Math Department Newsletter, 05/19/09:

* Congratulations to Ed Allen who is part of the research team for a recently funded NSF grant entitled "Arabidopsis 2010 Project Collaborative Research: Modeling Biological Networks in Arabidopsis through Integration of Genomic, Proteomic, and Metabolomic Data," This grant is projected to last four years and will total more than one million dollars.

* Thinkpad Tablets: Let me know soon if you are interested in "upgrading" to a tablet. See my email from last Saturday.

* Graduate Recruiting: We have admitted ten new graduate students for the Fall 2009 semester. The following students were admitted as TAs :Aschenbrenner, Casement, Bicehouse, Flowers, Cook, and Pifer. DiBennedetto has been accepted with a "Graduate Student Assistantship", previously called a Fellowship, and will work with Ross Griffith in the office of institutional research. A late applicant, Neal Dawes, was accepted with an R.A. and will work with Jennifer Erway. (Thanks to Jennifer for making this possible.) Schoen and Liu have been admitted with Partial Tuition Scholarships.

* Upcoming Faculty Information: Later this week I will be sending email updates to faculty regarding several issues including Planning Goals for 2009-2010 and Faculty Evaluation.

* Congratulations to Jennifer Erway who has earned an ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty award.

* Two Wake Forest University alumni, *Anthony Pecorella* and Yuri Shtridelman, along with Jed Macosko, assistant professor of physics at Wake Forest, have won a $25,000 award from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in its 2009 Digital Media & Learning competition.

Windows on Wake Forest articles: Class of the finest: Fred Howard; Benn Stancil: Senior named Carnegie Junior Fellow; Matthew Higgins: Forest senior wins first annual essay contest about capitalism

Student Profile: William St. Martin

Math Department Newsletter, 05/11/09:

* Student News: Beth Allen was chosen as secondary Student Teacher of the Year by the Education Department She will be joining the WFU Master Teacher Fellow program in the coming academic year.

* My Schedule: If you need help with something, then please let me know early this week. I will be attending the chairs' retreat on Thursday and Friday and will then be helping with commencement activities through next Monday. I will catch up on administrative items after that.

* Reminder: Faculty Meeting at 3:00 today. The agenda was sent in email by Jacque Fetrow on 5/1.

* Reminder: Grades for graduating students are due no later than Tuesday, May 12, at noon.

* Teaching Evaluations: For those of you who turned in teaching evaluations to the math dept. office, I will make them available at Jane's desk so that you can come by and read them. I plan to to start my reading after commencement next Monday.

Math Department Newsletter, 05/04/09:

* Good News From Jeremy Rouse: Jeremy's NSF grant proposal "The distribution of the Fourier coefficients of modular forms and arithmetic applications," was recommended for funding by the relevant NSF program officer. This is a 3-year grant which will transfer to Wake Forest when he comes.

* Good News About Tommy Guy: Tommy won the Outstanding Masters Degree Student Award. Congratulations Tommy!

* Join us for cake tomorrow between 12:00 and 1:00. We are wishing Gaylord well.

* Nathan Vish defends his thesis today at 3:00. See flyers and emails for details.

Math Department Newsletter, 04/27/09:

* Faculty Reminder: Please send me your responses to the planning questionnaire. (See my email message on 4/9). Your responses will help to create an agenda for next year.

* Last Department Meeting Next Tuesday (5/5): Next Tuesday will be our last department meeting for this academic year. I plan to summarize the results of the planning questionnaire. If you have any items that you want to put on the agenda, then please let me know soon.

* Physics Colloquium Next Week: Jennifer Erway will be speaking this Thursday, April 30, at 4:00 in Olin 101. The title of the talk is "Numerical Optimization: Making inertia work for you" .

* Student Presentations: This Thursday, 4/30, from 2:00-4:00 we will have four student presentations. See posted flyers for talk titles.

* AAUP Meeting: This is a reminder of the AAUP-sponsored forum with Provost Tiefenthaler and Dean Fetrow at 4:00 *today* in DeTamble Auditorium. The Dean and Provost will speak and answer questions about faculty evaluation: annual review, merit raises, and promotion and tenure.

* Teaching Evaluations: Please remember to have your students complete course evaluations.

* Math Center Luncheon: The Math Center will be hosting a Tutor Appreciation Luncheon on Thursday, April 30, beginning at 12noon. We would like to invite all of the department faculty and staff to join us to say a collective "Thank You" to our students who have worked as tutors in The Math Center this year. See Jule Connolly's 4/22 email for details.

Math Department Newsletter, 04/20/09:

* Math Club Talk: Tommy Guy will give a talk on Tuesday at 4:15. Refreshments will be served at 3:30pm in the lounge. This talk will be interesting for undergraduate students as well as graduate students. Come join us for an interesting talk and refreshments.

* Graduate Faculy Meeting Today: The future of graduate programs is an important topic for our department and for the whole university right now. Please plan to participate in Graduate Faculty meetings whenever possible. The meeting will be at 4:00 today in Annenberg Forum.

* Reminder for Faculty: Please remember to return your planning questionniare to Steve by this Friday.

* Senior Presentations (repeat): On Thursday April 30, between 2:00 and 4:00 we will have 4 research presentations by graduating seniors. Each presentation should be about a half hour. Please keep this time free on your calendar and encourage students to attend. Flyers should be posted soon.

* Meeting with the Dean: This Thursday at 4:15 the math dept. faculty will meet with Dean Jacque Fetrow in the third floor lounge. (I will send some supplementary information in another email.)

