Contributed Paper Session

This session showcases research reports and case studies for placing and advising students for their initial post-secondary mathematics courses and supporting student success in those courses. This session invites scholarly contributions that focus on (1) ensuring equitable placement for all students, (2) implementing placement strategies, and (3) evaluating their effectiveness.

Organizers:
Emily Gismervig, University of Washington Bothell
Rejoice Akapame, University of Washington Bothell
Nicole Hoover, University of Washington Bothell
Luke Tunstall, Trinity University
Junalyn Navarra Madsen, Texas Woman’s University
Allan Donsig, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 

Sponsor: MAA Committee on Articulation and Placement

Contributed Paper Session

We seek presentations on alternate forms of assessment and alternative grading systems to traditional grading. Presenters should provide details on their motivations as well as the setup of their grading system, their syllabi, and how it was implemented, and a discussion of issues with the implementation, including troubleshooting. We are particularly looking for presenters who are willing to share resources that demonstrate practical ways of adding these products to a course.

Organizers:
Victoria Chebotaeva, University of Southern California
Britney Hopkins, University of Central Oklahoma
Leslie Jones, University of Tampa
Kayla Reardon, University of Southern California
Calum Rickard, University of Southern California
Felicia Tabing, University of Southern California
Paul Tokorcheck, University of Southern California

Contributed Paper Session

Alternative grading practices aim to promote a growth mindset in students by focusing on students’ proficiency in clearly-defined learning objectives with multiple opportunities to demonstrate that proficiency. This session will share innovations and lessons learned from these implementations in various math courses. We are particularly interested in presentations of scholarly reflections on or evidence of the effectiveness (broadly defined) of these practices.

Organizers:
Drew Lewis, Center for Grading Reform
Sharona Krinsky, Center for Grading Reform, California State University Los Angeles
Randall Helmstutler, University of Mary Washington
Jennifer Moorhouse, Hartnell College
Lipika Deka, California State University Monterey Bay

Panel

Scoring hundreds of thousands of AP Exams is a challenge and raises questions such as those related to consistency. The panel will answer such questions, discuss the scoring process and what the scores tell us about what students know (and don’t know) and describe how to help students understand the scoring process and how this is reflected in the classroom.

Organizers:
Gail Burrill, Michigan State University
Stephanie Ogdon, College Board 

Sponsors: MAA/College Board Mutual Concerns Committee

Panel

Explore how the Multiple Measure Assessment (MMA) Initiative enhances college readiness by using diverse metrics beyond standardized tests. This session will showcase innovative, data-driven approaches to student placement and success, with insights from educational leaders across varied institutions. Learn practical strategies for implementing MMA, reducing remediation, and fostering equity in readiness assessments.

Organizers:
Noureen Khan, University of North Texas at Dallas
Ramanjit Sahi, Austin Peay State University
Byungik Kahng, University of North Texas at Dallas

Panel

Panelists will discuss assessment and placement practices that support student learning, especially for students from historically underrepresented and disadvantaged populations. Topics will include multiple measures placement, competency-based assessment, and other alternatives to traditional assessment and placement practices.

Organizers:
Joan Zoellner, Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin
Amanda Harsy, Lewis University
Douglas Meade, University of South Carolina 

Sponsors:
Assessment of Student Learning subcommittee of Committee on the Teaching of Undergraduate Mathematics (CTUM) and the Articulation and Placement Subcommittee of the Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics (CUPM).

Workshop

This workshop introduces alternative grading approaches—Standards-Based Grading, Specifications Grading, and Ungrading. Participants will explore their principles, benefits, and challenges, while gaining practical tools for implementation. Educators will develop actionable plans to align grading practices with learning objectives and equity goals, fostering deeper learning and reducing bias. Ideal for educators seeking innovative assessment strategies.

Organizers:
Melanie Butler, Mount St. Mary’s University
Fred Butler, York College of Pennsylvania

Minicourse

Grading practices have an all-encompassing effect on student learning and classroom environment. Participants will explore the destructive impact of “traditional” grading practices on student learning, equity, and student/instructor relationships. Participants will have hands-on time working through a scaffolded implementation plan with the facilitators to outline a plan for redesigning a course to use alternative grading.

Organizers:
Drew Lewis, Center for Grading Reform
Sharona Krinsky, California State University, Los Angeles / Center for Grading Reform
Robert Bosley, California State University, Los Angeles / Center for Grading Reform

In this panel Math Alliance Scholar doctorates discuss how the Math Alliance and focused mentoring has influenced their path to their PhD as well as their careers. The Math Alliance is a community of faculty and students striving to increase the number of quantitative science doctorates among traditionally underrepresented groups.

