2020 Mathematical Association of America Intermountain Section Meeting
Section Meeting Cancelled
Due to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, the Spring 2020 MAA Intermountain Section Meeting is cancelled and will not be rescheduled. Registration is closed. We look forward to seeing you at BYUI in Rexburg, Idaho, March 26–29, 2021. Full refunds are currently being issued to previously registered participants. Please cancel your own hotel and travel arrangements.
The Student Team Challenge is still on. Check the challenge webpage for special instructions.
Westminster College's Mathematics program is hosting the Mathematical Association of America's (MAA) 2020 Intermountain Section Meeting on March 27 and 28.
Friday Opening Plenary Speaker
Dr. Angie Hodge-Zickerman, Northern Arizona University, on "Living Proof: Finding Success, Against All Odds"
About the Talk
In this talk, Dr. Hodge-Zickerman will share her mathematical journal and how she overcame many obstacles along the way (including personal and professional stories) in hopes that everyone in attendance will leave with strategies for being successful (and helping others be successful) in mathematics.
About the Speaker
Dr. Angie Hodge-Zickerman is an Associate Professor of mathematics at Northern Arizona University. Her research interests include inquiry-based learning in mathematics courses, mentoring strategies for pre-service teachers, active learning in the calculus classroom, and gender equity in the STEM disciplines. Teaching, running, working out, and traveling/exploring with her family are her passions.
Friday Banquet Speaker
David Richeson, Dickinson College, on "Tales of Impossibility"
About the Talk
"Nothing is impossible!" It is comforting to believe this greeting card sentiment; it is the American dream. Yet there are impossible things, and it is possible to prove that they are so. In this talk, David will look at some of the most famous impossibility theorems—the so-called "problems of antiquity." The ancient Greek geometers and future generations of mathematicians tried and failed to square circles, trisect angles, double cubes, and construct regular polygons using only a compass and straightedge. It took 2,000 years to prove conclusively that all 4 of these are mathematically impossible.
About the Speaker
David Richeson was an undergraduate at Hamilton College, received his PhD from Northwestern University, and had a post-doc at Michigan State University. He is now a professor of mathematics at Dickinson College. He was editor of Math Horizons from 2014 to 2019. He is interested in a wide range of mathematics including topology, dynamical systems, geometry, the history of mathematics, recreational mathematics, and expository mathematical writing. His 2010 book Euler's Gem: The Polyhedron Formula and the Birth of Topology received the MAA's Euler Book Prize and was re-released last summer in the Princeton Science Library series. His new book, Tales of Impossibility: The 2000-Year Quest to Solve the Mathematical Problems of Antiquity was published by Princeton University Press last fall.
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Saturday Morning Plenary Speaker
James Sellers, University of Minnesota-Duluth, on "Revisiting What Euler and the Bernoullis Knew About Convergent Infinite Series"
About the Talk
All too often in first-year calculus classes, conversations about infinite series stop with discussions about convergence or divergence. Such interactions are, unfortunately, not often illuminating or intriguing. Interestingly enough, Jacob and Johann Bernoulli and Leonhard Euler (and their contemporaries in the early 18th century) knew quite a bit about how to find the exact values of numerous families of convergent infinite series. In this talk, James will show 2 sets of *exact* results in this vein. The talk will be accessible to anyone interested in mathematics.
About the Speaker
James Sellers received his Ph.D. from Penn State University in 1992. After receiving his PhD, he taught at Cedarville University in Ohio for 9 years before returning to his alma mater in 2001 to serve as a faculty member and the director of the undergraduate program in mathematics. In 2008, James served as a visiting fellow of the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, and in 2012 he was privileged to be a Fulbright scholar, teaching and completing research at the Johannes Kepler University and the Research Institute for Symbolic Computation in Linz, Austria. Currently, James has over 100 papers listed in Mathematical Reviews and he has won numerous awards for his teaching and his service to the mathematical community. In February 2018, James turned his attention to a new and very exciting opportunity – serving as the Secretary of the MAA. And in August 2019, he moved to the University of Minnesota Duluth to serve as professor and head of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics there.
Student Team Challenge: Using Derivative Action Modeling
SIMIODE is sponsoring a team challenge where teams of up to 3 students from high schools or undergraduate schools work on a modeling problem involving change. The modeling takes place at the team's home institution for a week and then teams will render their results in a 10-minute presentation at the MAA Intermountain Section Meeting. Registration is required, but free.
Plan Your Visit
Book a room at the brand-new SpringHill Suites in Sugar House at the special rate of $114 per night. This hotel is located next to The Draw, where the banquet will be held. The hotel is holding these discounted rooms until Feb. 27, 2020.
You can also book a room at the Home2 Suites on Foothill Drive at the special rate of $89 per night. Call 801.384.5785 and ask for the Westminster College local negotiated rate.
You can also:
- Check out other Westminster hotel deals
- Find directions to campus
- View the campus map
- Learn about public transit
- Plan for campus parking
We're happy to accommodate any special needs you may have in order to participate in this event. Reasonable prior notice is required to arrange accommodations for people with disabilities.