Department Chairs Workshop, Tuesday, 8:00 a.m.
to 6:30 p.m. This workshop is intended to stimulate
discussion among attending chairs and workshop leaders.
Sharing ideas and experiences with peers provides a
form of department chair therapy, creating an environment
that enables attending chairs to address departmental
matters from new perspectives. Workshop leaders will
be Krishnaswami Alladi, Department Chair of Mathematics,
University of Florida; Deanna Caveny, Department
Chair of Mathematics, College of Charleston; Peter
March, Department Chair of Mathematics, The Ohio
State University; and Robert Olin, Dean of Arts
and Sciences, University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa.
Past workshop sessions have focused on a range of issues
facing departments today, including personnel issues
(staff and faculty), long range planning, hiring, promotion
and tenure, budget management, assessments, outreach,
stewardship, junior faculty development, communication,
and departmental leadership.
There is a registration fee for the workshop of $75,
which includes lunch and a post-workshop reception.
This is separate from the Joint Mathematics Meetings.
If you would like to attend the workshop, please complete
the RSVP form located at http://www.ams.org/government/ChairsWorkshop2005.RSVPForm.pdf
and return it along with your check as outlined on the
form. The RSVP form also includes space for your input
in helping to identify important and timely topics that
should be addressed at this workshop. Agenda, materials
and location information will be sent to all registered
attendees prior to the meeting.
Is It A Proof Yet?, Wednesday, 4:00 p.m. to
5:30 p.m., organized by Allyn Jackson, AMS. When
is a proof a proof? What makes a proof believable or
not? When is a gap or a lack of detail considered serious
enough to threaten a proof's reliability? When is it
acceptable to use computers in proofs? How can extremely
long and complex proofs be evaluated? When can probabilistic
proofs be considered mathematical proofs? This panel
discussion will explore these questions, making reference
to some specific examples in recent mathematical developments,
such as the proof of the four-color theorem, Perelman's
work on the Poincare Conjecture and Thurston's Geometrization
Conjecture, and probabilistically checkable proofs.
The panel will be moderated by Keith J. Devlin,
Stanford University; panelists are Richard DeMillo,
Georgia Institute of Technology; Robin Wilson,
Open University; Avi Wigderson, Institute for
Advanced Study; Bruce A. Kleiner, University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Thomas Hales, University
of Pittsburgh.
Who Wants to be a Mathematician,
Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., organized by Michael
A. Breen and Annette W. Emerson, AMS; and
William T. Butterworth, Barat College of DePaul
University. This is a new version of the popular game.
This year, eight high school students from Atlanta and
the surrounding region will have a chance to win up
to $4000 by answering questions about mathematics. Contestants
can ask for help from anyone in the audience, so the
more people in the audience who know mathematics, the
better it is for the contestants. You are invited to
come and take part in this educational and fun presentation.
The Continuum Hypothesis Revisited: New
Perspectives, Thursday, 10:30 p.m. to 12:00 noon,
moderated by Keith Devlin, Stanford University.
Presenters include Paul J. Cohen, Stanford University;
Donald A. Martin, University of California Los
Angeles; and W. Hugh Woodin, University of California
Berkeley. This panel is cosponsored by the Association
for Symbolic Logic.
T. A. Development
Using Case Studies: A Workshop for Faculty, Friday,
9:30 a.m. to 10:55 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Solomon
Friedberg, Boston College, will guide workshop participants
in the effective use of the case studies method as a tool
in preparing Teaching Assistants for their important roles
as classroom instructors. The faculty edition of the publication
Teaching Mathematics in Colleges and Universities:
Case Studies for Today's Classroom will be provided
to workshop participants at no charge, compliments of
the AMS. For more information on the publication, visit
the AMS Bookstore (www.ams.org/bookstore)
and enter "CBMATH/10.F" in the QuickSearch window. There
is a separate registration fee of $20 to participate;
see the registration and housing form. There are also
modest travel grants for this workshop available on a
very limited basis. Click here
to get further information.
The Panel, Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 10:55
a.m. This one act play is set in Ballston VA, at the headquarters
of mathematicians' favorite federal agency. It is a historical
drama based on, and accurately adhering to, actual events,
but typical of the genre, it also seeks to entertain while
penetrating facets of the human (and, of course, mathematical)
condition. The audience will be challenged to reflect
on the realities presented and will have a sense of deja
vu at the characters portrayed.
The work is written and produced by the
National Science Foundation,
Division of Mathematical Sciences; the staff and the cast
will consist of well-known mathematical thespians at this
world premier performance. This presentation will be moderated
by William Rundell, National Science Foundation.
Advances in Biomedical Research Will
Depend on Help from the Mathematical Sciences, Friday,
2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. This Committee on Science Policy
session is intended for a general audience having interest
in learning about areas in biomedical research where contributions
from the mathematical sciences are critical. Jeremy
Berg, Director of the National Institute of General
Medical Sciences (one of the institutes of the National
Institutes of Health), will talk about the National Institutes
of Health's interest in supporting mathematical sciences
research that leads to solutions of biomedical problems.
In an effort to further illustrate the need for the mathematical
sciences in biomedical research, Adam Paul Arkin,
Department of Bioengineering, University of California
Berkeley, will talk about the mathematical challenges
in the analysis of cellular systems.
AMS Committee on Science Policy Panel
Discussion: Friday, 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
AMS Committee on Education Panel Discussion:
Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Mathematicians as Educators, Saturday,
8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., moderated by William G. McCallum,
University of Arizona. Mathematicians have a crucial role
to play in mathematics education at all levels. However,
beyond the teaching of undergraduate classes, the role
of mathematicians as educators is often not well delineated
in professional practice, not at the forefront of professional
consciousness, and not well described in procedures for
evaluation and promotion. This panel presents three views
of the role of mathematicians in education: one from a
mathematician who works on education, one from a mathematics
education researcher, and one from a department chair.
Sponsored by the AMS Committee on Education, the panel
features presentations by Kristin L. Umland, University
of New Mexico, A hybrid model: The role of mathematician
educators in mathematics departments; Raven McCrory,
Michigan State University, Undergraduate mathematics
textbooks for prospective elementary teachers: Are books
by mathematicians different?; and Steven G. Krantz,
Washington University in St. Louis: The research mathematician
looks at classroom teaching: A view from the top.
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