SPRING 2018
NEWSLETTER
Section Website:
http://sections.maa.org/rockymt
Spring 2018 Newsletter in PDF Format for Printing
Click on the following link for PDF document that is formatted for printing.
http://sections.maa.org/rockymt/newsletters/spring2018/spring2018news.pdf
2019 Distinguished Teaching Award Call for Nominations
Each year since 1992, the section recognizes one outstanding teacher of
collegiate mathematics with an award named in honor of Burton W. Jones, a
lifelong advocate of excellence in teaching at all levels. In addition to
an honorarium, a certificate and an invitation to deliver the opening
lecture at the next Section Meeting, the recipient is eligible to
be the section's nominee for the Deborah and Franklin Haimo Awards
for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. These
national awardees (at most three) are honored at the MAA winter meeting
with a certificate and $100*e check. All nominators also receive a
certificate of in recognition of their efforts to support the section
mission of promoting excellence in teaching; nominators and nominees
both receive free meeting registration at the next section meeting. To begin the nomination process for an outstanding teacher that you
know, simply submit the one-page nomination form (available at
our
website ) by 15 December 2018.
Complete nomination materials (description available at the
same site )
are due 15 January 2019.
Chair's Corner
As winter winds down —or fizzles out (at least in Colorado,
we hear quite a bit about how poor the snow was for the ski season
this year), plans for the annual section meeting are heating up! I
expect we will have another very exciting section meeting this year in
Greeley, hosted by the University of Northern Colorado on April 13-13.
Our banquet speaker will be Matt Boelkins from Grand Valley State
University and look forward to hearing from the section's 2017 Burton
W. Jones Distinguished Teaching Award Recipient, Diane Davis
from Metropolitan State University of Denver. In addition, plans are
starting to take shape for the 2019 section meeting at Fort Lewis College
in Durango on April 12–13, 2019. Another great accolade for the section, for the second year in a row,
is that one of this year's MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Awards
was presented to the section's 2016 Burton Jones Teaching Award winner
Hortensia Soto, "for college or university mathematics teachers who
demonstrate extraordinary success in teaching effectiveness, even beyond
their own institutions." There is a link, on the section web page to
the Prizes and Awards book from the JMM in San Diego which has the full
citation on p. 59. While both of these take place in Washington DC, typically in the
spring, they are fantastic experiences with a "convention center" full
of activities, talks and information about STEM and mathematics. And a
special shout out to Colorado State University Physics (which is almost
math) for their incredible layout entitled "Little House of Physics"
which captivates the USE Science & Engineering attendees. It is astounding how quickly two years pass — so this will be
my final Chair's Report, and I look forward to passing the baton on to
Alexander Hulpke, from Colorado State University, who will assume
the Section Chair position. I only hope that I can be as helpful to
Alexander as Kyle Riley has been for me over the last two years.
Special thanks to the many who help to make the communications within the
section remain meaningful, timely and informative; to Linda Sundbye
for her work to organize the section newsletter, to George Heine
for his continued effort to make the section website friendly and usable
and to Shawna Mahan, the section Vice Chair, for providing a
rational view from the members representing the Community Colleges
of the section. Continued thanks to Heidi Keck, the section
representative, for keeping items like reports and section information
up to date and keeping me moving in the right direction. Finally, to
Janet Barnett and Kyle Riley for thoroughly reviewing and
updating the section bylaws and helping to bring them into alignment
with the expectations of the national office. Our section secretary/treasurer Spencer Bagley has accepted a
position out of state. Our National Representative Heidi Keck
will also be leaving the section. We wish them both the best. We will
be holding a special election at the April meeting to fill the remainder
of their terms. At our section business meeting last April, in Pueblo, there was
considerable discussion pertaining to electronic voting for section
officers. Since officer voting procedures are specified in the Section
By-laws, the Executive Committee asked Janet Barnett and Kyle Riley
(they actually volunteered) to research and recommend language that
would allow us to begin using electronic voting procedures in the future. Following their review of the by-laws, Janet and Kyle recommended
