History of the Pacific Northwest Section of the Mathematical Association of America

Meetings of the Section

Meeting. April 10-11, 1947, University of British Columbia

The invited address was given by S. A. Jennings, University of British Columbia, and was titled "Topological methods in algebra." There were also 14 short papers. 47 persons attended, including 30 members of the MAA.

Officers 1947-1948

Meeting. March 26-27, 1948, University of Oregon

The invited address, given by Ivan Niven , was titled "The density of a set of integers." There were 16 other papers and a conference on the mathematical training of prospective secondary school teachers. 59 persons attended, including 43 members of the MAA.

Officers 1948-1949

Meeting. March 25-26, 1949, Oregon State College

There were two invited addresses: C. M. Cramlet of the University of Washington spoke "On algebraic and differential invariants," and J. H. Curtiss of the National Bureau of Standards spoke on "The mathematical program of the National Bureau of Standards." There were 18 other papers. 47 AMS members attended and 58 MAA members attended.

Officers 1949-1950

Meeting. June 16, 1950, University of Washington

The invited address, given by Howard M. Eves of Oregon State College, was titled "Dissections." There were five other papers. 48 persons attended, including 34 MAA members.

Officers 1950-1951

Meeting. June 15-16, 1951, State College of Washington (Pullman)

The invited address, given by Z. W. Birnbaum of the University of Washington was titled "On estimating a probability distribution from a finite number of observations." There were seven other papers. 49 persons, including 35 MAA members, attended this joint AMS-MAA meeting.

Officers 1951-1952

Meeting. June 20, 1952, University of Oregon

The meeting was joint with the AMS, the Biometric Society, and the Econometric Society. The invited address was given by Carl B. Allendoerfer of the University of Washington, and was titled "Continuous vector fields". There were three other papers and a symposium (panel) on calculus teaching. Other hour talks included a talk by Adriano Buzzati-Traverso, which was sponsored by the Biometric Society; "On some discrete non-Markovian processes," by Mark Kac of Cornell University and the Institute for Advanced Studies and sponsored by the University of Oregon as part of its 75th anniversary; "Solving simultaneous equations is not trivial," by G. E. =46orsythe of NBS and sponsored by the AMS; and "On distribution-free tests of fit for continuous distribution functions," by Z. W. Birnbaum of the University of Washington and sponsored by the Institute for Mathematical Statistics. 80 persons attended, including 61 MAA members.

Officers 1952-1953

Meeting. June 19, 1953, Montana State University, Missoula

The invited address was given by Leo Moser of the University of Alberta and was titled "The distribution of quadratic residues." There were five other papers as well as a symposium on The connecting link between college algebra and abstract algebra. There was also a joint dinner with the AMS. 57 persons attended the meeting, including 43 MAA members.

Officers 1953-1954

Meeting. June 19, 1954, Reed College

The invited address, given by Cletus Oakley of Haverford College, was titled "Modern mathematics for freshmen." There were two other papers, a symposium on college mathematics, and a joint dinner with the AMS. 73 persons attended, including 55 MAA members.

Officers 1954-1955

Meeting. June 17, 1955, University of British Columbia

The invited address was given by E. S. Keeping of the University of Alberta and was titled "Statistical decisions." There were two other papers and a symposium (panel) on freshman mathematics.

Officers 1955-1956

Meeting.

There was no meeting because of the national meeting in Seattle.

Officers 1956-1957

Meeting. June 14, 1957, State College of Washington

The invited address, given by R. H. Bruck of the University of Wisconsin, was titled "New patterns in geometry." There was a symposium on Computing Machines and a joint dinner with the AMS.

Officers 1957-1958

Meeting. June 20, 1958, Oregon State College

The invited address was given by A. Erdelyi of Cal-Tech and was titled "Operational calculus and generalized functions." There were five other papers and a joint dinner with the AMS.

Officers 1958-1959

Meeting. June 19, 1959, University of Oregon

The invited address, given by John L. Kelley of the University of California, Berkeley, was titled "Set theory and numbers." There were three other talks. 111 persons attended, including 69 MAA members.

Officers 1959-1960

Meeting. June 17, 1960, Montana State University, Missoula

The invited address was given by Paul Rosenbloom of the University of Minnesota on "Implications for colleges of the new school mathematics programs." Four other talks were presented.

Officers 1960-1961

Meeting. June 17, 1961, University of Washington

The invited address, given by Wolfgang Wasow of the University of Wisconsin, was titled "Singular perturbations of differential equations." There were six other talks. 83 persons attended.

