VIGRE

AMS Meeting in Atlanta

The big AMS Meeting is in Atlanta this coming January.

Mason Porter is encouraging undergrads to participate in the undergrad poster session.

He writes: To participate in the poster session, you need to submit material ASAP
because space is limited. (It's really important for Georgia Tech to have a good showing here.) All material should be submitted by e-mail to Mario
Martelli (mmartelli@claremontmckenna.edu). Acceptable formats are tex, pdf and word. You need to submit the following:
1. project title
2. abstract (<= 1/2 page) 3. names and affiliations of all authors
4. name, email, and telephone # for student who will be the contact person for the logistics of the presentation
5. name(s) and affiliation(s) of advisors 6. sources of finanial support [much less relevant for you than
for undergrads traveling from elsewhere; I think this is an issue of preventing no-shows]

The best posters get prizes! I was a judge last year and the work you guys have done kicks the crap out of most of the stuff that was there (not that I'm biased or anything), so if you design a good poster, your chances are very good! Plus, you'll make some nice connections with people, so this really can be _substantially_ helpful for graduate school.

TA and Grader Jobs for Undergrads

More advanced undergraduates are hired to do one of two jobs for the School of Mathematics. The more advanced and challenging position is being a Teaching Assistant for a Calculus class. There are also a number of grader positions.

Detailed information about both either, keep reading.

Teaching Assistants The School has a very sizable teaching load, and each semester it hires about twenty undergraduates to TA for its courses. This is a paying job, and can frequently be a very rewarding experience for them.

We begin our undergraduate TA search each spring by sending applications to juniors and seniors in engineering, CS, and science programs (no biology majors because they only take 2 math courses) with GPAs 3.6 or higher. This year we sent out over 600 applications.

The application process consists of (1) a homework assigment of questions from the Calculus (2) a half an hour interview with Rena Brakebill, a Graduate TA, and a faculty member (3) A 20 minute teaching demo which is taped for evaluation. Factors in the hiring decisions include general GPAs, math courses and grades, maturity level, attitudes, communication skills, and references. The hiring decision is made in July for the fall term. They are appointed on the term-by-term basis. The future term employment is based on satisfactory performances and available sections. We don't normally hire undergraduate TAs in the summer.

Undergraduate Math Majors who are interested in TAing in the Spring term can contact Rena Brakebill in October.

An undergraduate TA receives a stipend and a 1 hour P/F credit for Math 4801, TA Development Seminar.

Graders The School of Math also uses Graders for many of it's courses. Klara Grodzinsky is heading up the Grader program. Students should have at least taken Math 3215 and 3012. Some 4XXX level courses also helps. The greatest need is for graders in Math 3012, and 3215. There are no graders for the Calculus.

Applying to Grad School?

A special seminar on Applying to Grad School,

Tuesday 28 September Skiles 269

The audience is Undergrads, who are interested in
applying to Graduate School, in Math, Physics, CS, or whatever.
While the speaker (me, Michael Lacey) has most experience at
Math Grad School, much of the seminar is independent of discipline,
and Math Undergrads go into a bunch of dfferen programs. See the list below!

The range of options is broad, and GT math majors have been very successful
of late in being placed in top ranked graduate programs.
A table of recent placements is below.

Can't make the seminar? My slides are here.
And of course, you should seek advice through out the process!

Name	Year	University	Award
David Vener	'01	MIT	NSF Grad
Nick Bronn	'02	Cambridge	Gates/NSF Grad
Andy Wand	'02	Berkeley	NSF Grad
Blair Dowling (F)	'03	Princeton	Homeland
Wai-Jing Law (F)	'03	Duke
Yakov Kerzhner	'03	NYU/Courant
David Skoog	'03	GT
Clark Alexander	'03	Northwestern
David Eger	'03	CMU (CS)	Fulbright
Ganesh Sundramoorthi	'03	GT (EE)
Nathan Bell	'03	UIUC (CS)
Brandon Meredith	'03	Boston
Casey Warmbrand	' 04	Arizona
Andrew Stimpson	'04	Stony Brook
Ryan Hynd	'04	Berkeley	ATT, NSF Grad
Boris Kerzhner	'04	GT (Bio Eng)
Sang Chu	'04	Harvard (Physics)
Alex Olseshky	'04	MIT (EE)	NSF Grad

Sigma Xi's Undergraduate Research Conference

Sigma Xi is a national society with a strong focus on encouraging undergraduate research across a range of scientific disciplines.

Last year, Ryan Hynd participated in the Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.
This year the conference is in Montreal, in November. More information follows.
(Thanks to Mason Porter for bringing this to my attention.)

1) STUDENT OPPORTUNITY - 2004 Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference to be held in Montreal, Canada. Student events will take place on No
vember 12 and 13 and are primarily aimed at undergraduates, but opportunities for graduate students and doctoral candidates exist. Students pres
ent research; network with career researchers, graduate recruiters and potential employers; and attend workshops on such topics as communicating
science, ethics, leadership and career development. Featured speakers include environmentalist and science communicator David Suzuki, Nobel Laur
eate in physics Murray Gell-Mann, Young Investigator Award Winner Jason Neih and astronaut Julie Payette.
Information at: http://www.sigmaxi.org/meetings/annual/index.shtml

2) GRANTS-IN-AID OF RESEARCH PROGRAM - Awarding research support to undergraduate and graduate students for 80 years. Most grants range from a fe
w hundred dollars to $1,000. Vision related or astronomy related research projects may be awarded up to $2,500.
Students apply online: http://sigmaxi.org/programs/giar/guide.shtml
APPLICATION DEADLINE: OCTOBER 15, 2004.

Undergrads at January Math Meeting

Mason Porter's message to undergrads about the January annual meeting of the American Mathematial Society to be held in Atlanta, January 5th to 8th.

Every January, the MAA and AMS host their joint mathematics meetings, which is a very large international math conference with tons of good
opportunities for undergrad students to present their work, interact with professionals, etc. In 2005, the meeting will be occurring in
Atlanta from 1/5-1/8!

The website for the meeting is: http://www.ams.org/amsmtgs/2091_intro.html


Because of how easy it will be for you to attend this meeting, I _highly_ suggest that you submit an abstract (deadline 10/5) to present your
work. I particular recommend that do a poster presentation, although short speaking slots (10 min) are also available.

(The website above contains submission procedures for abstracts.)

Please submit an abstract even if you don't know if you'll be in town then. Registration for undergrads costs $21 if done by 12/10 and $27
at the door (and this should be trivially fundable for those of you who have participated in VIGRE), and submitting your abstract now is
_not_ a commitment to attend. (You'll just send an e-mail later to cancel if you can't come.)

For people who are not math majors: Theoretical projects in other sciences are still applied math projects and therefore highly relevant, so
it doesn't matter what subject it shows on your diploma, etc. You'll still get _a lot_ out of going to this conference.

For people just starting their projects: The worst case scenario is that you'll make an expository poster discussing the background of the
problem, and that is also worth doing.

2 REU Projects at Ohio State Conference

Ohio State is hosting an annual Young Mathematicians Conference.

This looks like a nice conference, with a wide set of excellent speakers, including the incomparable John Conway. GT undergrads should keep this in mind for next year.

Georgia Tech has two REU projects represented in the poster session , scroll half way down to see the abstracts of Thomas Callaghan's abstract, and of Julie Bjornstadt and Alexei Dachevski.

Julie and Alexi are reporting on work from the GT REU from this past summer.
It is in the area of math biology, and was done under the supervision of Professors Porter and Bunimovich in Mathematics, and Professor Christopher Klausmeir of the School of Biology.

