WFU MATH NEWS

Math Department Newsletter, 5/05/08:

* Mark Your Calendar for Fancy Gap: The math dept. has reserved the house at Fancy Gap for the week of 10/13-10/19. That is the week of Fall Break.

* Colloquium on Tuesday: Matthew Rudd will be speaking on Tuesday at 4:00. See fliers for details.

* Nice Article in OGB: Last week's Old Gold and Black had a nice full-page article about Liyang Diao.

Math Department Newsletter, 4/28/08:

* Summer Renovations: Regarding the renovations to Manchester 124 and Manchester 016. If all goes according to plan, They will be in this building the week of June 23 - 27th with the new furniture and chairs. Hopefully, all work will be completed during this one week.

* Student Research Presentations are This Week: Joan Pharr, Katie Donadia and Candace Curry will be talking about their research projects Thursday, 5/1. See fliers for details.

* Student News: Benn Stancil has had a good semester and will continue to have an interesting summer. Benn's funded Richter proposal is titled "Stock valuation in Shanghai, China". I'll also mention that he just returned from representing Wake at the ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference at FSU http://undergrad.fsu.edu/ACC/ and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Mortar Board this semester.

* Department Faculty Meeting: We will be meeting this Friday at 10:00 in the lounge. An agenda will be sent in the next day or so.

Math Department Newsletter, 4/21/08:

* Colloquium on Thursday: "Continuous Methods in Graph Statistics", Dr. Patrick Bahls, University of North Carolina at Asheville

* Student Research Presentations are Next Week: Joan Pharr, Katie Donadia and Candace Curry will be talking about their research projects next Thursday, 5/1.

3:00-3:30: Speaker 1
3:40-4:10: Speaker 2
4:20-4:50: Speaker 3
5:00: Pizza or other treats

* Farewell Party! on Tuesday: Please join us this Tuesday to wish Greg and Carla well on their new endeavors. Refreshments will be served no later than 3:30.

* Alumni News: Scott Chapman, a 1981 WFU graduate, has accepted the position of Scholar in Residence at Sam Houston State University. Scott had been at Trinity University for a number of years, where he ran a well-regarded REU program.

* More Alumni News: See http://www.washingtontechnology.com/print/23_04/32392-1.html for an interesting article on Barbara Williams.

* Spring Choral Concert with the University Orchestra: Several of your colleagues will be part of the performance this Thursday at 8:00 in Brendle Recital Hall. See http://www.wfu.edu/music/Events/April.html.

* Planning Questionnaires (Repeat) : All department faculty should have received a questionnaire that will help us set an agenda for next year. Please try to complete your questionnaire no later than Friday April 25.

Math Department Newsletter, 4/14/08:

* Colloquium on Thursday: The Math Club is sponsoring this week's talk by Dr. Umit Akinc Of the Calloway undergraduate business school. Please see flyers for further information and encourage students to attend.

* Math Club Bowling Night: This thursday the math club is sponsoring a bowling night. There is a sign-up sheet just outside the math dept. door. I have heard a rumor that there will be a faculty versus student challenge. Please help me!

* Thanks for a Great Party!: Thanks to Hugh and Alyssa (and Nina and Loki) for hosting a wonderful party last Saturday.

* Enrollment Update: We have finished the main part of the registration process without any major problems. Using last Fall's numbers as a basis for estimation, along with an assumption of growth, I think that we are in reasonably good shape for the incoming freshman class. We continue to see large enrollments in courses that used to be of a more modest size. For example, MTH 256 currently has 36 students and MTH 121 has 35.

* Departmental Discussion: Remember that the math department faculty will have a discussion this Friday at 4:00. The topic is hiring. Let's talk about subject areas of interest and suggestions for how to best organize the process for the coming year(s). Remember that these discussions are intended to be open-ended sessions where we do not generally vote on motions. (We will have a department meeting in early May where we can make more formal decisions.) * Planning Questionnaires: All department faculty should have received a questionnaire that will help us set an agenda for next year. Please try to complete your questionnaire no later than Friday April 25.

* Congratulations to Ken Berenhaut and Fred Howard who have both been nominated for the Graduate Student Association's Faculty Excellence Award.

* Congratulations to Jason Parsley who has had his proposal "The Ropelength of Knots, and its Connection to Particle Physics" funded by the Science Research Fund.

* Calling For Student News: If you have news about one of our graduating seniors or Masters Degree students, then please pass it along to me. In the next newsletter, or two, I would like to share news about where they are going and what they will be doing.