Officers 1961-1962

Meeting.

There was no meeting held because of the national meeting in Vancouver.

Officers 1962-1963

Meeting. June 21, 1963, Western Washington State College

The invited address was given by Hans Samelson of Stanford University, and was titled "Vector fields on spheres." Six other papers were presented and 78 persons attended.

Officers 1963-64

Meeting. June 19, 1964, Washington State University

The invited address was given by Roy Dubisch of the University of Washington, who reported on the work of educational Services, Inc. in developing a modern mathematics program in Africa. Three other papers were presented as well as a symposium on CUPM recommendations for the training of elementary school teachers. The meeting was joint with SIAM and 120 persons attended, including 62 MAA members.

Officers 1964-1965

Meeting. June 18-19, 1965, University of Oregon

Invited addresses were given by N. J. Divinsky of the University of British Columbia on "Rings and radicals," Andr=E9 Deprit of the Boeing Company on "Some aspects of celestial mechanics, with applications to space travel," and A. A. Goldstein of the University of Washington on "Control theory and mathematical programming." There was also a panel discussion on mathematics in the two-year college. 154 persons, including 95 MAA members attended this joint meeting with the AMS and SIAM.

Officers 1965-1966

Meeting. June 17-18, 1966, University of Victoria

Three invited addresses were given: E. A. Shoemaker of Simon Fraser spoke on "The uniqueness in the mathematical theory of plasticity"; R. S. Pierce of the University of Washington spoke on "Boolean algebras--some old and new problems"; and G. W. Burrows of Boeing spoke on "An application of Kalman filtering to passive ranging." Six other papers were presented as well as a panel discussion on CUPM report on a general curriculum in mathematics, and a panel discussion on mathematics at the two-year college--points of view. 179 persons, including 85 MAA members, attended the meeting which was joint with SIAM.

Officers 1966-1967

Meeting. June 16-17, 1967, University of Montana, Missoula

Three invited addresses were given: D. C. Barnes of Washington State University spoke on "Bounds on the eigenvalues of nonhomogeneous strings"; Bertram Yood of the University of Oregon spoke on "Structure theorems for Banach algebras"; and J. W. Weber of Washington State University spoke on "The application of biharmonic eigenfunctions to a plate problem." Seven other papers were presented in a meeting of junior and community colleges. 67 MAA members attended this meeting.

Officers 1967-1968

Meeting. June 14-15, 1968, Reed College

Five invited addresses were given: Joseph Hashisaki of Western Washington State College gave a talk titled "Arithmetic in community colleges"; Alex Rosenberg of Cornell University spoke on "CUPM recommendations for qualifications of college teachers and for a university parallel mathematics curriculum for two-year colleges"; W. J. Firey of Oregon State University gave a talk titled "Existence theorems for convex surfaces"; Thomas Hungerford of the University of Washington spoke on "Special topics in linear algebra"; and Melvin Torseth of Everett Community College spoke on "Optimal instruction: fact or fantasy?"

Officers 1968-1969

Meeting. This meeting took place in conjunction with the national meeting at the University of Oregon, August 25-27, 1969.

The Business Meeting was August 25, 1969.

Officers 1969-1970

Meeting. June 18-19, 1970, Pacific Lutheran University

There were two invited addresses at this joint meeting with AMS and SIAM: Richard M. Koch of the University of Oregon gave a talk titled "Why contour integration leads to a hefty dose of topology in modern differential geometry," and Emilio Gugliardo of Oregon State University spoke on "The lack of mathematical vitamins in the devopment of artificial intelligence." There was a special program for community colleges including a panel discussion on the in-service training program for community college mathematics teachers at the University of Oregon. There were ten other talks and a panel discussion on the purpose and content of upper division courses in geometry. There were 120 persons in attendance.

Officers 1970-1971

Meeting. June 18-19, 1971, Oregon State University

There were two invited addresses given: Keith Yale of the University of Montana spoke on "Fourier analysis and the origins of set theory," and Victor Klee of the University of Washington spoke on "Shapes of the future." There were four panel discussions: Should the standard freshman calculus course be taught with the aid of computers?; Teaching occupational math; An instructional system for occupational and developmental students; and Using the audio-tutorial approach. There were 168 person who attended this joint meeting with the AMS, including 113 MAA members.