such language, along with several other revisions. These additional
recommendations include obvious updates (ex. changing "Governor" to
"Representative to the MAA Congress") that will bring our by-laws into
alignment with recent changes at the national level, as well as several
items intended to align by-law language with our actual section practices. In accordance with Association procedures for section by-law changes, the
Section Executive Committee has reviewed the recommended revisions, and
submitted the revised document to the MAA Committee on Sections for their
review. That Committee has in turn requested that several other revisions
be considered, including changes to the makeup of the Teaching Award
Committee and the quorum requirement for the section business meeting. The Executive Committee is close to sending the latest — and we
hope final! — set of revisions back to the Committee on Sections
for their review. Once these final edits have been approved by the
Committee on Sections, the recommended revisions will be posted on the
section website for your review and commentary — watch your e-mail
for a notification of its availability. A membership vote on adoption
of these changes which will take place the Annual Business Meeting at
UNC. If approved, the final step will be approval by the national Board
of Directors at Mathfest 2018. Michael Jacobson,UC Denver
"MAA National Representative's Report"
The MAA Congress met on January 9, 2018 during the JMM in San Diego. This
is the second meeting of the group under this name and structure. Arguing
over exactly what we do took up meeting time again, although we are
settling into the idea that the Representatives to the Congress act as
the voice of the membership, helping the Executive Committee and Board
of Directors think outside the Washington DC area. The particular task we worked in during this meeting was the new Core
Values Statement of the MAA. The Executive Committee created a draft
that was circulated electronically in the fall for discussion. During
the face-to-face time we suggested large scale changes to the document.
A small group is tasked with final polishing. This work was held up as
an example of how the Congress should function in the future. Informational items coming from the Association were generally about the
new publishing contracts with AMS for books and Taylor & Francis
for journals. Both of these are seen as ways to increase our reach
and decrease our costs. The new Instructional Practices Guide is now
available from the MAA website. Growing the membership is always a concern and we are looking for ideas
from you. If you have ideas or concerns about other things that you would
like considered by the entire Association, please tell me about them. Heidi Keck
23rd
Annual Colorado Mathematics Awards Ceremony/Reception
Plans are underway for CMA XXIII — the 23rd Colorado Mathematics
Awards Ceremony and Reception to be held on Tuesday, May 10 at the
Grant–Humphreys Mansion in Denver. At the school level we'll
be recognizing the top ten participants on MATHCOUNTS, the AMC 8, 10,
and 12 contests, and the members of the 2017 Colorado American Regions
Mathematics League team. At the collegiate level we'll be recognizing
all Section Putnam scorers in the top 500, and the top team(s) on the
Mathematical Contest in Modeling. We expect to recognize between 50 and
60 winners. With the winners, parents, and teachers, we expect between
120 and 130 to attend the event. We appreciate the support that the Rocky Mountain Section has provided
for this event over the years. Other sponsors of the Colorado Mathematics Awards are the Professional
Engineers of Colorado, and individual and past members of the Colorado
Mathematics Awards Steering Committee. Suggestions for additional sources of funding
are always welcomed. Please contact me at gibbs_d@fortlewis.edu Thank you, Dick Gibbs
Update: Recommended Revisions to Section By-laws
Chair, Rocky Mountain Section
WSCU Representative
Rocky Mountain Section
CO-Chair CMA Steering Committee
Emeritus Professor of Mathematics
Fort Lewis College
Jon Helland was awarded the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award for Statistics due to his academic excellence in the class room and participation in extensive research on machine learning.
Cecilia Diniz Behn has recently published a SIAM Online News article entitled "Mathematics of the Nap”, detailing a physiologically-based mathematical model of sleep/wake regulation. This model is currently being used to investigate the mechanisms driving the transition from napping to non-napping behavior in children.
Karin Leiderman was awarded an Army Research Office grant: Incorporating Uncertainty to Improve Accuracy in Mathematical Modeling of Coagulation This award is in collaboration with Suzanne Sindi (UC Merced) and Dougald Monroe (UNC Chapel Hill).