* (Repeatx7) Library Information: The resources committee, chaired by Jim Kuzmanovich, would like to gather information about journals. Please list the journals that are important for your research, and separately list the journals that you think are of general importance to our students and faculty. Send your list to Jim or to me. The resources committee will assemble this information and compare it to what is currently available to our faculty. This information will also put us in a good position to negotiate for appropriate changes should the opportunity arise.

* Accessing Wake Forest Journals (Repeat): You can access current Wake Forest journals through the library website.
Try http://uv7gq6an4y.search.serialssolutions.com/

Math Department Newsletter, 4/07/08:

* Colloquium on Thursday: The Math Club is sponsoring this week's talk by Dr. Laurie Zack Of High Point University. Please see flyers for further information and encourage students to attend.

* Pi Mu Epsilon Initiation (repeat): This Tuesday, April 8, starting at 5:00. Please come and welcome the new members.

* Bon Voyage Party: On Tuesday, April 22, 3:30-5:00, we will have an informal "Bon Voyage" party in the lounge. This will be an opportunity to wish Greg and Carla well on their new endeavors.

* Monthly Problem-Solving Contest: The April problem has been posted. The March problem will be graded and winner(s) posted soon.

* Computer Demo This Week (repeat): With the new Math server up and running, stop by on Thursday, April 10, at 11:00 to see a new way to access the server using thin clients. This is a solution that allows you to access the server using the Red Hat GUI desktop from both work and at home. If you are interested, stop by and take a test drive on April 10th. Paul Whitener will be running the demo.

* (Repeatx6) Library Information: The resources committee, chaired by Jim Kuzmanovich, would like to gather information about journals. Please list the journals that are important for your research, and separately list the journals that you think are of general importance to our students and faculty. Send your list to Jim or to me. The resources committee will assemble this information and compare it to what is currently available to our faculty. This information will also put us in a good position to negotiate for appropriate changes should the opportunity arise.

* Accessing Wake Forest Journals: You can access current Wake Forest journals through the library website.
Try http://uv7gq6an4y.search.serialssolutions.com/

Math Department Newsletter, 4/01/08:

* Colloquium on Thursday: Dr. Leonid Bunimovich will be visiting with us this week. See flyers for details.

* Pi Mu Epsilon Initiation: This event will happen on Tuesday, April 8, starting at 5:00. Please come and welcome the new members.

* Lirpa Loof Theorem: Don't miss the opportunity to prove this famous theorem in class this week. My favorite proof goes something like this: x^2=x+x+x+...+x (x times). Differentiate both sides to get 2x=1+1+1+...+1 (x times). Therefore 2x=x. Hence 2=1.

* Computer Demo (repeat): With the new Math server up and running, stop by on Thursday, April 10, at 11:00 to see a new way to access the server using thin clients. This is a solution that allows you to access the server using the Red Hat GUI desktop from both work and at home. If you are interested, stop by and take a test drive on April 10th. Paul Whitener will be running the demo.

* (Repeatx5) Library Information: The resources committee, chaired by Jim Kuzmanovich, would like to gather information about journals. Please list the journals that are important for your research, and separately list the journals that you think are of general importance to our students and faculty. Send your list to Jim or to me. The resources committee will assemble this information and compare it to what is currently available to our faculty. This information will also put us in a good position to negotiate for appropriate changes should the opportunity arise.

Math Department Newsletter, 3/24/08:

* Colloquium on Thursday: Dr. Bryan Williams will be visiting with us this week. See flyers for details.

* MAA State Dinner: Registration for the MAA State Dinner at Catawba College are due by March 27. This is really a nice event for both students and faculty. I hope that you will consider attending and consider taking a few students with you. More information at www.catawba.edu/maa.

* Computer Demo: With the new Math server up and running, stop by on Thursday, April 10, at 11:00 to see a new way to access the server using thin clients. This is a solution that allows you to access the server using the Red Hat GUI desktop from both work and at home. If you are interested, stop by and take a test drive on April 10th. Paul Whitener will be running the demo.

* (Repeatx4) Library Information: The resources committee, chaired by Jim Kuzmanovich, would like to gather information about journals. Please list the journals that are important for your research, and separately list the journals that you think are of general importance to our students and faculty. Send your list to Jim or to me. The resources committee will assemble this information and compare it to what is currently available to our faculty. This information will also put us in a good position to negotiate for appropriate changes should the opportunity arise.