Officers 1971-1972

Meeting. June 16, 1972, University of Washington

There were three talks on Friday: Frederick C. Johnson of Boeing spoke on "An algebraic look at Kalman filtering and recursion estimation"; T. G. Ostrom of Washington State University spoke on "Linear algebras and geometries"; and David Ragozin of the University of Washington spoke on "Why Lagrange failed to discover the Weierstrass approximation theorem." There was also a panel discussion on student evaluations of faculty. There were ten talks in the Saturday sessions which were devoted to junior and community colleges. 171 persons attended this joint meeting with the AMS and SIAM, including 120 MAA members.

Officers 1972-1973

Meeting. June 15-16, 1973, Western Washington State College

An inspiring dinner talk was given George Pólya, titled "Galileo: his life and contributions to the scientific method." Two invited addresses were given: David Larman of the University College, London spoke on "The most significant advances in geometry in the last decade"; and John Kenelly of Clemson University spoke on "The challenge spectrum in the various mathematical sciences." Three other talks were also given at this joint meeting with the AMS and SIAM.

Officers 1973-1974

Meeting.

The Business Meeting of the section was held on August 23, during the International Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia, August 21-25, 1974. 29 persons attended the Business meeting.

Officers 1974-1975

Meeting. June 20-21, 1975, Washington State University

There were two invited addresses: Ivan Niven of the University of Oregon spoke on "Extremal problems unmanageable by calculus," and Roy Dubisch of the University of Washington spoke on "Exporting mathematics to less developed nations: success or failure." There was a panel discussion on trends in mathematics training, as well as a community college program. The meeting was joint with AMS and SIAM.

Officers 1975-1976

Meeting. June 18-19, 1976, Portland State University

There were six invited addresses. Richard M. Koch of the University of Oregon gave a talk titled "Invariant functions on matrices"; Dean McIntire of Central Oregon Community College spoke on "Cognitive style mapping and its relationship to the mathematics lab"; Harold Hauser of Blue Mountain Community College gave a talk titled "Trinomial expansion and its geometric design"; Raymond Mayer of Reed College spoke on "Some applications of nonstandard analysis to number theory"; Eugene Maier of the University of Oregon gave a talk titled "Fancy meeting you here--a college algebra counting problem leads to an unexpected encounter with e"; and Troy Downey of Portland Community College spoke on "Cases versus graphs."

Officers 1976-1977

Meeting. The meeting was held in conjunction with the national meeting at the University of Washington on August 16, 1977.

The meeting included a parallel session for two-year colleges. There were 21 persons in attendance.

Officers 1977-1978

Meeting. June 16, 1978, University of Oregon

The invited addresses were: Joel Davis of Oregon State University spoke on "Design of functions for handheld calculators"; Ivan Niven of the University of Oregon gave a talk titled "Solved and unsolved problems in tilings"; Jerine Ridgeway of Bellevue Community College spoke on "Math for math avoiders"; and William Firey of Oregon State University spoke on "Contact probabilities between convex figures." Arvid T. Lonseth of Oregon State University gave the dinner talk, titled "In the wake of galleons (some mathematical problems from the age of discovery)." John Loughlin and Jim Snow of Lane Community College presented "Home grown video." There was also a panel discussion on computer literacy for technical students at this joint meeting with the AMS and SIAM.

Officers 1978-1979

Meeting. June 15, 1979, University of British Columbia

Invited addresses were: T. Fletcher of Vancouver Community College spoke on "An introduction to cognitive mapping (evaluating student potential)"; Douglas A. Lind of the University of Washington gave a talk titled "Furstenburg's proof of Szemeredi's theorem (or, ergodic theory strikes again)"; D. Dale Olesky of the University of Victoria spoke on "Cooperative education in mathematics"; Constance Reid gave a talk titled "The answer to the question everyone asks"; Ved P. Madan of Red Deer College spoke on "Geometrical theorems in slides--an innovative approach for teaching geometry"; Hazel Jo Reed of Evergreen State College spoke on "Compartmentalization of mathematical cognition"; and Kenneth A. Ross spoke on "A probabilistic approach to studying groups."