Colorado State University—Pueblo
The Department of Mathematics and Physics at Colorado State University-Pueblo held its 40th Annual Math Day, including its Swanson and Math Bowl competitions, held on campus Thursday, Nov. 16, under the leadership and preparation of Janet Nichols (her 40 th ). More than 8,000 students have participated in Math Day since its inception with a significant upturn in female participants over the years. Swink High School has competed in 39 of the 40 Math Days, missing just the inaugural year. A total of 19 high schools including over 200 students participated this year. The Math Bowl Competition requires two three-person teams to go head-to-head in a 15-minute race for points. The Swanson Exam Competition, constructed and administered by. James Louisell, involves in-depth problem- solving at high school mathematics levels. Visits to laboratories and demonstrations in physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering were also available to students and sponsors. An excellent talk on Euler's formula was given by mathematics adjunct instructor Pat Mara. Janet Nichols was honored for her 40 years with a plaque and a 40 th Math Day Tee-shirt. The event was reported in an article in the local newspaper.
Janet Heine Barnett, soon-to-be Professor Emerita of Mathematics at CSU-Pueblo, is teaching a special topics course, "Teaching Mathematics with History" this Spring Semester for about 20 students, with a mix of graduate and undergraduate students. Dr. Barnett is giving the Spring 2018 ColoMATYC Keynote Address March 2: "Revolutionary Mathematics: Liberating Ideas from History for Today's Teachers and Students."Darren Funk-Neubauer is now in training for a Denali ascent this summer.
James Louisell's paper: "Imaginary axis eigenvalues of matrix delay equations with a certain alternating coefficient structure," has recently been accepted for publication in Systems & Control Lettersi.
Bruce Lundberg, professor of mathematics and department chair, taught a special course on celestial mechanics during the Spring 17 semester.
Igor Melnykov, associate professor of Mathematics has a recent publication: "Selenium speciation in the Fountain Creek Watershed and its effects on fish diversity," J. Bio Inorg Chem 22: 751–763i.
Jonathan Poritz, associate professor of mathematics, is currently on leave. He recently had an article published in Inside Higher Ed. He serves on the Colorado Open Educational Resource Council.
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Mandi Schaeffer Fry is on sabbatical this semester at the MSRI in Berkeley. She is attending the semester program on Group Representation Theory and Applications, and working on her research on representation theory of finite Lie groups.
Mona Mocanasu again ran the annual Putnam Prep course this past fall, culminating with nine students taking the Putnam Exam in December. Christopher Campbell, Ezra Dudden, Stephen Gerrells, Joseph Leavitt, Seth Lichtenstein, Ahern Nelson, Eric Roon, Joseph Ruiz, and John Sheldon happily spent the Saturday in December taking the exam. Eric Roon took the exam in Budapest where he was participating in a semester abroad program.
Statistics major Laura Kinney Albrecht was awarded the President's
Award for Fall 2017 and was an invited speaker at the Fall 2017
Commencement. The President's Award is awarded to an exemplary student
who has outstanding personal and professional achievements and superior
academic achievements. Congratulations Laura for being the first math
major to win this award!
Henc Bouwmeister took students Daniel Diaz, Maria Garces-Jipa, Wivina Sitthisay, Roxanne Thoren, Jeff Rowell and William McKinney to the SuperComputing 2017 conference held in Denver in November.
Elizabeth Ribble, Shahar Boneh, and Nels Grevstad took students Keenan O'Brien, Ahern Nelson, Christopher Campbell, Laura Kinney, Jonathan Grant and JP deLong to the Joint Statistical Meeting (JSM) in Baltimore MD last August.
Mandi Schaeffer Fry took students Eric Roon and Kempton Albee to the MAA MathFest in Chicago last summer where they presented their research entitled "Irreducible Character Restrictions in Low-Rank Orthogonal Groups." Their presentation won an Outstanding Presentation Award.
The Mathematics and English Division is proud of having hosted the Fall Mathematics Colloquium on December 1, 2017 at the Centennial Campus. Eighteen students, representing all three campuses, gave presentations to an audience of well over 50 PPCC students, faculty and staff.
