Institution: College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University

Reporting Year: 2022-2023

Advisor: Kris Nairn

Advisor's Email Address: knairn@csbsju.edu

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

Permanent Faculty Correspondent: 

Permanent Faculty Correspondent's Email Address: 

Officers: 

Chapter Website: http://www.csbsju.edu/mathematics/pi-mu-epsilon-conference

Number of New Members: 19

Number of Continuing Members: 

Activities: 2023 Spring Pi Mu Epsilon Conference: The 43rd edition of the PME conference was held on Friday and Saturday, April 14-15, 2023, at Saint John's University. Two invited talks were given by Dr. Thomas Hull of Western New England University. More information is given below in the report for the PME Conference Grant. Pi Mu Epsilon new member induction: The Mathematics Department held a trivia contest, as a community-building event. The two main goals were to promote interaction between upper-level mathematics majors and entering or prospective math majors, and to honor this year's PME inductees. The event was very well-attended and students commented that it was fun and effective.

Do any of your chapter members plan to attend or present at the PME National Meeting this year? Not that I am aware.

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.

If you were awarded a PME Lectureship, Conference, or Prize Grant within the past year, please briefly describe the results.
$300 Conference Grant: The conference was held on Friday and Saturday, April 14-15, 2023, at Saint John's University. The invited speaker, Dr. Thomas Hull, gave two lectures on the mathematics of origami. The first lecture, entitled "Origami: Doing Math and Science without Scissors or Glue," was aimed at a general audience and was attended by approximately 40 people. In addition to the local community of CSB/SJU faculty and students, and faculty from Saint Cloud State University, the audience included two groups who traveled from Minnesota State University Moorhead and Concordia College. Many of these individuals were also in attendance on Saturday morning for Dr. Hull's second invited address, entitled "Rigid Origami and No-hands Folding." In addition to the two invited talks, there were three student presentations, with two on Friday evening and one on Saturday morning. Two of the student speakers came from CSB/SJU and one speaker came from Concordia College. Lastly, the conference included three informal sessions to actively engage participants. The first, which opening the conference on Friday evening, was a hands-on origami session hosted by Dr. Hull. This session was attended by some high-school students and a few families from the local community with school-aged children. Dr. Hull provided instructions for some simple origami constructions and discussed some terminology and mathematical aspects of the folding patterns. The second was a pizza social which followed the Friday evening talk by Dr. Hull. The third session, on Saturday morning, was an open problem solving session. Some open problems with low entry points were provided, and morning refreshments were provided. Participants chose a problem on which to work and then formed small groups to discuss ideas. Some of the students in attendance also shared some problems they had been considering during the 2022-2023 academic year.