Officers 1979-1980

Meeting. June 20-21, 1980, Central Washington University

There were three invited addresses: Larry Runyan of Shoreline Community College spoke on "Cold calculating conservation"; A. B. Willcox, as Executive Director of the MAA, gave a talk titled "Mathematics: where are we going? what mathematics education can do about it"; and Donald W. Bushaw of Washington State University spoke on "Minimal competencies, maximal confusion, and mean people." A dinner talk was given by Hugh Burkhardt of the Shell Centre for Mathematics Education, England, titled "England's experience with problem solving curricula: how it has affected the way we teach mathematics." There was also a panel discussion on mathematical services provided for our students. Only 45 persons attended this joint meeting with the AMS and SIAM due to the explosion of Mt. St. Helens on May 18, 1980.

Officers 1980-1981

Meeting. June 19-20, 1981, Lewis and Clark College

Three invited addresses were given: Ivan Niven of the University of Oregon spoke on the "The way it was"; Neal Koblitz of the University of Washington spoke on "Why study equations over finite fields?"; and Ansel Johnson of Portland State University gave a luncheon talk titled "Mathematics used in monitoring Mt. St. Helens." There was a panel discussion on mathematics contests as well as eight other papers. 112 persons attended, including 66 MAA members.

Officers 1981-1982

Meeting. June 18-19, 1982, Western Washington University

There were three invited addresses: Edwin Hewitt of the University of Washington gave a talk titled "Even mathematicians are odd"; Marcia P. Sward of the MAA gave a talk titled "Like 55, mathematics saves lives"; and James A. Cochran of Washington State University spoke on "A potpouri of eigenvalue results--the exploitation of analogies." There were eight other talks at this meeting as well as two panel discussions, one on mathematics and computer science, and one on trends in graduate programs.

Officers 1982-1983

Meeting. June 16-18, 1983, University of Idaho

This meeting had seven invited addresses: Gail Adele Williams of the University of Idaho spoke on "Mathematics at work in society (MAWIS)"; John Reay of Western Washington University gave a talk titled "Modeling measle epidemics"; Donald J. Albers of Menlo College gave a talk titled "Mathematicians are people, too"; Peter J. Hilton of SUNY at Binghamton spoke on "The early history of computers"; John Loughlin of Lane Community College spoke on "Making math video tapes"; Branko Gr=FCnbaum of the University of Washington gave a talk titled "Geometry of Moorish ornamentation"; and Calvin T. Long of Washington State University spoke on "Discovering Fibonacci identities." There was a short course on computer graphics in mathematics instruction presented by David Moursund of the University of Oregon, a panel discussion on the honors program in mathematics, and 11 shorter presentations. 135 persons attended the meeting.

Officers 1983-1984

Meeting.

There was no meeting because of the National Meeting in Eugene.

Officers 1984-1985

Meeting. June 20-22, 1985, Willamette University

Three invited addresses were given: Donald W. Bushaw of Washington State University spoke on "The undergraduate curriculum"; Gerald L. Alexanderson of the University of Santa Clara spoke on "Pictures and stories from George Póya's album"; and Wesley L. Nicholson of Battelle-Northwest gave a talk titled "Graphical data analysis in more than two dimensions." Four other papers were given as well as a panel discussion on discrete mathematics. There were also two minicourses: Alan H. Schoenfeld presented "Teaching Problem Solving" and Branko Gr=FCnbaum presented "Geometry for College Teachers." 70 persons attended the meeting.

Officers 1985-1986

Meeting. June 20, 1986, Southern Oregon State College

Three invited addresses were given: Paul R. Halmos of the University of Santa Clara gave two talks, titled "Problems I still cannot solve" and "Random reminiscences." Joe Buhler of Reed College spoke on "Finding roots mod p and factoring polynomials." Nine other papers were presented. Joe Buhler also presented a minicourse on "NP completeness."

Officers 1986-1987

Meeting. June 18-20, 1987, Pacific Lutheran University

There were two invited addresses: Donald W. Bushaw of Washington State University spoke on "Reflections on discrete mathematics in the first two years," and Branko Grünbaum gave a talk titled "The geometry of polyhedra." Robert Jewett of Western Washington University gave the luncheon address on multiplying decimals that are infinite on the left. There were five other papers and a panel discussion on intermediate algebra. James Sandefur presented the minicourse "Discrete mathematics using difference equations." 100 persons attended.