Dr. Michael Jacobson, mathematics faculty at CU Denver, gave the keynote address, presenting an ode to Paul Erdös, one of the most prolific mathematicians of our times. Dr. Jacobson delighted the audience with his personal story and connections with Erdös as he spoke about Erdös' life and profound effect on the world of mathematics.
Recruitment efforts by the STEM Club and the Robotics Club were followed by eleven outstanding student presentations, which included Euler's Identity, Calculus and Programming, the Misuse of Statistics, Cantor's Diagonal Proof, the Number Pi, and the History of the Quadratic Formula. The event concluded with presentations by student interns with the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars and Department of Energy Community College Internship programs.
The Mathematics Colloquium is a wonderful opportunity for STEM students to explore, present, and engage in various mathematical topics and discussions. You will not want to miss the Spring Mathematics Colloquium scheduled on Friday April 27, 2018 at the Rampart Range Campus. Please join the PPCC mathematics community in sharing, supporting, and empowering our students' mathematical journey.
Submitted by Eugene Hamzezadeh and Caleb Maftei. POur highlight is not really a highlight, but a sad note. Professor Carl Grimm died on January 2, 2018 at the age of 91. He taught for the School of Mines from 1952 until 1988 and he was a beloved faculty member who loved exploring the hills. One big note of distinction is his published work on Grimm's Conjecture: each element of a set of consecutive composite numbers one can assign a distinct prime that divides it. For those that are interested, there is a memorial has been established in the name of Carl Albert Grimm for the Mickelson Trail. Checks should be made payable to: South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation and mailed to 11361 Nevada Gulch Road, Lead, SD 57754-9801.
Is news from your school missing?
Send your news to your department liaison
now with a request to forward it to
Linda Sundbye,
Newsletter Editor, for inclusion in the
next issue.
sundbyel@msudenver.edu
MSU Denver to host the 2018 SCUDEM Modeling Competition Registration is open for teams of three high school or undergraduate
students to compete in the Student Competition Using Differential Equation
Modeling (SCUDEM). MSU Denver is one the host sights for this year's national competition. For more information, look for the announcement later in this newsletter
and visit: http://simiode.org/scudem
or contact: Shelley Rohde
MAA MathFest The Mathematical Association of America will hold its ninety-sixth
summer meeting in the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, 1550 Court
Place, Denver, Colorado, August 1-4, 2018. Full information
regarding the program will appear in the April/May issue of MAA
FOCUS and much of the program is already available online at www.maa.org/mathfest. The purpose of
this announcement is to alert participants to the themes of contributed
paper sessions. MathFest participants are invited to submit abstracts
of papers consistent with the themes of the sessions described below. This year the general contributed paper sessions are being replaced by
an MAA Poster Session. The accompanying article contains information
about the poster session. The contributed paper sessions will be scheduled for Thursday, Friday,
and Saturday, August 2–4. Information about scheduling will be
posted on the MathFest website as soon as it is available. Presentations in the contributed paper sessions are normally 15 minutes
in length. Each participant may make at most one presentation in a
contributed paper session. If your paper cannot be accommodated in the
session for which it was submitted, it will automatically be considered
for the MAA poster session. Each session room will be equipped with a computer projector and a
screen. Speakers are encouraged to make use of the computer projector
but must provide their own laptop computer or have access to one. To submit an abstract for MAA MathFest 2018, go to www.maa.org/mathfest/abstracts
and follow the instructions found there. The deadline for submission of
abstracts is April 30, 2018. Early submissions are encouraged.
