Organizing Committee Theresa C. Michnowicz, New Jersey City University; Revathi Narasimhan, Saint Peter's College; Pablo Zafra, Kean University

Program Committee Carol Avelsgaard, Middlesex County College; Lawrence D'Antonio, Ramapo College; Cathy Liebars, The College of New Jersey; Matthew Haines, New Jersey City University; Judith Schick-Lenk, Ocean County College.

Hosting Committee Christine Bruno, Deborah Bennett, James Camacho, Jr., Yi Ding, Julio Guillén, Matthew Haines, Theresa C. Michnowicz, Das Misir, Jean-Claude Ngatchou, Priscilla Putman-Haindl, Michael Puls, Richard Riggs, Freda Robbins, Marcia Schlafmitz, and Diana Thomas, New Jersey City University

Acknowledgments

The MAA-NJ thanksRichard Riggs and the NJCU Mathematics Department Jean-Claude Ngatchou and the NJCU Computer Science Department for their kind hospitality in hosting the meeting. NJCU Math Club and their advisor Diana Thomas NJCU Computer Science Club and their advisor Marcia Schlafmitz for their assistance at this meeting.

A numerical model for computing the principal stresses in sutured abdominal human skin wounds of complex geometries is presented. The finite element method is utilized to compute the principal stresses and displacements resulting from suturing circular and triangular wounds in a finite skin sheet, in order to determine optimal suturing patterns.

The model uses the basic equations of classical linear elasticity theory

for orthotropic materials and elastic constants valid for the in vivo configuration. Since regions of high stresses in surgical closures produce adverse affects on healing and scar production, it is necessary to predict areas of high stresses to allow for comparison of stress distributions to help predict regions of slow healing in wounds of complex geometries. This work is joint with Dr. H.R.Chaudhry of UMDNJ.

Dawn Lott-Crumpler obtained her Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics from Northwestern University in June 1994. She then completed a three-year postdoc at the University of Maryland at College Park. Dawn is currently an Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Her research interests include the numerical solutions to partial differential equations modelling physical phenomena in solid mechanics; in particular, the study of shear bands, antiplane motions of nonlinearly elastic materials and the nonlinear effects of wound closure on human skin. http://cams.njit.edu/~dalc

Primes have been studied since antiquity, mostly for their internal beauty. It is amazing the great theorems that have been proved about primes, and it is equally amazing how far we still have to go. In this talk, some of the highlights over the last two-and-a-half millennia will be discussed.

Carl Pomerance, Erdos Number 1, received his B.A.from Brown University in 1966 and his Ph.D.from Harvard University in 1972. He then joined the mathematics faculty at the University of Georgia, where he is now Research Professor Emeritus. In 1999, he became a member of technical staff at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies. He has been an invited speaker at various international and national meetings including the International Congress of Mathematicians in Switzerland, 1994 and Hedrick Lecturer, Mathematical Association of America, 1999. His awards include University of Georgia R. G. Michael Award for Research, 1982, and Chauvenet Prize, Mathematical Association of America, 1985, Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics, Mathematical Association of America, 1997.

Although most finite simple groups belong to natural infinite families (e.g., the alternating groups) there are 26 "sporadic" finite simple groups which do not. The largest of these, with order approximately 8(10⁵³), is known as the Monster. Its existence was predicted by B. Fischer and R. Griess in the late 1970s and it was constructed by Griess in 1982. Even before the Monster was

constructed, remarkable numerical relationships were observed between it and an apparently completely unrelated area of mathematics: the theory of modular functions. A 1979 paper of Conway and Norton entitled "Monstrous Moonshine" formulated conjectures which systematized these observations and also gave the subject its distinctive name. A second construction of the Monster (by Frenkel, Lepowsky and Meurman) in 1984 proved some of the "moonshine" conjectures and in 1992 Borcherds proved all of the Conway-Norton conjectures. This work has involved yet more seemingly diverse fields: the theory of infinite- dimensional Lie algebras and conformal field theory.

Robert Wilson received his BA from The American University in 1965 and his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1969. He joined the faculty of Rutgers-New Brunswick in 1971 and is now Professor of Mathematics and Dean of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. He has worked in the structure, classification and representation theory of Lie algebras.

In AT&T's long-distance network, approximately 300 million phone numbers make and receive calls, and approximately 200 million to 300 million calls are handled every day. Each day's (respectively, hour's, week's, month's, or other intervals) calls give rise to a massive, directed multigraph in which the vertices are phone numbers, and an arc is drawn form vertex v to vertex w for each call that v made to w. In this talk, I will give a current snap-shot of ongoing work at AT&T Labs on computing the structure of these phone call graphs, on probabilistic models that capture some of this structure, and on algorithmic challenges and other open problems. I will also touch briefly on Internet data and Wireless data, to which abstractions and computational methods developed for long-distance data are not always applicable.

