JMM Sessions and Events

Professional Enhancement Programs (PEP)

Professional Enhancement Programs (PEP) are open only to persons who register for the Joint Meetings and pay the Joint Meetings registration fee in addition to the appropriate Professional Enhancement Program (PEP) fee. The AMS reserves the right to cancel any PEP that is undersubscribed. Participants should read the descriptions of each PEP thoroughly as some require participants to bring their own laptops and special software; laptops will not be provided in any PEP. The enrollment in each PEP is limited to 50; the cost is US\$125 per program for the member rate (AIM, AMS, AWM, ASA, NAM, or SIAM) and US\$175 for the nonmember rate. Please see complete descriptions of the PEPs here.

JMM Lectures

2023 JPBM Communications Award Lecture: Grant Sanderson, 3Blue1Brown, recipient of the 2023 JPBM Communications Award, will deliver a JPBM Communications Award Lecture, Thursday, 3:50 – 4:50 pm,  Raising the ceiling and lowering the floor of math exposition

2023 JPBM Communications Award Lecture: Jordan Ellenberg, University of Wisconsin–Madison, recipient of the 2023 JPBM Communications Award, will deliver a JPBM Communications Award Lecture, Saturday, 10:05 – 11:05 am, Outward-facing mathematics

2023 JPBM Communications Award Lecture: Talithia Williams, Harvey Mudd College, recipient of the 2022 JPBM Communications Award, will deliver a JPBM Communications Award Lecture, Saturday, 1:00 – 2:00 pm, The power of talk: engaging the public in mathematics

JMM Sessions

Estimathon!, organized by Andrew Niedermaier, Jane Street Capital; Thursday, 3:30 – 4:30 pm. The Estimathon is a team-based game for groups of individuals to create confidence intervals for a set of 13 trivia problems in 30 minutes. A team's score is a function of their intervals; changing based on whether their intervals contain the respective correct answers, and if so how narrow those "correct" intervals are. We've run Estimathons at JMM for a number of years, but not since 2020. We're excited to come back!

Uniform Convergence: A One Woman Play, performed by Corrine Yap, Rutgers University; Thursday, 6:00 –7:00 pm. Uniform Convergence is a one-woman play written and performed by mathematics graduate student Corrine Yap. It juxtaposes the stories of two women trying to find their place in a white male-dominated academic world. The first is of historical Russian mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya, who was lauded as a pioneer for women in science but only after years of struggle for recognition. Her life's journey is told through music and movement, in both Russian and English. The second is of a fictional Asian-American woman, known only as "Professor," attempting to cope with the prejudice she faces in the present. As she teaches an introductory real analysis class, she uses mathematical concepts to draw parallels to the race and gender conflicts she encounters in society today. Since 2016, Corrine has performed Uniform Convergence at 15 different academic institutions, off-Broadway, and at the 2018 MAA MathFest.

MEET and SHARE: A mathematicians’ storytelling event, organized by Padi Fuster Aguiliera, University of Colorado at Boulder, and Selvi Kara, University of Utah; Thursday, 8:00 – 10:00 pm. The MEET and SHARE event will bring together mathematicians from all career stages and offer a space to connect with one another through personal stories. This storytelling event will be centered around a particular theme (Define and Empower). Everyone is welcome to submit a story for the event. Six storytellers will be sharing their stories at the event.

The MEET and SHARE is created with the purpose of shifting the focus from mathematics to mathematicians during conferences and creating a supportive and intimate space for people to share their stories. The event is open to everyone and registration is required. This event is sponsored by the Center for Minorities in Mathematical Sciences.

Visit our website for more details and the RSVP form.

Mathematically Bent Theater, Colin Adams and the Mobiusbandaid Players, Friday,  6:00–7:00 pm. Why are math jokes so much funnier than physics jokes? Why do students laugh out loud when they see their scores on math exams? And what is so funny about the word asymptote? These are just a few of the many questions we will not answer in this collection of short humorous math pieces.