Call for Participants for the 2018 Section NExT-RM
What is Section NExT-RM? The Rocky Mountain Section of the New Experiences in Teaching program
(NExT- RM) is a smaller scale version of the national Project NExT
program, specifically serving the members of the Rocky Mountain Section
of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). The goals of Section
NExT-RM are to support faculty in the first five years of their academic
career and to establish links among faculty in the section. Who is eligible? Section NExT-RM is open to non-tenured faculty members in the Rocky
Mountain Section who are within the first five years of teaching at
a university, four-year college, or two-year college within the Rocky
Mountain Section of the MAA. When is the meeting? Our first meeting for the Section NExT-RM Fellows will be part of
the Rocky Mountain MAA Section meeting that will be held April 13-14,
2018 at University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. The Section NExT-RM
sessions will occur both just prior to and just following the annual
section meeting, beginning at noon on the 13th and ending by 5pm on the
14th . At this workshop, participants will discuss topics of special
relevance to beginning faculty via sessions, panels, or workshops. What are my expectations as a fellow? Section NExT-RM Fellows will remain in contact with one another via an
electronic network, and are expected to attend both the Spring 2018 and
Spring 2019 Rocky Mountain MAA Section meetings. In particular, they will
take part in the planning of some of the 2019 Section NExT-RM sessions. Does this cost me anything? Section NExT-RM is a selective professional development program and
an application is required. We will provide the fellows with lunch on
Friday and Saturday of the work- shop, and expect fellows to obtain
travel and the remaining funding (approximately $150 for one night's
hotel, registration, and banquet) from their departments or other sources. How do I apply? Submit the following to
https://goo.gl/Tc9keq
RMS Members Invited to Site-Test with TRIUMPHS
The Transforming Instruction in Undergraduate Mathematics via Primary
Historical Sources (TRIUMPHS) grant is now entering its third year,
and cordially invites mathematics instructors at all RMS universities
and colleges to join this national effort by site- testing our materials
in your classrooms. A national, seven-university NSF-funded collaboration, TRIUMPHS is
actively developing, testing, and evaluating ready-to-use classroom
materials based on primary historical sources for teaching undergraduate
mathematics courses ranging from pre-calculus and elementary statistics
to abstract algebra, analysis and topology. These materials allow instructors to replace standard classroom lectures
on core topics with "primary source projects" (PSPs) that directly engage
students with the mathematics they are studying. Each PSP focuses on a
particular mathematical concept or procedure as it was developed by a
historic mathematician. Students read source documents by the original
author, and through a series of exercises that are woven throughout
the project, develop a fuller understanding of the mathematics they are
studying as they react to the historical source, organize their thoughts
about the mathematical ideas in the source, and rediscover groundbreaking
ideas for themselves. The TRIUMPHS collection of PSPs is still growing,
but already includes 21 full-length PSPs and 12 shorter
"mini-PSPs." Student-ready PSPs are available in pdf format from the
TRIUMPHS website, with LaTeX code also available from PSP authors in order
to allow instructors to tailor a project to better meet their course
goals. We have also begun publishing our mini-PSPs as a series in Convergence,
MAA's on-line journal dedicated to the use of history of mathematics
in teaching. With two of the team's PIs residing in our section – Janet
Barnett (CSU-Pueblo) and Diana White (CU Denver) –
RMS faculty are especially well-placed to participate in the site-testing
opportunities that the grant will provide. Additionally, Dave Ruch
(MSU-Denver) has developed a collection of Analysis projects as an
external author for TRIUMPHS, and a growing number of Rocky Mountain
Section members have joined our site-testing cadre. Site tester support available now through the end of the grant in August
2020 includes a small stipend, as well as travel funds for a consultation
visit to one of the PI sites, or to have a grant team member visit your
home institution. Each PSP also comes with a set of Notes to Instructors
offering guidance on classroom implementation. Site-tester application
deadlines are October 15 for Spring academic terms, and June 15 for Fall
academic terms. For more information, please contact
Janet Barnett
or Diana White,
or visit the
TRIUMPHS website.
Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month
Information for this year's Mathematics and Statistics
Awareness Month will be available soon at http://www.mathaware.org
April 21, 2018
Denver, Colorado
August 1–4, 2018
Call for Papers: Contributed Paper Sessions at MAA MathFest 2018
Section Nominating Committee Report
The nominating committee is excited to share information about two
candidates nominated for the position of Vice-Chair for our section. This
leadership position is vital to the organization and operation of the
Rocky Mountain Section. Elections will be held during the business
meeting at the MAA Rocky Mountain Section annual meeting to be held at
the University of Northern Colorado, April 13-14, 2018. The Vice-Chair serves a two-year term and is expected to (i) act as a
contact with two-year and community colleges, (ii) attend all Executive
Committee Meetings, (iii) serve on the Program Committee and arrange for
programs for two-year and community college faculty, (iv) serve on the
Distinguished Teaching Award Committee, and (v) Serve on the Committee
on Profession Linkages, or designate a representative of two- year
colleges. The Vice Chair should either be on the faculty of a two-year
or community college or have a strong tie to one of these institutions.
