MAA Math Alert - June 2011

News and Views

2011 USAMO Winners Honored in Washington
The twelve winners of the 40th USA Mathematical Olympiad gathered in Washington, D.C., for an awards ceremony and dinner. Dr. John P. Holdren, assistant to President Obama for science and technology, congratulated this year's winners. Article.

USA Team Selected for 2011 International Mathematical Olympiad
Six high school students have been selected to represent the United States next month at the 2011 International Mathematical Olympiad in Amsterdam. Article.

Penn and Oberlander Inducted into MAA Icosahedron Society
Laurence Penn and Jill Oberlander were recently inducted into MAA's Icosahedron Society. Generous funding from the Penn Oberlander Family Foundation helped the MAA produce the feature documentaryHard Problems: The Road to the World's Toughest Math Contest. Article.
Robert Devaney Elected to MAA Presidency
The results of the 2011 election of national officers are now available online.

Conference Highlights Value of Inquiry-Based Learning
Articles and photos from MAA's coverage of the 14th Annual R.L. Moore Legacy Conference, held this year in Washington, D.C. Read more.

Announcements

MathFest Registration Deadline
The deadline for regular registration is approaching. Register by June 17th to be processed at the regular registration rate. Registrations received after June 17 will be processed at the late registration rate. Register online now.

PREP Workshop "Leading the Academic Department"
"Leading the Academic Department" will be offered on August 6-8, 2011 in conjunction with MathFest in Lexington, KY. To register for the workshop, click here.

PREP Accepting Proposals for Summer 2012 Workshops
MAA's Professional Enhancement Program (PREP) is now requesting proposals to run a PREP workshop in Summer 2012. For more information, click here.

MAA Merchandise - New T-shirts
Stop by the MAA Merchandise booth to buy the new youth tee designed by John de Pillis. For a full list of items that will be available for purchase at MathFest, click here.

MAA T-shirt Design Contest Winner
Mathematician Edward Early of St. Edwards University created the winning design in this year's MAA t-shirt contest. His design shows a continuous vector field on a sphere with both stable and unstable critical points. Circling the graphic, without punctuation, is the phrase "the more you learn the more you realize you don't understand." Look for t-shirts bearing the new design for sale at MathFest.

Special thanks to everyone who submitted an entry for this year's t-shirt contest and to all those who voted on our Facebook page to help choose the winner.

Featured Articles

"The Calculus I Instructor"
In his June Launchings column, MAA Past-President David Bressoud reports on the instructor data from MAA's survey of mainstream Calculus I classes. Article.

"Wanted: A Mathematical iPod"
In this month's Devlin's Angle column, Keith Devlin discusses the basic quantitative and logical abilities that are essential for anyone to function well in, and contribute to, modern society. Article.

"Marsha Conley, Key MAA-AMC IT Specialist, Retires"
Marsha Conley, the Computer Programmer/Database Manager and information-technology specialist of the MAA's American Mathematics Competition program, retired recently. A quick estimate revealed that Conley had handled more than 8,000,000 student records and reports in her 21-year career at the AMC. Article.

"NASA Astronomer Promotes More Mathematics in Teaching"
NASA astronomer and educator Sten Odenwald has created the website Space Math @ NASA (http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/), an online educational program helping students understand connections with math in their everyday lives. Math in the News article.

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