* Physics Colloquium Next Week: Jennifer Erway will be speaking next Thursday, April 30, at 4:00 in Olin 101. The title of the talk is "Numerical Optimization: Making inertia work for you" .

* Recruiting: Below are a few updates on recruiting activites.

* Freshman Recruiting Update: The Dean's office provided me with a list of about 150 applicants who expressed an interest in mathematics. I have sent a letter to these applicants encouraging them to learn more about us and to contact me with any questions. Also, Hugh Howards and I are meeting parents and interested students as part of Campus Days. (Last Friday and today.)

* Major Recruiting Update: Next Fall we will be offering a section of MTH 165 for new majors and incoming freshman. The goal will be to expose them to a variety of interesting ideas and theorems that they are likely to see in upper level courses, and to give them practice with problem-solving and proof techniques. We will also be opening up a freshman-only section of MTH 113. Hopefully this will attract some talented freshmen and will give us a chance to have them consider math as a major. Thanks to Ed Allen for agreeing to teach the course. (Note: Recruiting majors will be an important topic for us in the coming year. Our numbers in Math/Econ and in Math/Business dropped quite a bit this year.)

* Graduate Student Recruiting Update: Our incoming class for next fall is almost set. Aschenbrenner, Bicehouse, Casement, Cook, Flowers, and Pifer will all be joining us next Fall. The graduate committee is now deliberating about admitting one or two more students. Also, I sent a note to the department chairs of institutions who sent us our current second year students. I thanked them for sending us such well-prepared students and encouraged them to send some more.

Math Department Newsletter, 04/13/09:

* Excellent Results for Math Students at Graduate Student Research Day: Our department made an excellent showing at the GRSD last Monday. Tommy Guy took first place in the analytical division, and Nathan Vish was a runner-up. Also participating were Kristy Beam and Jonathan Newman. (Justin Allman was all prepared but got stuck in Las Vegas.) Please take a moment to congratulate *all* of these students if you see them.

* Benn Stancil was awarded a Fullbright grant for next year. He'll likely be turning it down, though, as he accepted a one-year fellowship at the Carnegie Endowment.

* Congratulations to Jennifer Erway who has been awarded a CRADLE II Initiative 2009/2011 Fellowship. Jennifer has also been awarded funding from the Science Research Fund.

* Colloquium: Our speaker this Thursday will be Doug Wright from Drexel University. Flyers should be posted soon .

* Senior Presentations: On Thursday April 30, between 2:00 and 4:00 we will have 4 research presentations by graduating seniors. Each presentation should be about a half hour. Please keep this time free on your calendar and encourage students to attend. Flyers should be posted soon.

Math Department Newsletter, 04/06/09:

* COMAP results: Congratulations to our three COMAP teams! Team #1 was composed of Erik Forseth, David Rosile, and Benjamin Goldman; Team #2 was composed of Ashley Carlton, Brendan Bettinger, and Stephanie L. Pietromonaco; and Team #3 was composed of Gregory Johnson, Jeffrey Pauls, and Ryan Tunis. Out of a total of 1675 teams, Teams #1 and #2 finished in the second-highest award level and were designated Meritorious Winners. Team #3 were also successful participants. If you see see any of these students, please congratulate them!!

* COMAP coaches: Don't forget to thank Jennifer Erway and Miaohua Jiang for coaching our COMAP teams. Job well done!

* Good News on Grants: Congratulations to Jennifer Erway whose NSF grant has been renewed. Congratulations to Ken Berenhaut whose CURM grant has been renewed. Good job Jennifer and Ken!

* Discussion of Teaching Innovation (repeatx2): On Tuesday, April 7, at 4:15, Sarah Raynor has agreed to show us some of what she has been doing with MTH 113. We will meet in room 124.

* Do You Have Some Faculty, Student, or Alumni News? Please let me know about it so that I can include it in the newsletter.

* First Floor Bulletin Board: Our bulletin board has been looking a bit empty, so we are posting several faculty-news articles from recent issues of the OG&B, and we are posting information about our Phillips Prize winners for this year. If I am missing some faculty or student news that can be posted at this board, then please let me know about it.

Math Department Newsletter, 03/30/09:

* Colloquium on Wednesday: Dr. Jeanne Cleland will be the speaker on Wednesday, 4/1, at 4:00. This looks like a good talk for many of our students to see, so please mention it in your classes if appropriate. See flyers for details.

* Tim Persons' Visit: There will be several events organized around the visit of Tim Persons on Thursday, 4/2. Tim will give a talk at 11:00 in Annenberg Forum. From 3:00-5:00 we will host a faculty/student reception for Tim about student intern/research opportunities in Washington DC. Wine will be served from about 4:15 until 5:00.

* Alumni News: Joan Pharr reports that she has been hired by the FBI. Also, I have some data to share on what our alumni are doing. See attachment. (Dana Hutchens was very helpful in putting this spreadsheet together. I will try to obtain similar information for our masters degree alumni.)

* April Dept. Mtg.: Please let me know if you have an agenda item for our April 7 department meeting.

* Discussion of Teaching Innovation (repeat): On Tuesday, April 7, at 4:15, Sarah Raynor has agreed to show us some of what she has been doing with MTH 113. We will meet in room 124.

Math Department Newsletter, 03/23/09:

* AP Statistics: David Wilson will be an AP statistics grader this summer. David will report back to us in the fall about what he learns and how it might inform our MTH 109 classes. Thank you David!

