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  • Math in the Media- August Issue
    baseballThis month's Math in the Media includes Tony's Phillips' Take ("Lévy flight for fish," "Hardy and Ramanujan at Lincoln Center," and "Electoral math in The New Yorker"), Math Digest, and Reviews. This month's Math Digest includes summaries of newspaper articles on sports (the Soccer World Cup, tennis and baseball), predicting locusts swarms, using mathematical modeling to fight cancer, math and poker, mathematical patterns in Platos's writings, 2010 MathCounts competition winners meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office, and more. The Reviews section, updated regularly, includes links to recent reviews of the book Street-fighting Mathematics: The Art of Educated Guessing and Opportunistic Problem Solving, the play A Disappearing Number, the film Agora (about 4th century mathematician Hypatia).

  • MSRI Sends Team to Represent U.S. at China's Girls Math Olympiad
    2010 US Team at CGMOThe Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) is sending a team of high school girls from throughout the U.S. to participate in the 2010 China Girls Mathematical Olympiad (CGMO). The international competition will be held from August 9-13 in Shijiazhuang, China. The team's eight high school students were chosen from the top ranks of the female finalists in the 2010 USA Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO): Representing the U.S. are:
    * Cynthia Day from San Jose, CA, a junior at Lynbrook High School, who won a bronze medal at last year's Olympiad;
    * Adisa Kruayatidee from Stevenson Ranch, CA, who is a senior at Phillips Exeter Academy in NH;
    * Shiyu (Jing Jing) Li from Sunnyvale, CA, a 2009 gold medalist who recently graduated from Cupertino High School and enters the University of California, Berkeley this fall;
    * Jae Eui Shin, a senior at Phillips Andover Academy in MA;
    * Elizabeth Synge from Lexington, MA, who was a 2009 silver medalist and will be a senior at Boston University Academy;
    * Andi Wang Stoneham, MA, a recent graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, CT, who will be a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall;
    * 2008 gold medal winner Lynnelle Ye, who recently graduated from Palo Alto High School and will attend Stanford University;
    * Shijie Joy Zheng from Bellevue, WA, currently a senior at Phillips Exeter Academy and competing at the Olympiad for a third time, having won a gold medal last year.
    [Photo: Standing from left to right are Lynnelle Ye, Jae Eui Shin, Shiyu (Jing Jing) Li, Shijie Joy Zheng, Alissa Zhang (alternate), Elizabeth Synge; Sitting from left to right are Alison Miller (Assistant Coach), Adisa Kruayatidee, Cynthia Day, Sheela Davades (alternate), Andi Wang, and Zuming Feng (Team Coach).]

  • 2010 Menger Awards

    Menger Award winners Below is the list of the Menger Award winners from the 2010 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in San Jose.
    • First Place (US$1000: Yale Wang Fan (The Catlin Gabel School, Portland, OR) "Adiabatic Quantum Evolution for NP-Complete and Physical Problems."
    • Second Place ($500 each): Joshua William Pfeffer (North Shore Hebrew Academy High School, Great Neck, NY), "Super Kahler-Ricci Flow," and Anirudha Balasubramanian (Saint Albans School, Washington, DC), "On the Lower Central Series Quotients of a Graded Associative Algebra"
    • Third Place ($250 each): Kate Alexandra Geschwind (Mayo High School, Rochester, MN), "Explaining Wind Farm Output Using Regression Analysis";  Almas Abdulla (West Shore Junior/Senior High School, Melbourne, FL), "Universal Law for the Distribution of Odd Periodic Cycles within Chaos in Nonlinear Dynamical Systems: A Fine Classification of Odd Cycles (Year III)"; Jacob Benjamin Hurwitz (Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, MD), "Decycling Densities of Tessellations"; and Evgeniia Iskanderovna Alekseeva (GOU Lyceum "Vtoraiia shkola", Moscow, Russia), "Hyperbolic Triangles of the Maximum Area and Two Fixed Sides"
    • Honorable Mention: Akhil Mathew (Madison High School, Madison, NJ), "Deligne Categories and Representation Theory in Complex Rank"; and Jonathan F. Li (Saint Margaret's Episcopal School, San Juan Capistrano, CA), "Effects of Motility and Contact Inhibition on Tumor Viability: A Discrete Simulation Using the Cellular Potts Model"

    This was the 20th year of the presentation of the Karl Menger Awards. The panel of judges "was impressed by the quality, breadth and originality of the work, and the dedication and enthusiasm of the students." The members of the 2009-2010 AMS Menger Prize Committee and AMS Special Awards Judges were Ed Connors, University of Massachusetts (chair); Doron Levy, University of Maryland; and Greg Fasshauer, Illinois Institute of Technology. The Society's participation in the Intel-ISEF is supported in part by income from the Karl Menger Fund, which was established by the family of the late Karl Menger. For more information about this program or to make contributions to this fund, contact the AMS Development Office. (Pictured, left to right: Ed Connors, Yale Fan, Almas Adbulla, Evgeniia Alekseeva, Anirudha Balasubramanian, Joshua Pfeffer, Jacob Hurwitz, and Kate Geschwind. Click on the image for a larger version.)