JMM Panels

JMM Panel: Mentoring Undergraduate Research in Data-Driven Research Projects, organized by Vinodh Chellamuthu, Utah Tech University, and Allison Henrich, Seattle University, Wednesday, 1:00–2:30 pm. Panelists are Michael Dorff, Brigham Young University, Diana Thomas, United States Military Academy, and Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, George Mason University. In recent years, data-driven undergraduate research projects and increasing collaboration with business, industry, and government (BIG) in undergraduate research have provided excellent opportunities for students and faculty mentors in terms of professional development and innovative undergraduate research opportunities. As this trend in these areas will grow and become more prominent in the undergraduate research community, it is necessary to address the unique challenges and benefits associated with mentoring students in BIG projects. In this session, panelists will address these challenges and benefits. For instance, how does research driven by BIG problems differ from traditional undergraduate research? How does working on BIG projects help students develop the skills necessary for the demanding job market? How do problems from industry lead to new and interesting mathematics? This panel is sponsored by the SIGMAA on Undergraduate Research.

JMM Panel: Redefining Math Conferences, organized by Robyn Brooks, Boston College, and Padi Fuster Aguiliera, University of Colorado at Boulder, Wednesday, 8:30–10:00 am. This event will consist of a panel of organizers of inclusive math conferences, followed by informal conversations by the participants in order to create a networking platform for organizers and participants of such conferences. The panelists are: Seppo Niemi-Colvin, GAIN, Christine Kelley, NCUWM, Keisha Cook, Math For All, Zoe Markman, OURFAM, and Christopher O’Neill, USTARTS. The goals of this panel include: facilitating networking between conference organizers and sharing tools for a successful conference environment and participation; providing novice conference organizers a forum where they may ask questions of those who have previously organized conferences focused on fostering inclusivity, in order to encourage the creation of intentionally welcoming conferences; and encouraging discussion between those who have worked to sponsor/create conferences that focus on both mathematical scholarship and building a diverse mathematical community. The event is open to the whole mathematical community. This panel is sponsored by the Math for All Conference.

JMM Panel: A DEI Perspective on Undergraduate Research, organized by Vinodh Chellamuthu, Utah Tech University, and Allison Henrich, Seattle University, Thursday, 1:00–2:30 pm. As we continue to respond to the damaging effects of the pandemic and persistent inequities in our educational system, the need for the math community to create more inclusive, supportive environments for our student researchers feels more urgent than it ever has. While many faculty mentors are eager to adapt their mentoring practices to help their students thrive, they may be unsure of how to get started. A panel of successful undergraduate research mentors will share their insights around fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive research environment. They will also share concrete strategies that participants can incorporate into their own undergraduate research mentoring. Panelists are Alex Barrios, University of St. Thomas, Dennis Davenport, Howard University, and Maria Mercedes Franco, Queensborough Community College. This panel is sponsored by the SIGMAA on Undergraduate Research.

JMM Panel: Highlights from Research on Instructors' Learning about Teaching, Parts I & II, organized by Jack Bookman, Duke University, and Shandy Hauk, San Francisco State University; Thursday and Friday, 8:30 – 10:00 am. It is now well-recognized in the mathematics community that it is essential to provide preparation for college teaching to novice instructors (learning assistants and tutors, graduate students who are TAs or instructors of record, faculty instructors in a variety of jobs). These efforts are especially important because of the roles such instructors often play in introductory mathematics courses and the impact of experiences in introductory courses on student outcomes, enrollment, and retention rates in STEM majors. The last five years has seen a rapid and rich development of research on what works, for whom, and under what conditions, in the preparation of new college instructors. The goal is to share and discuss what has been learned from this recent rigorous research.

This session will highlight key findings from a collection of projects. Panelists will share results from both large- and small-scale efforts (e.g., national work such as the College Mathematics Instructor Development Source-CoMInDS, multi-institutional collaborations, and promising programs at individual institutions). Topics will include overarching issues in the design of teaching-focused professional learning programs and examples of specific elements of programs that improve knowledge and skills of new instructors (e.g., about learning to foster student engagement, attend to variability in undergraduate student experience, use appropriate mathematical tasks, navigate professional demands). Panelists will provide information about their projects and engage audience members in discussion about applying research findings to the work of preparing new college instructors. Confirmed panelists include: Jack Bookman, Duke University, Emily Braley, Johns Hopkins University, Mary Pilgrim, San Diego State University, Kim Rogers, Bowling Green State University, Natasha Speer, University of Maine, and Sean Yee, University of South Carolina.

