This bi-annual report, I hope, will keep you informed about the latest news from the MAA. I would also like to hear from you. If you have questions or concerns that should be brought to the Board of Governors (BOG) please feel free to contact me via email at magnhild.lien@csun.edu or by phone at 818-677-7789 or to catch me at one of the section meetings.

The Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) in Boston in January 2012 were a great success, with a record attendance – 7200 attendees! The following site gives you the highlights of the meeting through videos and photos: http://www.ams.org/meetings/national/jmm12-highlights

The BOG met the day before the official starting date of the JMM and we had a full agenda with reports and discussions. One of the pleasures of being on the BOG is that we get to vote on the recommendations from the prizes and awards committees. The announcement of the 2012 Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Beginning College or University Mathematics Faculty Member was a repeat from last year in that, once again, two of the three recipients of the award were from our section. Congratulations to Kathryn Leonard, California State University, Channel Islands, and Susan Martonosi, Harvey Mudd College, for receiving this award. (Last year’s recipients from our section were Alissa Crans, Loyola Marymount University, and Sarah Eichhorn, University of California, Irvine.)

This was the first BOG meeting for Michael Pearson as the new Executive Director of MAA and Jim Daniel as the new Treasurer. The Budget Committee reported on the 2011 and 2012 operating budget. “The 2011 budget was forecast to have an operating deficit of $144,784. It appears we will come in reasonably close to that number. The staff did an outstanding job of adapting to changing conditions and implementing savings measures discussed by the Budget and Executive Committees in late 2010. The 2012 operating budget is quite a dynamic document. The change to a new Executive Director and some other departures from the senior staff will provide an opportunity for savings but also create significant challenges.”

We were reminded that even though the operating budget showed a deficit, the overall health of the organization is sound. It has permitted MAA to weather operating deficits several years in a row but it is a trend that must be reversed in relatively short order. For anyone interested in learning more about the finances of the MAA, the Treasurer’s page is available at: http://www.maa.org/treasurer/ (MAA member login required). It contains current and historical information about MAA’s finances.

The BOG approved an increase in membership dues for 2013 which will include a $5 increase to the regular rate. Hence the new regular rate would be $199 with The Monthly and $179 with either CMJ or Mathematics Magazine. The $194 e-membership stays the same. The regular discounted rates are 20% less than the regular rates and retired rates are 50% less than regular rates so those rates increased by $3 and $2 respectively. Undergraduate and graduate student rates increased by $2 and will now be $32.

The following Proposed Bylaw Revision for Article IX, Section 8 was approved by the BOG. This revision will be presented for a vote of the membership at the Business Meeting at MathFest 2012. The revision is the addition of the underlined part.

The Nominating Committee shall nominate candidates for President-Elect, First Vice President, and Second Vice President, which shall be submitted to the voting membership; and candidates for Governors-at-large, Chair of the Committee on Sections, and Council Chairs, which shall be submitted to the Board. In addition, the Nominating Committee shall be responsible for soliciting biographical materials and supporting statements for each nominee as required. Three nominees shall be selected for President-Elect, First Vice President, and Second Vice President, and at least two for each of the other positions. In cases where incumbents are eligible for reelection, the Nominating Committee may nominate only the incumbent.

As always, the JMM program was rich and full of interesting talks, panels, and fun activities, and the Southern California-Nevada Section was well represented. The only problem with such an extensive program is that it is impossible to get to see and hear everyone. I attended the Joint Prize Session where Cindy Wyels, California State University Channel Islands, was presented with the Haimo Distinguished Teaching Award. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to hear Cindy speak in the special MAA session for Teaching Award Recipients. A subgroup of the MAA players who presented the MAA Musical at MathFest 2011 performed at the reception for Tina Straley, the outgoing Executive Director of MAA. (See photograph on page 13 of this Newsletter.)

The California State Universities at Bakersfield, Channel Islands, Fullerton, Northridge, San Bernardino, and Pomona all had students presenting posters at the Student Poster Session, as did UCSB, UCLA, UCI, Harvey Mudd College, Pomona College, Pepperdine University, University of Redlands, and Loyola Marymount University.

2011 Cindy Wyels

2010 Erika Flapan

2009 Curtis Bennet

2008 Bruce Yoshiwara

More past recipients

Preliminary nominations for the 2st annual MAA Southern California-Nevada Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics will be accepted in Fall 2012.

The preliminary nomination consists of a one-page form (available at the Section's Teaching Awards Page) and a 1-2 page description of the candidate’s qualities and teaching successes. If you have an eligible and qualified colleague in your department, we urge you to nominate her/him so that s/he may be considered for the award.

From the preliminary nominees, two to three semi-finalists will be chosen by the selection committee. Each nominator will then be asked to complete a full nomination packet for the semi-finalist. The full packet is required only for semi-finalists and will be due by early January. (Click here for full nomination requirements.)