  • Notices of the AMS - August
    Notices August 2010 cover The August issue includes an article about the new Mathematical Biosciences Institute in Columbus, OH, "What Is Mathematical Biology and How Useful Is It?" by its founding director Avner Friedman, and an article about mathematics and art, "Celebrating Mathematics in Stone and Bronze," by Helaman and Claire Ferguson. The issue also includes "WHAT IS... a Paraproduct?" by Árpád Bényi, Diego Maldonado, and Virginia Naibo, and an Opinion piece, "Evaluation of Our Courses," by Steven Zucker.

  • 2010 IMO Results
    IMO logoFor the third straight year, China finished first in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), which was held this year in Astana, Kazakhstan. The team from China finished with 197 points, out of a possible 252, with each team member earning a gold medal. Russia finished second, with 169 points, and the U.S. team finished third, one point behind Russia. Three members of the U.S. team: Ben Gunby, Xiaoyu He, and Evan O'Dorney, won gold medals, while the other three U.S. team members: Calvin Deng, In Sung Na, and Allen Yuan, won silver medals. O'Dorney, winner of the 2010 national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician, finished with a score of 39 (out of a possible 42 points), the second highest individual score overall. Zipei Nie of China was the highest scoring individual, earning a perfect score of 42. See all the team and individual results, with links to more information on the competition. Next year's IMO will take place July 12-24 in Amsterdam (the Netherlands).

  • U.S. Team Members for the 2010 IMO
    IMO logoThe six members of the U.S. team who will compete in the 2010 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) are (in alphabetical order):
    * Calvin Deng, William G. Enloe High School, Raleigh, NC
    * Ben Gunby, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC
    * Xiaoyu He, Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, Acton, MA
    * In Sung Na, Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan, Old Tappan, NJ
    * Evan O'Dorney, Berkeley Math Circle, Berkeley, CA
    * Allen Yuan, Detroit Country Day School, Beverly Hills, MI
    O'Dorney is the only team member with previous IMO experience, earning silver medals in 2008 and 2009 (along with winning the 2010 national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician and the 2007 National Spelling Bee). Deng, who is 14, is the youngest member of the team. The 2010 IMO will take place in Astana, Kazakhstan, July 2-14.

  • SIAM Student Paper Competition Winners
    SIAM has awarded three prizes for submissions to its 2010 Student Paper Competition. The recipients are Bubacarr Bah (University of Edinburgh) for "Improved Restricted Isometry Constant Bounds for Gaussian Matrices," co-authored with Jared Tanner; Russell Carden (Rice University) for "A Simple Algorithm for the Inverse Field of Values Problem"; and Karin Leiderman (University of Utah) for "Grow with the Flow: A Spatial-Temporal Model of Platelet Deposition and Blood Coagulation under Flow." The prizes will be awarded at this month's SIAM Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. Each winner will receive a hand-calligraphed certificate and a cash prize of $1,000.

  • A World Cup-related Math Quiz
    soccerThe New York Times published "Numbers in the News - World Cup," a 10-question quiz on math and soccer by Math for America Master Teachers Patrick Honner and Gary Rubinstein. The questions are progressively difficult, and explanations for each appear once you choose an answer. Good luck!

  • USA Science and Engineering Festival
    USASEF logoThe first USA Science and Engineering Festival will be held in Washington, DC, in October 2010. More than 500 of the country's leading science, engineering, and mathematics organizations, including the AMS, will collaborate on the festival, which aims to reignite the interest of young people in the sciences. The festival will culminate in a two-day Expo on the National Mall on October 23-24, which will give children, teens, and adults the opportunity to explore all facets of mathematics, science, and engineering through hands-on activities. Details will be posted here on all the mathematics-related activities.

