The 3rd Annual Midwest Undergraduate Mathematics Symposium will be held on Saturday, April 1, 2006, on the Simpson College campus in Indianola, Iowa. The purpose of this symposium is to promote undergraduate research or other independent student work in the mathematical sciences. Any student or faculty member who is involved in or wants to be involved in undergraduate mathematics research is invited to attend. Students can use the symposium as a place to share their work in mathematics with others.
During the day there will be student and faculty talks, exhibits by some graduate schools, two invited talks and a Sudoku tournament. Lunch is provided.
Call for Papers 2006 Symposium Schedule
Program -
Information about the 2005 Symposium
Student and Faculty Presentation Abstracts as of March 28, 2006.
Plenary talk abstracts, map of the campus, and other information are below.
Registration
If you would like to present or attend the conference, please send an e-mail to Murphy Waggoner at waggoner@simpson.edu. Include the names of the faculty and students that will be attending, and an abstract for paper or poster presentations. There is no registration fee. Lunch is provided.
Student and faculty papers and posters
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Undergraduate students are encouraged to present 15-minute talks or posters on any area of mathematical interest including
- the results of class projects,
- papers on the history of mathematics,
- solutions to Putnam Exam or Modeling Competition problems,
- undergraduate research projects,
- expository talks on interesting areas of mathematics,
- mathematics education projects or
- other work by undergraduates in mathematics, statistics or computer science.
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Faculty are invited to present 15 minute talks on programs in their departments which support undergraduate research or other independent work by undergraduates.
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Students and faculty may also chose to present at a poster session in addition to or instead of an oral presentation.
Displays about graduate school, job opportunities and research experiences will be available during the lunch break. Some representatives from graduate schools will be available to discuss their programs.
Two plenary talks
We are pleased to have Dr. Tim Breitzman give the plenary addresses. Dr. Breitzman received a Ph.D. in mathematics from Louisiana State University. His research is in material science and he currently works for the University of Dayton Research Institute. Dr. Breitzman will talk about the mathematics needed to study the behavior of cracks.
How can something 10-6 meters in length affect the space shuttle? (morning plenary address), Dr. Tim Breitzman, University of Dayton Research Institute
Applications of composite materials are increasing in number every day. One difficult issue associated with composites has been the characterization of the effects of multiple length-scales. This talk will explore the effects of micron-sized carbon fibers on the overall strength of composite materials used to build equipment ranging from aerospace vehicles and satellites to crutches and bridges. The characterization of these effects makes use of an interdisciplinary set of scientific skills that hinges on the mathematical description of the physical system.
Multi-scale analysis (afternoon plenary address), Dr. Tim Breitzman, University of Dayton Research Institute
Composite materials can have very complex structures. This complexity can be impossible to model explicitly. Thus simplifications are often made to enable calculations to be carried out on computer systems. Unfortunately, these simplifications do not always paint an accurate picture of the complex systems they represent. The multi scale strain analysis method is one way to recover information about the complex system from the simplified model. This talk will explore the central ideas of the multi scale strain analysis method. Pictorial evidence is shown to support conclusions about the need to consider the contributions of the microstructure and the prestress.
The symposium will be held in Carver Science Hall and Amy Robertson Music Center. Registration starts at 8:30 am in the Atrium of Carver Science Hall, 206 North Clinton, Indianola, IA. Here is a map of the campus.