The project concerns the dynamical behavior of photoplankton populations. These are critical populations in the oceans, motivating the study. The methods are from dynamical systems. They report that these populations exhibit long time stability, with relaxed oscillations. The bifurcation behavior is studied, as a function of the amount of nutrient available.

Thomas Callaghan is speaking on College Football Rankings. And if you don't know about this project a google search on "monkey bcs" is amusing. The top links are to Thomas Callaghan's work with Professors Peter Mucha and Mason Porter on this topic. A powerpoint file of his poster is available.

Problem of the Week

I hope all of you have had a good summer. Now, here we are, back for the
fall. I am writting all of you because this semester we are running again
the project "Problem of the Week" and I would like you (specially those
of you who are teaching for math undergrads) to encourage your students to
try this problems. I have already posted the first problem of this
semester on the web at

http://www.math.gatech.edu/~pow/

Thank you very much. Have a nice semester,


________________________________________________
________| David Jimenez |________
\ | Mail: djimenez@math.gatech.edu | /
\ | gtg354q@mail.gatech.edu | /
\ | MSN: davidjimenezlopez81@hotmail.com | /
/ | ICQ# 56881161 Tel. 1 (404) 894 4756 | \
/ |________________________________________________| \
/_______) (_______\

US Math Olympiad Team Finishes Second, behind China

From the AMS website. The 2004 U.S. Math Olympiad team finished second among over 80 countries at
the recently concluded 45th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in
Athens, Greece. U.S. team members were: Oleg Goldberg, Tianka Liu, Alison
Miller, Aaron Pixton and Tony Zhang, who each won a gold medal, and Matt
Ince, who won a silver medal. The medal count and second-place finish are
the best results for a U.S. team since 1994. China finished first with a
team total of 220 points (out of 252 possible), eight points ahead of the
U.S. team. Rounding out the top five teams were Russia, Vietnam, and
Bulgaria. Cancun, Mexico is the site of next year's Olympiad. Information
about IMO 2004 is posted at
http://www.imo2004.gr

Math in Moscow Scholarships

The Math in Moscow program provides undergraduates with
an outstanding cultural and educational semester at Moscow State University.

In addition, the $5000 schloarships can make this semster quite affordable.
Deadline for application to the Spring Semester is Sept 30. For Fall Semester,
April 15.

One GT major, Elizabeth Sanders, has participated in the Math in Moscow
program. See her description here.

The other study abroad in math, in Budapest has had a number of participants: David Eger,
Casey Warmbrand, as well as David Eger (again) and Adam Marcus, as Fulbrights.

SACNAS annual meeting in October 2004

The Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science
(SACNAS) is committed to increasing the participation of groups that
have traditionally been underrepresented in mathematics and science. In
particular, SACNAS has worked for 30 years to encourage Chicano/Latino
and Native American students to pursue the graduate degrees necessary
for research careers in science and mathematics.

The 2004 SACNAS annual conference will take place in Austin, TX on
October 21-24. The Conference will include workshops on the graduate
school process, recruiter and exhibitor sessions, scientific symposia,
and oral and poster presentations by graduate and undergraduate
students. This year, with sponsorship from the National Security Agency,
the National Science Foundation, and the American Mathematical Society,
the SACNAS Conference will have a large number of mathematics
activities, including

* two concurrent mini-courses for students, one in coding theory
and one in mathematical methods in bioinformatics
* one mathematics minisymposium
* one statistics minisymposium
* one bioinformatics minisymposium
* graduate students oral presentations

Our goal is to bring together approximately 200 mathematicians and
students to develop and strengthen professional networks. We encourage
you to visit the SACNAS mathematics web site
(http://www.uprh.edu/~sacnas) for more information on the mathematics
activities and the SACNAS web site (http://www.sacnas.org) for
information on the conference, registration and financial aid for
students. Please note that the financial aid deadline is June 14, 2004.
Students of all levels are strongly encouraged to submit abstracts for
poster or oral presentations.

The participants at the SACNAS conference will include approximately
1000 students majoring in the sciences and mathematics. This represents
an excellent recruiting opportunity for your institution/agency.
Securing a booth or table as an exhibitor at the conference also allows
SACNAS to fund more students to the meeting. For more exhibitor
information, please write to exhibit@sacnas.org.

Summer/Graduation Plans

Some of the things that I know already

Grad School:

Ryan Hynd Berkely Grad School in Math (Bell Labs/NSF Grad Fellowhsip)
Andrew Stimpston SUNY Stony Brook in Math, Park City Utah
Casey Warmbrand U Arizona, in Math (to be confirmed)
Sang Chu Harvard in Physics
Alex Olsehsky MIT in EE (NSF Grad Fellowship)



Jobs for Graduating Seniors

Jordon Lusterman Lockheed Martin
Vikas Darji Home Depot




REU LIST:

Student Faculty Mentor
Matt Perry, Thomas
Julie Bjornstad, Porter, Klausmeier, Bunimovich
Alexie Dachevski, Porter, Klausmeier, Bunimovich
Robert Pruvenok, Zhou
Caroline Seabrook, Chow
Stephanie Chung, Chow
Bayazid Sarkar, Croot
Brittany Hughes, Randall (To be confirmed)

Jessica Synder, MTBI/Cornell
Alan Diaz, Chaos, UMD College Park

Hynd and Callaghan to Receive SoM Awards

The SoM each year selects two students, a junior and a senior, to receive
awards. This year, the best senior award goes to Ryan Hynd, while the
best junior award goes to Thomas Callaghan.

Both have been reported several times on this site already. (Go here for Ryan and go here for Thomas. A list of past awardess is availible. Ryan is off to grad school this year (and has to make up his mind this week!) Thomas is here next year, but will have some stiff competition to have a clean sweep of these two awards.

Summer 2004 REU Participants

The Summer 2004 VIGRE REU Participants are set. They are:

Matt Perrry (Thomas)
Julie Bjornstad (Porter, Klausmeier, Bunimovich)
Alexie Dachevski (Porter, Klausmeier, Bunimovich)
Robert Pruvenok (Zhou)
Caroline Seabrook (Chow)
Stephanie Chung (Chow)
Bayazid Sarkar (Croot)

More details will appear at the Undergrad site in the research section. In particular, the accomplishments that have come out of past REUs is broad and impressive.

These students have an opportunity to get started on some challenging projects. Advancing in the summer, and then continuing their research into the Fall semester, they could make similar kinds of advances.

High School Mathematics Competition Article

The High School Math Competition, held three weeks ago, was a huge success,
with 250 students competing for over $10,000 in scholarships.

The GT News Paper The Technique has an article on the event.

Thomas Callaghan Wins Goldwater Scholarship

Thomas Callaghan, an Applied Mathematics major,
has been awarded a Goldwater Fellowship.

He, and Mark Oliver, a MSE major, are two GT Juniors to
receive the award this year. They are in fact roommates!


This is a federally supported fellowship, in honor of Senator Barry Goldwater to promote the
interests of the next generation of scientists and engineers.
It is awarded to rising juniors or seniors. And provides
fellowship support for one year. Thomas especially thanks Professors
Mucha and Porter for their support during his REU project on Football
Rankings. All three are in the picture, at the Georgia Tech Football Stadium.

There were 22 awards in the area of mathematics nationally.
And this is the fourth national fellowship award to go to a GT
Math undergraduate this year.

Congratulations to both! --Michael Lacey

Two GT Math Undergrads Receive NSF Grad Fellowships

Two GT Mathematics Majors have been awarded NSF Graduate Fellowships. Congratulations to both!

Ryan Hynd, who recently got the ATT Fellowship. And will have to settle on a graduate school soon.