Math Department Newsletter, 3/17/08:

* Several people have asked me about who is attending the upcoming regional MAA meeting. If you let me know that you are attending, and let me know about any students who are going with you, then I will put together a list and share it with all interested parties.

* The first issue of Involve is now available! Congratulations to Ken for making this happen, and many thanks to people such as Robin who provided so much help along the way.

* Larissa Horn will be joining us next fall.

* Math Center Committee: I am in the process of forming a Math Center Committee to make plans for the coming year. I already have a critical mass of people, but if this is something you want to participate in, then just let me know.

* Summer Opportunities for Math Majors: If you are advising math majors, then please keep in mind that there are two opportunities for students to earn 300-level credit this summer. The first is during summer session I in Vienna. The second is during summer session II at Wake Forest. Students who are interested in either option can talk to me for further information.

* Summer Opportunities for Non Math Majors: If you are doing lower division advising and your students are looking for a chance to study abroad and/or a chance to earn a math divisional credit in the summer, then please let your students know about the summer session I program in Vienna. They can see me for further information.

* (Repeat x3) Library Information: The resources committee, chaired by Jim Kuzmanovich, would like to gather information about journals. Please list the journals that are important for your research, and separately list the journals that you think are of general importance to our students and faculty. Send your list to Jim or to me. The resources committee will assemble this information and compare it to what is currently available to our faculty. This information will also put us in a good position to negotiate for appropriate changes should the opportunity arise.

Math Department Newsletter, 3/10/08:

* I hope that you all enjoy the break and spend at least a little bit of time away from the office.

* Alumni News: Zach Abernathy and Kristen Kobylus will be getting married this summer!

* Strategic Initiatives: I hope that you have all noticed several items in the Provost's message last week that might be of benefit to the math department. One in particular is a chance to start the Math Center. In a separate note the provost has assured me that support for the Math Center will continue in the future.

* (Repeat x2) Library Information: The resources committee, chaired by Jim Kuzmanovich, would like to gather information about journals. Please list the journals that are important for your research, and separately list the journals that you think are of general importance to our students and faculty. Send your list to Jim or to me. The resources committee will assemble this information and compare it to what is currently available to our faculty. This information will also put us in a good position to negotiate for appropriate changes should the opportunity arise.

Math Department Newsletter, 3/03/08:

* The softball season is still young but Kayla Talbert of the Methodist Monarchs already has two grand slams.

* Promoting Math Club Activities: Please take a moment to encourage your students to participate in Math Club activities. Game Night is still happening every Monday. A new contest problem is about to be put up in the lounge. Students are welcome to join us for tea on Thursday afternoons and to stay for the talks.

* Reminder: There is a department faculty meeting this week at 11:00 on Tuesday. An agenda will be sent separately.

* (Repeat) Library Information: The resources committee, chaired by Jim Kuzmanovich, would like to gather information about journals. Please list the journals that are important for your research, and separately list the journals that you think are of general importance to our students and faculty. Send your list to Jim or to me. The resources committee will assemble this information and compare it to what is currently available to our faculty. This information will also put us in a good position to negotiate for appropriate changes should the opportunity arise.

Math Department Newsletter, 2/25/08:

* (Repeat) The AMC Math Contest is happening this Wednesday: Check it out at http://www.math.wfu.edu/Events/mathContest.html. Thanks to Jason Parsley for organizing this event.

* Colloquium on Thursday: Dr. Rick Klima, of Appalachian State University, will be talking about Arrow's Theorem. This should be quite an event. Look for the flyers.

* Reminder for Tatum and Phillips: Please send your suggestions to Hugh promptly.

* Agenda for March Dept. Meeting: At our next department meeting, Tuesday March 4, we will be discussing Tatum Scholarships, The Phillips Prize, and several curricular items from the undergraduate committee. I will also ask the graduate committee and the colloquium committee to report on recruiting and on the 2008-2009 Gentry Lectures. If you have an item that you would like to add to the agenda then please let me know.

* (Repeat) Teaching and Learning Fair: The Teaching and Learning fair will be held on February 27, 2008, 2-4PM, Benson 401 A/B. Jason Parsley will be presenting "Learning Geometry in the Dance Studio". Hopefully, you have all received an email with details. If you did not, then just let me know and I will forward mine to you.

Math Department Newsletter, 2/18/08:

* COMAP: The following students participated in the COMAP competition this weekend: Ryan Tunis, Yankai Sun, and Ben Goldman. If you have any of them in class, then please be sure to congratulate them for their efforts. (Or forgive them for being a bit sleepy.)