  • The Fastest Way to First Base May Not be a Straight Line
    baseball runner Keep an eye out for Major League hitters who veer toward the dugout on their way to first base! "While at first glance this route might not seem the best way to start a sprint toward home plate, Williams College math professor Frank Morgan says his calculations prove it's the fastest way around the diamond...." Morgan was an advisor of Williams grad Davide Carozza (class of ’09), who began his research for his senior colloquium project "Optimal Baserunner's Path" by racing around Cole Field to figure out optimum baseline acceleration speed and which paths and shapes might work the best to round the bases fastest. Math professor Stewart Johnson joined with Morgan, and using optimal control theory as it relates to minimal surfaces, the professors computed an optimal path. It turns out that a runner can round the bases "20 percent faster, saving approximately four seconds." Of course this method would only be used after hitting a long ball. Now that the theory has been published the three mathematicians will wait to see if teams use the strategy. Carozza says “it would be cool to see someone actually test it out.”

  • 2010 AMS Mass Media Fellow Chosen
    Benjamin Pittman-Polletta Benjamin Pittman-Polletta has been awarded the AMS 2010 Mass Media fellowship. Ben is a Ph.D. student in mathematics at the University of Arizona and the AMS is sponsoring his fellowship at the Oregonian for ten weeks this summer. The Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellowship program is organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). It is a highly competitive program designed to improve public understanding of science and technology by placing advanced science, mathematics and engineering students in newsrooms nationwide. Fellows work with media professionals to improve their communication skills and increase their understanding of the editorial process by which events and ideas become news. The program is available to college or university students in their senior year, or in any graduate or post graduate level who have outstanding written and oral communication skills and a strong interest in learning about the media. The program has supported over 500 fellows.

  • 2010 Mathematical Art Exhibition - New Album on Mathematical Imagery
    Embrace, by Robert BoschAn album of the 2010 Mathematical Art Exhibition is now on Mathematical Imagery. The exhibition, held at the 2010 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco, CA, included works in various media by 64 artists. Pictured here is "Embrace," by Robert Bosch, which was awarded First Prize. All the images in the album can be sent as e-postcards.

  • We Use Math - a new film series
    from the We Use Math film seriesThe Brigham Young University Mathematics Department is producing a film series, We Use Math, showing that a mathematics background opens doors to many careers, and why mathematicians find it such a satisfying field. Upcoming films in the series will highlight a specific career area in mathematics by featuring people who work in that career, what they do, why they like their job, what kind of problems they work on, and how they came to work in that career. You can view the first video on the When Will I Use Math? website, which also includes lots of interesting facts and valuable information on nearly 40 careers. Image courtesy of the BYU Mathematics Department.

  • MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR UNDERGRADUATE EXPERIENCE
    undergrad poster presenters at the 2008 national SACNAS conferenceHere are some ways to take advantage of your experience as an undergraduate: join a math club or a student math chapter; find and use a mentor; present a poster at a math conference (pictured here are undergraduate poster presenters with other participants and judges at the 2009 national SACNAS conference); attend local or national meetings of the professional societies (AMS, ASA, AWM, MAA, SIAM, SACNAS); write a math paper for an undergraduate journal (e.g. SIAM Undergraduate Research Online, Involve, Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Math Journal, Harvard College Mathematics Review); think about applying to a summer REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates program); ask the math department chair or a faculty member about resources available in the department and library; collaborate with your fellow math students on a problem; rent a math film; and consider graduate school -- compare mathematics graduate programs all over the U.S. and attend the annual Grad School Fair at the Joint Mathematics Meetings. See more resources to help you on your way.


  • KEEP A LOOKOUT TO SEE NEW POSTINGS ON THESE WEBSITES:

  • AMS GRADUATE STUDENT BLOG
    blogThe AMS Graduate Student Blog is a blog by and for math graduate students, managed by Frank Morgan, AMS vice-president, and professor of mathematics at Williams College. "Graduate students are the future of the AMS, and they have a lot to talk about," says Morgan. The Graduate Student Editorial Board members are Asher Auel, Adam Boocher, Diana Davis, Daniel Erman, Fernando Galaz, Brian Katz, Alex Levin, Kathryn Lindsey, Andrew Obus, David Shea Vela-Vick, Clay Shonkwiler, Annalies Z. Vuong, and Tom Wright. Morgan hopes that more graduate students from around the country will join the board. The blog entries to date concern organizing a reading seminar, how to give a good mathematics talk, advice for beginning teaching assistants, navigating seminars and finding an advisor--topics of great importance to graduate students, who are all are invited to join the community by posting comments, questions and advice on the blog, hosted by Williams College.
    *Recently posted on the Grad Student Blog is an interview with Terence Tao.