* NC High School Math Contest Scholarships: You can now find us listed at http://courses.ncssm.edu/goebel/statecon/Inform/colleges.php We are offering a $2500 scholarship to any senior who places in the top ten.

* Math Fest: The Math Fest will be August 6-8 in Portland, Oregon. If you have students who are working on a project, or are just interested in attending a meeting, then this is an excellent venue for them to make a presentation and to participate in a number of student-oriented activities. There is often funding available to help cover expenses, and of course the math dept. can also help. If you look at the posters that have arrived recently you will see that Greg Warrington is one of the main speakers.

* Discussion of Teaching Innovation: On Tuesday, April 7, at 4:15, Sarah Raynor has agreed to show us some of what she has been doing with MTH 113. We will meet in room 124.

* Upcoming Event: There will be a colloquium on the afternoon of Wednesday, 4/1, at 4:00. Jeanne Cleland will be the speaker.

* Upcoming Event: There will be several events organized around the visit of Tim Persons on Thursday, 4/2. Tim will give a talk at 11:00 in Annenberg Forum. From 3:00-4:30 we will host a faculty/student discussion with Tim about student intern/research opportunities in Washington DC. This will be followed by a reception at 5:00.

Math Department Newsletter, 03/16/09:

* I hope that you all had an enjoyable spring break.

* The regional MAA meeting in Nashville: Hugh Howards, Ellen Kirkman, Sarah Raynor and I all attended the meeting last week in Nashville. A few notes follow.

* Notes from the MAA meeting I: Congratulations to Hugh Howards who was presented with the 2009 SOUTHEASTERN SECTION DISTINGUISHED TEACHING AWARD. This Tuesday evening at 5:00 we will have an opportunity to say "Congratulations!" Please join us in the lounge where there will be pizza and other refreshments. [ More from the WFU News Service and Old Gold and Black ]

* Notes from the MAA meeting II: Congratulations to Sarah Raynor who has been named as the new newsletter editor for our region.

* Notes from the MAA meeting III: Phillip Carrol (MA in 2002) was at the meeting. He is now teaching at King College in Bristol, TN, and is working to finish his dissertation at Virginia Tech.

* Notes from the MAA meeting IV: The graduate student recruiting table was very busy on Friday. Thanks to Sarah Raynor for making sure that we were set up and ready.

* Math Club Talk: This Thursday the Math Club speaker will be Jennifer Erway. The talk begins at 4:15, and I hope that you will all join us for refreshments in the lounge before the talk. See flyers for details. Please encourage students to attend.

* New Majors/Advising Event: On Tuesday evening, starting at 5:00, the department will be hosting an event for new majors. All majors, graduate students and faculty are welcome to join us for the beginning of the meeting where we will have pizza and other refreshments. Following the refreshments, Hugh Howards and I will be meeting with new majors to give a general advising session.

* Security Concerns: From time to time I hear about unauthorized groups using our classrooms at night, about doors being found unlocked during the late night or early morning hours, or about the hot water or coffee pot being left on. Robin and Jane make sure that doors are locked and that pots are off at the end of each work day, and campus security checks our building during their rounds. However, we also rely on all of you to lock doors behind you when you leave a room and to turn pots off when you are finished. Please help us out by being consistent in this matter.

Math Department Newsletter, 03/09/09:

* I hope that you all enjoy the spring break.

* Book Orders (repeat): Please be prompt in returning your book order information to Jane. If we turn all of our information in to the bookstore in a timely way, then we can get credit in a departmental account. In the past we have used this account to buy a gift for our Gentry Lecturer, or other distinguished visitors.

Math Department Newsletter, 03/03/09:

* Congratulations to Ken Berenhaut, who has been elected to a three year term as a CUR Councilor in the Mathematics and Computer Sciences Division. More information on CUR is available at www.cur.org

* Bowling: If you want to go bowling with the math club this Wed. evening, and you have not yet registered, then talk to Sarah asap.

* Book Orders: Please be prompt in returning your book order information to Jane. If we turn all of our information in to the bookstore in a timely way, then we can get credit in a departmental account. In the past we have used this account to buy a gift for our Gentry Lecturer, or other distinguished visitors.

** Berenhaut elected CUR councilor [Old Gold and Black Article about Professor Kenneth Berenhaut ] [ WFU News press release. ]

** Teacher aims to identify space debris [Old Gold and Black Article about Professor Bob Plemmons] [ WFU News press release. ]

** Student raises funds to help cause [Old Gold and Black Article about Sophomore math major Roumen Iordanov]

Math Department Newsletter, 02/23/09:

* New Scholarships and Recruiting: Starting this year Wake Forest will offer a $1000 scholarship to every student who places in the top ten at the North Carolina State Mathematics Contest (http://math.ncssm.edu/smc/). This setup was arrived at after discussions with Provost Tiefenthaler and the Director of Admissions Martha Allman. The top ten finishers often include younger students, so this will give us a chance to identify and recruit talented students before their senior year. Also, the contest organizer will send us a list of the top 40 finishers. The provost is encouraging us to get together with Physics, and other departments, to create materials, online and otherwise, that we can use as recruiting tools. If you have an interest in getting involved with this, then please let me know.

* AMC Math Contest is This Wednesday!: See http://www.math.wfu.edu/mathcontest/index.html for details. Thanks to Miaohua Jiang for organizing this year's contest.

* Graduate Applicants: Application files are available in the department office. Tenure track faculty should read them and provide comments asap. The Graduate Committee will start meeting to make decisions on Tuesday, 2/24.