The other is Alexader Olsevsky, who was a double major, in EE and Mathematics. He is pursuing graduate school in EE.

In all, GT undergraduates took 14 of these awards. There are about 30 awards in mathematics this year.

Last year, 3 GT Math Undergrads received these fellowships. The terms of these Fellowships are very generous. And competetive. The success rate in most disciplines is 10%, and 15% in
engineering.

Eligibility information about these grants follows. Note that you have essentially three years of eligibility!

ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

• Citizenship: Applicants must be United States citizens or nationals, or permanent resident aliens of the United States.

• Field, Degree Program, and Research Topics: Fellowships are awarded for graduate study in fields supported by the NSF, including the mathematical, physical, biological, behavioral and social sciences; engineering; the history of science and the philosophy of science; and for research-based PhD degrees in science education. Information on supported degree programs and research topics is outlined in these Guidelines for Submission of Applications.

• Earned Graduate Study: Fellowships are intended for individuals in the early stages of their graduate study. In most cases, an individual has three opportunities to apply: during the senior year of college, prior to or during the first year of graduate school, and at the beginning of the second year of graduate school.

Keep reading for list of GT winners, and Math winner. The

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Georgia Tech Awards %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Ahsan, Saniya Akhtar
Churchill College
Cambridge, ENGLAND CB3 ODS
sani_me@hotmail.com
E/MECHANCL Georgia Institute of Tech Stanford U/CA


Ashley, David Ryan
2143-T Lake Park Dr
Smyrna, GA 30080
gte647i@mail.gatech.edu
E/BIOENGR Georgia Institute of Tech Georgia Institute of Tech

Bagrak, Ilya
Address Not Available for Publication


CS/LANG Georgia Institute of Tech Stanford U/CA

Carter, Frances DeAnna
Address Not Available for Publication


PHYS/OPTIC Georgia Institute of Tech U of Maryland-Baltimore
County

Filaski, Katherine Joanne
Address Not Available for Publication


BIOCHEM Georgia Institute of Tech U of California-San Francisco

Healy, Zachary Ryan
1743 Baldwin Drive
Millersville, MD 21108
zhealy1@jhu.edu
E/BIOENGR Georgia Institute of Tech Johns Hopkins U/MD

Hynd, Ryan Charles
326121 Georgia Tech Station
Atlanta, GA 30332
ryanhynd@math.gatech.edu
MATH/GEOM Georgia Institute of Tech Stanford U/CA

Marhaver, Kristen Laura
1635 Tallulah St Apt B
Atlanta, GA 30318
gte569u@mail.gatech.edu
MARINE BIO Georgia Institute of Tech Stanford U/CA

Micka, Daniel James
335109 Georgia Tech Station
Atlanta, GA 30332
gte593u@prism.gatech.edu
E/AERONAUT Georgia Institute of Tech Georgia Institute of Tech


Olshevsky, Alexander
Address Not Available for Publication


E/ELECTRCL Georgia Institute of Tech Massachusetts Inst of
Technology

Parra, Erika Andrea
12290 Broadleaf Ln
Alpharetta, GA 30005
eparra.me03@gtalumni.org
E/MECHANCL Georgia Institute of Tech Stanford U/CA

Perng, Ginger
5718 Fifth Avenue Apt A
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
gperng@ece.cmu.edu
E/COMPUTER Georgia Institute of Tech Carnegie Mellon U/PA

Piper, Anne Marie
Address Not Available for Publication


CS/HUMN IN Georgia Institute of Tech Massachusetts Inst of
Technology

Xu, Jia
329687 Georgia Tech Station
Atlanta, GA 30332
gte967v@mail.gatech.edu
E/AERONAUT Georgia Institute of Tech California Inst of
Technology

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Mathematics Awards %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Armbruster, Benjamin
4517 S. Kachina Dr.
Tempe, AZ 85282
barmbrus@email.arizona.edu
MATH/APPS U of Arizona Massachusetts Inst of Technology

Briscoe, Margaret Sage
2003 South Carrollton Ave
New Orleans, LA 70118
mbrisco1@tulane.edu
MATH/ALGBR Tulane U-Newcomb College/LA U of California-Berkeley

Brown, Jonathan Henry
PO Box 2356 Station B
Nashville, TN 37235-2356
jonathan.h.brown@vanderbilt.edu
MATH/OTHER Vanderbilt U/TN Vanderbilt U/TN

Bullock, Evan Merrill
23 Sunset Blvd.
Houston, TX 77005
evanmb@rice.edu
MATH/ALGBR Rice U/TX Harvard U/MA

Carlsson, Erik Lee
Address Not Available for Publication


MATH/TOPOL Stanford U/CA Princeton U/NJ

Constantine, David Arthur
Eastern Nazarene College 23 E. Elm Ave
Quincy, MA 02170
david.a.constantine@enc.edu
MATH/ALGBR Eastern Nazarene College/MA Cornell U/NY

Gaebler, David Jonathan
340 E Foothill Blvd
Claremont, CA 91711
dgaebler@hmc.edu
MATH/ANALY Harvey Mudd College/CA U of California-Berkeley

Gu, Jane
70 Pacific St. 324C
Cambridge, MA 02139
zerin@mit.edu
MATH/ALGBR Seoul Natl U Massachusetts Inst of Technology

Holden, Matthew Thomas
Address Not Available for Publication


MATH/GEOM Pomona College/CA Massachusetts Inst of Technology

Hynd, Ryan Charles
326121 Georgia Tech Station
Atlanta, GA 30332
ryanhynd@math.gatech.edu
MATH/GEOM Georgia Institute of Tech Stanford U/CA

Istook, Diana Lee
6113 Inland Rd.
Oklahoma City, OK 73132
Diana-Miner@ouhsc.edu
MATH/APPS Brigham Young U/UT U of Oklahoma-Health Science Ctr

Kass, Jesse
Room 403, Conant Hall 36 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
kass@math.harvard.edu
MATH/ALGBR U of Michigan Harvard U/MA

Khoury, Michael John
1330 Presidential Drive Apartment 110
Columbus, OH 43212
khoury@math.osu.edu
MATH/ALGBR Denison U/OH Princeton U/NJ

Lee, Wai Kei Peter
Address Not Available for Publication


MATH/TOPOL Stanford U/CA Massachusetts Inst of Technology

Lehmann, Brian Todd
P.O. Box 202708
New Haven, CT 06520
brian.lehmann@yale.edu
MATH/ALGBR Yale U/CT U of California-Berkeley

Loh, Po-Shen
MSC 788 Caltech
Pasadena, CA 91126-0788
po@caltech.edu
MATH/APPS California Inst of Technology Massachusetts Inst of
Technology

Los, Joel
Address Not Available for Publication


MATH/ALGBR University of Paris VII/France U of California-Berkeley

Manichaikul, Ani Wang
3016 St Paul St, 2nd Floor
Baltimore, MD 21218
amanicha@jhsph.edu
MATH/APPS Stanford U/CA Johns Hopkins U/MD

Mares, Bernard Allen
Brown University Box 3385
Providence, RI 02912-3385
MATH/GEOM Brown U/RI Stanford U/CA

Matchett, Philip Joseph
Emmanuel College
Cambridge, ENGLAND CB2 3AP
pjm88@cam.ac.uk
MATH/STATS Harvard U/MA U of California-Berkeley

Maydanskiy, Maksim Igorevich
1200 14th Ave Apt 203
San Francisco, CA 94122
maksim@uclink.berkeley.edu
MATH/GEOM U of California-Berkeley Massachusetts Inst of
Technology