* Department Discussion on Wednesday: I will send a separate email with an agenda.

* Spherical Reasoning: Have you seen the Feb. issue of The American Mathematical Monthly? Hugh Howards has a very nice article on Brunnian Spheres.

* AMC Math Contest: Check it out at http://www.math.wfu.edu/Events/mathContest.html. Thanks to Jason Parsley for organizing this event.

* Colloquium on Thursday: Dr. Kimberly Weems, NC State, will be giving a talk entitled "Estimation in Logistic Regression Measurement Error Models: An Instrumental Variable Approach" Look for the flyers.

* Teaching and Learning Fair: The Teaching and Learning fair will be held on February 27, 2008, 2-4PM, Benson 401 A/B. Jason Parsley will be presenting "Learning Geometry in the Dance Studio". Hopefully, you have all received an email with details. If you did not, then just let me know and I will forward mine to you.

* Library Information: The resources committee, chaired by Jim Kuzmanovich, would like to gather information about journals. Please list the journals that are important for your research, and separately list the journals that you think are of general importance to our students and faculty. Send your list to Jim or to me. The resources committee will assemble this information and compare it to what is currently available to our faculty. This information will also put us in a good position to negotiate for appropriate changes should the opportunity arise.

* Beamer Workshop (Repeat): On Thursday, Feb. 21, at 11:00am, Steven Wicker will be running a workshop on the Beamer software that is used to create slides for mathematics talks. This is open to both students and faculty. In fact, if you are advising a student who will be doing a presentation later this year, then please encourage them to attend. You can get the software loaded and running during the workshop, or get it loaded ahead of time so that you can focus on creating a few test slides. Look for flyers.

* New Majors (Repeat): The time for major declaration is here. If you think that there are potential majors in your class, then please remind them.

* Graduate Applications (Repeat): The files are available in the math office. Please plan to stop by, read the applications, and make your recommendations to the graduate committee. The graduate committee will be meeting on Tuesday, 2/19.

Math Department Newsletter, 2/11/08:

* Department Meeting Reminder: Math Dept. faculty are meeting this Thursday at 11:00.

* We need students for the COMAP contest! Please mention this opportunity to your students. Any interested student should contact either Miaohua or Hugh. They need to do this right away.

* Beamer Workshop: On Thursday, Feb. 21, at 11:00am, Steven Wicker will be running a workshop on the Beamer software that is used to create slides for mathematics talks. This is open to both students and faculty. In fact, if you are advising a student who will be doing a presentation later this year, then please encourage them to attend. You can get the software loaded and running during the workshop, or get it loaded ahead of time so that you can focus on creating a few test slides. Look for flyers soon.

* Report on Saturday Event: On Saturday morning Sarah,Greg,Miaohua, Ellen and I attended a breakfast event for donors. Andy Sterge was there as well as a number of other people who have donated money to support faculty. A very nice part of this event was the formal presentation of the Schoonmaker Prize to Ellen. I had an opportunity to talk to Andy after the breakfast and I will report on that in a separate email.

* Colloquium on Thursday: Joel Avrin of UNC Charlotte will join us on Thursday. Flyers should appear today.

* New Majors: The time for major declaration is here. If you think that there are potential majors in your class, then please remind them. Also, Richard will be running an information session for potential majors. Flyers have been posted, so please point them out to your students.

* Fall Teaching Schedule (Reminder): Faculty should turn in scheduling preferences as soon as is possible. I am hoping to put together a schedule this week.

* Graduate Applications (Reminder): The files are available in the math office. Please plan to stop by, read the applications, and make your recommendations to the graduate committee.

Math Department Newsletter, 2/04/08:

* Department Meeting Reminder: Faculty are meeting Tuesday at 11:00.

* Monthly Problem-Solving Contest: The February problem has been posted. Please encourage students to give it a try.

* No Speaker on Thursday: We do not have a speaker this Thursday, because Founder's Day Convocation begins at 4:30. We will still have light refreshments at 3:30.

* Fall Teaching Schedule: Faculty should turn in scheduling preferences by this Friday.

* Update on Hiring: We currently have 169 applications. Ken and I have been narrowing the list and are planning to make a few phone calls this week.

* Graduate Applications: The files are available in the math office. Please plan to stop by, read the applications, and make your recommendations to the graduate committee.