If you have any questions, please free to contact any member of the
nominating committee members:
Note: Elected officers of the section must be members of the MAA.
With Gratitude,
The Nominating Committee
1. Shawna Mahan (Current Vice-Chair), Associate Professor of Mathematics, Pikes Peak Community College.
Shawna has a BA in Mathematics (1988, CU Boulder) and a MS in Applied Mathematics (1995, CU Denver). Shawna was hired in 2002 as full- time Mathematics faculty at Pikes Peak Community College. Prior to that she was three years at Community College of Aurora and eight years at Community College of Denver as an adjunct. Currently, she is Co-Chair of the College- Level Mathematics Department at PPCC.
She became a professional tutor at a community college in 1990 and discovered the joy of teaching mathematics. Since then, she has been teaching as an adjunct or full-time faculty member. Over the span of her teaching career, she has taught all the algebras, Mathematics for the Liberal Arts, Trigonometry, Precalculus, all three Calculus, Discrete Mathematics, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations in a variety of formats. She has taught Intermediate Algebra and College Algebra frequently, specializing in the online format. She is very passionate about teaching and learning mathematics at any level and strives to be the best possible instructor. In 2009, she was honored to receive the Teaching Excellence Award bestowed by the Colorado Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges.
Shawna has been an officer in many local mathematical and educational societies: Secretary, Treasurer, Vice-President and President of CoADE; Treasurer, President-Elect, President, and Past President of ColoMATYC; currently she is the Vice-Chair of the RM-MAA. She has served on two national conference committees: NADE and AMATYC. She served as the Colorado Community College State Math Chair for two years and on State Faculty Curriculum Committee for two years. She loves networking and serving the mathematics community.
Currently, she enjoys creating Tactivities for College Algebra in a similar vein to the BOALA activities shared by CU Boulder and CU Denver. She and her department are organizing student mathematics colloquium opportunities for sharing and presenting mathematical ideas and problems.
2. Shelly Ray, Professor of Mathematics, Aims Community College
Dr. Michelle "Shelly" Ray is a Professor of Mathematics and the former Director of Academic Assessment at Aims Community College. In her role as Director, she developed and established the foundation for the assessment practices currently in place at her institution. She is currently back in the classroom where her primary teaching areas include the Calculus sequence, Trigonometry, Statistics, Math for the Liberal Arts, College Algebra, Career Math, and Introduction to Education.
Shelly has been teaching at the collegiate level since 1999. Dr. Ray served as a consultant in higher education supporting best practices in assessment of student learning with colleges and universities, as well as the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE). She was a lead consultant on the Re-envisioning GTPathways project for the State of Colorado working collaboratively with faculty from across the state to revise the competencies and learning outcomes for general education transfer courses. In working with colleges and universities to meet the demands of accreditation related to assessment of student learning, she advises on the development and implementation of multi- level institutional assessment plans and practices.
Dr. Ray currently serves on the Math Pathways Task Force for the State of Colorado as the two-year lead and presents the work of the task force at regional, state, and national events. She is the leading the efforts for the curriculum redesign in the Quantitative Reasoning/ Quantitative Literacy path including faculty professional development in best practices to engage these types of learners to support the redesign.
Invited Talks by the Early Career Teaching Award recipients:
Friday Pre-Conference Workshop: Dr. Janet Barnett, Colorado State University — Pueblo. "The Powerfully Scintillating Pedagogy of Primary Source Projects: Reading the Masters to Stimulate Student Learning and Transform our Teaching"
Panel Discussions:
Contributed Paper Sessions including:
Student Jeopardy!
>Post-Conference Section NExT meeting
Further details of the meeting, including online registration and online submission of presentation proposals can be found on the meeting webpage.
