Seventh Annual
Garden State Undergraduate
Mathematics Conference
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Seventh AnnualGarden State UndergraduateMathematics Conference |
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Conference and Competition Registration Deadline: Saturday April 3, 2010
[Mathematics Competition] [Student Poster Session][Student Talks]
[Schedule]
[Travel]
[Organizers & Sponsors]
Mary Lou Zeeman is the R. Wells Johnson Professor of Mathematics at Bowdoin College and also works in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University. She earned her B.A. and M.A. from Oxford University and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Zeeman is a renowned educator, researcher and speaker who has received numerous awards for teaching; authored and co-authored dozens of papers and presented at many conferences and colloquia. Her current research interweaves biological experiments with mathematical modeling, and she collaborates closely with students and faculty from both disciplines to strengthen interdisciplinary connections between the two curricula. As one example, in joint work with David McCobb, Zeeman found the first mathematical model for the menstrual cycle and has used it to help tackle questions about infertility. At the 2008 Joint Mathematical Meetings, Zeeman co-organized minisymposia in which mathematicians, climate scientists, economists and policy makers came together to discuss a development path for integrated models of climate change and economics. She co-organized the 2008 MSRI Climate Change Summer School and she is the chair of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Activity Group on Dynamical Systems. Abstract: We will describe the key observations and introduce some simple models that begin to give intuition for the physical processes of climate change, including the earth's radiative energy balance, and the ice-albedo and greenhouse gas feedback processes. We will also illustrate the wide range of mathematical challenges and opportunities in climate change research. |
Thomas C. Hales is the Mellon Professor of Mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Stanford University, a Tripos Part III (mark of distinction) from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in the area of representation theory. He has held postdoctoral and faculty appointments at MSRI, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, the Institute for Advanced Study, CNRS, and the University of Michigan. In 1998, Hales, with the help of his graduate student Samuel Ferguson, proved Kepler’s 1611 conjecture (and Hilbert’s 18th problem) on the most efficient way to stack oranges. A noted lecturer and researcher, Hales’s current project, called Flyspeck, seeks to formalize his proof of the Kepler conjecture in the computer theorem prover HOL Light . Abstract: This question might seem strange at first. After all, whatever else they can do, computers can certainly compute. But math is much more than a series of long mechanical computations. As mathematicians, we make new conjectures, we create new structures, we prove theorems, and we check our logic to keep any errors from sneaking in. How much of this can a computer do? One example I will use is the Kepler conjecture, which asserts that the familiar pyramid arrangement used to stack oranges at the market is the best (densest) possible arrangement. Human referees had a hard time checking the details of the proof of this conjecture. I have suggested that a computer is better qualified than humans to referee the correctness of this proof. I will explain how computers should soon be ready to take over this particular responsibility. |
We will once again begin the conference with a two and a half hour mathematics competition. The competition will have both an individual and group component. Teams of three individuals are invited to participate in this 2.5 hour morning event. While we expect teams to primarily consist of students from the same school, we encourage teams of students from different schools to compete. The nature of the problems is modeled upon the Indiana Friendly Math Competition and is much more accessible than the Putnam Exam. The questions on the test will involve material from HS mathematics, calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, and the introductory courses that a math major would take. The emphasis of the competition will be on having fun with interesting problems that stress problem solving. Competition rules and past year's problems and solutions are available here. Awards will be presented to winning teams from both four-year and two-year institutions and the highest scoring student in the individual section. There is a $25 registration fee per team for the competition that can be paid the day of the competition. Due to the space limitations of the competition, we are limiting the competition to the first 25 teams that register and are initially limiting each school to two teams in the competition. Schools that would like to enter more than two teams in the competition should contact Competition co-director Katarzyna Potocka (kpotocka@ramapo.edu) and/or Ken McMurdy (kmcmurdy@ramapo.edu) from Ramapo College of New Jersey. We strongly ask for faculty volunteers from each school in the competition to help in proctoring/grading. Grading takes approximately two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon until 2pm. over lunch. A complimentary lunch will be provided to proctors and graders. Please contact Katarzyna Potocka if you would like to help grade. |
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A highlight of the conference is the hour-long student poster session, where students can explain and share their mathematical work with students and faculty from throughout New Jersey and neighboring states. Students are encouraged to present posters related to any mathematical topic they have learned. We seek posters from all areas of mathematics and from every level of the mathematics curriculum (first-year, sophomore, junior, and senior year). Some ideas for poster presentations are:
There will be prizes awarded for the best posters, with prizes at every level of the mathematics curriculum. Students who choose can participate in the poster session without having their poster considered for a prize. For further information, please contact one of the student poster coordinators: Miroslav Orna (morna@raritanval.edu), Tatyana Stepanova (tstepano@raritanval.edu) or David Trubatch (trubatchd@mail.montclair.edu).
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The conference will have an invited student talk session. This time a student talk should be nominated by a faculty member and the number of student talks is limite. We are soliciting nominations from faculty members of students who have distinguished themselves mathematically and who are able to give an engaging, informative mathematical talk for their peers. Talks will be 12 minutes in length, with five additional minutes for questions, and 3 minutes intermission. Rooms are equipped with computers, computer projectors and overhead projectors. Nominations (by faculty) should be sent to Professor Chengwen Wang by March 10, 2010. Nominations should include the student's name, title and abstract of the talk, as well as any supporting information available. |
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| 8:30-9:15 | Registration and Breakfast | |
| 9:30-12 | New Jersey Undergraduate Mathematics Competition | |
| 12:15-1:20 | Complimentary Lunch | |
| 1:20-2:15 | Invited Speech | |
| 2:25-3:20 | Student Talks and Poster Sessions | |
| 3:30-4:25 | Invited Speech |
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| 4:30-4:50 | Competition Results and Award Presentations |
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The conference will be held on the campus of Middlesex County College in Edison, New Jersey. (Click here for directions, Google maps and a campus map). Registration for the GSUMC will be held in Main Hall Foyer. There is free parking in Lots 4, 5 and 6, all of which are located near the Main Hall Foyer. |
The GSUMC is a function of the New Jersey section of the Mathematical Association of America. This year's conference was arranged by the following faculty members.
GSUMC Organizing Committee
Local Arrangements CommitteePaul Bachmann, Middlesex County College, chair
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The Garden State Undergraduate Mathematics Conference is made possible by funding graciously provided by NSA Grant H98230-09-1-0119.