WSCC Math Conference 2009

Opening and Keynote Speakers

Pete Wildman
Spokane Falls Community College

Poisson’s Excellent Mathematical Day

Do you know Simeon Poisson? During his “time” here on earth he published over 300 papers. Many ideas in mathematics and the sciences are due to his great work (Poisson’s Integral, Poisson’s distribution are just two examples). However during his time here on earth he did not get the recognition he really deserved – especially from his snotty French counterparts! Because of this he is making a special “one night only” appearance in one of the most mathematical places around that being Pasco Washington!! You will get the chance to meet Mr. Poisson as he presents an epic fun fill evening of song, dance and of course math. Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity!

Personal information: Pete Wildman is an instructor of mathematics at Spokane Falls Community College. This is his first year as a resident in the great state of Washington. Prior to his move here he worked for 16 years at Casper College in Casper Wyoming where he was an instructor of mathematics and department chair. He has been involved with a number of national math organizations including AMATYC where he served on the national board. But despite all of this work in mathematics he is really a frustrated actor and tries to work on this frustration by creating and performing mathematical plays for willing and unwilling audiences

Dr. Jerry Johnson
Western Washington University

An Album of Mathematical Gewgaws, Vagaries, and Whimsicalities

To most people, mathematics is considered to be the most rational of the sciences. Yet, mathematics--its concepts, its problems, and its history-- is filled with oddities that can excite, educate, frustrate, and cause the loss of sleep....for both teachers and students. This talk explores some of these oddities!

Short Bio: Jerry Johnson, a mathematics professor at Western Washington University, teaches all levels of mathematics and focuses on preparing quality teachers of secondary mathematics. Over the past 38 years, he has taught mathematics to students from ages 4 to 80+, stressing that the learning of mathematics is not only possible but it should be both fun and useful. His primary interests in mathematics are problem solving, the history of mathematics, modern geometries, the appropriate use of technologies, and humor in the classroom.

Dr. Edward Burger
Williams College

Crafting Creative Thinkers

Despite conventional wisdom and traditional thinking, our students' mathematics classes can offer life lessons that transcend the narrow confines of solving for "x". In fact, their mathematics courses can be the home of wild imagination and creativity. It can be the place in which students are taught how to be creative and how to think effectively. These important templates of thinking can inform and enhance our students' abilities not only in all their other classes but in their lives beyond our school grounds. In this presentation we will offer an enlivening and engaging vision for a truly meaningful mathematics experience.

Short Bio: Edward Burger is Professor of Mathematics at Williams College. His research interests are in number theory, and he is the author of over 30 research articles and 12 books including "The Heart of Mathematics: An invitation to effective thinking" (winner of a 2001 Robert W. Hamilton Book Award). Burger was awarded the 2000 Northeastern Section of the MAA Award for Distinguished Teaching and 2001 MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo National Award for Distinguished Teaching of Mathematics. The MAA named him the 2001-2003 Polya Lecturer. In 2002-2003 he was the Ulam Visiting Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he was awarded the 2003 Residence Life Teaching Award. In 2004 he was awarded Mathematical Association of America's Chauvenet Prize and in 2006 he was a recipient of the Lester R. Ford Prize. In 2007 and 2008 he received two awards for his video work. In 2007 Williams College awarded him the Nelson Bushnell Prize for Scholarship and Teaching and this year the College named him the Gaudino Scholar. Burger is an associate editor of the American Mathematical Monthly and a trustee of the Educational Advancement Foundation. In 2006, Reader's Digest listed Burger in their annual "100 Best of America" as America's Best Math Teacher.

http://www.williams.edu/go/math/eburger/

Dr. Nihar Jindal
University of Minnesota

The Mathematics of Wireless Communication (e.g., cellular phones)

Although most people use wireless communication very extensively in their lives -- most likely through the use of cell phones, WiFi, and broadcast radio/TV -- most people are probably not aware of the rich mathematics that underpin the design of wireless communication systems (the same is also true for wired communication systems, e.g., DSL and cable modems). Probability - Communication channels are probabilistically modeled: the received signal is equal to the transmitted signal plus random noise, where the random noise is due to random thermal activity in the electronic circuitry) Frequency-domain (Fourier) analysis - Different systems operate at different frequencies (e.g., different radio or TV stations), and their interactions are best understood by examining wireless signals (which are electromagnetic waves) in the frequency domain. My objectives are to (a) convey some of the basic fundamentals of wireless communications and (b) describe some of the key mathematical tools used in wireless system design, with the hope that mathematics instructors in the audience will be able to pass some of these ideas on to their students and, hopefully, inspire more students to study wireless communications or other engineering disciplines.

From the Speaker:

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota. I received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1999 and the M.S. and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2001 and 2004. I conduct research on the topic of wireless communication, which is one of the more mathematical disciplines of electrical engineering. Using tools from probability and information theory, we strive to design higher bandwidth wireless systems. For example, electrical engineers have developed algorithms that allow signals to be transmitted and received from multiple antennas, thereby allowing for a significant increase in data rate in cellular systems (most visible base stations have multiple antennas) and in Wi-Fi networks (most new Wi-Fi access points are employing multiple antenna technology). I actively publish in IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) journals such as IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications and IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, and also collaborate with industrial partners such as Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent.

http://www.ece.umn.edu/~nihar/