Mihaescu, Radu Horia
1085 Keith Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94708
mihaescu@uclink.berkeley.edu
MATH/APPS Princeton U/NJ U of California-Berkeley

Milovich, David Kevin
3 Ames St., Box #257
Cambridge, MA 02142
dkm@mit.edu
MATH/LOGIC Massachusetts Inst of Technology U of
Wisconsin-Madison

Narkawicz, Anthony Joseph
502 I Jackson street
Blacksburg, VA 24060
anarkawi@vt.edu
MATH/ALGBR VA Polytech Inst & State U Duke U/NC

Niedermaier, Andrew Gerard
340 E Foothill Blvd
Claremont, CA 91711
aniedermaier@hmc.edu
MATH/OTHER Harvey Mudd College/CA U of California-Berkeley

Novak, Jennifer Sue
PO Box 1545
College Station, TX 77841
jenmaggie@neo.tamu.edu
MATH/TOPOL Texas A&M U U of Chicago/IL

Papageorgiou, Dimitri Jason
105 Stanley Ct.
Cary, NC 27513
djpapag@mail.utexas.edu
MATH/OP R U of North Carolina-Chapel Hill U of Texas-Austin

Patel, Ankit Bhaskar
292 Harvard St #2
Cambridge, MA 02139
ankit@post.harvard.edu
MATH/APPS Harvard U/MA Massachusetts Inst of Technology

Pottharst, Jonathan Livaudais
Address Not Available for Publication


MATH/ALGBR Massachusetts Inst of Technology Harvard U/MA

Schwartz, Alexander Benjamin
Address Not Available for Publication


MATH/ALGBR Harvard U/MA Princeton U/NJ

2212 San Gabriel Apartment 117
Austin, TX 78705
jgscott@mail.utexas.edu
MATH/STATS U of Texas-Austin Duke U/NC

Skorokhod, Aleksandr G.
471 Memorial Drive #207
Cambridge, MA 02139
skor@mit.edu
MATH/OTHER Massachusetts Inst of Technology U of
California-Berkeley

Smyth, David Ishii
Address Not Available for Publication


MATH/APPS U of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign U of California-Berkeley

Workman, John Tyler
1631 Laurel Ave. #3
Knoxville, TN 37916
jworkma1@utk.edu
MATH/APPS U of Tennessee-Knoxville Stanford U/CA

Ryan Hynd Wins Bell Labs Fellowship

Ryan Hynd has won an Bell Labs Fellowship.

This is a three year award, with support for educational
expenses, a living expenses stipend, and summer internships
at Lucent.

Ryan Hynd, a transfer student to Georgia Tech, has been an active
participant in research activities beginning in the Summer 2002 REU.
Since then, he has worked most closely with Professor John McCuan,
as well as pursing research projects in Physics.

He has been accepted at several graduate schools, including Berkeley and
Columbia, but has not as of yet selected one to attend.

Congratulations!

Billiards Software

Steven Lansel is conituing to develop his Billiards software, a project he started in the Summer 2003 REU program.

A Billiard system is a ball that is moving around some table, though the table ispermitted, in general, to have a very complicated geometry. There is an explanation from a master of the subject, Yakov Sinai available.

It is a famous theorem of Professor Bunimovich that if the table has the shape of a soccer stadium, so a rectangle, with a semi circle on each end, that the movement of a billiard ball is generically chaotic. This chaotic behavior is also the case of mushrooms: A semi circle centered on top of a rectangle.

The picture shown here is of a much more complicated geometry, with
an ellipse stuck on top of a rectangle. In particular, Steven is currently looking at a generalization of Bunimovich's mushroom billiard in which the cap of the mushroom is
elliptical rather than circular. (The extra complexity in this system
arises from the fact that the integrable elliptical billiard has two kinds of
caustics, whereas the circular billiard has just one.) Steven's program
will prove very useful in studying this both for numerical experiments and
to help guide analytical work. We are at the beginning stages of this and
have been discussing this with Lyonia.

The current version of the code can be downloaded either from my research
website (www.math.gatech.edu/~mason/research/new.html) or from Steven's
billiard website (http://lansel.no-ip.com/billiards2/). Steven's website
also shows plots and includes example data sets that can be downloaded for
your viewing pleasure.

A brief report from Budapest

This semester, there are three people associated with Georgia Tech, David Eger and Casey Warmbrand who have just graduated from GT, and Adam Marcus, who starts Grad School at GT in the Fall 2004 semester. David and Adam are there on Fulbright grants. And Casey is there as part of the
Budapest Semester in Mathematics.

Casey has been there for little over a month. The first 2 weeks were spent learning hungarian, a very unusual language. Casey has 4 math classes
and 1 history of math class, and is really enjoying all the material
covered.

"The other students in the program are a whole lot of fun, and of very
varying backgrounds, which makes working together on problem sets pretty
interesting."

Casey has also applied for grad school, and currently has full support at
the University of Arizona.

2004 REU program: Now Recruiting

Research Experience for Undergraduates

We will be running a an REU, with GT undergradutes teamed with a facutly mentor.

--> You'll get paid $4,750 (But must be an US Citizen or Permenent Resident)
More rules.

--> You will need to arrange a research topic and faculty mentor.
A starting point for a list of current faculty who have projects in mind,
or have directed past projects, go here.

--> After lining up a mentor, be sure that I am aware of it.
Deadline: March 26, 2004 (two weeks after spring break)

There are 10 slots. We'll be recruiting students until they are all filled.

--> See either me, or Professor Wang to get some pointers to possible faculty
for a topic you are interested in.

Majors Lunch, Spring Edition

Pi Mu Epsilon is happy to sponsor a spring version of "Meet the Math Majors" next Thursday (12 Feb 2004) from 11am-1pm in the Skiles
lounge. Please join us for food and fellowship -- all math majors,
professors, and staff are invited.

--Alan Michaels


Upcoming PME events:

High School Math Competition: 20 March
Annual Spring Picnic: April

PME is the Undergrad Math Club.

First Spring (Mathematical) Beauty Contest

Professor John McCuan has organized a Mathematical Modelling Contest where
the winning entries will be judged on the beauty and elegance of their solutions.

Deadline: March 25, 2004. Teams are permitted.

There are cash prizes to the top three entries, with a base prize amount to be
supplemented by the total number of entries.

Georgia Tech Student Paper Contest Information

SAIC Student Paper Contest

Deadline: 5 p.m., Friday, February 20, 2004 6 $1000 awards Total

The Executive Science and Technology Council of Science Applications
International Corporation (SAIC), in conjunction with the local SAIC
offices, has instituted this annual student paper contest to recognize
technical excellence at Georgia Tech and to foster the development of closer
ties between the company and the university.

SAIC will make six awards for outstanding technical papers in the fields of
engineering, physics, chemistry, applied mathematics, computer sciences, and
science and technology policy. Awards will be made to students at the
undergraduate level, the master's level, and the Ph.D. level. Papers may be
prepared in support of university courses, professional society
competitions, or technical publications. SAIC reserves the right to keep a
copy of each submitted paper for its records. Papers co-authored with
faculty members or with other non-student authors must be accompanied by a
letter indicating the relative contributions of the non-student author (e.g.
student-x%, faculty-y%).

The awards program will comprise:
an awards banquet to honor each successful student and their guest, and the
faculty sponsor and their guest,
a check for $1000 for each successful student or student team (team members
will share equally the single award),
a framed certificate for each successful student or student team member and
for the faculty sponsor.

