Institution: VCU
Reporting Year: 2017-2018
Advisor: Dr. Dennis Hopkinson
Advisor's Email Address: dhopkinson@vcu.edu
Has There Been a Change in Chapter Advisor During the Past Year?: Dr. Dennis Hopkinson
Permanent Faculty Correspondent: Dr. Joy Whitenack
Permanent Faculty Correspondent's Email Address: jwwhitenack@vcu.edu
Officers: President: Sharon Dotson Vice-President: Carmel Blomgren Secretary: Anisha Rohatgi Treasurer: Stephen Holtz
Chapter Website: http://www.facebook.com/pimuepsilonvcu/
Number of New Members: 13
Number of Continuing Members: 20
Activities: We had Cory Colbert, an alumni from VCU as well as from our PME Charter, come to speak on April 27, 2018. Title: Sequences, Sums, Sounds, and Sloane(s) Abstract: When you think of the prime numbers, the Fibonacci numbers, and the powers of two, you probably think of very different concepts and ideas -- from building blocks of integers to rabbits to computers. There is, however, an extremely surprising property that is common to all three sequences, and it is that property we wish to expose in this talk. Afterwards, we'll dive into the unknown and discuss a beautiful conjecture raised by Neil Sloane regarding the simple operation of multiplying digits of a positive integer together. Oh, and if you've ever wondered what the perfect squares sound like, you should definitely come to this talk! Everyone is welcome; no knowledge beyond calculus is assumed. Cory did an amazing job making the lecutre fun while encouraging listener participation.
Do any of your chapter members plan to attend or present at the PME National Meeting this year? We have 2-3 members who are considering attending and possibly presenting at the PME National Meeting in 2019.
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.
Cory Colbert, who was one of our charter PME members at VCU, was the first African American to graduate from our undergraduate math department (2011) who went on to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics (The University of Texas at Austin in 2017). He is a Gaius C. Bolin Fellow in Mathematics at Williams College.
If you were awarded a PME Lectureship, Conference, or Prize Grant within the past year, please briefly describe the results.