* TLC Fair: The TLC Fair is this Wednesday afternoon. Information should have appeared in your mailboxes on Friday. Jule Connolly will represent the Math Department and will be providing information about the Math Center and MTH 105L. I should note that our student worker Steph made a really nice brochure for this event.

* Dean's Visit: Jacque Fetrow has requested an hour meeting with each department in the college. We have scheduled our meeting with Jacque for April 23 at 4:15 in the third floor lounge. I will send reminders when the time comes.

* Department Discussions: There are several interesting topics that the department can discuss before the end of the year. Two discussions that I would like to put on our schedule are: Possible new initiatives for our graduate program, Recent teaching innovations in the math dept. Now that I have the Dean's visit scheduled, I will go ahead and get these discussions scheduled.

* Summer Research Support for Graduate Students: If you are working with a graduate student this summer, then you should be aware of two sources of support for your student. Some support is available through the Graduate School office, but the students have to apply. I will also provide some support from departmental funds. Please let me know if you are working with a graduate student this summer. I need to plan ahead.

Math Department Newsletter, 02/16/09:

* Math Club Talk: "How many different ways can a positive integer N be written as the sum of two or more consecutive positive integers?" David Wilson, Wake Forest University February 19, 2009 4:15 p.m. — Manchester Hall, Room 016

* Teaching and Learning Fair: The Teaching and Learning Fair will be held Wednesday, February 25, from 2-4pm in Benson 401. Jule Connolly is the faculty representative from our department. Please plan to stop by if you have the time.

* Provost's Address to the Faculty: This is today, Monday, at 4:00 in Annenberg Forum. I encourage all faculty to attend.

* Travel Expense Forms: In order to get reimbursed for travel, or other, expenses, it would be helpful if you would first fill out and sign the appropriate form before handing the form and your receipts to Robin.

* Color Copies: Since our new copiers will do color printing I am no longer going to pay for repairs to the color printer on the third floor.

* Graduate Applicants: Application files are available in the department office. Tenure track faculty should read them and provide comments asap. The Graduate Committee will be meeting to make decisions on Tuesday, 2/24.

* Need Help for the AMC Contest: AMC10/12B will be held on Wed. afternoon, Feb. 25. We will have close to 35 students from NC to participate in this contest. Some are coming as far as Greenville. Wake Forest is the only university in North Carolina offering AMC 10/12B contest this year. We will need two additional persons to help Larissa and Miaohua to grade the answer forms right after the contest: around 3:00 pm. Contact Miaohua if you are able to help.

*It is time for new math majors to sign up. Please make sure that your students are aware of this opportunity and encourage them to consider being a math major or minor. On this Wednesday, Feb. 18, from 4:00-5:00 in the third floor lounge, Sarah Raynor will be answering questions for all interested students. Refreshments will be provided. See the posted fliers and point them out to your students.

Math Department Newsletter, 02/09/09:

* Welcome to Jeremy Rouse our new Assistant Professor! Jeremy is the newest member of our department and will be joining us in August of 2010 after he completes the third year of his current postdoctoral position as J. L. Doob Research Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Many thanks to all of you who helped make the hiring process work. Particular thanks to Jim Kuzmanovich, who chaired the hiring committee. It is a busy time, but what a great payoff!

* Some of you might be interested in attending the talk "Current Trends in Parallel Numerical Computing and Challenges for the Future ", by Jack Dongarra,University Distinguished Professor, University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The talk will be at 4:00 this coming Thursday. More information can be found at http://www.wfu.edu/physics/seminars/2009_Spring/dongarra.html. A related workshop is being held on Friday morning.

* Faculty Meeting Today: There is a faculty meeting today in Annenberg Forum at 4:00. Our new dean, Jacque Fetrow, has promised to run these meetings efficiently, and she is hoping to improve attendance. Faculty should plan to attend when possible.

* Graduate Applicants: Application folders are now available for review in the math department office. Tenure track faculty should plan to read the folders and comment this week if at all possible.

* Syllabi: Steven Wicker reports that he has not yet received syllabi from every faculty member. Please send yours if you have not done so already.

* The Culture of Mathematics: You can find some interesting "Culture Statements" at
http://www.ams.org/employment/CultureStatements.html It is often important for us to educate people outside of the department about how things work in mathematics. These statements can help.

* Fall Semester Scheduling: I am in the process of creating the Fall 2009 Schedule. I hope to have it put together before the end of this week.

* February Department Meeting: Next Tuesday, 2/17, at 11:00. If you have an item for the agenda, then please send it me soon.

 

Math Department Newsletter, 02/02/09:

* Game Night: Please encourage students to come to Game Night at 7:00 on Mondays. Tonight they will have a chance to meet our visitor.

* Two talks this week: Please mark your calendar for the two talks that are scheduled this week. The first will be today at *4:00*. The second will be on Thursday at *4:15*. Both talks should be appropriate for both student and faculty.

* Fall Semester Scheduling: Faculty should turn in their teaching and scheduling preferences before the end of this week.

* Tuesday Department Meeting: Only the tenure-track faculty will be meeting this Tuesday at 11:00. The regular department meeting will be scheduled on another day in February.

Math Department Newsletter, 1/19/09:

* Faculty Information Forms: The deadline has arrived. Please see Hugh Howards' email from last week for some helpful information. Also, keep in mind the rule of thumb "The information that you need to provide this year is the same type as the information that you provided last year." Keep it simple: Publications and other scholarly activities, students advised, committee work and other service duties, .... I will let you know if our administration eventually needs more than this. As part of the faculty evaluation process I will give you opportunities to provide me with information that does not fit well on the form.

