Mathematics & Computer Science at Wesleyan

Graduate and undergraduate students in mathematics may be interested in an enriching opportunity for teaching mathematics to pre-collegiate students this summer. This is part of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY) Summer Program.

CTY offers challenging academic programs for highly talented students from across the country and around the world. They are seeking highly motivated and qualified individuals to work in the summer programs as instructors or teaching assistants for their mathematics courses. Complete information regarding this opportunity, as well as the application, can be found at http://cty.jhu.edu/jobs/summer/.

Courses include Probability and Game Theory, Cryptology, Paradoxes and Infinities, Mathematical Modeling, and many more.

Tags: applied mathematics, summer, teaching

The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Wesleyan University will host a conference, on model-theoretic algebra, in honor of the retirement of Carol Wood, the Edward Burr Van Vleck Professor of Mathematics.  Starting the afternoon of Friday, May 31 and continuing through Saturday, June 1, the conference will feature lectures by John Baldwin, Zoe Chatzidakis, Angus Macintyre, David Marker, Charles Steinhorn, and Daniel Saracino.  Please go to http://www.cwoodconf.conference.wesleyan.edu to register!

The fifth annual Regional Undergraduate Mathematics Competition at CCSU will be held this Saturday, April 13, 2013. The test will be administered in two parts, each two hours long. There will be a one-hour break with a free pizza lunch in the middle. Students will have the opportunity to work on challenging and interesting problems, and perhaps win prizes for their performances.

If you are interested in attending the competition, please contact Chris Rasmussen (crasmussen@wes…) who will pass your information on to the organizers of the competition. For more information on the competition itself, please visit: http://www.math.ccsu.edu/hive/regional_competition/comp2013_invite.html.

Tags: CCSU, competition, free lunch, undergraduate

Students may be interested in the following Math Club talk, tomorrow at noon.

Dan Cranston, Virginia Commonwealth University

Bertrand’s Postulate states: For every positive integer , there is some prime number with . This result was conjectured in 1845 by Joseph Bertrand, who verified it for al less than 3 million, and it was proved five years later by Chebyshev (nearly 50 years before the prime number theorem was proved). I'll present a beautiful proof of this result due to Paul Erdos.

Tags: lunch, Math Club, undergraduate talk

*Undergraduate students: $5,000 stipend plus travel expenses*

*Areas of research: *Engineering, computer science, mathematics,

physics, chemistry, biological/life sciences, environmental science,

emergency and incident management, social sciences

*Graduate students: $7,000 stipend plus travel expenses*

*Areas of research:* Nuclear engineering, physics, mathematics,

statistics, computer sciences, systems engineering, electrical

engineering, and material science

*10-week research experiences offered at:*

*National laboratories:* Argonne, Idaho, Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence

Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, Sandia,

Savannah River

*Other Research facilities:* Homeland Security Studies and Analysis

Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Coast

Guard Research and Development Center, Plum Island, and more!

U.S. citizenship required – Application deadline: January 15, 2013

The annual undergraduate William Lowell Putnam Exam will be held this Saturday, December 1st in 618 Exley. The problems are challenging! There are two sessions: the morning session 10-1 and the afternooon session 3-6. If you are interested in attending, please contact Karen Collins (kcollins@wesleyan.edu).

The annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Exam will be held Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012. Everyone is welcome to participate in the exam, or to attend one of the problem solving practice sessions (Math 211) that will meet 7:10-8:30 p.m. on 9/13, 9/27, 10/4, 10/25, 11/8, 11/15 and 11/29. If you are interested, contact Prof. Karen Collins (kcollins@wesleyan.edu). Here is a question to intrigue you: Forty-one rooks are placed on a 10 x 10 chessboard. Prove that you can choose five of them that do not attack each other. (Two rooks attack each other if they are in the same row or column.)

If you are interested in teaching, join the Upward Student Teaching Forum! The first meeting is Wednesday, September 5th at noon in the Woodhead Lounge. All are welcome! Please feel free to contact Leah Temes at ltemes@wesleyan.edu with any questions!

September 22, Smith College

http://www.math.smith.edu/~jhenle/wimin12/

This is an annual conference focussing on and celebrating the participation of women in mathematics.
All the mathematics is at the undergraduate level.

We especially invite:
• Undergraduates – This is an opportunity to see mathematics outside the normal curriculum.
• Undergraduates – and talk to grad students and faculty about graduate school.
• REU participants – This is a great opportunity to talk about your work this summer.
• Grad students – Practice your job talk—give a short description of your work but at the undergraduate level.
• Grad students – and meet faculty at other schools.
• Faculty – See old friends, bring your students, meet grad students looking for jobs.
Check out the website and register (http://www.math.smith.edu/~jhenle/wimin12/)
Heather McQueen (hmcqueen@smith.edu) can answer questions about registration and logistics. Other questions should go to Jim Henle (jhenle@smith.edu).

Tags: http://www.math.smith.edu/~jhenle/wimin12/

The Upward Teaching student forum offers Wesleyan students the chance to try their hand at teaching local high school students.The goal of this forum is to create an academic link between the Wesleyan student body and the students of Middletown. By partnering with Upward Bound Math & Science, students will develop a curriculum and teach monthly Saturday sessions to Upward Bound students. Additionally, Wesleyan students will run after school academic sessions twice a week for Middletown and Prospect High students. Wesleyan students will create lesson plans and tutoring material based on curriculum from high school math teachers, and will meet weekly to debrief, prepare lesson plans, and receive teaching training from teachers and upward bound staff.
All Wesleyan students are welcome to join; the math background need not be more extensive than high school algebra, geometry, and calculus. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at LTemes@wesleyan.edu.