As it is early January and I am writing this, my fourth and last chair letter before passing on to Dan Swenson, my thoughts go back to what we have done in the last two years. Much of what has been successful was thanks to the work of others, and I am grateful to all of you who helped. I would like to thank in particular the organizers of the sectional meetings in the last few years: Nathaniel Miller, Oscar Levin and Jeffrey King in Greeley; Laura Scull and Veronica Furst in Durango; and Mona Mocanasu (who also serves as Section Secretary!), John Ethier, and Lindsay Packer for the upcoming meeting in Denver!

In this, as with basically any other activity— teaching awards, activity grants, newsletter, student activities— the contribution of Section members is what makes the activity, with the formal section setup acting at best as a catalyst.

This involvement of the membership is, together with the the geographical extension, probably the biggest issue facing our section.I am writing this to encourage you to get more involved (and encourage your colleagues to get more involved as well) in the sectional activities.

The section is essentially its members and their activities and it is infeasible to consider it the task of the few elected officers to find volunteers for the many named positions the bylaws and procedures manual formally specify. While the bylaws talk about volunteer positions as being "named by" particular section officers, this really needs to be understood in practice as "volunteers will be confirmed by" rather than making it the task of section officers to find volunteers.

Thus I'd like to encourage you to think about increasing your involvement: Vote in the sectional elections. Nominate a colleague for an award. Run a regional activity (the section is supporting a small number of such activities, but we would love to be able to reach all areas). Apply for an activity grant. Consider hosting a meeting.

Talking about meetings, you probably will be aware that the Joint Mathematics Meetings will change. The meeting in Denver (which by the time you receive this newsletter will be over and I hope will have been a great success, showcasing that the Mountain West is a great place for mathematics) will have been the second-to-last.

Instead the plan is to provide resources to increase activities at sectional meetings. There will be more frequent Polya lecturer as well as speakers sponsored by AWM and NAM, effectively providing an external speaker every year for the sectional meeting (in addition to the section visitor).

There also will be funds for local career activities (in conjunction with, or disjoint of the sectional meeting). Contact me if you are interested!

This year we are lucky to have a number excellent invited speakers:

• Travis Kowalski, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, 2019 Burton Jones Awardee
• Carol Schumacher from Kenyon College, Vice President of MAA.
• Kristin Lauter, Microsoft Research, 2020 Polya Lecturer.
• A section NEXT activity by the 2019 Early Career teaching awardee, Ken Monks.

I hope I will meet many of you there!

Alexander Hulpke,
Colorado State University   (Fort Collins)
Chair, Rocky Mountain Section

Lindsey Nield and Miika Jarvela received the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award. The Mines' AMS department presented Outstanding Graduating Senior Awards to two students in recognition of their academic excellence and their service to the department, university and community.

Lindsey was involved in a variety or departmental and university groups as a student, worked as a TA and grader, and spent two years doing research in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Program. She also worked at the Colorado School of Public Health at Anschutz Medical Campus and was awarded a DAAD RISE scholarship to do research in Hamburg, Germany, last summer. Lindsey will be returning to Mines to finish an MS in Statistics.

Miika worked as a grader and TA in the department, as well as in the AMS Learning Center. Miika enjoyed working on undergraduate research with Dr. Leiderman and Dr. Mannan as an undergraduate and spent last summer in an internship at Nokia. Miika will also be returning to Mines to complete an MS in Computational and Applied Mathematics.

The SIAM student chapters of Colorado host the annual SIAM Front Range Student Conference in Applied Math (FRAMSC). The conference is usually held the first Saturday in March on the CU Denver campus. This event allows students, at both the undergraduate and graduate level, to learn about research being done locally and to promote interest in applied mathematics in general. This year's conference will be our sixteenth and will be held March 7, 2020.

Primary Source Project (PSP) authors are members of a growing network of teacher-scholars who are:

• interested in developing curricular materials that engage students with mathematics in ways that promote meaningful learning;
• fascinated by the mathematical thinking of others, both that of today's students and that of the historical mathematicians who came before them; and
• eager for the scholarly and creative challenges of wedding historical research with pedagogical insights, and the deeper understanding of both that can be achieved through PSP authorship.

Workshop participants will take part in sessions and discussions on such topics as:

• understanding a source and its potential for student learning;
• writing fruitful student tasks based on primary source readings;
• how PSPs are used by instructors and students in the classroom; and
• the impact of PSPs on instructor teaching and student learning and attitudes.

The week will also set aside time for participants to start writing their first project, and for writers' workshops with other attendees and experienced authors.

