Mathematics & Computer Science at Wesleyan

In Fall 2010, the Computer Science Free and Open Source Software Development Tutorial students wrote a suite of unit tests for a component of the Django web application framework (https://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/17193). We’re happy to announce that the suite has been accepted. Congratulations to all the students involved!

Tufts University is announcing an innovative program between the Education, Mathematics, and Physics departments to help math, science, and engineering students go into secondary school teaching. Quoting:

We are currently recruiting mathematics and science majors who will have a Bachelor’s Degree by June, 2012, for the NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program at Tufts University.  The program provides a full scholarship to our graduate Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program, as well as financial support and mentoring during their first four years of teaching in high-needs middle and high schools.  This is an ideal program for students who want to teach math or science and would like to receive the education and mentoring to become effective, committed teachers.

Please let your interested students know about the program and encourage them to contact me if they have any questions.  Could you also share the information with colleagues who talk with students interested in math education?  Attached is a flier to post. Thank you for your help!

For more information, visit [Tufts Noyce Program].

Tags: graduate school, masters program, mathematics, secondary school

Math for America (MfA) seeks to improve math education in the nation’s public schools by recruiting, training and retaining outstanding secondary school mathematics teachers. MfA offers mathematically talented college graduates a five year MfA Fellowship, which includes a full tuition scholarship for a Master’s degree program, and four years of teaching in a New York City public secondary school.

Students interested in learning more about the MfA program can visit the MfA web page.

Tags: career opportunities, fellowship, mathematics education, MfA

The Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) will offer a two-day undergraduate workshop on topics in statistics and applied mathematics. The workshop will be February 24-25, 2012. In addition, the topic “Applications of UQ” will be covered in depth. SAMSI will reimburse appropriate travel expenses as well as provide food and lodging.

Please note the deadline of Friday, January 27, 2012. To apply, visit the SAMSI web page and register. For any other questions, contact ugworkshop@samsi.info.

Tags: applied mathematics, SAMSI, statistics, undergraduate conference

Women in Mathematics in New England (WIMIN ’11) is a one-day undergraduate conference, scheduled for Saturday, September 24, 2011 at Smith College. The conference is open to all interested persons. The conference will feature plenary talks by Carolyn Gordon (Dartmouth College) and Liz McMahon (Lafayette College), talks by students, lunch, a panel discussion on the life of a graduate student. There is no fee to attend, but the organizers do ask that you please register by September 16 for planning purposes.

To register, or for more information, please visit: http://www.math.smith.edu/~jhenle/wimin11/.

Tags: undergraduate conference, women, women in mathematics

As part of its Education and Outreach Program, the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) will offer a two-day undergraduate workshop on topics of current interest in statistics and applied mathematics. This workshop will be held October 28-29, 2011 at SAMSI. Participants are urged to arrive the day before.

Support for travel, food and lodging is available. To receive full consideration, applications must be received by Friday, September 30, 2011. For more information, please send question to ugworkshop@samsi.info.

Tags: applied mathematics, statistics, undergraduate conference

Thursday, April 28, 2011, 12:00 P. M.

Exley Science Center – Room 139

Sarah Mullens

Hampshire Undergraduate

Polarized Partition Properties on 

Abstract: Budding from a paper written by Frank Ramsey in 1930, the field

of infinitary combinatorics has become one of the most thought about areas

in set theory. Of particular interest are properties of partitions . A lot of work has been done when ,  are countable. This talk will explore possibilities regarding extending these well-known partition properties to uncountable ordinals, specifically .

As for background knowledge, intellectual curiosity is all that’s

required; although, some familiarity with the aspects of set theory

covered in discrete mathematics course may be helpful.

All Are Invited.

Lunch Will Be Served.

The Undergraduate Mathematics Colloquium is a weekly gathering for all those who are interested in mathematics. All students, irrespective of their mathematical background, are invited to attend and/or give a talk. For more information, please contact Karen L. Collins (kcollins@wesleyan.edu).

All are welcome to attend the UMC this Friday at noon, presented by Reed Sarney (’12), in Exley 139.

Constructible Numbers: An Introduction to Algebraic Structures

Greek geometers puzzled over the figures which they could construct using only a traditional compass and straightedge, but they puzzled even harder over the figures which seemed impossible to construct using those same tools. Given a circle, is it possible to construct a square with exactly the same area? Given a cube, is it possible to construct another one with exactly twice the volume? After two millennia, it turned out that these kinds of geometric questions could be answered in purely algebraic terms. This talk will introduce students to basic notions of algebraic structures via traditional compass and straightedge constructions in two dimnesions.

The material presented in this talk will be entirely self-contained; no prior knowledge of, or background in, mathematics will be assumed.

Tags: undergraduate mathematics colloquium

On Thursday, April 14 at noon in the Woodhead Lounge, the Math and Computer Science department will be hosting Hack & Tell: A series of presentations by Computer Science Majors on projects they are working on outside of the classroom!

Evan Carmi, ’13

Micah Wylde, ’12

Carlo Francisco, ’11

Julian Applebaum, ’13

Sam DeFabbia-Kane, ’11

All are invited. Pizza lunch will be provided.

Please join us this Friday, April 15, at noon in Exley 139 for a special Undergraduate Math Club talk featuring Reed Sarney, ’12.

Constructible Numbers: An Introduction to Alegebraic Structures

Abstract:   Greek geometers puzzled over the figures which they could construct using only a traditional compass and straightedge, but they puzzled even harder over the figures which seemed impossible to construct using those same tools.  Given a circle, is it possible to construct a square with exactly the same area?  Given a cube, is it possible to construct another one with exactly twice the volume?  After two millennia, it turned out that these kinds of geometric questions could be answered in purely algebraic terms.  This talk will introduce students to basic notions of algebraic structures via traditional compass and straightedge constructions in two dimensions.

The material presented in the talk will be entirely self-contained; no prior knowledge of or background in mathematics will be assumed.

All are invited, lunch will be served.