  • DISCOVERIES AND BREAKTHROUGHS INSIDE SCIENCE
    DBIS How is math used to create special effects in movies? How does math used in origami help design the best way to fold an airbag for optimum deployment and compute the optimum configuration of space telescope lenses? How can math help allocate resources to best benefit all parties? How could math prevent icicles from forming on power lines? The AMS partners with the American Institute of Physics to contribute toward the production of Discoveries and Breakthroughs Inside Science, video segments on the latest discoveries and applications of mathematics that are aired on local TV news programs all over the country. The AMS page links to several of the video spots on mathematical applications.

  • Intersections -- Poetry with Mathematics
    "Mathematical language can heighten the imagery of a poem; mathematical structure can deepen its effect. Feast here on an international menu of poems made rich by mathematical ingredients."

  • NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MATH CIRCLES
    NAMC website The National Association of Math Circles (NAMC) website is for the community of students, parents, teachers, and math circle organizers. Math circles join math-related professionals and motivated middle and high school students in informal after-school settings to work on interesting problems and topics in math. There are currently 58 math circles in the U.S. See the NAMC website to locate local math circles and search for summer math camps, math events, and math competitions--from regional to national to international Olympiads.

  • PLUS MAGAZINE - NEW ISSUE
    PLUS Magazine celebrates 10 years
    "It's ten years since the first draft of the human genome was published and Plus is joining in the celebrations with a package on the maths of genes. We try and solve the genome puzzle, model cell suicide, and find out why DNA evidence in court isn't as straightforward as it seems. Genes aside, we assess small but lethal risks, create some fractal music, encounter a two box paradox, and find out how to win with coins and cards." See the Plus magazine's new website to find this issue plus links to podcasts, posters, puzzles, reviews and career profiles.

  • THE GNARLY GNEWS
    The latest edition of this humorous math newsletter tells us about solving quadratic equations and includes a puzzle.

  • Other Professional Mathematics Societies
    American Statistical Association (ASA), Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), Mathematical Association of America (MAA), Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)

  • CHECK OUT THESE WEBSITES:

  • MUSEUM OF MATHEMATICS
    The new Museum of Mathematics--the only one in the U.S.--strives to enhance public understanding and perception of mathematics. Its dynamic exhibits and programs will stimulate inquiry, spark curiosity, and reveal the wonders of mathematics. The museum’s activities will lead a broad and diverse audience to understand the evolving, creative, human, and aesthetic nature of mathematics.

  • FAMOUS MATHEMATICS MAJORS
    Did you know that basketball player Michael Jordan started out as a math major, or that Teri Hatcher (Lois Lane on "Lois and Clark") was a mathematics and engineering major at DeAnza Junior College? See a list of famous individuals from the worlds of sports, entertainment, politics, writing and finance on this web page created by the Rose-Hulman Math Club.

  • MATH EN JEU - A NEW INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA GAME
    Math en Jeu
    How does this online game work?
    * create your own identity;
    * launch a new game or join a game in progress;
    * and it's started!
    Math en Jeu was developed by SMAC (Sciences and Mathematics in Action), directed by Professor Jean-Marie De Koninck and a team at the department of mathematics and statistics of Université Laval, and is offered in English or French. "This is basically a board game with a mathematical flavor. Up to four players confront each other in a game by moving on a randomly created board. The players try to accumulate as many coins as possible before the time runs out. To be able to win coins, each player must answer mathematical questions. The more spaces in a move, the harder the question, and the more coins it is worth." See the Math en Jeu website to read more about how the game works, learn about the question bank, and start playing!
  • WHO'S YOUR FAVORITE FICTIONAL MATHEMATICIAN?
    The PLUS Magazine Blog asks the question and invites readers to pick from among a list of 18 fictional characters. The Square (Flatland)? Charlie Eppes (Numb3rs)? Professor Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes)? You can also view the results of the poll, which re-calculates on an ongoing basis the voter favorites. And if your favorite character isn't on the list you can submit a comment to the blog editors.
  • L'EXPLOSION DES MATHEMATIQUES
    booklet coverThe Société Mathématique de France (French Mathematical Society) has translated into English "L'explosion des mathématiques," an illustrated booklet on the many applications of mathematics. Chapters include "What lies behind mobile phones," "Preventing waves from making noise," "From DNA to knot theory," "How to rationalize auction sales," "Puzzles for airline companies," "Financial options pricing," and more. Download individual chapters or the entire pdf of the English-language version of the "L'explosion des mathématiques" booklet.