Registrations should be submitted by March 21 to receive the early registration discount. Abstracts are also due by March 21.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONSWe invite submissions of proposals for presentations at the meeting. Proposals should include a title, abstract, and the session that they should be considered for, and may be submitted from the meeting webpage.
Please direct questions to the Program Co-Chairs:
Student Activities
Please join us at the Rocky Mountain Section Meeting in April. Enjoy
these great activities! Free lunch and games session on Friday April 13. When you arrive
at the conference, there is a free student lunch and board games session
(pizza for most; allergen friendly food available, especially if you
email me with specific allergies). Please come and join us Give a talk! This conference is a great place to give a talk to
fellow students and faculty members. Prepare your talk and sign up to
present in a student session! This is Jeopardy! Come to compete or to cheer on your favorite
team! Get together a team of 4-5 students from your school or sign up to
be put on an “inter-school” team. There is a limited number of teams;
they will be entered in the competition on a first-come, first-served
basis. There is also a limit of 5 students on the inter-school team,
so register early! Details will be available at the conference website. Please direct questions to Beth Schaubroeck, beth.schaubroeck@usafa.edu.
SCUDEM 2018 Modeling Competition
Section Activity Grants Available The purpose of the Section Activity Grants program is to assist Section
members in funding projects in support of Section Mission. These projects
must be clearly tied to one or more of the Rocky Mountain Section Mission
Goals and the project director must be a member of MAA. Grants will
not exceed $750 per project. Matching funds from host institution are
preferred, but not required. To apply for a Section Activity Grant,
submit the following to the Section Secretary/Treasurer:
If funded, a report on the project will be filed by the Project Director
upon completion (no more than one page) and a report will be made at the
next meeting of the Section. Complete details on the selection process
and application guidelines are posted on the section website. Grants will
be reviewed once a year. All application materials are due November 1st
of each year.
MSU Denver, April 21, 2018
Student Recognition Grants Available
The establishment of a Student Recognition Grant Program was approved by the section membership at the 2003 Annual Business Meeting. In support of this program, the Section will set aside $500 every calendar year. From these monies, the Section will make grants for the purpose of recognizing superior achievement in mathematics on the part of (1) students enrolled in post-secondary institutions within the geographic region served by the Section and (2) high school students whose school districts, or other appropriate political subdivisions, substantially intersect the geographic region served by the Section.
Proposals for such grants mustThe Executive Committee will review all proposals for grants under this policy and will make such grants as, in its sole judgment, it deems proper. In keeping with the section mission, funding priority will be given to grants that include recognition of undergraduate students. Funding decisions will be announced no later than the Annual Business Meeting of the Section. Monies not expended during any particular year shall revert to the Section’s general fund.
The logo for the Rocky Mountain Section of the Mathematical Association of America was created in by Mark Petersen in 2001. A graduate student in the Applied Mathematics Department at the University of Colorado at Boulder at that time, Mark says of his design:
"The mountain symbols were chosen because analysis is the foundation for all of mathematics. The equation eiπ + 1 = 0 must rank among the most beautiful formulas in mathematics. It connects the five most important constants of mathematics with the three most important operations - addition, multiplication, and exponentiation. These five constants symbolize the four major branches of classical mathematics: arithmetic, represented by 0 and 1; algebra, by i; geometry, by π; and analysis, by e. (Quoted from Eli Maor's e, The Story of a Number). I chose to portray this equation as a train because rail has historically been the life blood of the American West, and trains are complementary to any mountain scene."
