Activities of Other Organizations
This section includes scientific sessions. Several organizations or special groups are having receptions or other social events. Please see the “Social Events” section of this announcement for those details.
Association for Symbolic Logic (ASL)
This two-day program on Friday and Saturday will include sessions of contributed papers as well as Invited Addresses by Dana Bartosova, Universidade de Sao Paulo; Natasha Dobrinen, University of Denver; James Freitag, University of California Berkeley; Carl Jockusch, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Bakhadyr Khoussainov, University of Auckland; Lou van den Dries, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Jindrich Zapletal, University of Florida.
See also the session co-sponsored by the ASL on Applications of Logic, Model Theory, and Theoretical Computer Science to Systems Biology on Saturday in the “AMS Special Sessions” listings.
Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM)
Thirty-Seventh Annual Noether Lecture, Thursday, 10:05 am, will be given by Karen E. Smith, University of Michigan, The Power of Noether's Ring Theory in Understanding Singularities of Complex Algebraic Varieties.
Also see the sessions on Commutative Algebra and Its Interactions with Algebraic Geometry, jointly sponsored by the AWM, in the “AMS Special Sessions” listings.
Research Collaboration Conferences for Women: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How? organized by Michelle Manes, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Wednesday, 2:15 pm–3:40 pm. Research Collaboration Conferences for Women are a new model of working research conference designed to build networks of female researchers in different areas of mathematics. Several conferences have been held at math institutes over the past few years, each focused on building collaboration groups consisting of senior and junior women in a given area. These include: Women in Numbers (WIN) and the three follow-up conferences at Banff and Lunimy; Algebraic Combinatorixx and Women in Topology (WIT) at Banff; Women in Shape (WiSh) at IPAM; and two Women in Applied Math conferences at IMA, Dynamical Systems with Applications to Biology and Medicine (WhAM!) and Numerical PDEs and Scientific Computer (WhAM2!). Each of these conferences has resulted in new, high-quality mathematics research as well as lasting collaborations among attendees. Hear from organizers and participants about why they attended a Research Collaboration Conference, what their experience was like, how these networks are spreading through other AWM events, and how you or your students can get involved. This session is open to all JMM attendees. Panelists include Maria Basterra, University of New Hampshire (WIT); Suzanne Brenner, Louisiana State University (WhAM2!); Ellen Eischen, University of Oregon (WIN); Kristin Lauter, Microsoft Research (WIN), Kathryn Leonard, California State University, Channel Islands (WiSh); and Ami Radunskaya, Pomona College (WhAM!). See https://sites.google.com/site/awmpanel2016/
Business Meeting, Wednesday, 3:45 pm–4:15 pm. Chair, Kristen Lauter, AWM President.
AMS–AWM Committee on Education Panel Discussion: Work in mathematics education in departments of mathematical sciences, organized by Jacqueline Dewar, and Pao-sheng Hsu, AWM Education Committee; Thursday, 10:30 am–12:00 pm. Many in the mathematics community in the US are now involved in mathematics education in various capacities. This panel is designed to illustrate the breadth and range of these activities. It will highlight examples of contributions to mathematics education by members in the mathematical sciences, and include the perspectives of mathematicians and mathematics educators who contribute in areas such as: teacher education (pre- and in-service); instructional materials development in K–16 mathematics; scholarship of teaching and learning; and mathematics education research. Panelists will discuss their work and may reflect on how their work is received in their departments. The moderator for this panel will be Elizabeth Burroughs, Montana State University; panelists are: Curtis Bennett, Loyola Marymount University; Brigitte Lahme, Sonoma State University; Kristin Umland, University of New Mexico; and Megan Wawro, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Workshop Poster Presentations and Reception, Friday, 6:00 pm–7:15 pm. AWM will conduct its workshop poster presentations by women graduate students. AWM seeks volunteers to serve as mentors for workshop participants. If you are interested, please contact the AWM office at awm@awm-math.org. This session is open to all JMM attendees.Organizers for these presentations are Brenda Johnson, Union College and Catherine Searle, Wichita State University.
AWM Workshop: Special Session on Algebraic Combinatorics, Saturday, 8:00 am–5:00 pm. AWM will conduct its workshop with presentations by senior and junior women researchers. Updated information about the workshop is available at www.awm-math.org/workshops.html. AWM seeks volunteers to serve as mentors for workshop participants. If you are interested, please contact the AWM office at awm@awm-math.org. All JMM attendees are invited to attend the program. Organizers for this workshop are Gizem Karaali, Pomona College and Rosa Orellana, Dartmouth College.
