Ohio Lambda John Carroll University Chapter Report

Advisor and Officers

Advisor: Tom Short

PFC : Leo Schneider

President: Kaylee Sutton

Vice President: Roy Bower

Treasurer: Louis Paumier

Secretary: Michael Joseph

Number of New Members Inducted:

7

Number of Continuing Members:

15

Describe the two most interesting or unusual chapter activities this year:

Our Pi Mu Epsilon Induction Ceremony was held in conjunction with the mathematics department’s program honoring all of the accomplishments of our graduating mathematics majors. Instead of a Pi Mu Epsilon Banquet just for the PME members at a different time like we usually did, this year PME sponsored a picnic for all the the graduates, the faculty, and those of the graduates’ families who could attend. Our tee shirt, designed last year and sold this year was very popular, even among the non-math majors. Do you think the quote on the shirt “I want to be your derivative so I can lie tangent to your curves” had anything to do with its popularity?

Do any of your chapter members plan to attend or present a paper at the 2009 PME national meeting at MathFest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania?

Yes, we will have at least two speakers from our Chapter in Pittsburgh.

Do you have any news about current students or recent graduates, for example, scholarships or other awards, acceptances to graduate school, paper presentations at conferences?

Pam Castricone will spend the summer between her junior and senior year as an intern and actuarial trainee at Towers Perrin. She was hired as a result of a talk given to our Pi Mu Epsilon Chapter by former Ohio Lambda President Christine Schlauch. Christine is now an Associate in the Society of Actuaries. Bob Short gave a talk on geometric and calculus implications of material in the book “Flatland” at the undergraduate mathematics conferences at the University of Dayton in early November and at Penn State University in late November. Past President Michael Joseph gave a talk on Primitive Pythagorean Triples at the Ohio Section of the MAA in April. Part of his research led to a new entry about PPTs in the Wikipedia. He will be presenting his results at PME’s conference in Pittsburgh this August. President Kaylee Sutton gave talks on her research into Pell’s Equation at the undergraduate mathematics conferences at Penn State University in November and at the conference for undergraduate women in mathematics at the University of Nebraska in February. She will be presenting her results at PME’s conference in Pittsburgh this August. John Carroll’s two-person team of PME members Anthony Lanese and Michael Joseph placed 4th among all the teams (most of which had three members) in the mathematics competition for undergraduates held at Kent State University in April. Debra Zwilling, who spend a couple years teaching high school after graduating from John Carroll University, is in her first year of Ph.D. studies in mathematics at Case Western Reserve University. Marie Dailey and Scott Zimmerman, who will be receiving their M.S. degrees in mathematics from John Carroll University, are hoping to attend MathFest and support our two student speakers. Marie spoke at our conferences in Knoxville and San Jose, and knows what great mathematics events they are. Scott spoke at several regional conferences and had a talk prepared for the Wisconsin meeting, but was prevented from going because of a wedding in the family. He wants to see what all the fuss is about concerning our national conference. Finally, Tom Short, who was inducted into our Ohio Lambda Chapter in 1985, and then went on to receive his Ph.D. in Statistics and teach at two universities in Pennsylvania, has returned to our faculty as a full Professor. Tom has been appointed to be our new Chapter Advisor.