To Enter

The entry form attached to this information brochure must accompany each
paper submitted. Three copies of the submitted paper, along with the entry
form, must be received by 5 p.m., Friday, February 20, 2004. We regret that
we cannot accept submissions received after the deadline. Submitted papers
must not exceed 20 pages in length (typed double-spaced, and including
figures and references). Reprints of technical journal publications are
also acceptable if they do not exceed 7 pages in length. Papers should be
sent to:

Science Applications International Corporation
Attn: Ms. Donna Louis
4901 Olde Towne Parkway
Suite 200
Marietta, GA 30068
(770) 973-8935 ext. 4400

Selection Procedure and Criteria

The selection panel will consider three primary criteria in the selection
process:
1) originality or uniqueness of the work,
2) significance of the results, and
3) effectiveness of the presentation.

Papers will be submitted to a combined SAIC/Georgia Tech selection panel for
evaluation and selection. All participants, including cognizant faculty
members, will be notified of the results and receive a letter stating SAIC's
appreciation for their participation in the program.

Awards Dinner and Ceremony

Successful papers will be announced on or about March 8, 2004 and awards
will be given out at the awards banquet, presently scheduled for April 1,
2004. The time and location of the awards banquet will be announced at a
future date. Invitees to the dinner will include winning authors, their
guests, their faculty project sponsors and their guests, and SAIC staff.
Pictures and a short article describing the awards ceremony will be
published in the SAIC NEWSGRAM, a company periodical.

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), is the nation's
largest employee-owned research and engineering company, providing
information technology, systems integration and eSolutions to commercial and
government customers. SAIC engineers and scientists work to solve complex
technical problems in national and homeland security, energy, the
environment, space, telecommunications, health care and logistics. With
annual revenues of $5.9 billion, SAIC and its subsidiaries, including
Telcordia Technologies, have more than 42,000 employees at offices in more
than 150 cities worldwide. More information about SAIC can be found at
www.saic.com.

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SAIC/Georgia Tech Student Paper Competition Entry Form
(Form required for each student author)

Paper Title:


School or Department:


Primary Student Author:


Primary Student Author's Social Security Number (for award processing):


Other Student Author(s):


Faculty Author(s):


Other Author(s):


Mailing Address:


Email Address:


Home Phone:


School Phone:


Paper was completed while working on the following degree: (please circle
one)

BS MS Ph.D.


Faculty Sponsor:

School or Department:

Email Address:
Office Phone:





saicpapercontest@comcast.net
Margie Verdon
Science Applications International Corporation
4901 Olde Towne Parkway, Suite 200
Marietta, GA 30068
Phone: (404) 421-2326
Fax: (770) 973-6971

High School Mathematics Competition

The Pi Mu Epsilon club is organizing a High School Mathematics Competition,
to be held Saturday, 20 March 2004, on the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta, Georgia.

The web site for it has more details. At the one day event, there will be different competitions,
with the top prizes being one time $1000 scholarships to attend Georgia Tech.

The officers of the club Alan Michaels, Stephanie Bent and Patty Pichardo
(Pictures are here!) have been putting a lot of effort into it. Here's hoping for a great event to revive this old tradition.

Steve Lansel's Billiard Software

Last summer's REU program continues to yield projects and iniatives from the students involved. Steven Lansel, double major in EE and Math, designed
software to simulate the paths of billiards. Follow the Link for the Matlab program, a number of examples, and documentation.

This figure is of the Bunimovich Stadium. We know the motion of the ball is chaotic, due to the work of Professor Bunimovich.

Classification of Rotational Figures of Equilibrium

That is the title of a very good looking poster presented by
Ryan Hynd last weekend.

The poster presentation was at the Sigma Xi conference in Los Angeles,and Ryan's presentation was judged to be in the top 10% of those at the conference.

The famous French philisophe Plateau observed in the 1700s a particular
property of rotating oil drops. The physical experiment requires one to
rotate oil dorps in a boyant solution. The possible shapes that one can get out
include tori. Namely the topology can change.

Beginning in the Summer of 2002, three undergraduates, Ryan Hynd, Jefferey Elms, and Roberto Lopez begain a project to duplicate these experiments. Lead by Professors Pelesko and McCuan, they also sought a characterization of all possible shapes that can be obtained by this experiment.

They have obtained characterizations of the profiles to these drops in terms of solutions to certain ordinary differential equaitons. The poster above is big file, with a large number of cool graphics on it.

Mathematical Models of BiPolar Disorder

Mathematical Models of BiPolar Disorder is the title of a paper on the ArXiV, by Mason Porter, VIGRE Postdoc, and several other undergraduates. This is a project that Mason carried to Georgia Tech from Cornell University. One of the undergraduates is Jessica Synder, participant in last summer's VIGRE REU program. For more information about the figure, see the paper.

Abstract of the paper: Bipolar disorder (manic depression) afflicts about one percent of the United States adult population. In this paper, we use limit cycle oscillators to model Bipolar II disorder, which is characterized by alternating hypomanic and depressive episodes. We consider three nonlinear oscillator models of a single bipolar patient. In each case, we begin with an untreated individual and examine the mathematical effects and resulting biological consequences of treatment. We also study the dynamics of two individuals with bipolar II disorder who live together. We model such interactions between bipolar II individuals using weakly-coupled, weakly-damped harmonic oscillators. We conclude with a discussion of possible generalizations of our model, as there are several biologically-motivated extensions that can be readily incorporated into the series of models presented here.

Cornell IGERT Program

The NSF IGERT program supports the creation of
interdisciplinary programs in science and engineering. These programs are funded by generous fellowships, are are actively recruiting math majors. Follow the link above for a complete list of programs. Keep reading for a message from the IGERT program in Non Linear Dynamics at Cornell.

Subject: Fellowships in Nonlinear Systems at Cornell
From: John Guckenheimer
Date: 31 Oct 2003 09:30:12 -0500

The Cornell IGERT Program in Nonlinear Systems has received renewed
funding from the NSF. We anticipate awarding 8-12 two year fellowships
for students who will begin the Program in the Fall of
2004. Fellowship stipends will be $27,500 for a twelve month
period. NSF fellowship support is restricted to US citizens or
permanent residents.

The Nonlinear Systems Program is designed to foster research broadly
on nonlinear systems that combines theory, computation and empirical
data. Four thematic areas will be emphasized:

1. Complex Networks:

We are exploring such topics as the World Wide Web, populations with
hidden structure (e.g., the network of injection drug users in a major
city), the resilience of ecosystems composed of hundreds of
interacting species and mathematical patterns in the statistics of
forest fires, earthquakes, and blackouts.


2. Machines and Organisms - Locomotion and Manipulation:

We view organisms as part of a continuum of solutions to the
mechanical challenges of locomotion, flight and manipulation.
Comparing and contrasting moving machines and organisms enables us to
understand both better.

3. Biological Pattern Formation:

We are using theoretical models, novel visualization and data analysis
techniques to study the dynamics of spatially extended systems in
terms of defect structures and patterns such as scroll waves. We seek
an understanding of complex phenomena like cell migration and heart
rhythm disorders that involve a large number of dynamical degrees of
freedom.

4. Gene Regulation and Systems Biology:

Through the use of theoretical models and large-scale computation, and
leveraging the enormous experimental investment by the biology
community, we plan to develop biologically useful theories of large
subsystems of cellular function, specifically in the areas of gene
regulation, manufacture of RNA and proteins, and cell signaling.

Program requirements consist of two courses in nonlinear dynamics and
computational methods, a year-long interdisciplinary project,
participation in an IGERT seminar, a summer internship and completion
of a Ph.D. minor.

Applications are coordinated through participating graduate fields at
Cornell. Applicants should describe their interest in the IGERT
program as part of the statement of purpose in their Cornell graduate
school application. They should also complete the contact form on the
web site

http://www.chaos.cornell.edu/

(click on IGERT Fellowship and then Application).