Organizers:
Theresa Martines, University of Texas at Austin
Roderick Holmes, Texas Southern University 

Sponsor: Math Alliance

The goals of this session are to share practices for supporting and mentoring mathematics instructors, disseminate and inventory low-resource opportunities for new faculty professional development and community building, and encourage thoughtful planning for how to welcome faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students to the profession.

Organizers:
Maria Wesslen, University of Toronto Mississauga
Alex Rennet, University of Toronto Mississauga
Jaimal Thind, University of Toronto Mississaug
Mindy Capaldi, James Madison University
Alicia Prieto-Langarica, Youngstown State University
Kristin A. Camenga, Juniata College
John Thompson, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
Cassie Williams, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Justin Gash, Franklin College 

Sponsor: MAA Committee on Professional Development

This interactive and evidence-based mini-course will lead participants to deepen their skills as culturally-responsive mentors based on the notion of mentorship as a network of sustained, intentional interpersonal relationships. Participants will co-construct an intellectual framework, experiment with various methods, and a develop a toolbox of strategies for building effective mentoring relationships.

Organizers:
Abbe Herzig, Sarah Lawrence College
Aris Winger, Georgia Gwinnett College
Emily Moore, University of Oregon
Pamela Harris, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The session’s primary goal is to offer practical guidance for leveraging Fulbright as a bridge to global collaboration and career growth. It is expected that the participants of this session will gain insights from panelists on teaching and research abroad, the Fulbright application process, and the opportunities this program provides.

Organizers:
Ioana Mihaila, Cal Poly Pomona
Sarah Wolff, Denison University
Mahir Can, Tulane University
Nancy Ann Neudauer, Pacific University

The first MathFest Exhibition of Mathematical Art will include up to 50 artworks contributed by mathematical artists, as well as a group display organized by SIGMAA EM, with a critical mass of images contributed in advance highlighting mathematics and the environment, as well as an opportunity for MAA MathFest 2025 visitors to make their own images and submit them to the display. The EM organizers have created a fun hexagonal template that invites participants to contribute to a honeycomb pattern of environmental math/art.

Submit your mathematical artwork to MathArt at Math- Fest here: forms.gle/k82bYVaYjR9iPVkr7.

Submit to the SIGMAA EM display here: shorturl.at/Rz7fY

Organizers:
Frank Farris, Santa Clara University
Bronna Butler, B.A. Baroque Arts, LLC
Amanda Beecher, Ramapo College of New Jersey
Russ deForest, Everly College of Science
Chris Gott, University of the Pacific
Katy Franz, Unaffiliated Mathematical Artists
Jack Love, San Francisco State University
Jeff Venrtella, Unaffiliated Mathematical Artists

During a closing reception for the art exhibition, prizes will be awarded for exceptional art works in the exhibit.

Organizers:
Frank Farris, Golden Section
Doug Dunham, SIGMAA ARTS 

Sponsors: Prizes courtesy of the Golden Section and reception sponsored by SIGMAA-ARTS

Can you draw math? This workshop explores how illustrations can clarify—or complicate—mathematics. Through a Pictionary-style game, you will experiment with drawing mathematics, uncovering which concepts are easy to illustrate and which ones challenge your creativity. Designed for educators and enthusiasts, this session offers fresh perspectives on using visuals to teach, learn, and rethink the way we picture math.

Organizers:
Mrinal Dhume, TU Delft

This invited paper session will feature leading researchers in the overlap of the fields of mathematics and the arts. Some of the participants will describe new artworks they have created with mathematical content. Other participants will present current investigations into the mathematical content in existing artworks. Some may describe their artworks on display at the MAA MathFest art exhibition.

Organizers:
Douglas Dunham, University of Minnesota-Duluth
Douglas Norton, Villanova University

This minicourse is for faculty interested in encouraging their students to consider issues of social justice in the context of the mathematics classroom. In Mathematics and Democracy, Lynn Steen and his collaborators set an inspiring goal, for curricula and instruction that: “empower people by giving them the tools to think for themselves, to ask intelligent questions of experts, and to confront authority confidently.’’ We will pursue Steen’s goal by featuring several examples of applications of mathematics and statistics to issues of social justice.

Organizer:
Lily Khadjavi, Loyola Marymount University

As the semester dawns, faculty look for inspiration and novel ways to make our classes more en-gaging, compassionate, and welcoming. This town hall will crowdsource lists of tangible strategies and practices for their classrooms to foster belonging and support an environment where all learners engage joyfully in rigorous mathematics. Following MAA MathFest, these lists will be made available publicly.