* COMAP: We have 3, and possibly 4, COMAP teams getting ready for competition in February. If you know of a student who can help to complete that 4th team, then please let Jennifer Erway know. Thanks to Jennifer for getting this organized.

* Agenda for Department Meeting: Faculty should have received this agenda earlier today. Notice that the agenda mentions some of the goals that departmental committees should start working towards.

* Math Club Talk this Thursday: Hannah Robbins will be our speaker this Thursday at 4:15. The title of her talk is "Symmetries of the square and polynomials who ignore them." Please encourage students to attend.

* Problem-Solving Contest: Please encourage your students to participate in the problem-solving contest. One problem is posted in the lounge every month. Thanks to Sarah Raynor for organizing the contest.

* If you have events that you want me to publicize, or news from alumni that you want me to share, then send it along and I will be sure to include it in the next newsletter. For example ...

* Alumni News: Jessie Penley and Arran Hamm are engaged! Donghui Chen is making good progress towards his PhD at Maryland, and Adam Cross is making good progress at LSU.

Math Department Newsletter, 1/12/08:

* Faculty Information Forms: The deadline approaches.

* Rooms for COMAP: During the second weekend of February we will have 3 COMAP teams competing and we have reserved one seminar room for each team. This will last from the evening of Thursday, 2/5, until Monday, 2/9. If this is a major inconvenience for you, then please let me know. We are trying to find alternative space in other departments, but it is hard to come by. Thanks to Jennifer Erway for organizing this year's teams.

* Agenda for Department Meeting: If you would like to contribute an agenda item to next week's department meeting, then please let me know. Two likely items are some comments on budgetary matters, and an update on faculty evaluation.

* Calendar for the semester: Next Monday I will include important calendar items in the newsletter. If you have something that you want me to highlight, then please let me know.

Fall 2008

Brief Holiday Newsletter, 12/29/08:

Happy Holidays

Everybody, I hope that you are enjoying this time between semesters.

* My Schedule: If you need me for anything then I will be around for most of this week, but I will then spend all of next week at the Joint Meetings in Washington, D.C.

* Hiring Update: Our application count is now at 520, but the rate of accumulation has decreased. The committee continues to read and discuss new applications. Next week we will have the opportunity to interview a good number of candidates face-to-face. It will be our hope to hold a meeting shortly after the Joint Meetings have finished so that we can narrow the group of candidates.

* Faculty Information Forms: Remember that these will be due in a little over two weeks.

Math Department Newsletter, 12/08/08:

* Faculty Information Forms: Robin had some training in using the new software, so if you have questions, please contact Robin and she will help to answer the question.

* I will be in Europe from 12/10-12/20, so if you need a signature on something, then please get it to me now. I should still have regular email access in case you need to contact me.

* I am keeping this newsletter short due to lack of time. I may send an update before I leave town on Wed.

Math Department Newsletter, 12/01/08:

* Congratulations to Ellen Kirkman, who has been elected to the AMS Nominating Committee. See http://www.ams.org/secretary/election-results.html

* Course Evaluations: Please remember to have your students fill out course evaluations.

* Reminder for Faculty: Our December department meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday, at 11:00. An agenda will be sent out later today.

* Enigma: Please join the Math Club this Thursday at 7:30pm in the third floor lounge to watch the movie Enigma. Sarah Raynor will be available to talk about cryptography after the film.

* Colloquium: "An Introduction to Compressed Sensing: Getting the Most (Big) Bang for Your Buck" Dr. Jennifer Erway, Wake Forest And Dr. Roummel F. Marcia, Duke University December 4, 2008 4:15p.m. Manchester Hall, Room 016

* Hiring Update: As of this morning we had 368 applications. The hiring committee has been conducting phone interviews and will be meeting today to continue its work.

* Student Research (repeatx2): If you have some ideas for student research projects, either undergraduate or graduate, then please consider writing a short summary of ideas that I can show to students and post at our website.

Math Department Newsletter, 11/24/08:

* Holiday Hours for the Math Dept.: If you need clerical help this week, then please let Robin and Jane know very soon. They will not be here after Tuesday of this week.

* Math Club Talks: Many thanks to our Fall Semester math club speakers (Sarah, Hugh, and Jim K.). Attendance was very good and the talks were excellent.

* Student Research (repeat): If you have some ideas for student research projects, either undergraduate or graduate, then please consider writing a short summary of ideas that I can show to students and post at our website.

* Have a safe and enjoyable holiday!

Math Department Newsletter, 11/17/08:

* Math Club Talk: Come and see Jim Kuzmanovich talk about "My Favorite Mathematical Stamps", this Thursday starting at 4:15. See flyers for details. Also see http://www.math.wfu.edu/Events/kuz.html

* Student Research: If you have some ideas for student research projects, either undergraduate or graduate, then please consider writing a short summary of ideas that I can show to students and post at our website.

* Reynolds Leave Applications Due on the 24th: If you plan to apply for a Reynolds Leave for next year, then please get your application materials to me by the end of this week so that I can write a letter of support before the November 24th deadline.

* Faculty Information Form Deadline: I just received a memo from the provost outlining this year's salary and review process. I will go through the important details at our next department meeting, but faculty should put the deadline 1/16/09 on their calendars. That is the date when faculty information forms will be due. Apparently there will be a new online system for entering the information.