Officers 1987-1988

Meeting. June 18, 1988, University of British Columbia

There were seven invited addresses: Paul Filliman of Western Washington University spoke on "Symmetry in maximal polytopes"; Richard Guy of the University of Alberta gave a talk titled "The strong law of small numbers"; John S. Devitt of the University of Saskatchewan spoke on "Saskatchewan and the symbolic computation group: unleashing computer algebra on the mathematics curriculum"; Eric Pearson of Battelle-PN Labs spoke on "Piecewise analytic methods for solutions of stiff systems of ODE: overview and parallel implementation"; Lynn A. Steen of St. Olaf College gave a talk titled "Numeracy, literacy, and mathematics"; Nancy Heckman of the University of British Columbia spoke on "Semi-parametric models"; and Sam Saunders of Washington State University spoke on "Great expectations or the true odds when playing the state lotteries." There were three other talks and a panel discussion on calculus. Tom Thompson of Walla Walla College gave a short course titled "Error correcting codes." 80 persons attended.

Officers 1988-1989

Meeting. June 15-17, 1989, Gonzaga University

There were seven invited addresses: "Complexity and Robertson/Seymour theory," by Michael Fellows, University of Idaho; "Random walks on Z" and "Factorization in L1 and other places," by Kenneth A. Ross, University of Oregon; a banquet talk "What are fractals?" by Peter Renz; "Experimental design in industry," by Andrew Booker, Boeing Computer Services; "Neural networks in the dynamics of computation," by Steve Nobel, Boeing Advanced Systems; and and a luncheon talk "Mathematics at Boeing," by Stephen P. Keeler, Boeing Computer Services. A short course on "Nonlinear dynamics" was given by Philip Holmes, Cornell University. =46ifteen general papers, five papers on mathematics education, and ten student papers were presented. 127 persons attended and 112 attended the evening banquet.

Officers 1989-1990

Meeting. June 14-16, 1990, Portland State University

Invited Talks were as follows: "Knot theory," by Steven Bleiler, Portland State University; "Using the HP-28S to teach calculus," by Tom Dick, Oregon State University; "Chaos," by Donald L. Kreider, Dartmouth College; a fascinating and entertaining banquet talk "The geometry of soap bubbles," by Millie Johnson, Western Washington University; "Computer algebra on the HP-28S," by Charles Patton, Hewlett-Packard; "The placement problem for very large scale integrated circuits," by John Blanks, Mentor Graphics; and a luncheon talk "A non-mathematicians view of why knot theory is important to DNA research," by Bob Beck, Oregon Health Sciences University. De Witt Summers, Florida State University, gave a short course on "Knot theory and DNA." There was a panel discussion on "Career opportunities in high-tech industries;" the moderator was Lewis Lum, University of Portland, and the panel members were: Qwen Blake, Intel, Balaji Krishnamurthy, Tektronics, and Charles Patton, Hewlett-Packard. There were 25 contributed papers, including 14 given by students. 111 persons registered for the meeting and 96 attended the banquet.

Officers 1990-1991

Meeting. June 20-22, 1991, Seattle Pacific University

This meeting celebrated the centennial anniversaries of Seattle Pacific University and Seattle University. The scientific presentations were held at Seattle Pacific and the major evening banquet was hosted by Seattle University. The banquet speaker was John Hopcroft, Cornell University, who was an undergraduate at Seattle University; he spoke on "Entering the information age." Outstanding invited addresses were given by John Hopcroft, on "Robust geometry algorithms," and by John Ewing, Indiana University, on "Can we see the Mandelbrot set?" Ramesh Gangolli, University of Washington, spoke on "New trends in undergraduate mathematics education" at the Saturday luncheon. A workshop on "Unsolved problems in intuitive geometry" was given by Victor Klee, University of Washington. Presentations on the actuarial profession were given by Mike Kinzer, Safeco Insurance Company, and by Craig Reynolds, Chief Actuary of Milliman and Robertson, and a workshop, "An introduction to the TI 81," was conducted by Carl Swenson, Seattle University. There were 16 contributed papers, including 5 given by students. About 70 persons registered at the meeting and about 70 attended the banquet.

Officers 1991-1992

Meeting. June 18-20, 1992, University of Montana, Missoula, and The Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, Montana

The high point of this meeting was the barbecue at The Salish Kootenai College. This was followed by a very interesting talk on "The life and legacy of India's greatest mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan," by Bruce Berndt of the University of Illinois. There was also a presentation of the first PNW Award for Distinguished Teaching, which was presented to André Yandl of Seattle University. Alan Tucker, SUNY at Stony Brook, gave a very interesting talk on "The mathematics of fair representation." Walter Mientka, University of Nebraska and the Executive Director of the American Mathematics Competitions, reported on "The development, implementation, and results of the American Mathematics Competions." At the Saturday luncheon, Howard E. Reinhaardt, University of Montana, gave a very entertaining account of "What every dean should know about mathematics." William McCallum, University of Arizona, gave a short course on "Teaching reform calculus;" 32 registered for the short course. William Hawkins, Director of the SUMMA Program of the MAA, gave a workshop on "Strengthening underrepresented minority mathematics achievement," with 20 registrants. There were fifteen papers presented, including 9 by students. About 90 people registered at this meeting. There were 69 at the banquet and about 35 at the Saturday luncheon.