Organizers:
Abbe Herzig, Bard Prison Initiative
Geillan Aly, Compassionate Math
Aris Winger, Georgia Gwinnett College

First Lecture: Machine Assisted Proofs

Terence Tao, University of California, Los Angeles

For centuries, mathematicians have relied on computers to perform calculations, to suggest conjectures, and as components of mathematical proofs. In the light of more modern tools such as interactive theorem provers, machine learning algorithms, and generative AI, we are beginning to see machines used in more creative and substantive ways in our work. In this talk we survey some historical and recent developments, and speculate on the future roles of machine assistance in mathematics.

Based on the success of Indiana’s special session at Mathfest 2024, this session is an opportunity for individuals from other sections to share historical events, significant individuals, and key programming that contributed to their section’s development. Talks are expected to be grounded in the historical documentation while telling compelling stories for a broad audience.

Organizers:
Grace Cook, Bloomfield College of Montclair State University
Rick Gillman, Valparaiso University 

Sponsor: History of Mathematics Special Interest Group of the MAA

IHMT offered unprecedented training in history to mathematicians in the late 1990s. This session celebrates the achievements of those fellows in the history of mathematics research, mathematics education research, the use of history of mathematics in teaching mathematics, and public history of mathematics. Speakers will note IHMT’s influence on their careers and discuss their own scholarship.

Organizers:
Amy Ackerberg-Hastings, MAA Convergence
Daniel Otero, Xavier University

Proposals are invited especially on the theme of paradox in mathematics, and how paradox has influenced the philosophy of mathematics, mathematics itself, and logic over the millennia. However, all talks on the Philosophy of Mathematics will be considered.

Organizers:
Steven Deckelman, University of Wisconsin-Stout
Bonnie Gold, Monmouth University (Retired)
Thomas Drucker, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (Retired)

Participants will get hands-on experience with classroom materials based on primary historical sources. Participants will place themselves in the role of students as they work through guided readings and mathematical exercises based on source texts. In addition, participants will learn to implement “Reading Apprenticeship” routines, which can be used to help students improve their ability to read and understand mathematics.

Organizers:
Jennifer Clinkenbeard, California State University Monterey Bay
Abe Edwards, Michigan State University
Ken Monks, College of Southern Nevada
Daniel Otero, Xavier University
Adam Parker, Wittenberg University
Michael Saclolo, St. Edwards University
Janet Heine Barnett, Colorado State University Pueblo 

Sponsors:
SIGMAA on the History of Mathematics (SIGMAA HOM)
The Euler Society
TRIUMPHS Society (TRansforming Instruction: Understanding Mathematics via Primary Historical Sources)

This workshop introduces participants to Reacting to the Past (RTTP) pedagogy, roleplaying games centered around key social and intellectual conflicts. RTTP is a well-established active learning pedagogy in which students take the floor. In this session, participants will participate in the own math-centric Reacting game, “Markov v. Nekrasov” and learn how they can implement Reacting games into their own classroom.

Organizers:
Chad Curtis, Nevada State University
Sungju Moon, Nevada State University

In this workshop, we will investigate how AI can help you read original works of Newton, Euler, Lagrange, etc. Our team of math historians and classicists will support you as you translate a mathematical work in small groups using AI. We will also provide review materials, free online resources, and potential avenues for publication of your work.

Organizers:
Christopher Goff, University of the Pacific
Erik Tou, University of Washington-Tacoma

Experience an innovative instructional approach that fosters mathematical creativity through historical breakthroughs from Algebra to Calculus classes. This workshop will use Torricelli’s Trumpet as a case study, placing participants in the role of students. Participants will engage in problem definition, scaffolded discovery, and a deep understanding and appreciation of the origins of modern mathematics.

Organizers:
Cem Inaltong, Aeon Learning Sciences
Austin Volz, Aeon Learning Sciences

Participants will engage in a common reading and discussion of selections (in English translation) from the 1861 lecture notes of Karl Weierstrass (1815–1897), who formalized the concept of limit with his representation in terms of “e-d” inequalities.

Organizer:
Daniel Otero, Xavier University

Second Lecture: Translational Tilings of Euclidean Space

Terence Tao, University of California, Los Angeles 

Translational tilings of Euclidean space are a partition of Euclidean space (up to null sets) by translates of one or more tiles. For instance, the famous Penrose tilings are a translational tiling by a finite number of triangles which can only tile the plane non-periodically. One of the outstanding problems in this field is the “periodic tiling conjecture”—if a tile can tile space by translations, must there exist a way to tile space periodically with this tile? Recently, Rachel Greenfeld and I were able to disprove this conjecture in high dimensions, by encoding a certain «Sudoku puzzle» as a tiling problem. We survey this result and other recent progress in this talk.