The nominating committee is soliciting nominees for the positions of Secretary/Treasurer and Vice-Chair. A description of the duties for these positions follows below .

1. Be associated with a two-year school and represent the interests of the two-year colleges and encourage two-year college faculty members to participate in MAA activities and programs.
2. Act as contact with two – year and community colleges.
3. Attend all Executive Committee Meetings.
4. Assume the duties of the Chairperson if the Chairperson is absent or incapacitated.
5. Serve on Program Committee and arrange for programs for two – year and community college faculty.
6. In each year during which the Officers of the Section include a Past-Chairperson, appoint a member for a two year term to the Teaching Award Committee. This individual must be associated with a two-year school.
7. Appoint the Student Activities Coordinator.

Secretary / Treasurer (three year term)

1. Ensure that all officers aware of their duties.
2. Assist other officers in the performance of their duties.
3. Responsible for Section funds and preparation of reports.
4. Responsible for annually updating this Procedures Handbook (following the Annual Business meeting).
5. Responsible for preparing and distributing minutes of all Section and Executive Committee meetings.
6. Appoints individuals to serve in the following positions: Section Award Coordinator, Newsletter Editor, Web master. See page 5 of this handbook for appointment dates.
7. Serves as ex-officio member of all standing committees.
8. Assist Program Chairperson with call-for-papers and other mailings.
9. Serves as Archivist and Public Information Officer for Section.
10. Serves on Program Committee ex-officio.
11. Handle details not assigned to other officers.

The nomination committee will continue to accept nominations and all nominated candidates will be presented at our next section business meeting, April 17-18 in Denver, CO. At the business meeting, we will also accept nominations from the floor and then close nominations. The actual election will be held electronically with section members contacted via email to vote following the same procedures that are used for the elections conducted for our congressional representative.

If you have anyone you would like to nominate then please feel free to contact any member of the nominating committee:

The 2020 Rocky Mountain Section meeting will be held April 17-18, 2020 on the campus of Metropolitan State University of Denver, Denver, CO. The meeting promises two days of engaging speakers, student activities, book sales, and more. More info to follow.`

We appreciate the support that the Rocky Mountain Section has provided for this event over the years.

Other sponsors include present and past members of the Colorado Mathematics Awards Steering Committee. Special thanks to David Larue and S&P Global which has generously double-matched David's contribution.

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 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 17-18, 2020 at Metro State University in Denver. The Section NExT-RM sessions will occur both just prior to and just following the annual section meeting, beginning at noon on the 17th and ending by 5pm on the 18th. 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 2020 and Spring 2021 Rocky Mountain MAA Section meetings. In particular, they will take part in the planning of some of the 2021 Section NExT-RM sessions.

Does this cost me anything?

Section NExT-RM is a selective professional development program; 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.

The 16th PPRUMC took place on Saturday, March 2, 2019 at the U.S. Air Force Academy. We had 98 registrants, but an impending snow storm kept 22 of these individuals home that day. Dr. Chad Westphal, Wabash College (current DVP at USAFA), delivered a keynote address on " π ! and Fractional Derivatives, a Tale of Mathematical Generalization." We held a panel discussion "Beyond an Undergraduate Mathematics Degree," with 4 panelists from UCCS, USAFA, and Salt Lending (a cryptocurrency financial firm). There were 11 student talks held in parallel sessions.

This year's conference was again offered at no cost to participants, due to generous funding from the US Air Force Academy Gift Funds and an MAA-RMS activity grant of $750. Thanks to the MAA-RMS support, we were able to provide travel reimbursement to our invited panelists and an honorarium to our keynote speaker. Door prizes were donated by the Athletics Department at USAFA (42 USAFA jerseys), the MAA-RMS (three MAA books) and by Dr. Beth Schaubroeck (two books). The PPRUMC Steering Committee is also grateful to the USAFA cadets who volunteered to help at the conference and to the faculty who contributed their time and expertise to preparing student presenters, recruiting student participants and moderating conference sessions.

The Rocky Mountain Section Meeting was held at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO on April 5-6. The meeting had 93 registered participants, including mathematicians, educators and students. The meeting opened with a welcome from associate vice president of academic affairs and mathematician Dr. Anne McCarthy, followed by a plenary talk by Burton Jones Award winner Dr. Jeanne Clelland (University of Colorado Boulder) entitled Gerrymandering: what is it, how can we measure it, and what can we do about it? The program also featured plenary talks by MAA executive director Dr. Rachel Levy on Mathematical Modelling: from kindergarten to industry, and Early Career award winner Dr. Ian Pierce from the USAFA on Another example of the ubiquitous nature of eigenstuff.