Reception, Wednesday, 9:30 pm–11:00 pm. See the listing in the “Social Events,” section of the announcement. See also the sessions co-sponsored by the AWM on Commutative Algebra I and II on Friday and Saturday in the “AMS Special Sessions” listings. Organizers for these sessions are Karen Smith, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Emily Witt, University of Utah and Irena Swanson, Reed College.
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI)
Navajo Math Circles produced by MSRI, Wednesday, 6:30 pm–7:50 pm. Hundreds of Navajo children in recent years have found themselves at the center of a lively collaboration with mathematicians from around the world. The children stay late after school and assemble over the summer to study mathematics, using a model called math circles, which originated in Eastern Europe and which has proliferated across the United States. This notion of student-centered learning puts children in charge of exploring mathematics to their own joy and satisfaction, with potentially long-lasting results.
Navajo Math Circles is a one-hour film that is documenting the meeting of two worlds: that of some of the country’s most accomplished mathematicians and math educators, with the children and teachers in the underserved, largely rural Navajo educational system. An 8-minute trailer gives a taste of the film.
The project is supported by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley, California with a generous grant from the Simons Foundation, and by Vision Maker Media (VMM), Lincoln, Nebraska, and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Following this premiere screening 2016 Joint Mathematics Meeting (JMM), Vision Maker Media will work with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to schedule a national broadcast.
This film was directed by George Csicsery and produced by MSRI. Co-sponsored by the AMS and MAA.
National Association of Mathematicians (NAM)
Granville-Brown-Hayes Session of Presentations by Recent Doctoral Recipients in the Mathematical Sciences, Friday, 1:00 pm–4:00 pm.
Cox-Talbot Address, to be given Friday after the banquet by Tanya Moore, Building Diversity in Science / City of Berkeley, Why Mathematicians and Statisticians are Needed to Create Lasting Social Impact.
Panel Discussion; Work Hard, Play Hard: Balancing Career, Hobbies, and Family, Saturday, 9:00 am– 9:50 am. Moderator: Duane Cooper, Morehouse; Panelists to include: Ron Buckmire, Occidental College; Emille Davie Lawrence, University of San Francisco, Robin Wilson, California State Polytechnic University.
Business Meeting, Saturday, 10:00 am–10:50 am.
Claytor-Woodward Lecture, Saturday, 1:00 pm, Tatiana Toro, University of Washington, Analysis on non-smooth domains.
See details about the banquet on Friday in Social Events.
National Science Foundation (NSF)
The NSF will be represented at a booth in the JMM exhibit area. NSF staff members will be available to provide counsel and information on NSF programs of interest to mathematicians. The schedule for staff available for counsel will be posted at the booth.
Discussion and Fair, Friday, 4:00 pm, Update from the Division of Mathematical Sciences at the National Science Foundation. Representatives from Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) at the National Science Foundation will lead interactive discussions and a Funding Opportunity Fair. Come to hear everything you always wanted to know about the NSF but were afraid to ask. What happens after my proposal is submitted? How much funding does DMS distribute, anyway? How is it allocated? What is this Merit Review Process of which you speak? How do I get involved? What funding programs can I apply to? What funding opportunities are available for students? For postdocs? Presenters will be: Elizabeth Burrows, AAAS S&T Policy Fellow; Matthew Douglas, Program Director; Bruce Kitchens, Program Director; Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, Program Director; Jennifer Slimowitz Pearl, Program Director; Michael Vogelius, Division Director; Junping Wang, Program Director; and Henry Warchal, Senior Advisor.
Pi Mu Epsilon (PME)
Council Meeting, Thursday, 8:00 am–11:00 am.
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)
This program consists of an Invited Address, Stochastic facilitation and sensitivities in discontinuous dynamics at 11:10 am on Thursday given by Rachel Kuske, University of British Columbia, and a series of Minisymposia to include Probability Meets Dynamics in Biology, Rachel Kuske, University of British Columbia; Graphical Models for High Dimensional Data, Andrea Bertozzi, University of California, Los Angeles; Trends in the Mathematics of Signal Processing and Imaging, Zuhair Nashed, University of Central Florida; Inverse Problems and Applications, Gunther Ullmann, University of Seattle; Optimization, Juan Meza, University of California, Merced; Applied analysis of partial differential equations, Anna Mazzucatto, Penn State University; and K-8 Applied Mathematics Outreach Activities, Rachel Levy, Harvey Mudd College.