Officers 1992-1993

Meeting. March 6, 1993, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, and Pierce College, Tacoma

This meeting was historic on two counts. This was the first meeting not held in June in over thirty years and this was a one-day meeting. And this was the first meeting that had a really strong student presence. Indeed, students were the theme of the meeting. In the first invited address, Ben Fusaro of Salisbury State University discussed the history of the Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM), which he single-handedly brought into being in the early 1980s. Three MCM teams were introduced whose members made some brief comments and fielded many questions. The teams were from the University of Alaska, University of Puget Sound, and Pacific Lutheran University. The luncheon banquet speaker was Frank Morgan of Williams College. He talked about "Shortest Networks" and many of the results that he talked about were discovered by undergraduate students. Also at the banquet, the second sectional Distinguished Teaching Award was presented to Jack Robertson of Washington State University. The afternoon invited address was also given by Frank Morgan who talked about "Soap bubble clusters: new results." Again, many of the results were discovered by undergraduates. The program also had very strong sessions of contributed papers, including reports from the three MCM teams discussed above. In addition to those reports, there were 19 contributed papers, 7 by students. 120 people attended the meeting, including about 40 students.

Officers 1993-1994

Meeting. June 16-18, 1994, University of Oregon, Eugene

This meeting was held in conjunction with Western Section meeting of the American Mathematical Society. There were three wonderful hour talks. Carl Pomerance, University of Georgia, gave the first Polya Lecture to be given to the section; he talked about "Witnesses of composite numbers." Doris Schattschneider, Moravian College and First Vice President of the MAA, addressed the question "Was Escher a mathematician?" Millie J. Johnson, Western Washington University, spoke on "The mathematics of meanders: rivers, channelization, floods, and the environment." The AMS program included a talk of special interest to MAA members; Karen V. H. Parshall, University of Virginia, spoke on "Algebras with a Scottish lilt: the life and work of Joseph H. M. Wedderburn (1882-1948). There were 11 contributed papers and two minicourses. Jim Tattersall, Providence College in Rhode Island, gave a minicourse on the "History of the first nine Lucasian professors at Cambridge." Carl E. Swenson, Seattle University, gave a minicourse on "Using Mathematica to produce graphical classroom materials." Ken Ross, University of Oregon, moderated a panel discussion on "Sensitivity and understanding of the job market." Three department heads and three "young" mathematicians with recent Ph.D.s served on this panel which addressed the very tight job market. Stu Thomas, University of Oregon, moderated a panel discussion titled "The baby and the bathwater," which focused on what we throw out of algebra to make room for technological advances. The issue was whether heavy reliance on modern technology enhanced or interfered with the learning process. Florence =46asanelli, Director of the SUMMA Intervention Programs of the MAA, led an "MAA Proposal Writing Workshop." About 130 people attended the MAA salmon bake. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the third sectional Distinguished Teaching Award to Millie Johnson of Western Washington University. There was also a banquet for University of Oregon alumni and one in honor of Professor Emeritus David K. Harrison, University of Oregon. There were 229 registrants for the meeting, including 102 MAA members and 51 students. The MAA sponsored a free pizza lunch for about 30 students.