Math Department Newsletter, 11/10/08:

* There is not much to post today so I thought that I would include a bad joke that Adam Shick (an alumnus of our masters program) told me last week. The numbers pi and i are having a conversation. pi says to i "get real" and i says to pi "be rational"

* Department Discussion: The tenured faculty will have a discussion in the lounge this Thursday at 4:00. An agenda will be sent later today.

Math Department Newsletter, 11/03/08:

* One of WOWF's headlines this morning features Jason Parsley and his first year seminar course on voting and elections. Check it out at http://www.wfu.edu/wowf/2008/20081103.qa.parsley.html

* Reminder of Dept. Faculty Meeting: We meet tomorrow, Tuesday, at 11:00.

* Hiring Update: As of this morning, there were 150 applications listed on MathJobs. Many of these appllications are not in our areas of interest, but we do have some very promising applications in Number Theory, Combinatorics and Algebra. Tenure-stream faculty are encouraged to participate in the process by reading applications and posting comments. Robin can show you, or remind you, how to use mathjobs.

* 2009-2010 Reynolds Leaves(repeatx3): If you are considering applying for a Reynolds leave during the 2009-2010 academic year, then please let me know soon. This will help me to start planning for next year.

Math Department Newsletter, 10/27/08:

* Many thanks to Ken Berenahut and the Colloquium Committee, for planning and hosting the outstanding Gentry Lectures. Ken Ono was an excellent choice. A special thanks to Robin, Jane, and Steven who take care of so many of the important behind-the-scenes details.

* We have lots of events to look forward to this week! Please make a special effort to attend if you can, and please make a point of promoting these events to the students in your classes. In particular, students need to know about Math Club events such as Game Night and the Math Careers event mentioned below.

* Mathematical Economics Forum 2008: The 2008 Math/Econ Forum is happening today and tomorrow. From 3:00-4:00 today we will host a reception for the speaker in our lounge. Faculty and students are all welcome. From 4:00-5:00 Dr. Zak will give his public lecture entitled "The Neuroeconomics of Trust". The talk will be in Annenberg Forum. I hope to see many of you there.

* Colloquium on Thursday: "Instantons and reduction of order via the Nahm transform" by Benoit Charbonneau, Duke University, October 30, 2008.

* Math Club Event: WFU ALUMNI WILL BE HERE TO DISCUSS MATHEMATICS CAREERS October 30, 2008 ­ Math Lounge ­ 5:15pm

* Agenda for November Department Faculty Meeting: If you would like to put an item on the agenda for this meeting, then please let me know soon.

* Summer Session Teaching Requests (repeat): If you want to teach during summer session, then be sure to submit your form before Friday, October 31.

* 2009-2010 Reynolds Leaves(repeat x2): If you are considering applying for a Reynolds leave during the 2009-2010 academic year, then please let me know soon. This will help me to start planning for next year.

Math Department Newsletter, 10/21/08:

* Gentry Lectures: The Gentry Lectures are here! Ken Ono will be speaking on Thursday and Friday of this week. See flyers for details.

* Mathematical Economics Forum 2008: The 2008 Math/Econ Forum will occur at the beginning of next week. This year's speaker is Paul Zak, founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and professor of economics, Claremont Graduate University. See flyers for details.

* Summer Session Teaching Requests: If you want to teach during summer session, then be sure to submit your form before Friday October 31.

* Book Orders: Thanks to one and all for sending in your book orders promptly.

* Put it on your calendar!(repeat): On Thursday, April 30, from 6:00-9:00pm we will be having a retirement dinner for Fred. I will provide more details by the end of this semester.

* 2009-2010 Reynolds Leaves(repeat): If you are considering applying for a Reynolds leave during the 2009-2010 academic year, then please let me know soon. This will help me to start planning for next year.

Math Department Newsletter, 10/13/08:

* Book Orders: Please turn in your book order(s) to Jane.

* Latex Workshop: Steven Wicker will be running a Latex workshop this Tuesday, 10/14, at 11:00 in room 124. For details look for the flyers and see the email reminder that came out earlier today.

* Fancy Gap: This is our department's week to have Fancy Gap! Let's plan to have lunch together on Saturday, October 18th, at 1:00 pm. Bring something to share if you can. Let Robin know what you plan to bring so that we can keep a list for other people to refer to.

* Put it on your calendar!: On Thursday, April 30, 2009, from 6:00-9:00pm we will be having a retirement dinner for Fred. I will provide more details by the end of this semester.

* Grading Reminder: Midterm grades are due by Sunday, October 19, at 5:00 pm.

* 2009-2010 Reynolds Leaves(repeat): If you are considering applying for a Reynolds leave during the 2009-2010 academic year, then please let me know soon. This will help me to start planning for next year.

* Incomplete Grades(repeat): The Registrar is concerned about the number of "incompletes" that are being assigned each semester (Several thousand last year). Incompletes should only be assigned in rare circumstances when the faculty member feels that a special circumstance warrants it. In particular the incomplete grade should not be used as a way to extend the grading deadline. If a faculty member needs to submit grades after the posted deadline, then all that they need to do is contact the Registrar ahead of time to get their deadline extended. If any faculty member assigns a large number of incompletes in the future, then it is likely that I will get a call from the Dean's office which I will then forward to the given faculty member.

Math Department Newsletter, 10/06/08:

* Math Club Talk: Hugh Howards will be presenting the talk "The Ever So Persistent Lives of Knots and Links in Graphs" this Thursday at 4:15. Please announce this to your classes and encourage students to attend.