Joan Feigenbaum received a BA in mathematics from Harvard and a
Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford. Since receiving her Ph.D. in
1986, she has been at AT&T, where she currently heads the Algorithms
and Distributed Data department at the Shannon Laboratory in Florham Park, NJ.
Her research interests are in algorithmics for massive data sets,
cryptology and security, and computational complexity theory. Her
current and recent professional service activities include Editor-in-Chief of the
Journal of Cryptology, editorial board member for Intellectual Property Rights in the
Emerging Information Infrastructure, and Program Committee Chair for the 1998 IEEE
Conference on Computational Complexity.

http://www.research.att.com/~jf/

Lunch discussion tables for Fall 99 meeting

There will be three discussion tables at lunch.

1. How Far Towards Reform Calculus Does Your School Lean?,

led by Carol Avelsgaard, Middlesex County College
2. Alternatives to traditional assessment,
3. led by Cathy Liebars, The College of New Jersey
4. Challenges of redesigning courses to include technology,
5. led by Revathi Narasimhan, Saint Peter's College

MAA Certificate of Meritorious Service

This year The New Jersey Section was invited to nominate one of its
members to be the recipient of the prestigious MAA Certificate of
Meritorious Service for contributions to the MAA at the national or
sectional level. The section nomination was approved at the
Board of Governors Meeting at Mathfest99 in Providence, RI.
This award will be presented to Sister M. Stephanie Sloyan, R.S.M.,
at the Joint Mathematics Meetings, January 2000, in Washington, DC.
The Nominating Committee forwarded the following citation to the MAA.
 

The New Jersey Section of the Mathematical Association of America has selected Sister M. Stephanie Sloyan, R.S.M., Professor Emerita of Mathematics, Georgian Court College, Lakewood, New Jersey, as the recipient of The Mathematical Association of America Certificate of Meritorious Service in recognition of her many years of leadership and dedication to the MAA.

A familiar face at national and section meetings, Sister Stephanie is well known for her commitment to the goals of the MAA. A member of the MAA since 1952, and one of the founders of the New Jersey Section (1956), she has served the MAA in many capacities: Section Vice-Chair for Speakers, Chair-Elect, Chair (1985-87), Past Chair, Governor (1988-1991), member of the MAA Committee on Sections and numerous N.J. Section committees. In 1991, she became the first recipient of the MAA-NJ Section Distinguished Teaching Award and has since served as Chair of the Selection Committee for this award. Sister Stephanie has been a role model for women who aspire to a career in mathematics. She was responsible for the formation of the Pi Mu Epsilon Chapter and the MAA Student Chapter at Georgian Court College. Sister Stephanie has always actively encouraged her colleagues and students to attend MAA-NJ Section meetings. In 1996, she made a presentation of the history of the New Jersey Section at the 40th anniversary meeting. She has hosted several section meetings and will host yet again this spring at Georgian Court.

Sr. Stephanie Sloyan holds an A.B. degree (1945) with a major in Natural Sciences and a minor in Mathematics from Georgian Court College, an M.A. (1949) and a Ph.D. (1952) both in Mathematics from the Catholic University of America. She has been a faculty member at Georgian Court College since joining the Department of Mathematics in 1952. Following a term as President (1968-74), she returned to the Department as chairperson until 1996. During her years as chair, she established a Master's Degree program in Mathematics and a minor in Computer Science.

Whatever her specific office in the Mathematical Association of America, Sister Stephanie has always been ready to give guidance and assistance to others. The New Jersey Section is very pleased to nominate Sister Stephanie for the Meritorious Service award and is grateful for her many years of invaluable service.

Recipients of MAA Certificate of Meritorious Service
1985 Emory Starke, Rutgers University
1990 Henry O Pollak, Bell Labs
1995 Theresa C. Michnowicz, New Jersey City University
2000 Sr. M Stephanie Sloyan, Georgian Court College
 

MAA-NJ Spring 2000 Meeting

The Spring Meeting of the Mathematical Association of America, New Jersey Section, will be held at the Georgian Court College, Lakewood, NJ on April 8, 2000. Speakers include Michio Kaku of the City University of New York, Rochelle Leibowitz of Wheaton College and Ileana Streanu of Smith College.

Call for contributed papers

MAA members are invited to present papers at the MAA-NJ Spring 2000 Meeting. Please submit a one-page abstract and a three sentence summary by February 1, 2000, to Theresa C. Michnowicz, New Jersey City University, tmichnowicz@njcu.edu, 201-200-3219.