Complex Analysis and Geometry offer many elegant results and beautiful visual images. In this session, speakers will discuss such results and images. Talks are open to theoretical and applied research results including those done by undergraduate students, historical research and episodes that can be woven into the curriculum, and pedagogical research and approaches to the teaching of Complex Analysis and Geometry.

Organizers:
Russell Howell, Westmont College
Michael Dorff, Brigham Young University
Beth Schaubroeck, United States Air Force Academy
Mike Brilleslyper, Florida Polytechnic University

Today the prevalence of data and machine-learning has led to dissolving walls between theoretical and applied and computational ideas. It is precisely these discrete and computational geometric crosswords that serve as the course foci. We will explore modern topics of polygons, polyhedra, and point clouds seen through scissors congruence, rigidity and flexibility, and the shape of data.

Organizers:
Satyan Devadoss, University of San Diego
Joseph O’Rourke, Smith College

In 2022 the California Legislature approved AB 1705, a bill which requires California Community Colleges to place most STEM students directly into Calculus 1 by Fall 2025, regardless of their previous coursework. The bill has generated debate within California and across the nation. This panel will discuss the bill’s intent, implementation, and effect.

Organizers:
Matthew Krauel, California State University, Sacramento
Gabriel Martins, California State University, Sacramento
Vincent Pigno, California State University, Sacramento
Corey Shanbrom, California State University, Sacramento
Topaz Wiscons, California State University, Sacramento

All routes to STEM go through Calculus. Many entering college students are placed into calculus prerequisite courses. Some education leaders are challenging this trend, experimenting with alternatives, and even promoting legislation to curtail access to prerequisite courses. This session will examine current research on the pros and cons of college-level calculus prerequisites such as college algebra and precalculus.

Organizers:
Pamela Burdman, Just Equations
David Bressoud, Macalester College (retired)
Tammi Marshall, Cuyamaca College

Are your students stymied by limits and Riemann sums when trying to use integration to solve problems? It could be because Leibniz’ integral notation ∫ydx predates limits of Riemann sums by 150 years. We will explore how to rearrange the emphasis and topics of an integral calculus course to follow a more historically accurate and pedagogically sound development.

Organizers:
Robert Rogers, SUNY Fredonia
Eugene Boman, Penn State – Harrisburg

This workshop will engage participants in cognitively scaffolded activities demonstrating the value of a research-informed learning process focusing on quantitative and covariational reasoning. Workshops leaders will also share research-based assessment items testing these ideas. Participants will leave with new tools and approaches for supporting students’ mathematical reasoning and adjusting learning goals for undergraduate mathematics courses aligned with mathematics education research.

Organizers:
Marilyn Carlson, Arizona State University
Alan O’Bryan, Rational Reasoning LLC

As one of the newer Project NExT cohorts, this session highlights the research and academic initiatives of early career faculty. Some specific topics for presentations include Large Eddy Simulations, which is used in computational fluid dynamics, development of numerical methods for solving partial differential equations, topological time series analysis, and the solution existence of quadratic optimization problems.

Organizers:
Alexander Joyce, Florida Polytechnic University

This session highlights the research of early career applied mathematicians, covering topics such as mathematical modeling, computational methods, interdisciplinary applications, and more. Presenters will share both their research and experiences navigating early career challenges, such as forming new collaborations and involving undergraduates in research. Presentations are expected to be scholarly in nature and provide insights into establishing a research trajectory.

Organizers:
Cara Sulyok, Lewis University
Kelly Buch, Austin Peay State University

This session focuses on the mathematical, pedagogical, leadership, and career accomplishments of members of the Gold’14 Project NExT cohort over the decade since their initiation into Project NExT. Presentations in this session will span a variety of topics and lessons learned as Gold’14ers have gone from new faculty to leaders.

Organizers:
Jessie Hamm, Winthrop University
Amanda Harsy, Lewis University
Alyssa Hooofnagle, Wittenberg University
Haley Yaple, Carthage College

This poster session and networking event allows early career mathematicians to present and discuss their scholarly activities with senior mathematicians in an informal atmosphere. Nontenured faculty and graduate students are especially encouraged to apply. Examples of scholarly activities suitable for this poster session include expository work, preliminary reports, scholarship of teaching and learning, and research reports.

Organizer:
Lisa Driskell, Colorado Mesa University