INDEX

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS OF THE MAA (SIGMAAs)

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SIGMAAs will be hosting a number of interesting activities, sessions, and guest lecturers. There are currently nine such focus groups offering members opportunities to interact not only at meetings but throughout the year via newsletters and email-based communications. For more information visit www.maa.org/SIGMAA/SIGMAA.html.

SIGMAA Officers Meeting, Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., chaired by Stephen C. Carlson, Rose-Hulman University.

SIGMAA on Business, Industry, and Government

Reception, Saturday, 5:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. (see the Social Events).

Mathematics Experiences in Business, Industry and Government, Sunday afternoon (see the MAA Contributed Paper Session)

SIGMAA on Environmental Mathematics

Business Meeting and Guest Lecture, Friday, 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., organized by Ben A. Fusaro, Florida State University. The guest lecturer is Paul Kemp, Center for Coastal, Energy, and Environmental Resources, Louisiana State University, who will speak on Katrina: Nature’s wrath or human greed?

New Orleans and the Environment, Sunday, 1:30 p.m. to p.m. to 4:30 p.m., organized by Ben A. Fusaro, Florida State University. We will acquaint ourselves with some of the hydrological and other features that exacerbated the Katrina hit.

SIGMAA on the History of Mathematics

Euler in the Classroom, Friday morning (see the MAA Contributed Paper Session)

The Practice of Math History, Friday, 3:50 p.m. to 5:40 p.m., organized by William Branson, St. Cloud State University, and Amy E. Shell-Gellasch, Pacific Lutheran University. Many mathematicians are beginning to show an interest in the history of mathematics; either as a new research focus, as recreational research, or as adding context to the traditional curriculum. This session is aimed at mathematicians interested in conducting research in the history of mathematics. A panel of experienced math historians will discuss issues that concern newcomers to the field. Questions to be addressed include how to conduct research, how to follow correct historiography, how to write the history of mathematics and how to find resources. Other questions from the audience will be discussed, and mathematicians will leave the session with the basic set of tools needed to get started in math history. Panelists include V. Frederick Rickey, U.S. Military Academy, Karen H. Parshall, University of Virginia, and Joseph W. Dauben, Herbert H. Lehman College CCNY.

Annual Meeting and Guest Lecture, Friday, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Please join us for our annual business meeting and guest lecture, beginning with light snacks and a cash bar. The guest lecturer is Robin Wilson, The Open University, on Hardy’s Oxford Years. For more information on HOM SIGMAA events, contact Amy Shell-Gellasch, programs chair, ams-shellgellasch.us.army.mil.

Special Guest Lecture, Saturday, 5:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., In honor of the tercentenary of Euler's birth Edward Sandifer, Western Connecticut State University, will speak on Euler and his word problems.

SIGMAA on the Philosophy of Mathematics

Annual Meeting and Guest Lecture, Saturday, 5:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m., organized by Bonnie Gold, Monmouth University, and Kevin M. Iga, Pepperdine University. The lecture will be given by Klaus Peters, AK Peters, Ltd on Does a proof exist if nobody has read it?.

Philosophy of Mathematics, all day Saturday (see the MAA Contributed Paper Session)

SIGMAA on Quantitative Literacy

Annual Business Meeting and Reception, Saturday, 5:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., organized by Maura B. Mast, University of Massachusetts Boston.

Current Practices in Quantitative Literacy: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, Saturday, 2:30 p.m. to 3:50 p.m., organized by Maura B. Mast, University of Massachusetts Boston. The issue of achieving quantitative literacy (QL) is one that spans disciplines. This panel will take a closer look at how very different institutions have used a cross-disciplinary approach to teach QL. Faculty at Farmingdale State University, a state university with a focus on technology, participated in a regional project on interconnected learning in the quantitative disciplines. As a result, mathematics and QL have been incorporated into many courses in other disciplines. At North Dakota State University, a comprehensive doctoral-granting institution, QL is assessed in interdisciplinary settings by reviewing experiences in subsequent courses. The Quantitative Literacy Center at Hamilton College, a small liberal arts school with a focus on teaching effective writing and speaking, provides peer tutoring and support for students in introductory level courses containing a mathematics/QL component. Each of these programs was featured in the recently published MAA Notes book Current Practices in Quantitative Literacy. Panelists include John A. Winn Jr., SUNY Farmingdale, William O. Martin and Dogan Comez, North Dakota State University, and Robert Kantrowitz and Mary O'Neill, Hamilton College.