Officers 1994-1995

Meeting. June 15-17, 1995, Whitman College, Walla Walla

This meeting was co-hosted by Columbia Basin College. The meeting celebrated the section's fiftieth anniversary and emphasized aspects of mathematical modeling. There were two invited addresses. Dr. Paul Whitney, Battelle Northwest, presented a case study showing the interaction between mathematical modeling and data analysis in analyzing the amount of gas trapped in the nuclear waste stored in the Hanford tanks. Professor Martha Siegel, Towson State University and editor of Mathematics Magazine, spoke on industrial mathematics in the undergraduate curriculum. There were also two minicourses. Professor Maurice Weir, Naval Postgraduate School, gave a minicourse on the construction of mathematical models. Professor Marcella Laddon, Monterey Peninsula College, organized a minicourse which examined special topics that can be taught in elementary and intermediate algebra. A panel discussion on "Recognition and Rewards in the Mathematical Sciences" included panelists Martha Siegel, Donald Bentley of Pomona College, Donald Bushaw of Washington State University, and David Guichard of Whitman College. The discussion was moderated by Douglas Underwood of Whitman College. There were 21 contributed papers, five of which were presented by students. The banquet was well attended. The section's fourth Distinguished Teaching Award was presented to Richard M. Koch of the University of Oregon. The banquet speech, given by Kenneth A. Ross of the University of Oregon, focused on some of the lesser known and amusing events that have occurred in the section. Persons who have been members of MAA for 25 or more years were honored at the banquet. There were 78 registrants at the meeting, including 15 students.

Officers 1995-1996

Meeting. March 9, 1996, Reed College, Portland

The emphasis of this fine meeting was on students. Nearly 200 people were in attendance and about 80 of them were students. There were three invited lectures. S. Brent Morris, of the National Security Agency, spoke on "Magic tricks, card shuffling, and dynamic computer memories." Arthur Benjamin, of Harvey Mudd College, spoke on "Mathematical magic with Fibonacci numbers," and Sam Saunders, of Washington State University, spoke on "The equation of a sword." Live demonstrations included magic tricks, cards and swords. In addition to regular sessions for faculty and students, there was a session for student projects in lower division statistics and a session for 1995 Putnam Examination and 1996 COMAP Modeling Competition problem solutions. Twelve 20-minute talks were given by students, and six were given by faculty. A panel discussion on "Calculus Reform: The Next Tier," included panelists Richard Koch of the University of Oregon, Jeanette Palmiter of Portland State University, and Mark Utlaut of the University of the Pacific. At the banquet lunch, Brent Morris provided some prestidigitation. The section's fifth Distinguished Teaching Award was presented to Janet Ray, who teaches at Seattle Central Community College. The day ended with a pizza party for all, at which Arthur Benjamin demonstrated "The Art of mental calculation." Prior to the meeting, Brent Morris conducted an entertaining minicourse on "The mathematics of the perfect shuffle."

Officers 1996-1997

Meeting. June 19-21, 1997, Western Washington University, Bellingham.

The theme of this meeting was "Forging Links: People, Mathematics, Technology, and Resources." Among the many excellent presentations, the highlight was the keynote banquet talk by Tom Daniel, Professor of Zoology at the University of Washington. Daniel, a distinguished teacher and a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, spoke on "Motility in Biology: Merging Mathematics, Mechanics & Molecules." The presentation was fascinating and he allowed participants to handle 350 million year old fossils. A subtheme of the meeting was linear algebra. Roger Horn, University of Utah and editor of the Mathematical Monthly, gave two fine hour lectures, one responding to "Why would you want to factor a matrix in more than one way?" and one on "Eigenvalue inequalities and equalities." Maria Klawe, University of British Columbia, gave a very interesting lecture on "How middle school software provides students with a glimpse at linear algebra concepts." Tjalling Ypma and Richard Levin, Western Washington University, gave a minicourse titled, "Linear algebra using ATLAST Project Materials and Matlab." A panel discussion on "Contemporary trends in linear algebra instruction" focused on the impact of new software tools on the teaching of linear algebra. The panelists were Roger Horn of the University of Utah, David Lay of the University of Maryland, and Steven Leon of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. At the banquet, the section's sixth Distinguished Teaching Award was presented to Brian Wick, University of Alaska - Anchorage. Two fine talks were given by previous winners of this award. Richard Koch, University of Oregon, illustrated some of the peculiar things that can happen in "The fourth dimension." Jack Robertson, Washington State University, talked about old and new results on cake-cutting problem using various definitions of "fair." A minicourse on "Designing mathematical animations with Excel" was organized by Chuck Stevens, Skagit Valley College. Joe Fiedler, California State University-Bakersfield, gave a presentation titled, "Yes, but what have you done for me lately: beyond the TI-92," and Eric Schultz, Walla Walla Community College, ran a workshop on "The TI-92: More than a graphing calculator." Earl Fife, Calvin College and co-director of the Mathematics Archives, introduced participants to the archives during a hands-on session titled, "Using the Internet constructively in mathematics education." There was a panel discussion on how to get a job, "Putting your best foot forward--career search." The panelists were Jill McKenney, Lane Community College, and Tina Litzinger and Don Gorman of Western Washington University. There were 28 other presentations, including some outstanding student presentations, many of which reflected the themes of the meeting. There were 112 registrants at the meeting including about 30 students, ten of whom gave talks.