* Fancy Gap: Our department has the Fancy Gap house reserved next week. Please let Robin know if you are planning to stay overnight. I am asking Robin to coordinate who has the keys. Also, I propose that we all have lunch together on Saturday, October 18th, at 1:00 pm. Plan to bring something to share. Let Robin know what you plan to bring so that we can keep a list for other people to refer to.

* 2009-2010 Reynolds Leaves: If you are considering applying for a Reynolds leave during the 2009-2010 academic year, then please let me know soon. This will help me to start planning for next year.

* Reminder of department meeting: Department faculty meet tomorrow, Tuesday, at 11:00.

* Reminder of department discussion: Department faculty meet tomorrow, Tuesday, at 4:00.

* Some Data on Majors: Counting both juniors and seniors we currently have 25 Math/Business majors (a big increase), 45 Math/Econ majors (this has been large for several consecutive years), 26 Math BA majors, 11 Math BS students, and 4 Math BS students with a concentration in statistics.

* WFU Chorale: At last Tuesday's rehearsal it was nice to see that members of the math department, and friends, make up a good portion of the WFU Chorale. Ellen, Elmer, Larissa, Hannah and myself are currently participating. If you enjoy singing, then there is still time to join us. If you are interested, then you will need to contact Brian Gorelick right away.

* Registrar's Concern About Assigning Incomplete Grades: The Registrar is concerned about the number of "incompletes" that are being assigned each semester (Several thousand last year). Incompletes should only be assigned in rare circumstances when the faculty member feels that a special circumstance warrants it. In particular the incomplete grade should not be used as a way to extend the grading deadline. If a faculty member needs to submit grades after the posted deadline, then all that they need to do is contact the Registrar ahead of time to get their deadline extended. If any faculty member assigns a large number of incompletes in the future, then it is likely that I will get a call from the Dean's office which I will then forward to the given faculty member.

* Writing Survey: Several members of the English department are investing a great deal of effort in examining how writing is taught at Wake Forest. Their focus is quite broad and includes writing in all departments at all levels. You will soon be receiving a survey that asks for your opinions about this topic. There is a good chance that the results of their investigations, and of this survey, will have a real effect on how writing is taught at Wake, so I encourage you to take the time to respond to the survey. I took it myself last week and managed to finish in about 20 minutes.

Math Department Newsletter, 9/29/08:

* Colloquium Talk: This Thursday, 10/2, at 4:00, Dr. Tim Chartier of Davidson College will present “Improving on Your Mistakes: Solving Linear Systems Iteratively” At 5:00 that evening the German and Russian department is sponsoring an Oktoberfest in the lower quad, so I suggest that all those who can stay after the talk join me at the Oktoberfest.

* Sending Requests to Robin and Jane: If you need some help from our office staffthen please send an email request addressed to both of them. Please send email even if you have seen them in the hallway and have mentioned your request verbally. The email message helps us to keep a record of requests and it helps to jog our memories.

* Scheduling Colloquia: Jane will now be taking care of all of the clerical work associated with colloquia. When you are the contact person for a speaker please work with Jane to get talk titles, abstracts, and other speaker information taken care of.

* 2009-2010 Reynolds Leaves: If you are considering applying for a Reynolds leave during the 2009-2010 academic year, then please let me know this week. This will help me to start planning for next year.

* Agenda for next department meeting: At our next department meeting we will discuss scholarships, strategic initiatives, the United Way, and possibly exit interviews from last spring. If you have something that you would like to add to the agenda, then just let me know.

Math Department Newsletter, 9/22/08:

* Math Club Talk: This Thursday, 9/25, at *4:15* Sarah Raynor will talk about Fractals. Please see the flyers for details and encourage students to attend.

* Departmental Discussion: Remember that the math dept. faculty are meeting this week on Tuesday at 4:00 to talk about the Honor Code and about Strategic Initiatives. As always there will be wine and cheese.

* October's Dept. Disc. Rescheduled: I have to reschedule our discussion in October to Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 4:00. The most likely topic will involve some follow-up on our strategic initiative discussions. My deadline for turning in requests to the dean is October 15.

Math Department Newsletter, 9/15/08:

* Game Night: I have heard rumors that there will be home-made cookies available at Game Night tonight. Please plan to stop by and get a cookie, and encourage your students to attend too.

* Monthly Problem Solving Contest: The September problem has been posted in the lounge. Please encourage undergraduates to give it a try.

* Spring Course Schedule Reminder: Faculty need to return their scheduling requests to Steve no later than Monday, September 22.

* Colloquium Reminder: On Wednesday at 4:00 Dr. Hubert Bray from Duke Univ. will present "An Overview of Genral Relativity". Please plan to attend and encourage students to attend too.

* September Department Discussion: The math faculty will meet on Tuesday, September 23, at 4:00 for our first open-ended discussion of the year. I propose two topics. First, I think it would be interesting to talk about the Honor Code and about our own successes and failures in dealing with cheating. Ellen visited with the department chairs last week to make a thoughtful presentation about this, and I think that it will be a topic of interest to many of us. Second, I would like to start hearing from all of you about the strategic initiatives that we should submit to the administration by mid-October. I am hoping to ask for renewed and improved funding for the Math Center, and to help promote other new activities in the department. We may also want to renew our unfunded requests from last year such as the graduate certificate program in statistics. What other ideas do you have that we can send to the dean and provost?