Joint Committee on Women Panel Discussion, organized by Jennifer Schultens, University of California, Davis; Thursday, 1:00 – 2:30 pm. For 50 years, the Joint Committee on Women has served as a forum for communication among member organizations to enhance opportunities for women in the mathematical sciences. As an umbrella organization with representatives from the American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges (AMATYC), American Mathematical Society (AMS), American Statistical Association (ASA), Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), Mathematical Association of America (MAA), National Association of Mathematics (NAM), National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), the JCW maintains a website to highlight policies and practices of member organizations. This panel will examine metacognition, the ways in which we approach mathematics and how this facilitates or impedes understanding. Confirmed panelists include Lakeshia Jones, University of Arkansas-Little Rock, Jo Boaler, Stanford University, Yvonne Lai, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and John Nardo, Oglethorpe University. Jennifer Schultens, University of California, Davis, will be moderating.

JMM Panel: The Prison Mathematics Project: Justice via the Pursuit of Beauty, organized by Trubee Davison, Prison Mathematics Project; Friday, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm. In this panel discussion, we will offer an invitation to all who seek to improve upon techniques in teaching and learning mathematics in highly restrictive environments. We will discuss specific challenges that our incarcerated participants face while trying to engage in a mathematical education including, but not limited to, the lack of mathematical resources such as textbooks and technology, the lack of mentorship and role models, and the emotional and psychological impact from prison.

For incarcerated individuals, the process of desistance refers to the journey towards a positive pro social identity, and the cessation of offending behaviors which led them to a criminal identity. We will highlight some of the kinds of mathematical work that our participants are doing with their mentors, and discuss how this work is helping these individuals lay the foundation for a life of desistance. More broadly, we will discuss how the mission of the PMP aligns with current research on desistance.

Additionally, we will include information about how the PMP works, and how mathematicians can become involved in the program. Panelists are Walker Blackwell, Prison Mathematics Project (Co-Founder), and Gary Gordon, Lafayette College

JMM Panel: Hidden Figures Revealed: Reflections from Research on Black Mathematicians, organized by Ranthony AC Edmonds, The Ohio State University, and David Goldberg, Math Alliance and Purdue University; Saturday, 8:00 – 9:30 am. Hidden Figures Revealed is the first comprehensive study of Black mathematicians at a single US institution. Our project aimed to increase the representation of Black mathematicians to the general public through outreach, as well as to understand the lack of Black mathematicians in academic spaces using Ohio State as a case study. Nearly 200 mathematicians that identify as Black have earned degrees from the Department of Mathematics at The Ohio State University. They have gone on to become prolific researchers, authors, high school teachers, economists, department chairs, lawyers, Ohio State personnel, and university presidents–yet their stories and legacies have remained “hidden.”

In this panel we reflect on lessons learned from our research on Ohio State’s Black Math History. This interactive session will feature a demonstration of an outreach activity from a community workshop series that participants can take back to their home institutions. Panelists will also discuss how historical research and storytelling can be used as an avenue to understand, and then address, racial diversity in mathematical communities. Panelists are Ranthony AC Edmonds, The Ohio State University; Hannah McDavid, The Ohio State University; and David Goldberg, Purdue University.

JMM Workshops

JMM Workshop: Exploring the Teaching of Calculus Using Infinitesimals: Hands-on Practice in Issues Related to Curriculum Design, organized by C. Bryan Dawson, Union University; Wednesday, 9:30 –11:00 am. The goal of this workshop is to help attendees understand some of the issues involved in curricular design, through the example of using infinitesimals in calculus.

After a brief introduction and some initial guidance, attendees will participate in group discovery-learning activities to develop definitions of calculus concepts using infinitesimals. Each group activity will consist of a task (write a definition of two-sided limit using infinitesimals), test cases (does the definition apply and give the expected results for these limits?), and discussion questions (how does the resulting procedure compare to the usual procedures regarding computational complexity? regarding intuitive understanding?). The session will contain the group activities for definitions of limit (two-sided, one-sided, at infinity), continuity, the derivative, and the definite integral, although it will not be necessary to complete all these topics to accomplish the goals of the workshop. After a final discussion question (if the epsilon-delta and infinitesimal definitions of limit are mathematically equivalent, must they convey the same understanding of the nature of limit?), the workshop will close by asking participants to identify broad issues that must be considered when attempting to develop an innovative curriculum. No prior knowledge of infinitesimals is required; all relevant information will be given in the brief introduction.