The program also includes a co-sponsored panel discussion, AMS-MAA-SIAM Panel Discussion: Computing across the curriculum: Opportunities and challenges, organized by Rachel Levy, Harvey Mudd College and Lee Zia, National Science Foundation; Thursday, 8:30 am–10:00 am. As data science, industrial mathematics, and mathematical modeling have gained attention as popular tools in the workforce, a new focus on computation has entered mathematical sciences courses. In this panel, faculty will share their experiences incorporating computing across the mathematics curriculum. Computing will be discussed as a major focus of a course or as new modules or assignments integrated into existing courses. Challenges and opportunities associated with these efforts will also be presented, along with potential NSF funding avenues. This panel is co-sponsored by the AMS, MAA, and SIAM.
See panel sponsored by AMS, MAA, SIAM, and TSPE below.
Others
AMS -- MAA – SIAM -- TSPE Math Panel Discussion: Recent Graduates, What we Wish we had Learned, organized by Tara Holm, Cornell University, and Charles Steinhorn, Vassar College; Thursday, 9:00 am–10:30 am. The undergraduate mathematical sciences curriculum, particularly the first two years of the post-secondary curriculum, is a topic of substantial current interest. Efforts including TPSE Math, the MAA Common Vision project, and the Fall 2014 CBMS Forum on The First Two Years of College Math: Building Student Success all put a spotlight on this subject. The recent National Research Council publication, The Mathematical Sciences in 2025, informs the discussion as well. Recent graduates in the workforce can provide powerful insights to contribute to this conversation. At the fall 2014 CBMS forum and a recent TPSE Math meeting, a recent Vassar mathematics graduate spoke forcefully about those topics in the mathematical sciences to which, in hindsight, she would have liked to have been exposed during her undergraduate studies.
The proposed panel will bring together recent graduates with varied mathematical backgrounds who work in a wide range of fields to discuss what they would have like to have learned prior to beginning their careers.
The Moderator for this panel will be Don Saari, Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences.
Mathematical Art Exhibition, organized by Robert Fathauer, Tessellations Company; Nathaniel A. Friedman, ISAMA and SUNY Albany, Anne Burns, Long Island University C. W. Post Campus, Reza Sarhangi, Towson University, and Nathan Selikoff, Digital Awakening Studios. A popular feature at the Joint Mathematics Meetings, this exhibition provides a break in your day. On display are works in various media by artists who are inspired by mathematics and by mathematicians who use visual art to express their findings. Topology, fractals, polyhedra, and tiling are some of the ideas at play here. Don’t miss this unique opportunity for a different perspective on mathematics. The exhibition will be located inside the Joint Mathematics Meetings Exhibits and open during the same exhibit hours.
Instructions on how to submit a piece for this exhibit are posted at http://gallery.bridgesmathart.org/art-exhibit-submission-instructions. Deadline for submissions is October 15, 2015.
Summer Program for Women in Mathematics (SPWM) Reunion, organized by Murli M. Gupta, George Washington University; Saturday, 1:00 pm–3:00 pm. This is a reunion of the summer program participants from the past 20 years (1995–2015) who are in various states of their mathematical careers: some are students (undergraduate or graduate), others are in various jobs, both in academia as well as government and industry. The participants will describe their experiences relating to all aspects of their careers. There will also be a presentation on the increasing participation of women in mathematics over the past two decades and the impact of SPWM and similar programs. See www.gwu.edu/~spwm.
Joint Committee on Women Panel Discussion, Success in Graduate School (and the Rest of Your Life), organized by Patricia Hale, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Magnhild Lien, California State University, Northridge; and Bernd Sturmfels, University of California at Berkeley; Thursday, 1:00 pm–2:30 pm. There is anecdotal evidence that the rate of female participation in PhD programs in mathematics has been decreasing in recent years. This panel will explore a wide range of issues that may be relevant to the personal choices behind this trend. We focus on choosing a graduate program, and on life during and after graduate school. Specific topics, relevant for both women and men, include work/life balance, family planning, and career options. We especially welcome the participation of undergraduate students, who may be thinking about the pros and cons of going to graduate school: the panelists will be delighted to address your questions. Panelists will include Sara Billey, University of Washington, Seattle; Anastasia Chavez, University of California at Berkeley; Courtney Gibbons, Hamilton College; Abbe Herzig, SUNY at Albany; Candice Price, Sam Houston State University; and Ami Radunskaya, Pomona College. Sponsored by the Joint Committee on Women in the Mathematical Sciences.