In 2006, The American Mathematical Society (AMS) presented its first Award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department to Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. The Mathematics Department at Harvey Mudd College excels in numerous dimensions. Its exciting programs have led to a doubling of the number of math majors over the last decade. Currently more than one out of every six graduating seniors at Harvey Mudd College majors in mathematics or in new joint majors of mathematics with computer science or mathematical biology. Furthermore, about 60% of these math majors continue their education at the graduate level.
The Harvey Mudd College Mathematics Clinic has served as a trailblazer and a model for other programs for more than thirty years. This innovative program connects teams of math majors with real-world problems, giving students a terrific research experience as well as a glimpse at possible future careers. Undergraduate research is a theme throughout the mathematics program at Harvey Mudd College, as exemplified by the over twenty papers published in the last three years by Harvey Mudd College mathematics faculty with student co-authors.
Dr. Lesley Ward, from Harvey Mudd College, will be giving a presentation about the mathematics clinic.
Abstract: The MAA has continuously sponsored nationwide
high-school level math contests since 1952. The sequence of contests now spans 5
different contests at increasing levels of mathematical sophistication. Students
who succeed at the top level on these
contests become the team representing the U.S. at the annual International
Mathematical Olympiad. I'll survey the history and organization of the contests,
along with the outcomes and some notable mathematicians whose early indications
of talent came on these contests. I'll comment about the intersection of these
contests with the school mathematics curriculum. Along the way, I'll showcase
some interesting, easy, and hard mathematical problems from these contests.