JMM Workshop: Mathematicians + Wikipedia – a training edit-a-thon to reduce the “Wikipedia gender gap” in the Mathematical Sciences, organized by Francesca Bernardi, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Xavier Ramos Olive, Smith College; Wednesday, 10:30 am –12:00 pm. With over 14 billion views each month, Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites in the world. The English language Wikipedia counts almost 6.5 million pages that are constantly being improved by volunteer editors worldwide. While anyone can edit Wikipedia, only about 15% of editors self-identify as female. Who edits Wikipedia matters: articles related to topics traditionally considered of interest to women are less well-covered and only about 18.5% of biographies are about women. With this workshop, participants will join concerted efforts to reduce the so-called “Wikipedia gender gap”. Attendees will be trained by expert Wikipedians to edit and translate Wikipedia biographies of Mathematicians with a particular focus on Mathematicians from marginalized groups. After the introductory tutorial, participants will have an hour to actively edit existing pages with the help of experienced editors. A list of pages will be provided, and edits and impact will be tracked through an online dashboard.

JMM Workshop: Equitable and Active Strategies That You Can Try in Your Next Class, organized by Kristin Kurianski and Roberto Soto, California State University Fullerton; Wednesday, 1:00 – 3:00 pm. This workshop offers strategies that participants can implement in their upcoming courses to create a more equitable and active learning environment. The key feature of this workshop is that it is itself active; participants will experience each strategy just as a student would. The goals of the workshop are for participants to experience and learn about strategies that give every student the opportunity and support needed to engage with the instructor, engage with their peers, and engage with the course material. A version of this workshop ran successfully in the CSU Fullerton Mathematics Department in April 2022.

The structure of the workshop is to discuss equity-minded active strategies through the actual use of such strategies. Each topic will be introduced and then discussed using a new strategy, thereby compiling a list of techniques. Experiencing each technique in real-time allows participants to gain a student’s perspective and anticipate student needs.

The strategies include group work with role assignments, posing and facilitating exploratory questions, small-scale flipped classroom activities, virtual tools for student engagement, and more. The presented strategies require minimal prep time, ensuring that participants can feel confident incorporating them into their classes without the perceived barrier of increasing their workload. Each participant will leave with a host of equity-minded active learning techniques and increased comfort in implementing them. Speakers at this workshop are Kristin Kurianski, Amanda Martinez, and Roberto Soto, California State University Fullerton.

If you plan to attend this workshop, the organizers ask that you fill out the following two-question survey, located here, to help them prepare an activity.

JMM Workshop on Math for Sustainability: Quantitative and Ethical Reasoning in General Education Mathematics, organized by Russ deForest, Pennsylvania State University; Wednesday, 1:00–3:00 pm. Would you rather learn the quadratic equation or would you rather save the world? For many students in non-technical majors, college algebra serves as a (sometimes dreaded) "terminal math course." Math for Sustainability is a capstone general education math course offered at Penn State that engages students in a quantitative approach to sustainability questions. Students are introduced to sophisticated mathematical ideas in a context requiring minimal mathematical background, build their skills in quantitative reasoning, and are empowered to engage with and create quantitative arguments addressing issues they are passionate about.

We view quantitative and ethical reasoning as part of a broader set of essential skills for citizens who are prepared to be engaged in sustainability questions and we develop mathematical topics in the course with this purpose in mind. This workshop will introduce participants to course content and engage participants in examples of active learning. We will discuss an integrated ethical framework and demonstrate its use fostering student-centered discussions of ethical issues that connect naturally with course topics. Participants will be provided with course materials that may be adapted for lessons in general education and lower-division mathematics courses, including a copy of our textbook, Mathematics for Sustainability, Springer (2018), example assignments and rubrics, syllabi, and an extensive collection of problems and in-class activities. Sponsored by SIGMAA on Environmental Mathematics.

JMM Workshop: Inquiry-Oriented Linear Algebra: Exploring (infinite) solution sets, organized by Christine Andrews-Larson, Florida State University, Minah Kim, Florida State University, Inyoung Lee, Arizona State University, Jessica Smith, Vanderbilt University, and Michelle Zandieh, Arizona State University; Wednesday, 4:00 – 5:30 pm. The goal of this workshop is to provide participants with a brief introduction to inquiry-oriented approaches to undergraduate mathematics instruction in the context of infinite solution sets in introductory linear algebra.