Inquiries may be directed to John Guckenheimer at

gucken@cam.cornell.edu

Undergrads Participating in Conferences

The VIGRE Grant has greatly increased undergraduate participation in research activities.
See the blog entry immediately below this one, or for a more complete list of all the majors
activities, go to the
Senior Project List or the VIGRE/REU list.

The majors have also greatly increased their participation in research related trips. This past summer, Andrew Stimpson attended a conference in Austin Texas at the start of his REU.
This next week, Ryan Hynd will be presenting a paper at a 2003 SIGMA XI Forum.

Jeremy Corbett and Steve Lansel will participate in the 2004 Dynamics Days conference at Duke University, in January. Both Jeremy and Steve participated in the REU program last summer. Follow the link above for more information about their projects.

Quantum Computation Special Topics Courses

Professor Bellisard is offering, for the second time, a course in Quantum Computation. The description is below.

A full listing of the different special topics courses being offered, in Spring
2004 and past semesters has more information.

Math 4803 BDU Quantum Information and Quantum Computation 3-0-3

Instructor: Prof. Jean Bellissard

Description: Restricted to DMTH, MATH, CS, PHYS students.

Quantum computing and quantum information might give rise to important technological developments in the future. This course will be organized around the following topics:

Classical information theory. Clues in quantum theory.
Quantum systems used in experiments.
Quantum information: Compression, transmission, noise, entanglement cryptography, teleportation.
Quantum Complexity: introduction, algorithm, error correcting codes

This course is taught jointly with CS4803 and PHYS5106.

Prerequisites: Familiarity with matrix calculus adn finite dimensional vector spaces.

Text:

Professor Mason Porter's Mathematical Modeling Course

In the Spring 2004 Semester, Mason Porter will offer a Mathematical Modelling
course at the Undergraduate Level. Here is his description of the course:

Math 4803: Mathematical Modelling MWF 0105-0155pm

The purpose of this course is to introduce undergraduates in math,
science, and engineering (and interested graduate students) to the
rudiments of mathematical modeling with a case study approach. We will
consider both continuous and discrete systems and applications from
numerous scientific disciplines. We will also consider topics (such
as small world networks) in which many scientists are currently actively
engaged in fascinating research in applied mathematics.

There will also be some room for student input when deciding precisely
which topics are covered and students who take the course will have the
opportunity to work on a project of their own choosing.

Anybody interested in discussing this course with me is encouraged to
e-mail me at mason@math.gatech.edu or to come by my office (120 Skiles).

Public Universities' Tuition Rises by 14 PercentBy GREG WINTER

So reads an article in the New York Times, based on a report by the
College Board.

More and more of the costs of an education are being placed on the students and their parents. The change over the last 25 years or so are very dramatic.
This author, in 1981, paid more for college tution than at any point in the previous four years: $210 for 20+ hours of credit at the University of Texas at Austin. This was during a time when the State of Texas, and the Texas endowment were paying the lion's share of the cost of education.

The NYT requires free registration. Use the login in "gtmath" and the pass "Atlanta."

Emory Grad Recruitment Program: Math Day at Emory

Fifth Annual MATH DAY AT EMORY

Saturday November 15, 11 AM - 4 PM

Department of Math and CS, Emory University, Atlanta, GA


Organized by: Department of Math & CS, Emory University.

For Whom: Any one interested in graduate studies in math leading to a PhD.

Activities:

* Informal presentations by faculty and graduate students on their
interests in mathematics and on graduate studies at Emory and in general.

* Entertaining Videos.

* Casual conversations with faculty and graduate students to learn more
about Emory.

* Free lunch.

Location: Mathematics and Science Center, 400 Dowman Drive, Atlanta.

Registration: Encouraged, but not required.

Contact and More Info: http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/News/Special
or nagy@mathcs.emory.edu, syang@mathcs.emory.edu

Information About Graduate Study

ASSISTANTSHIPS AND GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS
IN THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES - 2003 EDITION POSTED
By the American Mathematical Society

This publication for students, mathematical sciences departments and
faculty brings together a wealth of information about resources
available for graduate study in mathematical sciences departments in the
U.S. and Canada. Information on the number of faculty, graduate
students, and degrees awarded is listed for each department when
available. Stipend amounts, number of awards available, foreign language
requirements, sources of support for graduate study, and a list of
reference publications for fellowship information are also included. See
http://www.ams.org/careers-edu/asst.pdf.

Two Undergrad Courses of Interest

There will be two noteworthy undergraduate courses in the Spring 2004 Semester: Professor Porter's Introduction to Mathematical Modeling,
and Professor Croot's Arithmetic Combinatorics class.

Concerning the Mathematical Modeling, Professor Porter write:

The purpose of this course is to introduce undergraduates in math,
science, and engineering (and interested graduate students) to the
rudiments of mathematical modeling with a case study approach. We will
consider both continuous and discrete systems and applications from
numerous scientific disciplines. We will also consider topics (such
as small world networks) in which many scientists are currently actively
engaged in fascinating research in applied mathematics.

There will also be some room for student input when deciding precisely
which topics are covered and students who take the course will have the
opportunity to work on a project of their own choosing.

Anybody interested in discussing this course with me is encouraged to
e-mail me at mason@math.gatech.edu or to come by my office (120 Skiles).

Casey Warmbrand to go to Budapest

Casey Warmbrand, a senior in math, with very wide set of interests,
has been accepted into the Budapest Semestes in Mathematics.
He will be the second math major to participate in the program, the first is
David Eger.

David liked the atmosphere so much, that he applied for and received a Fulbright grant to study there for this academic year. The following year, he will be in graduate school in CS at Carnegie Mellon. There is another Fulbright at Budapest this year who will start graduate study in the ACO program at Georgia Tech next academic year.

The Budapest program is an outstanding intensive Semester of Mathematics. Another program is math in Moscow program at Moscow State University. Elizabeth Sanders participated in this program. It is has plenty of scholarships for the semester. Elizabeth got one, and GT students should be very competetive for these awards.

More information is availible. And we look forward to Casey's news from Budapest.

Ryan Hynd off to Conferences

Ryan Hynd, one of the undergraduates who is finishing his degree this year,
will be presenting a poster at a Sigma Xi national meeting in Los Angeles
this year. He will present work completed with Professor McCuan on
rolling curves, while both were at a Max Planck Institute in Leipzig Germany this past summer.

This meeting has a very wide set of interests and presentations. Many of them concern the promotion of mathematics and science in third world countries. The mathematicians that work in those countries can possess a quite decent talent, but they are terribly isolated, work for very little money, and have limited range of resources to offer their students.

Ryan will also participate in a Grad Student Recruitment Program at UC Berkeley in the month of October. While there, he'll likely meet up with
GT alum Andy Wand, who is studying for his PhD at Berkeley under the well known topologist Rob Kirby.

Meet The Math Majors Pics

Meet the Math majors is a free lunch, with all of the math majors in attendence, and the grad students and faculty invited as well.

A great opportunity to meet outside of classes and study groups, it is
usually very well attended, and even more so in the Fall Semester.

About 10 Photos are up here.

Undergrad Corbett and Synder Lecture to Physics Group

Tuesday, 11am on the 5th floor of Howey.

(The room is opposite the elevator.)

The venue is the Center For Nonlinear Systems group meeting,
so it's pretty informal.

Jeremy Corbett and Jessica Snyder, GT Undergrads, both did research under
Mason Porter's direction this past summer as part of the VIGRE program, so
come and provide moral support.

