Day 11, Mat194: Mathematical Sciences Seminar

Last time

Next time

Announcements:
- Today we begin planning for the upcoming poster session.
  We'll be reflecting on all of our experiences, and talking about our own answers to the questions of the course:
  - In what ways have I loved mathematics in the past?
  - What do I want to do (and what have I done) with mathematics?
  - Why is it important in my life, and to human society?
- How was the pop-up? Jacob? Daniel?
- Who got to the celebration? I saw Colby....
- Upcoming events:
  - 4/13: Pi-Miler: The 8th Annual P-Miler is scheduled for Saturday, April 13 beginning at 10am. To sign-up as a participant, please use this link. If you are interested in serving a volunteer, please contact Prof. Bethany Noblet. Registrations received by Friday, April 5 are guaranteed a t-shirt!
  - On-campus or off-campus talks (coming soon! One or two in April)
    - Friday, April 19th, 3:05: "Highlights from the KYMAA"
      - Expect four different short talks, by students.
    - Friday, April 26th: Parker Kain will be giving a talk about his research into AI/Deep Learning, April 26th, around noon. More details as they arrive from Parker.
- Your short essays about Steve Long's visit are due today.
Today: the beginning of the wrap-up. In the next three weeks, we will
1. Summarize what we have learned from our speakers' presentations.
2. Brainstorm our mathematical autobiographies.
3. Present a preliminary poster session.
For your "final exam", we will hold an "open" poster session, during which I'll invite in some faculty and others to learn your stories.
Okay, you've heard from a wide variety of folks, all of whom love mathematics. You've seen how they've taken their love and turned it into a career.
You may need to think seriously about how to do the same!
As we begin to think about our posters, I remind you of this from our syllabus:
Your poster will be autobiographical, providing your own answers to three important questions:
You will also shine a spotlight on at least one interesting piece of mathematics as part of your poster.

So today let's reflect back on those talks we've heard over the past 8 sessions:
and let's reflect on them while trying to answer these questions:
1. What were some of the primary common lessons that you learned across many (if not all) of the talks?
2. What tells you that these people truly love mathematics? What makes it show?
3. Did anyone make you think about a new career possibility, or otherwise change your mind about what you thought was your career trajectory?
4. Some of our visitors told stories about how math impacted their childhood or youth. What's your story?
Homework (to be submitted next time): please summarize our discussion, and add your own thoughts as well (two pages).

Let's talk about people who may have inspired you in your journey.
Specifically I encourage you to also put a "spotlight" on someone (someone you've known personally, or historically) who has inspired you, embedded in your poster presentation.

I've asked you to include a focus on (at least) one interesting piece of mathematics in your poster presentation. Perhaps that's something in a current course, but it might also be that first thing that inspired you to think that you might like doing mathematics with your life and career.
- Can you give some examples of times in your life when you used or saw some cool mathematics?
- What's the coolest example of mathematics that you've seen lately?
It's time for you to tell your own story, now that others have had their chance.

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