Math Department Newsletter, 1/28/08:

* Department Discussion Reminder: We have a Department Discussion scheduled for Today, Monday, January 28. The general topic will be about getting students to do homework. In particular I will be interested to hear from faculty members who have experimented with online homework systems.

* Game Night Starts Tonight: Encourage your students to attend. See flyers for more information.

* Math Club Speaker on Thursday: Grey Ballard will be speaking this Thursday. See flyers for details.

* Monthly Problem-Solving Contest: There are still a few days left for students to try the January problem. Please encourage students to go to the third floor lounge and give it a try.

* Agenda for next department meeting: If you want to put an item on the next department meeting agenda, then please let me know.

Math Department Newsletter, 1/21/08:

* More news from the Joint Meetings (Thanks to Ellen for this information): Others in attendance who I did not mention last week were Susan Hammond, Kevin Woods (who coorgainzed a special session), Doug Norton (who was leading the Math and Arts special session that Jason spoke in), Marc Renault and our current students Candace Curry, Joan Pharr and Liyang Diao.

* Interim Chair: I have asked Richard to serve as interim chair for the fall semester and he has agreed. Thank you Richard!

* Department Meeting Reminder: We are meeting tomorrow at 11:00.

* Department Discussion Reminder: We have a Department Discussion scheduled for Monday, January 28. The general topic will be about getting students to do homework. In particular I will be interested to hear from faculty members who have experimented with online homework systems.

* More Scheduling Reminders: Please encourage students to participate in math club activities such as Game Night (see flyers). Also, please set aside the time 3:30-5:00 on Thursdays for departmental teas and colloquia. I realize that this is not always possible, and that we will have to schedule talks on other days from time to time, but I am hoping that our faculty and students can make a habit of visiting with each other every Thursday afternoon.

* Security Concerns: Please remember to lock doors behind you when you are in the building after hours. Robin locks doors between 4:00 and 5:00 pm every day before she leaves. Also, campus police make occasional checks of our building. However, from time to time doors have been found unlocked. In particular the door to the first floor suite where our mailboxes are has been found unlocked. There are several valuable pieces of equipment in this room, and in others on the third floor, so it is important that we be consistent on this matter.

Math Department Newsletter, 1/14/08:

* Student and Alumni News from San Diego: There are several items to report, and I invite others to contribute other items if they have them. Tina O'Keefe has passed her written exams at Tulane and is now proceeding to work toward a dissertation in Algebraic Geometry. Tina sounded very upbeat about how well her studies are going. Mark Kozek is in his first year of a tenure-track position at Whittier College. A paper that he coauthored was mentioned prominently by Carl Pomerance during a wonderful talk on several aspects of number theory. Benn Stancil won a $100 prize in the student poster competition.

* Other news: Benn Stancil and Holly Gambill were among six undergraduates selected to represent Wake Forest at the ACC Undergraduate Research Conference at FSU later this spring.

* Colloquium on Thursday: We have our fist colloquium speaker of 2008 this Thursday. See flyers for details. As you create your schedules for the semester, I hope that you can reserve Thursdays at 3:30. We are hoping to have either departmental teas, or teas followed by a colloquium every Thursday.

* Hiring: Our visiting position has been posted at mathjobs and we already have over 60 applications. If you would like to look at applications, then just logon with the same password as last year. If you don't remember, then just ask Robin for help. I plan to let applications collect for a little while and then start making some preliminary phone calls.

* Research Leaves Next Year: Ed and Ellen and I have all had our reseearch leave proposals approved. Ed will be on leave in Spring 2009. Ellen will be on leave for the full academic year. I will be on leave in Fall 2008. As previously noted, Jason will be on leave during the Spring 2009 semester.

* Possible Renovations: There are no guarantees, but a consultant came through last Friday to do some cost estimates for our proposed renovations in rooms 124 and 016. I am hopeful.

* Syllabi: Please submit a copy of your syllabi to Steven Wicker. It is important to have an accurate syllabus for each class, and for the department to have these syllabi on record.

* Scheduling Reminder: We have a Department Discussion scheduled for Monday, January 28.

* Deadline Reminder: Please remember that January 18 is the deadline for faculty information forms.

* MTH 165(repeat): I am looking for one volunteer to help with MTH 165. This course is being split up to serve several purposes this semester including Putnam preparation, Modeling Contest preparation, and a general problem-solving group. Please talk to Miaohua and/or Hugh if you have questions about this.

* Scheduling Reminder(repeat): Our January department meeting has been moved from January 15 to January 22. If you have an item for the agenda, then please let me know about it.

News from last semester.