Jeremy will be talking about pattern formation in spatially extended
dynamical systems (like granular media and fluids) and Jessica will be
talking about mathematical models of bipolar disorder.

Also, these two short talks (we'll finish by noon) are relevant for
anybody thinking about doing research as part of the VIGRE program.

Pi Mu Epsilon Events Up Coming

The "Meet the Majors" lunch will be held this coming Tuesday from 11:00am to 1:00pm in the Skiles lounge. I would like to invite all of you to stop by, meet some people, and have some food and drink.

Alan Michaels, President of PME, has told me that the Pi Mu Epsilon (Math Honor Society) would like to sponsor several events. One of them is a math seminar series for undergraduates. If you would like to give a talk, please let Alan know. He'll greatly appreciate it.

Brief Note from Yakov Kerzhner at NYU

Yakov Kerzhner graduated from GT last year, after three years of study.
He is has just started his Graduate studies at the Courant Institute of
Mathematical Sciences at New York University.

What follows is a brief message from him:

"I took the written exam in august and got an A in the complex variables
and linear algebra, and a B in advanced calculus. The two A's means that
I have to retake only the advanced calculus in January. I really like the
number theory class taught by Sarnak. I am also taking another
analytic number theory class being taught by Iwaniec. Besides the number
theory classes I am taking Real Variables and Limit Threorems, a probability
class. Both of these last two are review classes since I have already
taken similar classes at Tech. Also auditing Complex Variables, and
planning on attending a number theory seminar being run by Courant,
Columbia, and CUNY.


"Having only been an undergraduate for three years, I am somewhat surprised
that my overall knowledge of mathematics is at least as good as the
knowledge of the students coming from places like MIT, Yale, Berkeley etc.
Perhaps this is an indirect thank you to all the teachers I have had at
Tech.

Grad School Workshop

Workshop for Undergrad considering Grad School will be held

Sept 12, 3pm, Skiles 255

Last year, the GT undergrad won 5 graduate fellowships, and were studying, or admitted to schools like Berkeley (Andy Wand), NYU (Yakov Kerzhner), Princeton (Blair Dowling), Duke (Jenny Law), MIT (David Vener), Northwestern
(Clark Alexander), among other examples.

This workshop is to help the next group of GT Graduates do as well as this bunch in being placed in Graduate School. Slides for the presentation are
here. Also see the Timeline at the same web page.

Blair Dowling Awarded Graduate Fellowship

Recent Georgia Tech Graduate Scores a New Homeland Security Fellowship
New Scholarship Proves Extremely Competitive
Atlanta (August 27,2003)-Recent Georgia Tech graduate V. Blair Dowling, who is passionate about mathematics and is a fierce
competitor in Ultimate Frisbee, will soon become part of a much larger team. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has selected her to
receive one of 100 fellowships in the new Homeland Security Scholars and Fellows Program. More than 2,500 students nationwide applied for the
100 openings available to undergraduate and graduate students studying a variety of disciplines related to scientific and technological
innovations that can be applied to the DHS mission. Dowling graduated in May with degrees in applied mathematics and computer science and a
minor in economics. Dowling will use the three-year graduate fellowship, which includes a stipend and full tuition, to pursue her doctoral
degree in mathematics at Princeton University. Her long-term goal is to be a professor of mathematics.


Last spring, Dowling received the Phi Kappa Phi Scholarship Cup, awarded each year to the graduating senior with the most
outstanding scholastic record in the class.
300 dpi JPG = 1.14 MB
"I fell in love with math at a very early age," said Dowling. "Initially my only goal was to make a contribution to theoretical
mathematics - a beautiful result on a pedestal. Over the last four years, my goal has expanded to include the innovation of new applications of
mathematics to societal problems - such as the HIV project I'm working on now. I'm looking forward to learning the foundations of mathematics at
Princeton, and hope to be able to then teach them to the next generation."

Dowling feels this fellowship will give her the freedom to concentrate on her studies. In April when she received an e-mail from one
of her math professors suggesting she apply for the fellowship, she had already been offered a teaching fellowship at Princeton, which covered
all expenses for four years. Dowling felt the Homeland Security Fellowship provided more flexibility. As part of the fellowship, Dowling will be
required to complete an internship with DHS the summer after her first year.

Dowling, an outstanding student who graduated from Tech with a perfect 4.0 GPA, has received many honors. She was a finalist for the
highly prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which included an intensive application and interview process that she found very thought provoking. She
also received the Phi Kappa Phi Scholarship Cup, awarded each year to the graduating senior with the most outstanding scholastic record in the
class.

As an undergraduate, she pursued several research projects. She worked on a joint Georgia Tech - Emory University research project
with Dr. Dana Randall, associate professor in the College of Computing and adjunct in the School of Mathematics at Georgia Tech and Dr. Guido
Silvestri, assistant professor of medicine at the Emory Vaccine Research Center & Yerkes National Primate Research Center. The project's goal is
to develop a mathematical model of HIV infection in vivo, along with computer software allowing biologists, to visualize the progression of the
disease. For this project, she won first place in the annual UROC (Undergraduate Research Opportunities in Computing) competition. Dowling is
involved in ongoing research with the project, and anticipates publication of their work sometime in the next year. Another project was a
National Science Foundation-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates focusing on elliptic curves and quadratic residue tournaments.

"Blair completely embodies the type of student that made me want to become an academic," said Randall. "She demonstrated such
extreme professionalism and scientific integrity in our HIV modeling research project that it is hard to believe that she was still an
undergraduate. For the project, Blair had to comprehend the immunological dynamics involved in HIV infection at the level of a graduate student
in biology, she had to understand partial differential equations used in mathematical modeling and reinterpret them as stochastic equations, and
she had to demonstrate proficiency in programming methodologies. Her enthusiasm and dedication elevated this joint Georgia Tech-Emory project to
a level far beyond our original expectations, and we were incredibly fortunate to have her work with us."

Dowling, from Savannah, Ga., enjoys teaching. At Georgia Tech she worked as a teaching assistant for Calculus II courses. One
summer, she served as head counselor for a math camp for high school students at Boston University called PROMYS - the Program in Mathematics
for Young Scientists.

Despite her heavy academic load, Dowling found time for extracurricular activities as well. She played on the Georgia Tech Women's
Ultimate Frisbee team and additionally served as captain of an intramural ultimate team all four years. Dowling served as president of the
Georgia Tech chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon, the National Math Honor Society, and faculty credit her with reviving this organization and transforming
it into a vibrant group that promotes excellence in mathematics and interactions among department faculty and students. Also, Dowling was an
active member of Westminster Christian Fellowship and helped organize and raise funds for the renovation of their on-campus building in the
spring of 2003.

Sigma Xi Conference and Funding Opportunities

Mason Porter points out this opportunity from the national organization Sigma Xi:

GRANTS-IN-AID OF RESEARCH DEADLINE - Awarding research support to undergraduate and graduate students for 80 years. Most grants range from a few
hundred dollars to $1,000. Vision related or astronomy related research projects may be awarded up to $2,500.
Students apply online:
APPLICATION DEADLINE: October 15, 2003.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT OPPORTUNITY - 2003 Student Research Conference to be held in Los Angeles November 14 and 15. Students present research,
attend workshops and lectures by leading scientists and network with graduate school and employment recruiters. Information and Registration:
http://www.sigmaxi.org/meetings/student/index.shtml
GRADUATE STUDENTS and DOCTORAL - Special Opportunity for participation at the Student Conference. More Info at:
http://www.sigmaxi.org/meetings/student/phd.shtml

COLLABORATE. COMMUNICATE. WITHOUT BOUNDARIES. - Sigma Xi's 2003 Forum, "Science & Engineering: Keys to International Understanding," will be
held November 12-13 in Los Angeles in conjunction with the Society's Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference. Spearheaded by Sigma Xi
President Peter Raven, this meeting will focus on scientific and engineering communication and collaboration as an enabler for international
understanding. See http://sigmaxi.org/meetings/forum/upcoming.shtml for the latest program information and online registration. Early
registration ends October 16, so register today!

