MAA Invited Paper Sessions Descriptions

Current Trends in Mathematical and Computational Biology, organized by Brian Walton, James Madison University, and Maeve McCarthy, Murray State University; Thursday morning. Mathematical and computational biology encompasses a diverse range of biological phenomena and quantitative methods of exploring those phenomena. This session of current research topics will sample from this diversity. Biological application areas will address current research in growth and control of populations, spread and development of disease, evolution and bioinformatics, and molecular interactions in the cell. Mathematical approaches will include deterministic and stochastic dynamical models as well as combinatorial and algebraic models.This session is sponsored by BIO SIGMAA.

Fair Division, organized by Michael Jones, Mathematical Reviews, and Jennifer Wilson, The New School; Thursday 1:00 pm–4:15 pm. The goal of the session is to show how different types of mathematics can be used to address questions in both theoretical and applied aspects of fair division. Although a relatively new field, fair division now encompasses a wide variety of approaches (analytic, combinatoric, geometric, and axiomatic) to address both discrete and continuous problems. Fairness criteria can be applied to such diverse applications as cake cutting, the establishment of priority lists, and resource allocation.

Although the talks will be research oriented, speakers will include an expository overview to introduce fair division to a diverse audience including students.

This MAA Invited Paper Session accompanies Steven Brams’ invited address on the same topic.

What Do We Know About University Mathematics Teaching, and How Can it Help Us?, presented by Alan Schoenfeld, University of California Berkeley; Friday 1:00 pm–5:00 pm. Research on university-level mathematics teaching and learning has grown over the past few decades from a cottage industry into a robust enterprise, both in general (with findings on problem solving, “powerful teaching,” and understanding how and why teachers make the choices they do while teaching) and with regard to specific courses (e.g., developmental mathematics, linear algebra, proof). In turn, the research has led to applications to teaching. This too is in general (with professional development framed around the issues raised in research leading to changes in teaching) and in particular courses.