Agenda:

  1. The session will begin with a 5-10 minute presentation that provides an overview of research on active learning, and more specifically inquiry-oriented approaches to the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics.
  2. Then, there will then be 5-10 minutes of interactive whole group discussion on the variety of ways introductory linear algebra students think about solutions (in general, and in linear algebra specifically), as well as the ideas about infinite solution sets to linear systems that students need to develop for linear algebra more broadly.
  3. Participants will then break into small groups for 20-30 minutes to work through key problems in a task sequence that has been designed, tested, and revised in the context of this NSF-supported research project.
  4. The session will conclude with a whole group discussion of the mathematical issues that emerged in the context of the task sequence. If time allows, we will also examine and discuss video or transcript that highlights the reasoning of students as they transition toward using parameters to reason about large solution sets in a discrete, real-world scenario.

JMM Workshop: Applied Category Theory as a transformative, and impactful, paradigm for experiencing, sharing, teaching and learning mathematics, organized by Theodore Theodosopoulos, Nueva School; Wednesday, 4:00 – 6:00 pm. Over the last two decades, Category Theory has been effectively transformed, from an esoteric branch of algebraic geometry, to a versatile tool for expressing the metaphors that weave mathematical thinking across the sciences, in the guise of Applied CT (ACT). We are experiencing a confluence of insights, from computer science to quantum physics, that are reshaping the questions we ask of our models, and what form we expect the answers to take. The resulting tools are helping complexity science make catalytic inroads into the biological, cognitive and social sciences, and the humanities. It was only a matter of time before this conceptual renovation circled back around to the practice and experience of mathematics.

View Form Here

Indicative areas of interest:

  • Representations for the language of algebra
  • Graphical linear algebra and complex analysis
  • Adversarial, computational and dialectic models of proof
  • Constructor approaches to mathematical modeling
  • Computational paradigms for formal semantics
  • Classical and quantum games of coordination
  • Simplicial models of social interactions

JMM Workshop: A sense of belonging: Creating an inclusive environment in the mathematical sciences, organized by Darolyn Flaggs and Wendy Sanchez, Kennesaw State University; Thursday, 8:30 – 10:00 am. Commitment to access, equity, and the creation of an inclusive mathematics learning environment includes developing socially, emotionally, and academically safe environments in which students feel secure and confident in engaging with each other and the instructor (NCTM, 2014). Students who are confident they belong and are valued by their instructors and peers can engage more fully in learning (Friere, 1970).

This interactive presentation broadens our understanding of the ways in which belonging in the mathematics classroom and community can hinder or promote student success. Through a narrative inquiry approach, we will share student experiences with ways of “not belonging,” engage in discussion with conference participants on their interactions with underrepresented students in similar contexts and provide specific strategies to support creating inclusive spaces with respect to diversity, equity (or lack thereof) and inclusion in the mathematical sciences classroom and community. Implications for teaching mathematics in higher education will also be discussed. Speakers at this workshop are Belinda Edwards, Darolyn Flaggs, Alison Hedrick, Amy Hillen, and Wendy Sanchez, Kennesaw State University.

JMM Workshop on Inquiry-Oriented Linear Algebra: Exploring Determinants, organized by Matthew Mauntel, Florida State University, David Plaxco, Clayton State University, and Megan Wawro, Virginia Tech; Friday, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm. The goal of this workshop is to provide participants with a brief introduction to inquiry-oriented approaches to undergraduate mathematics instruction in the context of determinants in introductory linear algebra.

Agenda:

  1. The session will begin with a 5-10 minute presentation that provides an overview of research on active learning, and more specifically inquiry-oriented approaches to the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics.
  2. Then, there will then be 5-10 minutes of interactive whole group discussion on the variety of ways introductory linear algebra students think about transformations (in general, and in linear algebra specifically), as well as the ideas about the geometric intuition about the determinant and its developed properties that students need to develop for linear algebra more broadly.
  3. Participants will then break into small groups for 20-30 minutes to work through key problems in a task sequence that has been designed, tested, and revised in the context of this NSF-supported research project.
  4. The session will conclude with a whole group discussion of the mathematical issues that emerged in the context of the task sequence. If time allows, we will also examine and discuss video or transcript that highlights the reasoning of students as they use applets developed for the task sequence to reason about determinant.

JMM Workshop: Planning and Hosting a Day Long Mathematics Outreach Event, organized by Denise Reid and Sandra Trowell, Valdosta State University; Saturday, 9:00 – 11:00 am. After hosting 25 annual high school mathematics days, the presenters will share their advice and knowledge for hosting such an event. One purpose of the day is to encourage students to continue their education in a STEM field. The topics covered will include, but may not be limited to the following: timetable of planning; fundraising; workshop ideas, contests, and career speakers.

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