Putnam Class With Big Enrollment

The William Lowell Putnam Exam
is one of the most challenging of undergraduate math exams. Georgia Tech has a
history of having some individuals score very well on the exam.

The high score of 39 last year was by Yakov Kerzhner, now a grad student at New York University.

This year's preparation for the exam has a new twist, the students are receiving one hour's credit. (I wonder what the grading scale will be? The median score on the Putnam is 1, so will
Professor Wang, who teaches the class, set one point be a pass? )

One thing will be like last year: The Pizza will be free!

Blair Dowling Awarded Graduate Fellowship

Blair Dowling, (math & CS) has been awarded a three year graduate
fellowhship, which she will use at Princeton University, Mathematics.
Blair has been an outstanding student at Georgia Tech, with a long list of
honors and accomplishments. We wish her very well in the next stage of her studies.

The Department of Homeland Security has created undergraduate and graduate fellowships. The undergraduate fellowships are for rising juniors and seniors.
There were 51 graduate awards this year. The graduate awards come with
a monthly stipend [and a supply of duct tape ;-)].

This is the 5th graduate fellowship award received by a GT undergrad in the 2002-03 academic year. There werem, in addition to Blair's award, 3 NSF Graduate Fellowships to Nick Bronn, David Vener, and Andy Wand. And 1 Fulbright Fellowship to David Eger.

Quoting from the web site of the DHS, " These awards are intended for students interested in pursuing the basic science and technology innovations that can be applied to the DHS mission.  DHS realizes that the country’s strong science and technology human resource base provides a critical advantage in the development and implementation of counter-terrorist measures.  This education program is intended to ensure a diverse and highly talented science and technology human resource base to achieve the DHS mission and objectives.  Areas of study include:  physical, biological, social and behavioral sciences, engineering, mathematics, and computer science. "

This is an opportunity that GT undergrads and grads will want to keep in mind for the future.

A Freshman Asks: "Math or engineering?"

An incoming freshman sent me an email recently:

"Lately I've been tossing the idea around of maybe
changing to computer or electrical engineering because
I'm afraid that I won't have as many jobs available
with a math major. I'm not sure if my fears are
valid, but I was wondering if you could maybe tell me,
in your experience, how sought after math majors are
and by which employers."

"What would be the biggest
differences between engineering and math majors, and
in which year would the curriculum for the majors
start to specialize?"

"Why did you choose to study
mathematics, and when did you realize that you wanted
to study math specifically? I'm not sure which path I
would be better suited for, so I'm trying to gather as
much information as possible to make my decision. I
appreciate your time in helping me, and I look forward
to seeing you either at FASET next week or when school
starts. Thank you very much. "

This is a whole load of questions!

The general trend is one that I (Michael Lacey) recognize from my time as the
undergrad director.

First, there isn't a big rush to choose. Most of the engineering
curriculum parallels that of Math, up through Diff Eq.

Second, it's natural from the freshman's part. The engineering
programs are very strong, and the message that they receive from
students is that there is no jobs in Math.

Third, the School of Math has a very strong record in training very high
quality students. Some of these highlights are availible at the
Undergrad Placement page. David Vener (spring 2001) and Blair
Dowling (spring 2003) won the highest academic honors on the Georgia
Tech campus. David is in graduate school at MIT. Blair at Princeton.

[This page is not more complete, since I have to rely on the 'kindness
of strangers' for it, and I have a few other things to do as well!]

And in 2003, GT undergrads won 3 out of 33 NSF Graduate Fellowships in
Mathematics. The only other university to get more than one award was Harvard, and they got 2.

Aside from the highest acheivers, the School of Math has a number of
very sophisticated and accomplished double majors.

Nick Bronn, (EE& Math) Cambridge Gates Fellow,
NSF Grad Fellow, at MIT

David Vener (Phy & Math) NSF Grad Fellow at MIT
(I think he was a Prez Scholar.)


Ganesh Sundramoorthi (EE and Math) In grad school at EE
at GT this fall.

Blair Dowling (CS & Math) (Prez Scholar) Princeton Grad School in the
Fall. 12 students are admitted to grad school, so getting in is
a mark of excellence!

David Eger (CS & Math) Fulbright Fellow. Grad school in CS at Carneigie
Mellon.

Nathan Bell (CS & Math) Doing a super Senior Project, Grad School in CS,
at Univ Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Clark Alexander (Math and Physics) is going to grad school at Northwestern.

Current Double Majors include

Steven Lansel (Math and EE)

Andrew Stimpson (Math and Physics)

Justin Melvin (ChemE and Math)

Derrick Coetzee (CS and Math)

These are just the names that come to mind. About 25% of the
majors are double majors. The most current list is at the
math majors
emails web page.

I'll stop here, since the math majors themselves have some strong opinions about this one. Maybe some of them will comment.

Mu Alpha Theta Lectures for High School Students

Georgia Tech provided six lecturers for the Mu Alpha Theta National Convention, in Atlanta, July 2003. Professors Ames, Cain, Duke, Lacey, and Lefton all spoke. These five were rounded out by Georia Tech Sophmore Steven Lansel. Steve presented his Torcelli's Law demonstration, which he and Brandon Luders completed in Fall 2003, Honors Ordinary Differential Equations.

A few photos are here.

The full list of projects that came out of the ACE lab is fun to go through.

Midsummer Progress Report on the REU

A midsummer's progress report on the VIGRE/GT REU program is up.
It lists some of the work that the students have done to date, and
some files. The work being done spans interests in geometric topology,
dyanmical systems, football, politics, and number theory.

Besides the REU participants, we have four additional undergraduates
pursuing research interests as well.

Some files, papers and jpg's are included.

Putnam Practice Exam is now a Class

The weekly Putnam practice session run by Dr. Wang is now a topics course:

MATH 4801WAN, Special Topics, 1 credit hour, CRN 88321, W 4-5:30
Problem Solving in Mathematics
Instructor: Dr. Wang
Location: TBA

What is the Putnam Exam?

The William Lowell Putnam Exam is an annual competition, on the first
Saturday in December. Approximately 3000 undergraduates take the exam each
year. The exam consists of two 3 hours sessions, with 6 problems in each
session. Each problem is worth 10 points. The median score is a 2/120. One
needs to practice to do well on this exam.
Each university can select a team to represent it. Prizes are offered for
the top teams, and best individual test takers. Over the 60 years of the exam,
many of the top participants have gone on to bright careers in mathematics and
the sciences in general. Several have gone on to win the Nobel prize in Physics.
(There is no Nobel prize in Mathematics.)
Each year, Professor Wang runs weekly problem sessions to practice for the
Putnam. The School of Math is offering one credit hour for participation in the
practice sessions, by signing up for MATH 4801WAN.

Questions?

Contact Dr. Steinbart (steinbar@math.gatech.edu) or Dr. Wang
(wang@math.gatech.edu). Also see www.math.gatech.edu/~wang/putnam.html

Undergrad Research Conference at Ohio State

From kessar@math.ohio-state.edu Wed Jun 11 16:18:06 2003
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 20:34:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: Radha Kessar
To: SURC: ;

Dear Colleague,

This is a first anouncement for a
summer undergraduate research c