Math Department Newsletter, 9/08/08:

* Math Club Game Nights Begin Tonight! Look for the fliers for more information.

* The Math Center opens today at 2:00!

* Notice that today's campuswide faculty meeting is at 4:00 in *Annenberg Form* rather than in Pugh Auditorium.

* Classes for the spring?: I will soon be sending out the usual form for the scheduling of spring semester courses. Faculty should start considering which classes they want to teach. Remember that our standard course rotation can be found at http://www.math.wfu.edu/Courses/rotation.html. This rotation might experience a few changes this year. In particular, our enrollments in the fall semester 200 and 300 level statistics courses has been huge, so I am hoping to find the room to start offering an extra section of MTH 256 in the spring.

* Hiring update: I have sent a request to the dean and the provost to allow us to hire two new tenure-track positions in the next few years. This is in addition to the replacement positions that we are hiring. This is based upon the request from our program review from several years ago as well as more recent enrollment data that continues to support our need for more people. I will let you know how this goes.

From MAA Online: Found Math: The wedding of mathematicians Sarah Mason and Jason Parsley featured a wedding cake in the shape of the symbol for infinity. Photo courtesy of Tim Chartier, Davidson College. FOUND MATH GALLERY [Week 27]

Involve – A Journal of Mathematics: An interview with the founding editor By Kenneth S. Berenhaut, Wake Forest University and Darren Narayan, Rochester Institute of Technology

Math Department Newsletter, 9/01/08:

* Reminder to Faculty: There is a department meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11:00. The agenda was sent in a previous email.

* Social Event: This Thursday, September 4, at 4:00 in the third floor lound we will have a "Fall Semester Kickoff" for faculty, staff and graduate students. I hope to see you there.

* Math Club Game Nights Begin on Saturday the 8th! Look for the fliers for more information.

* Registration Data: Our total enrollment in 100-level courses is about the same as last year (about 900), and our average class size for 112 and below is about 35. Our fall statistics courses continue to be popular. MTH 256 has 34 students and MTH 357/657 has 38. Most other 200 and 300 level courses are in the mid-teens.

* Robin's Schedule: We are trying out a new schedule for the office staff. Robin will be working four long days from Monday through Thursday. On those days she will be here for an hour or two after the office closes at 5:00. This is her opportunity to have uninterrupted work time for projects that are difficult to get to when the office is open. On Fridays, Jane, and our new student worker, Prianka, will be available in the department office.

Math Department Newsletter, 8/25/08:

* Congratulations to Jason Parsley who has received NSF funding for his proposal "Conference on Applications of Geometry to Topology and Physics,..."

* Registration: Freshmen are registering today and tomorrow. If registration follows a pattern similar to last year, and similar to what is predicted by new student surveys, then we should be in good shape. Open House was quite interesting and active today. It seems that we have quite a few freshmen who are ready to start math at a relatively high level.

* Committee Assignments: I will look over the requests that I have in hand and will post assignments before the end of the day tomorrow.

* Syllabi: Please submit your course syllabi to me and to Steven Wicker.

* Math Club Activities are starting soon. See fliers that are already posted.

* Math Center: Jule Connolly has sent an email describing the grand opening of the WFU Math Center. Many thanks to Jule for all of the effort that she has been putting into this. I am planning to volunteer a few hours of tutoring to the Math Center. If you would like to help out with either the planning or the tutoring then contact me or Jule.

Math Department Newsletter, 8/18/08:

* Congratulations to Jason Parsley and Sarah Mason who were married on Saturday, August 9!

* Gentry Lectures: Ken Ono will be our Gentry Lecturer this year. His talks are being scheduled for October 23 and 24. More details soon.

* 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.

* Secrest Artist Series: I received several positive responses to my email inquiry about the Secrest events. Of course, people have diverse interests, so there was no favorite event. I am currently planning to set up one event this semester and one next. More details soon.

* Department Faculty Meetings: For the fall semester we will be meeting on the first Tuesday of each month. Our meetings will be from 11:00-12:00 in the third floor lounge. Our schedule will be similar in the spring, with the exception of our January meeting which will occur on Tuesday, January 20 at 11:00.

* Department Faculty Discussions: I have scheduled informal department discussions for Tuesday 9/23, Wednesday 10/8, and Thursday 11/13. These discussions start at 4:00 and usually end between 5:00 and 5:30. Discussion topics will be announced later. The schedule for spring discussions may be disrupted by our plans to discuss hiring.

* Committee Preferences: Last week I sent out the committee preferences memo. Please respond soon. The deadline is Monday, August 25. I should have listed the Math Center as one committee option. This committee has already been working during the summer, but interested people are welcome to join the effort. Also, I am likely to set up a committee that will help to set faculty and chair evaluation guidelines, but I anticipate doing this after the department has had a chance to discuss the issues involved.

* New Copiers: The department will soon have new copiers on both the third and first floors. This is part of a campus-wide effort to standardize. There are some nice features that will be described in greater detail in a separate message once the copiers have arrived. For example, you will be able to send copying jobs directly from your computer. I have requested that we be allowed to continue to use individual codes for copying, but it is not clear that this will be possible.

* Hiring Update: We are in the process of posting advertisements for two positions. I am currently awaiting the dean's approval to do so.

* Syllabi: Please submit your course syllabi to me and to Steven Wicker.

* My Schedule This Week: I will be out of town from Thursday through Sunday this week. I will try to check email and voice mail while I am gone, but I may not be able to respond to questions until I return on Monday.

News from last semester.