SIGMAA on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME)

Featured Presentations from the Ninth Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, Saturday 2:30 p.m. to 4:10 p.m., organized by Chris Rasmussen, San Diego State University, and David E. Meel, Bowling Green State University. The RUME SIGMAA holds an annual conference attended mostly by active researchers in undergraduate mathematics education. We have selected three presentations that received widespread acclaim from our most recent conference that we also anticipate will be of widespread interest to participants at the Joint Meetings. The panel members will give brief presentations on research related to (1) the application of a data analysis technique inspired by quantum mechanics to research on undergraduate mathematics student thinking and learning, (2) calculus and introductory analysis students' understanding of formal limit definitions and proofs, and (3) shifts in undergraduate students' knowledge and beliefs about mathematical justification and pedagogical factors that impact them. Panelists include Michael Oehrtman, Arizona State University, Susan Nickerson, San Diego State University, and Kyeong Hah Roh, Arizona State University.

Research on the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Mathematics, Saturday morning (see the MAA Contributed Paper Session)

Business Meeting and Presentation of the 2006 RUME Best Paper Award, Saturday, 5:45 p.m. to 8:15 p.m., organized by Chris Rassmussen, San Diego State University, David E. Meel, Bowling Green State University, and Michael Oehrtman, Arizona State University.

SIGMAA on Statistics

Innovative Examples of Using Graphs in Statistics, Saturday morning (see the MAA Contributed Paper Session).

SIGMAA on Statistics Education

Panel on Preparing Majors for the Nonacademic Workforce: Projects and Internships in Applied Mathematics and Statistics. Please click here.

Innovative and Effective Ways to Teach Linear Algebra, Saturday morning (see the "MAA Contributed Paper Sessions" section).

Business Meeting, Saturday, 5:45 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., organized by Ginger Holmes Rowell, Middle Tennessee State University

SIGMAA on the Teaching of Advanced High School Mathematics

What Mathematical Content Should Future Mathematics Majors Learn While in High School?, Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 10:50 a.m., organized by Daniel J. Teague, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. This SIGMAA would like to continue discussing the mathematical preparation of talented high school students with a Town Hall Meeting on the essential mathematical content in high schools for future majors in mathematics. In our session on AP Calculus last January, the issue of students bypassing important mathematics (combinatorics, probability, 3-dimensional geometry, vectors, etc.) to insure they reach AP Calculus before leaving high school was central to the discussion. At MathFest we discussed what future mathematics majors should learn about proof in high school. In this session we would like the membership to consider the content of high school mathematics for the future mathematics major. What content would the membership of the MAA recommend talented students learn while in high school? Are combinations more important than differentiation? Are matrix operations more important than techniques of integration at this stage of the student's development? Where do data analysis and mathematical modeling fit into the preparation of future mathematicians? Panelists include Ben Klein, Davidson College, Susan S. Wildstrom, Walt Whitman High School, and Daniel J. Teague.

SIGMAA on Mathematics Instruction Using the WEB

Best Practices for Expository Mathematics in the Digital Age, Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 11:20 a.m., organized by Kyle T. Siegrist, University of Alabama, Huntsville. In the age of the Internet, expository mathematics no longer means just text on a printed page, but increasingly hyper-linked and "non-linear" Web-based text with embedded graphics, audio, video, interactive mathlets, data sets, worksheets, and other elements. Authors of expository mathematics are no longer just those who publish commercially, but increasingly ordinary teachers and students. Best practices for general exposition (widely accepted by experts but largely unknown by ordinary authors) include the separation of presentation and content, attention to accessibility and reusability, and the use of standard, open-source formats when possible. Specific best practices related to mathematical exposition (such as mathlet design and document structure) have yet to be formulated. This panel will discuss and debate best practices for expository mathematics, and the tradeoffs involved in implementing these practices. The discussion will increase the awareness of general best practices, and encourage further debate on best practices specific to mathematics. Panelists will include Thomas E. Leathrum, Jacksonville State University, Douglas E. Ensley, Shippensburg State University, Franklin A. Wattenberg, U.S. Military Academy, David A. Smith, Duke University (retired), and Kyle T. Siegrist. The session is cosponsored by the MAA Committee on Technologies in Mathematics Education (CTME) and WEBSIGMAA.

SIGMAA on Mathematical and Computational Biology

Business Meeting and Reception, Saturday, 5:45 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., organized by Eric Marland, Appalachian State University.

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