Upon receipt of the full nomination, semi-finalists will automatically become finalists. Each finalist will receive an official letter of commendation from the Chair of the Section, which will be copied to the candidate’s department chair and dean. The selection committee will choose the winner from the pool of finalists. Finalists who are not selected will automatically have their full applications considered the following year for the Section award.

The winner of the award will be recognized at the 2013 Spring Meeting of the MAA Southern California-Nevada Section. The awardee will also be the official Section nominee for the MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Awards for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. (Click here for greater detail on eligibility requirements for the Haimo Award.)

Successful nominees are individuals who are widely recognized for their extraordinarily successful teaching effectiveness and for teaching that has had influence beyond their own institutions. To be eligible, nominees must be current MAA members who teach mathematical science courses at least half-time during the academic year and have at least seven years experience teaching at the college or university level.

Preliminary nomination deadline is November 1, 2012.

Questions? Contact Kathryn Leonard kathryn.leonard@csuci.edu or 805-437-3127.

Initial nominations may be sent electronically or mailed to:
Kathryn Leonard
CSU Channel Islands
1 University Dr.
Camarillo, CA 93012

Plan to attend the Spring 2012 Meeting
Present a poster in the Student Poster Session!

Consider presenting a poster at our Spring 2012 Meeting on April 14, 2012, at California State University, Fullerton! Student poster presenters receive free registration and lunch at the meeting (up to two presenters per poster). More importantly, they share their work with the wider mathematical community, receiving accolades, feedback, and further ideas. And they develop their communication skills and gain a resume item. Undergraduate and Masters students are invited to submit a poster. Deadline: Monday, April 2, 2012. Topic ideas follow.

• Results of masters thesis, honors, senior, or independent study projects;
• Results of classroom projects or modeling contests;
• Results of REUs and academic-year research programs;
• Historical investigations in pure or applied mathematics;
• Solutions of problems from the Putnam Exam or from the American Mathematical Monthly, Math Horizons, or other journals.

Students and faculty from California State University, San Bernardino, traveled to the MAA Southern California-Nevada Section Fall 2011 Meeting at California State University, Los Angeles. Top row, left to right: David Gomez, Marcos Reyes, Veronica Chavez, Jessica Luna, Ahmed Kamel. Front row, left to right: Janna Newman, Min-Lin Lo, Michelle Lopez, Jose Lopez, Enedina Ramos, Jessenia Padilla. (Photo: Janet Beery)

Meetings and Conferences

Meetings are attended by people who share your interest in mathematics. There may be a variety of activities: talks on interesting topics, a book sale, career panels, other students presenting their research projects… Our section keeps students in mind when planning meeting events: give the Spring Meeting a try! It will be Saturday, April 14, at California State University, Fullerton; details on the Spring Meeting web site.

Stretch Your Learning!

The MAA Undergraduate Page is a great resource.

Did you know you could spend several weeks this summer pursuing research under the guidance of a mentor near or far … while having your travel costs and room and board covered … and even receive a stipend to offset your usual summer job earnings? Check out the REU section of the MAA Undergraduate Page. (Don’t wait: most application deadlines are in February and March.) And spend some time with the other information on this page – opportunities to consider abound. Regional conferences that are relatively easy to attend are listed at our own section’s webpage. In addition to our Spring Meeting on Saturday, April 14, we’ll have a Fall Meeting in October of 2012. And watch for news of the March 2013 Pacific Coast Undergraduate Math Conference.

Southern California–Nevada Students at the 2012 JMM in Boston

The Southern California – Nevada Section was well represented by students at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boston, Jan. 4–7, 2012. Many presented their work in the Student Poster Session there, others gave presentations in some of the many sessions of invited and contributed talks, while others attended graduate school fairs, panels, networking sessions, and many talks – and most enjoyed their time in a sunny but chilly Boston. Nine Southern California–Nevada students were recognized for having particularly excellent posters (see the list below). But all who presented are worthy of congratulation: the facts that your advisor(s) approved your entry and that it was accepted to be presented are in themselves accomplishments!

2011 MAA Undergraduate Poster Session Prize Winners

• Calculating Call Blocking, Preemption Probabilities and Bandwidth Utilization for Satellite Communication Systems, Leah Rosenbaum, Scripps College (and a coauthor)
• Characteristics of Non-Symmetric Edge Flames in Micro-Channels, Casey McGrath, University of Redlands
• Application of Hill Climbing Algorithm to Parallelize Graph-based Genome Assembly, August Guang, Harvey Mudd College (and a coauthor)
• Chaparral Population Models in Response to Wildfires, Garrett Johns and Wancen Jiang, Pepperdine University, and Yuezhao Yang, Cal Poly Pomona
• A Combinatorial Approach to r-Fibonacci Numbers, Curtis Heberle, Harvey Mudd College
• On Constructible Sets, Walter Morales, California State University–Bakersfield (and a coauthor)
• Yelling in Circles: A Generalization of the Game “Look Up and Scream,” Sarah Warkentin, Harvey Mudd College