| 2018: | Mar. 15–18 | ICTM | Washington, D.C. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 13–14 | MAA Rocky Mountain Section Meeting | University of Northern Colorado | |||||||||
| April 25–28 | NCTM annual meeting | Washington,DC
| | Aug. 1–4 |
MAA MathFest | Denver, CO
| | | ||||
| 2019: | Jan. 16–19 | Joint Mathematics Meetings | Baltimore, MD | ||||||||
| April 3–6 | NCTM Annual Meeting | San Diego,CA | |||||||||
| April i13–16 | MAA Rocky Mountain Section Meeting | Fort Lewis College, Durango,CO | |||||||||
| July 31–Aug. 3 | MAA MathFest | Cincinnati, OH | |||||||||
| 2020: | Jan. 15–18 | Joint Mathematics Meetings | Denver, CO | ||||||||
| April 1–4 | NCTM Centennial Meeting | Chicago, IL | |||||||||
| July 29–Aug 1 | MAA Math Fest | Philadelphia, PA | |||||||||
| Oct. 21–24 | NCTM Annual Meeting | St. Lous, MO | |||||||||
| 2021: | Jan. 6–9 | Joint Mathematics Meetings | Washington, DC | ||||||||
| Aug. 4–7 | MAA MathFest | Sacramento,CA | |||||||||
| Sept. 22–25 | NCTM Annual Meeting | Atlanta, GA | |||||||||
| 2022: | Jan. 5–8 | Joint Mathematics Meetings | Seattle, WA | ||||||||
| Aug. 3–6 | MAA Math Fest | Washington, DC | |||||||||
| 2023: | Jan. 4–7 | Joint Mathematics Meetings | Boston, MA | ||||||||
Burton W. Jones Award Nomination Form
Nomination forms are available on the Section Website in docx, odt, or PDF formats.
Nomination forms should reach the Section Awards Coordinator by December 15, 2018. Complete nomination materials are due by January 15, 2019.
Section Awards Coordinator:
Jeremy Muskat, Western State Colorado University,
Hurst Hall, Gunnison, CO 81231
jmuskat@western.edu
Early Career Teaching Award Nomination Form
A nomination form is available on the Section Website in docx, odt, or PDF formats.
Nomination forms should reach the Section Awards Coordinator by December 15, 2018. Complete nomination materials are due by January 15, 2019.
Section Awards Coordinator:
Jeremy Muskat, Western State Colorado University,
Hurst Hall, Gunnison, CO 81231
jmuskat@western.edu
Early Career Teaching Award Guidelines
Part of the core mission for the Rocky Mountain Section is to provide recognition for quality mathematics teaching. The Early Career Teaching Award was established to recognized excellence in teaching in the mathematical sciences for faculty that are early in their career.
Eligibility
Nominees must:
Guidelines for nomination
Nominees for the award may be made by any member of the Rocky Mountain Section of the MAA. Nominees should:
Nomination form is due December 15
Complete nomination packet is due January 15
Nomination Packet
A complete nomination packet should consist of the following documentation as it is described below.
Additional Documentation (Up to 2 pages) – Submit no more than two pages of further evidence to document the nominee's extraordinary teaching success. This documentation will vary greatly from institution to institution, but may include summaries of peer or student evaluations, comments on teaching, possible increases in numbers of majors in mathematics (with clear evidence of the nominee's substantial responsibility for them), possible student success in mathematics competitions (with clear evidence of the nominee's substantial responsibility for them), success in research in mathematics conducted by undergraduate students under the direction of the nominee, production of superior quality honors theses by undergraduate students under the direction of the nominee, development of curricular materials successfully used by colleagues, adoption of the nominee's teaching methods or techniques by experienced colleagues, service as a respected adviser for a student group, etc.
Nominators should bear in mind that the selection committee for the award might view a nomination more positively if it is accompanied not just by carefully chosen testimonials from a few selected students and faculty, but also reports comments and criticism which is representative of the whole spectrum of opinion among students and faculty on the nominee's teaching.
Many thanks to those members who have made a voluntary dues contribution to the section along with their Spring Meeting Registration!
Although the section has found itself in good financial health in recent years, additional funds are always needed in order to pursue special initiatives suggested by the membership. The successful John Fauvel Memorial Conference and William Dunham Special Lecture, both supported in part by the Section Activity Grant program, provide excellent examples of what can be done with even a small amount of funding to support our section mission and goals.
Contributions may also be made in support of the Pikes Peak Regional Undergraduate Mathematics Conference; simply choose "Other" on the coupon below, and specify "PPRUMC" in the space provided. A voluntary section dues contribution from you now can help build up funds in support of similar initiatives!
A Voluntary Dues Contribution Form is also available on the Section Website in docx, odt, or pdf formats. Complete and send with your contribution to the Section Treasurer/Secretary.
