Institution: Elon University

Reporting Year: 2013-2014

Advisor: Chad Awtrey

Advisor's Email Address: cawtrey@elon.edu

Has There Been a Change in Chapter Advisor During the Past Year?: No

Permanent Faculty Correspondent: 

Permanent Faculty Correspondent's Email Address: 

Officers: Amy Wagoner , president Nakhila Mistry, , vice president Christopher Shill , treasurer

Chapter Website: http://

Number of New Members: 13

Number of Continuing Members: 9

Activities: (1) In November, we hosted Tim Chartier (Davidson College). Tim spoke on his sports rankings research, and he performed portions of his Mime-matics show, which explores mathematical ideas through the art of mime. More information about the event, including photos, can be found at . (2) In April, we welcomed Alan Russell (Elon University) for an evening of origami. Alan is a recognized leader in applications of origami to mathematics education. He taught audience members how to fold several shapes that he has used to teach fractions to young children. More information about the event, including photos, can be found at .

Do any of your chapter members plan to attend or present at the PME National Meeting this year? Nakhila Mistry will be attending and presenting.

Do you have any news about current students or recent graduations? For example, scholarships or other awards, acceptances to graduate school, paper presentations at conferences, etc.
Here are some of the highlights. (1) Chris Shill will be attending graduate school this fall at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Chris gave 5 presentations this year (two were invited), he had one paper published, and he had 2 additional papers accepted for publication (one of these was the result of his work at the Cornell REU last summer). Chris won our department's Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, and he won our chapter's Pi Mu Epsilon Research Award. Chris was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. (2) Nakhila Mistry received a Fulbright Scholarship to Sri Lanka for the 2014-2015 academic year. After returning from Sri Lanka, Nakhila will be attending graduate school at the University of Maryland, College Park. Nakhila gave 6 presentations this year, and she submitted one paper for publication. Nakhila won our department's research award, and she was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. (3) Erin Strosnider accepted a position at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, working in the area of Air and Missile Defense. Erin gave 5 presentations this year (two were invited), and she had one paper accepted for publication. (4) Nicole Miles gave 3 presentations this year. (5) Chris Shill, Erin Strosnider, and Nicole Miles co-authored 3 additional papers. Two of these have been accepted for publication. (6) Jeremy Guinn and Mackenzie McCraw published an article in the latest issue of the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal. (7) Maggie Macdonald had a paper accepted for publication. (8) Christie Dierk will be attending graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. She gave 3 presentations this year. (9) Andrew Fischer will be attending medical school at the University of Maryland, College Park. He gave 2 presentations this year. (10) Madeline Edwards will be participating in the Mathematical Biology Institute's REU program this summer.

If you were awarded a PME Lectureship, Conference, or Prize Grant within the past year, please briefly describe the results.
We were awarded a matching grant to help fund our PME Research Award. This award is given to a student who has shown outstanding achievement in the dissemination of mathematical research. This year's recipient was Chris Shill (see above for his relevant achievements). We instituted this award to foster a commitment in our students to disseminate their research in the form of conference presentations and publications in professional journals. This year, our students gave a total of 23 presentations at various AMS/MAA conferences, and they submitted a total of 8 papers for publication. We were also awarded a Lectureship grant which allowed us to host Eve Torrence on our campus in early May. Eve gave a 75-minute origami workshop in the afternoon, ate lunch with several PME students and faculty, and gave the keynote address at our department's end-of-the-year celebration dinner (which included our PME induction ceremony). Eve's visit was the culmination of a very busy and very successful year for our chapter, one where our primary goal was to reinvigorate PME on our campus. Our chapter is grateful for this financial support, and we are especially thankful for the advice and guidance we received from Paul Fishback throughout the year.