NExT (New Experiences in Teaching), is to support soon-to-be,
newly-minted, and recent-but-untenured Ph.D.s in the mathematical sciences
(including all areas of mathematics, statistics, operations research, and
mathematics education) in their role as mathematics faculty. In
particular, the goal of KYNExT is to foster and enhance all aspects of an
academic career: high-quality teaching and learning of mathematics,
productive research and scholarship, and meaningful professional
activities.
The KYNExT program will immediately precede the annual KYMAA spring
meeting, beginning the evening before and ending just as the KYMAA meeting
commences. This year's program includes inspiring presentations by award
winning faculty from Kentucky and beyond, as well as panel discussions on
discovering one's teaching style and on earning tenure.
To these ends, KYNExT seeks applications from any and all untenured
mathematics faculty and mathematics graduate students who anticipate
graduating with a Ph.D. by Fall 2009. KYNExT is intended to be a two-year
program, so selection will favor applicants who are able to demonstrate a
two-year commitment.
Please submit applications to Anne Collins at collins@centre.edu by February 22nd.
We anticipate that review of applications will be completed no later than
February 29th. A complete application will include:
- A brief personal statement (two-page maximum, one-page preferred)
describing your approach to teaching and learning mathematics, and what
you expect to gain from participating in KYNExT.
- A short (one-page) vitae, which should include contact information,
education and employment history, teaching experience, and research
interests.
- A statement of support from your chair or dean indicating a
willingness to:
- Support or coordinate your release from teaching and other
responsibilities on Friday, March 28, 2008 and Friday, March 27, 2009.
- Pay for registration, Friday night lodging, and Friday evening and
Saturday morning meals for the KYMAA Annual Meetings in Spring 2008 at
Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, and in Spring 2009 at
Kentucky State University in Frankfort, estimated to be $100 to $150
per meeting. Note that KYNExT funds will cover all costs of attending
the KYNExT program itself, including the Thursday evening Ice Cream
Social, Thursday night lodging, and breakfast and lunch on Friday.