Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference 2020-2022

Keene State College, Keene NH

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports the participants of the Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference to be held in the month of April of 2020, 2021, and 2022. This conference, first held in 1994, will continue to serve students and faculty from a diverse list of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the Northeast. The goals of the conference are to motivate undergraduate students, in particular underrepresented groups and women, at all levels to attend and participate in a professional conference of the mathematical sciences; to provide students with an opportunity to learn about the community of mathematical scientists by interacting and networking with peers and faculty; and to provide a venue where undergraduates, share their scholarship, and practice communicating through preparing and presenting talks. This conference is distinctive because it explicitly aims to involve first-year and sophomore students as participants and because it is free to attendees. It is thus able to nourish the mathematical growth and collaborative experience of students and faculty at institutions that do not have the funds for conference expenses. The conferences will include two panels: one on how to make the most of one's college career and the other on career choices both in and out of academia. The atmosphere of the conference is exciting and encouraging and conference surveys have shown again and again that the experience of attending and/or presenting at the conference is key to retaining and encouraging students in the mathematical sciences. The problem-solving, reasoning, and communication skills developed at these conferences are transferable and will prepare students to solve larger societal issues. These three one-day conferences will each bring together 300-350 students and faculty from the mathematical sciences. Students, under the mentorship of faculty members, will give most (approximately 80%) of the 15 minute presentations which are organized into three 1- hour session times each with multiple parallel sessions organized by subject. All conference participants will come together for an hour long keynote speech given by a well-known mathematical scientist followed by a working lunch and two informative lunchtime panels. The conference organizers have an assessment plan to modify the conference's evaluation tool and to centralize storage and access of conference data and an outreach plan to increase participation by members of underrepresented groups and to include first and second year students, as well as high school students and their teachers. Through the preparation and presentation of talks, students learn to take complex mathematical ideas and present them in clear, understandable terms. In short, they are gaining first-hand experience on how mathematical scientists interact and communicate in order to further their understanding. More information regarding this conference can be found at www.skidmore.edu/hrumc.htm This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.