  • NUMB3RS MATH ACTIVITIES
    Hills diagram The Mathematics Department at Cornell University has developed a series of materials on math behind the TV show Numb3rs. To date there are over 60 topics related to episodes in the first four seasons, including "Counterfeit Reality," "In Plain Sight," "The Mole," "Pandora's Box," and "Tabu." (Image to left: Diagram from Cornell's "Tabu" of a "tabu search, a kind of local search in which one moves from point to nearby point, trying to find an optimal solution." Graphic used with permission.) Each topic includes a brief synopsis of the program's plot and how the mathematician character Charlie used math to solve the crime, a more in-depth look at the mathematics, and often a suggested activity or a "Tangent"--a tidbit of historical background or other application of the mathematics.
  • MOVIES ON THE FUTURES CHANNEL
    See a series of brief movies that connect math to the real world: "First one in the ballpark," "Air coasters," "Ingrid's cross-country practice," "Tetradice," "Response time," and "New car tips," are just a few of the topics.
  • MATH DOCTORAL PROGRAMS WEBPAGE
    The webpage has separate lists for doctoral programs in mathematics, applied mathematics and operations research, statistics/biostatistics, and mathematics education. The page was created and is maintained by Sarah-Marie Belcastro.
  • HELP AT DIFFERENT STAGES IN YOUR MATH CAREER
    The Art of Problem Solving website lists mathematics scholarships including national mathematics scholarship competitions, university-specific mathematics scholarships, and links to other opportunities such as study abroad and summer programs. Use the 2008 Assistantships & Graduate Fellowships in the Mathematical Sciences to compare graduate math programs, see stipend amounts, locate sources of support, and more. See what past math majors are doing now, on the Early Career Profile Network. See the AMS web page for job-seekers that includes links to advice on how to develop your curriculum vitae, interview, decide if teaching is for you, apply for jobs, and more.
  • SELECTED MATH BLOGS
    See these sites for interesting math blogs, and give the authors feedback: bit-player, by Brian Hayes, Senior Writer for American Scientist; Numb3rs, by Mark Bridger, Northeastern University; What's New, by Terence Tao, University of California, Los Angeles; MathTrek Blogs, by Julie J. Rehmeyer, Science NewsWeb Editor and Mathematics Writer; The Mathematical Tourist, by Ivars Peterson, MAA Director of Publications for Journals and Communications; Teaching College Math Technology Blog, by Maria H. Anderson, Muskegon Community College; and Carnival of Mathematics, hosted by WordPress.com.

 

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  • Penn State MASS Program. The Mathematics Advanced Study Semesters (MASS) program is held during the Fall semester of each year. For most of its participants, the MASS program serves as a spring board to graduate schools in mathematics. The program consists of three courses chosen from major areas in Algebra, Analysis, and Geometry respectively, specially designed and offered exclusively to MASS participants, and a weekly working seminar. Additional features include, colloquium-type lectures by visiting mathematicians and mathematical projects involving research and creative use of computers. Participants are selected from applicants who will be juniors or seniors in the following academic year (sophomores may be admitted in some cases). Applications for fall 2010 are reviewed as received. The website includes application materials, financial information, and where to send applications.
  • SIAM Undergbraduate Research Online - Call for Papers. SIAM Undergraduate Research Online (SIURO) is a web-based publication devoted to undergraduate research in applied and computational mathematics. Topics include analysis, discrete mathematics, statistics, operations research, optimization, dynamical systems, modeling, and computation. Papers written by undergraduate students (or teams of students) are being accepted on an ongoing basis and will be posted online as they are accepted. The SIURO web site lists the editorial board and has instructions for authors, review policies, etc.
  • Stipends for Study and Travel. See opportunities for graduate support, postdoctoral support, travel and study abroad, and study in the U.S. for foreign nationals. There are various deadlines throughout this academic year.
  • ATTENTION STUDENTS! If you are a member of the AMS, MAA, SIAM, AMATYC, AWM or CMS/SMC, please keep your contact information current on the online Combined Membership List. The directory is a great networking tool, so be sure your mathematical colleagues all over the U.S. and Canada can find you!
  • NSF-AWM Travel Grants. This program enables women to attend research conferences in their fields, thereby providing a valuable opportunity to advance their research activities and their visibility in the research community. The grants provide full or partial support for travel and subsistence for a meeting or conference in the applicant's field of specialization. A maximum of US$1,500 for domestic travel and US$2,000 for foreign travel will be available. Women must hold a doctorate (or equivalent experience) and have a work address in the US (or US home address, in case of unemployed mathematicians). There are three award periods per year, with applications due OCTOBER 1, FEBRUARY 1, and MAY 1.
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