GSUMC 2004

Garden State Undergraduate Math Conference

Saturday, March 27, 2004, 8:30am-4:30pm

Rutgers University, New Brunswick – Busch Campus, NJ

Science and Engineering Resource Center (SERC)

 

GSUMC 2004 was a big success with about 100 students participating!

Thanks to all for coming!

 

Contest Results from NJ Undergraduate Mathematics Competition 2004!

 

Photos from the Conference!

 

These great-looking GSUMC 2004 t-shirts were given away to students!

 

Program for GSUMC 2004 (PDF)

Announcement Flyer (PDF)

 

See list of participating schools

NJUMC Sample Problems

 

Keynote Speaker:

John H. Conway, Princeton University

will speak on

THE MYSTERIOUS ARITHMETIC OF LEXICOGRAPHIC CODES

 

 

I. About GSUMC

 

The first Garden State Undergraduate Math Conference (GSUMC) is a one-day student conference to be held jointly with the spring meeting of the New Jersey Section of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA-NJ) on Saturday, March 27, 2004, at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.  Funded through MAA NSF-RUMC (NSF Grant DMS-0241090) and the New Jersey Section, GSUMC seeks to promote undergraduate students in presenting their mathematical work (including math education, applications of math, and history of math) and interacting with other students.  GSUMC gratefully acknowledges their support.

 

GSUMC is free and open to all students, including high school, undergraduate, and graduate.  There will be many activities for students to participate in: NJ Undergraduate Math Competition, student talks and poster sessions, career workshops, and of course lunch (free for undergraduate students who register in advance!).  Online registration is now available.  All participants are strongly encouraged to register in advance.  More details about the conference are given below.

 

Note: Faculty and professionals attending GSUMC will be asked to pay normal MAA-NJ registration and lunch fees (those sponsoring a full team for the New Jersey Undergraduate Math Competition will have these fees waived-- see below for details).

 

II. Conference Activities (Program now available in PDF!)

 

1. New Jersey Undergraduate Math Competition

Schools are invited to send three-person student teams to participate in this three-hour morning event.   There will be both a group problem session where team members are allowed to collaborate as well as an individual session where students must work by themselves.  The nature of the problems is modeled upon the Indiana Friendly Math Competition and will certainly be more accessible than the Putnam Exam.  Students can expect the level of the problems will be roughly at or below that of the Friendly Mathematics Competition (whose problems are published by the MAA in "A Friendly Mathematics Competition" by Rick Gillman).  The questions on the test will involve material from HS mathematics, calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, and the introductory courses that a math major would take. Click here to view sample problems.  The emphasis of the competition will be on having fun with interesting problems that stress problem solving.  Here are preliminary competition rules:

 

-         Students participating must be undergraduates

-         Teams are allowed a maximum of three students.  Note: Teams with 1-2 students are allowed but are obviously at a disadvantage.

-         Each team must have a faculty sponsor

 

Awards will be presented to winning teams from both four-year and two-year institutions.  Each team is required to have a faculty sponsor and should register in advance.  If you are a student interested in participating but don’t have a faculty sponsor, then don’t hesitate to ask your school’s math department.  They’ll be more than happy to sponsor you.  There is also an entry fee of $10 per team (your math department should be more than happy to pay this fee, so ask the math chairperson!).  A faculty member who sponsors a full team of three students receives free lunch and registration.  Online registration for faculty sponsors is now available.  Questions about the competition can be sent to the contest organizer, Tom Hagedorn, The College of New Jersey, at hagedorn@tcnj.edu.

 

2. Keynote Speaker: John H. Conway, Princeton University, will speak on: THE MYSTERIOUS ARITHMETIC OF LEXICOGRAPHIC CODES

 

3. Student Talks and Poster Session

There will be a special contributed session for students to give 15-20 minute talks of their mathematical work. There will also be a space for students to present posters. To register to give a student talk or poster, send a title and a brief abstract of the talk or poster with contact information to the session organizer, Catherine Beneteau, Setan Hall University, at beneteca@shu.edu.  Also indicate whether or not you are requesting travel reimbursement and an estimated amount of your request.  Please submit your abstract by Monday, March1, 2004, to ensure that it appears in the conference program that will be published.  Each talk should be about 15-20 minutes (a final schedule will be posted two weeks before the conference).  Travel funding (car mileage) is available to students giving talks on a first-come first-serve basis, so please register early.  Travel reimbursement forms will be made available at the conference.

