News:

April 8, 2008: John Zobitz spoke at Bethany Lutheran College's annual science symposium. John's talk, titled "Math is in the air," illustrated how mathematics continually intersects with our daily lives. In the talk John described how mathematics can be used to address environmental issues such as monitoring urban air quality and carbon uptake of forests.

March 12, 2008: The department and the student club Unbounded celebrated the marvelous number π = 3.1415927 .... in their (approximation of) π Day.  During the entire day the campus was invited to enjoy a variety of fresh baked pies and lemonade.  The pies were so good, one participant called them "transcendental!"   In addition t-shirts were available for sale (t-shirt image to come later) Many thanks to the Unbounded club for their hard work making this event successful!

January 29, 2008: Sophomore mathematics and physics double major Michael Janas just found out that the solution to "Problem 1772" he and Professor Su Dorée submitted to Mathematics Magazine has been selected as the featured solution, to appear in the June 2008 issue. "We were hoping for an 'also solved by' credit," Su explains, "to be the lead solution is a real honor."  The problem, a fact about Taylor polynomials, can be found by following this link: Problem 1772.

Looking for interesting mathematics problems to work on?  Then check out journals published by the Mathematical Association of America  -- Math Horizons, The College Mathematics Journal, Mathematics Magazine, and The American Mathematical Monthly.  Each journal features numerous problems to test your skill, in increasing order of difficulty. The journals are available by subscription at Lindell Library, or on the shelf in the Math Department.

Michael and Su meet most Thursdays 2:00-3:00 (ish) in the Mathematics Suite.  You're welcome to join us!

January 10, 2008: Mathematics faculty returned from the AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego, California from January 5-9.  Professor Su Dorée led a minicourse titled "Evaluating student presentations in mathematics".  Professor Jody Sorensen gave a talk titled "Road Rage and the FTC".  Professor Molly Maxwell gave a talk titled "Higher Dimensional Spanning Trees".  Professor John Zobitz presented a talk titled "Process based modeling of soil respiration fluxes in a subalpine forest."  Additionally, Professors Dorée, Sorensen, and Zobitz judged an MAA poster session for undergraduates.  All of the participants had a great time (and really enjoyed the warm California weather!) 

October 20, 2007: Mathematics Professor Kenneth Kaminsky presented his work on "Odd Boiled Eggs," a probability question raised by the Jewish folklore of boiling an odd, not even, number of eggs at the Mathematical Association of America's North Central Section Meeting in Bemidji, MN, Oct. 19 - 20. Professors John Zobitz and Su Dorée also attended.

October 17, 2007: The student math club Unbounded held a Sudoku contest joint with the computer science department.  Winners as well as photos will be posted soon.

Working hard at sudoku ....

John Zobitz	Molly Maxwell

January 8, 2007: Four faculty and two students from the Mathematics Department attended the AMS/MAA Joint Mathematics Meetings in New Orleans Jan.4-8. Mathematics/Computer Science double-majors Lava K.C. and Cory Nathe presented posters in the Undergraduate Research Poster session. Professor Jody Sorensen organized a panel on "Engaging Students in Research, Clubs, Student Chapters, and Internships" and presented on a different panel on Expository Writing in Mathematics. Professor Matt Haines presented on a panel on "Strategies for Making and Sustaining Research Collaborations as a Faculty Member in a Small Department". Professor Su Doree taught a minicourse on "Evaluating Student Presentations in Mathematics". Professor Tracy Bibelnieks participated in two minicourses -- one on the mathematics of wavelets and the other on Quantitative Reasoning projects.

Colloquium:
April 16, 2008: Michael Conklin, Advanced Analytics

See the colloquium page for details.

Other Links:

• Current Augarithms (PDF)
  
• Tutoring Schedule
  
• Schedule of Courses