Call for student presentations

Please submit names of students presenting contributed papers at the MAA-NJ Spring 2000 Meeting along with title and abstract by February 15, 2000 to Larry D'Antonio of Ramapo College of New Jersey, 505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, NJ 07430, (201)684-7714, ldant@orion.ramapo.edu

MAA-NJ Fall 2000 Meeting

The Fall 2000 MAA-NJ meeting will be held at DIMACS (Discrete Math and Computer Science Center), Rutgers University. In addition to the invited talks, we are planning for a workshop and/or discussion group. Send comments, suggestions, topics to Revathi Narasimhan, MAA-NJ Vice Chair for Speakers, Saint Peter's College, Dept. of Mathematics, Jersey City 07306, (908)233-7399, narasimhan_r@spc.edu

MAA-NJ Project NExT

The New Jersey Section of the MAA is conducting a local version of
Project NExT (NJ-NExT) in conjunction with the Fall 99 meeting. Project
NExT is a program to introduce recent Ph.D.s in mathematics to the broad
range of roles that face a new faculty member. It is open to full-time faculty in mathematics
departments in the Section who are within their first four years of teaching. Please contact
Bonnie Gold, Mathematics Department, Monmouth
University, West Long Branch, NJ , bgold@monmouth.edu, (732) 571-4451.

Fall 99 NExT-NJ activities will be held at Middlesex County College (Friday)
and at NJCU(Saturday). MAA-NJ thanks both institutions for their hospitality.

Summer workshop by MAA-NJ

MAA-NJ is considering sponsoring summer workshops for a nominal fee. Please contact Revathi Narasimhan, Saint Peter's College, Dept. of Mathematics, Jersey City 07306, (908)233-7399, narasimhan_r@spc.edu

Call for Nominations for the New Jersey Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching

The Distinguished Teaching Award Committee of the New Jersey Section of the MAA is seeking nominations for the 2000 Distinguished College or University Teaching Award. Please submit the name of faculty from your department who have a distinguished teaching record. The winner of this award will be recognized at the Spring 2000 Meeting. Deadline for nominations is January 1, 2000. Contact: Pablo Zafra, Secretary of the Section, Math/CPS Dept., Kean University, Union, NJ 07083, pzafra@turbo.kean.edu

MAA-NJ Distinguished Teaching Award -1999

Amy Cohen of Rutgers University received the 1999 Distinguished Teaching Award . She brought to Rutgers an adaptation of Uri Treisman's highly successful "active learning" techniques for calculus courses. Called Project EXCEL, she developed an intensive workshop-based calculus course beginning in 1989. In addition to educational innovation, Dr. Cohen's record of educational accomplishment has many other facets. As a member of the Department's Undergraduate Committee and former Vice-Chair for the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics (1986-88), her advice is sought on all matters related to the undergraduate program. She has been active in teacher education and helped plan the curriculum for candidates for certification as high school mathematics teachers. She also served as Dean of University College, a unit devoted to serving adult part-time students in baccalaureate programs (1988-94). Dr. Cohen currently serves in the Advisory Committee of MER Network and is a faculty consultant for Project NEXT of the MAA. Amy Cohen was nominated for the MAA-NJ Distinguished Teaching Award by Robert Wilson, Professor of Mathematics and Associate Dean for the Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

New Appointments

Congratulations to Reginald Luke, former chair of the Mathematics Department at Middlesex County College (MCC), who was recently promoted to the position of Dean of Science, Mathematics and Health Technologies, at MCC. He received his Ph.D. In mathematics in 1971 from Rutgers University, specializing in point set topology. He intends to bring his topological skills to finding solutions and resolutions to administrative problems. Professor Luke will remain active in mathematical circles, maintain involvement in the NJ Statewide Systemic Initiative, and continue service on the Montgomery Township Board of Education. Reggie has hosted two section meetings; MCC will host a MAA-NJ meeting in 2001.

Congratulations to Maria DeLucia, the new Chair of the Math Department at MCC. She obtained her Ph.D. in mathematics education from University of Nebraska and will be administering a department of over 32 full-time instructors and 44 part-time adjuncts.

Governor election in Spring 2000

MAA-NJ members will receive ballots in the mail for the election of MAA-NJ governor. Past governors: A.E. Meder, Jr. Rutgers University 1956-58 William Feller Princeton University 1958-61 Henry O. Pollak Bell Labs 1961-64 Louis F.McAuley Rutgers University 1964-67 Joshua Barlaz Rutgers University 1967-70 Paul Clifford Montclair State College 1970-73 Samuel Greitzer Rutgers University 1973-76 Eileen Poiani St. Peter's College 1976-79 Michael Aissen Rutgers University 1979-82 Richard Gabriel Seton Hall University 1982-85 Susan Marchand Kean College 1985-88 Sr. Stephanie Sloyan Georgian Court College 1988-91 Ruth O'Dell County College of Morris 1991-94 Barbara L. Osofsky Rutgers University 1994-97 Theresa C. Michnowicz New Jersey City University 1997-2000