 

4. Career Workshops in Mathematics: Three workshops will be held immediately after lunch to help students learn about careers in mathematics:

 

Industry Workshop: Greg Coxson, Lockheed Martin

Graduate School Workshop: Stephen Greenfield, Rutgers University

K-12 Education Workshop: Suzanne Reynolds, Kean University and Marlene Krupp, Math Supervisor - Lyndhurst (NJ) School District

 

Click here for a description of these workshops and biographies of speakers.

 

Workshop Organizer: Revathi Narasimhan, Kean University, rnarasim@kean.edu.

 

5. Awards and door prizes

 

Awards will be presented to winners of the NJ Undergraduate Math Competition.  Moreover, we anticipate giving away as door prizes many popular math books donated by various publishers: MAA, Princeton University Press, SIAM, and Springer Verlag.

 

III. Program Schedule for GSUMC (held jointly with MAA-NJ Section Meeting):

 

Download Program for GSUMC 2004 in PDF

 

Students are invited to attend both GSUMC and MAA-NJ events.  All events except lunch will be held in the Science and Engineering Resource Center (SERC).

 

Garden State Undergraduate Math Conference
MAA New Jersey Section Meeting

8:30-10am       Registration and Breakfast

8:30-10am       Registration and Breakfast

8:30-9am         Check-in for

                        NJ Undergraduate Math Competition

 

9-12pm            NJ Undergraduate Math Competition

                                9-10am Individual Session

                                10-12pm Team Session

9:15-9:30am     Welcoming Remarks

 

9:30-10:20am   Speaker: Mercedes McGowen

                                Designing the pre-service teacher

                                curriculum to better meet the needs of

                                our future teachers

 

10:20-10:35am Chair and Governor’s Report

 

10:35-11am     Intermission

 

11-11:50am     Speaker: Fred Roberts

                        Role Assignments in Social Networks

12-1pm            Lunch

12-1:30pm       Lunch

1-1:45pm         Career Workshops

1:30-3pm         Contributed paper sessions

1:50-3:30pm    Presentations by Students:

                        Talks and Poster Session

 

 

3-3:30pm         Intermission

3:30-4:20pm    Keynote Speaker: John Conway

                                The Mysterious Arithmetic of

                                Lexicographic Codes

3:30-4:20pm    Speaker: John Conway

                                The Mysterious Arithmetic of

                                Lexicographic Codes

4:20pm             Contest Results, Awards and Prizes

4:20-4:30pm    Contest Results, Awards and Prizes

4:30pm             End of conference

4:30pm             End of conference

 

 

III. Registration

 

All participants should register in advance.  Students register for free.  Faculty and professionals must pay the following: MAA members – $12 (or $15 at the door), Non-members - $15 (or $18 at the door).  Undergraduate students who register in advance will receive a free lunch.  Otherwise, the cost is $6 for students and $12 for faculty and professionals. 

 

Save time and money.  Register online!  Deadline for online registration is Friday, March 19, 2004.  After this date, participants must register at the conference.

 

See list of participating schools

 

IV. Directions and Maps for Rutgers University, New Brunswick - Busch Campus, NJ.

 

For more information about GSUMC, please contact:

 

Hieu Nguyen (conference director), Rowan University, nguyen@rowan.edu, (856) 256-4500 Ext. 3886

 

Local Organizers

 

If you would like to be a local organizer for your institution, please contact Hieu Nguyen at nguyen@rowan.edu or (856) 256-4500 Ext. 3886.

 

The College of New Jersey (Karen Clark)                               

Drew University (Kathleen Madden)

Kean University (Revathi Narasirnhan)

Montclair University (Michael A. Jones, Diana Thomas)

New Jersey City University (Theresa Michnowicz)

New Jersey Institute of Technology (Roy Goodman)

Ramapo College (Larry D’Antonio)

Rutgers University (Amy Cohen)

Rowan University (Thomas J. Osler)

Seton Hall (Catherine Beneteau)

William Paterson (Melkamu Zeleke)

 

Organizing Committee

 

Catherine Beneteau, Seton Hall University, NJ (student talks and poster session)

Karen Clark, The College of New Jersey, NJ (advertising and program editor)

Tom Hagedorn, The College of New Jersey, NJ (problem-solving competition)

Theresa Michnowicz, New Jersey City University, NJ (recruitment)

Revathi Narasimhan, Kean University, NJ (workshops)

Hieu Nguyen, Rowan University, NJ  (conference director)

 

Advisory Board

 

Richard Gillman, Valparaiso University, IN (Chair of MAA Indiana Section and past organizer of ICMC, “The Friendly Competition”)

Cathy Liebars, The College of New Jersey, NJ (Chair of MAA-NJ)

Reginald Luke, Middlesex County College, NJ (Governor of MAA-NJ)

 

Links:

 

MAA NSF-RUMC sponsored undergraduate math conferences

MAA-NJ