Officers 1997-1998

Meeting. June 18-20, 1998, Washington State University, Pullman

The theme of this meeting was Differential Equations. There was a balanced program of content and pedagogy with a session on inclusive teaching strategies and an invited address by two Portland high school teachers who are including dynamical systems in their classrooms under an NSF grant. The high school teachers were Diana Fisher, Franklin High School, and Ron Zaraza, Wilson High School. An invited address on "The role of modeling in the introductory ODE course" was given by Robert Borrelli, Harvey Mudd College. Another invited address was given by Robert O'Malley, Jr., University of Washington; the title of his lecture was "Giving your ODE course a single perturbation." A panel discussion addressed issues in the teaching of differential equations. The panel participants were Robert Borrelli, Don Bushaw, Diana Fisher, Robert O'Malley, and Ron Zaraza. There were two workshops given by Kevin Cooper and Thomas LaForo of Washington State University. One of them was on "Differential equations instruction using technology," and the other was on "Using Mathematica in the calculus classroom."

There were three other outstanding invited addresses. Mark Nielsen, University of Idaho, spoke on "Inscribing figures in curves--A short tour of an old problem." Ron Graham of AT&T Labs, and past president of the AMS, spoke on "Juggling permutations of the integers." This was followed by a juggling lesson. Paul Zorn, editor of Mathematics Magazine, reported on "Math Mag morsels." In addition, Sandra Cooper, Kimberly Vincent and Judy Meuth of Washington State University organized a collaborative session on "Inclusive teaching strategies in mathematics."

There were 18 other presentations, including six by students. For the first time, there was a student paper competition with cash awards given for the three best papers. Contributions from the host institution made this possible. Also, Matt Hudelson, Washington State University, and Janet Ray, Seattle Central Community College, presided over an informal session titled "Your mathematical career--Off to a good start," which included a report about Project NExT. The invited speaker for the banquet was Don Bushaw of Washington State University, who spoke on "The demoniac and the determinant." There were 101 attendees, including 26 students.

Officers 1998-1999

Meeting. March 12-13, 1999, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon

This meeting, which was well-attended by students, featured three outstanding speakers. Peter Hilton, SUNY Binghamton, spoke on "New wine in old bottles: recent results on divisibility of Fibonacci and Lucas numbers." He also gave the Saturday lunch address on, "Reminiscences of a codebreaker," a fascinating account of his work with Alan Turing on code-breaking during World War II. Jonathan Borwein, Simon Fraser University, gave a fascinating philosophical presentation titled, "Experimental mathematics: insight from computation." He also gave the Saturday dinner address on "Why pi?" Millie Johnson, Western Washington University, gave an invited address titled, "Why do dogs have wet noses and other mathematical insights into animal physiology: breathing, swimming, flying, ..."

There were 21 sessions of contributed papers, including 10 given by students. There was also a student session led by the section's Student Chapters Coordinator, Steven Johnson, Seattle Pacific University. There was a panel discussion on "Issues in K-12 education -- and what it has to do with us at the college level." The panelists were Barbara Edwards, Oregon State University; Marjorie Enneking, Portland State University; and Kenneth A. Ross, University of Oregon. There was also a presentation on "Web-based mathematics courses" given by Tim Merzenich, Chemeketa Community College; Steve Perry, Shoreline Community College; and Dick Schori, Oregon State University.

At the business meeting, it was observed that the experiment with March meetings every three years, which are more accessible to students, has been a big success. It was decided to modify the scheduling of meetings so that the March meetings occur every two years. Specifically, it was agreed to schedule them on the following four-year rotation, starting with the current meeting: March meeting in Willamette Valley, June meeting west of the Cascades, March meeting in Puget Sound, June meeting east of the Cascades. The section's Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching was presented to Professor Ping-Tung Chang of Matanuska-Susitna College, University of Alaska-Anchorage. It is possible that this is the first such sectional award in the country where the winner was nominated by HIS STUDENTS. There were 140 attendees, including 68 students.

Officers 1999-2000

[IMAGE: PNW Logo] Return to the History of the Pacific Northwest Section

Maintained by Afton H. Cayford, at The University of British Columbia.

Last updated 14 August 1999