The scientific program included sessions on History of Mathematics, Mathematics Education, and General Mathematics and Student Research, with a total of 34 contributed talks, including 12 student talks with a total of 18 student presenters or co-presenters. Faculty workshops on Active Learning, Supervising Undergraduate Research and Flipped Classrooms were also part of the program.

In addition to the session for talks, undergraduate student work was showcased via a history of mathematics poster session featuring twelve student projects on the history of mathematics. Students also took part in a careers panel as well as the return of a student lunch and Math Jeopardy.

The Fort Lewis organizing committee consisted of Veronika Furst, Laura Scull, Kirsten Stor and Matthew Welz. The committee would like to thank all of those who assisted us in this endeavor, including Alexander Hulpke and Janet Barnett for support and advice, and Beth Schaubroek for organizing student activities.

History of Mathematics:

• Janet Barnett, Colorado State University-Pueblo Gnomonic Explorations: A Primary Source Project in Number Theory for Mathematics Majors, Elementary Teachers and Others
• Jeffrey Berg, University of Colorado at Denver Mining the History of the Rocky Mountain Section
• Phil Gustafson, Colorado Mesa University Enriching a Numerical Analysis Course with Historical Connections
• George Heine, Math and Maps Historical Materials on the Section Website
• Carl Lienert and Cinnamon Hobbs, Fort Lewis College Primary source vs. textbook presentation.
• Roger L. Mansfield, Astronomical Data Service What are Universal Variables? How Do They Describe the Path of the First Known Interstellar Asteroid, 'Oumuamua?
• Dan May, Black Hills State University With Quick Steps and Light Feet These Solutions I Found: A Brief Introduction to Mathematical Poetry
• Donald Teets, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Lagrange and the James Webb Space Telescope

Mathematics Education:

• Meredith Anderson, Adams State College
  Using Superfactorials as a Vehicle for Mathematical Practice
• Kelly Flaherty, University of Denver
  The Impact of "Sense of Community" in the Undergraduate Mathematics Classroom
• Leslie Goldstein, Fort Lewis College
  Visual Mathematical Patterns
• Eric Miles, Colorado Mesa University
  Go Walk On a Hill: a 15 minute field trip for Calculus III
• Jonathan Poritz, Colorado State University - Pueblo
  The Best Things in Life Are Free — And That Includes Math Books

Student Talks:

• Colleen Amori, Regis University
  Creating Walk Sequences of Directed Graphs
• Jordan Armstrong, United States Air Force Academy
  Devil's Staircase: Infinite Function Composition Nicholas Chmielewski, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
  Orbit determination from astrophotographs using the Laplace Method Will Cooper, United States Air Force Academy
  Coprime Labelings of Complete Bipartite Graphs Christopher Flynn and Brittany Quick Bear, Fort Lewis College
  P n;2 to Marked Tableau Samuel Fulton and Stephen O'Connor-Seville, Fort Lewis College
  P n;2 -tableaux and Marked tableaux: A Combinatorial Bijection Ian Hanigan and Audrey Stansberry, Fort Lewis College
  Counting Hook P n;2 -tableaux of Shape (1 + k; 1 n ) Burkelee Kenefick-Aschoff, Black Hills State University
  Singular Value Decomposition and Photography Harry McMahon, United States Air Force Academy
  GPS Satellite Positioning Using a Genetic Algorithm Diego Novoa and Jonathon Thompson, Fort Lewis College
  Defining π 0 for Graphs Ayla Rodriguez and Parthasarathi Nag, Black Hills State University
  Perspectives in Quantization Madison Tung, United States Air Force Academy
  Modeling Public Opinion

Workshops and Panels:

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:

1. Description of project (no more than one page);
2. Statement of how project supports Mission Goals (no more than one page);
3. Estimated budget;
4. Description of matching funds available, if any;
5. Vitae of project director(s).

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.

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.

1. Originate from a member of the Rocky Mountain Section of the Mathematical Association of America on behalf of an agency, institution, or organization whose stated purposes are consistent with recognizing or encouraging superior academic achievement at the high school level;
2. Be in the hands of the Chair of the Rocky Mountain Section no later than March 15 of the year in which the proposed recognition is to be made;
3. Include the criteria under which superior achievement in mathematics is to be recognized, together with the time and the manner of such recognition;
4. Report, insofar as possible at the time of the proposal, other potential sources of support together with proposals or requests made or intended; and
5. Be limited to a maximum amount of $250.

The 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.