Written by Liz Arnold and Paige Kanatous
For the first time ever, undergraduate mathematics majors from the Department of Mathematics at Colorado State University were a powerful presence at the Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) in San Francisco, CA from January 3–6, 2024.
JMM is the world’s largest mathematics conference with over 5,500 people in attendance. Seven fully supported students represented CSU and attended this year’s conference. The students, Rachel Bertaud, Ariel Caprioglio, Tia Karkos, Olivia LeBlanc, Trevor Overton, Eve Pidcock and Emma Slack, spent three days attending lectures, networking with CSU alumni and graduate students, visiting with industry exhibitors and expanding their knowledge into new facets of mathematics.
In addition, four students were selected to present their undergraduate research at a multi-day poster session in the Moscone Convention Center. They were accompanied by Phil Kopel, assistant professor, and were mentored by mathematics faculty members Liz Arnold, Jennifer Mueller, Patrick Shipman and Henry Adams.
“The conference is a great opportunity for undergraduate mathematics majors to attend, present their work and interact with peers from other institutions,” Arnold said. “JMM has so many opportunities for undergraduates and can have a profound influence on their mathematical career.”
The CSU math club members who attended unanimously agreed the experience was a wonderful educational opportunity and they savored the time together spent as a club. Further, those doing research were inspired by the talks they attended and stated that they brought home new ideas for their own research.
Karkos and LeBlanc shared that attending JMM was an eye-opening experience of education, networking, and most uniquely, new mathematical applications they never thought possible.
“It was great to be exposed to a vast array of fields in mathematics I never knew existed, such as Game Theory, which are not taught at CSU,” said Pidcock. “Seeing a presentation about this topic and meeting the professors who research in this field has made me very interested and excited to dive deeper and learn more.”
The trip was supported by many sources, with the largest contribution coming from Alexander Hulpke, chair of the Department of Mathematics. Hulpke graciously allocated educational funding, traditionally only awarded to graduate students, to partially support the undergraduates’ travel to JMM.
Members of the math club also worked hard to secure additional funding, seeking ways to tap into University sponsored grants and do outside fundraising to ensure all students who wanted to attend would be fully supported financially. Math club members, from first year students through seniors, spent time outside of class in grassroots fundraising efforts, celebrating their wins at every financial milestone.
They started their fundraising efforts for JMM in Spring 2023, first partnering with Chipotle for a community fundraiser and creating a GoFundMe fundraiser. Then, the group applied for a $1,200 Associated Students of Colorado State University travel grant, where they gave a brief presentation describing why they wanted to attend JMM and how the funding would be spent. As these funds alone would not cover all costs, a final push for donations at a donut and coffee fundraiser supported by the Department of Mathematics faculty, staff and students resulted in a financial victory across the finish line.
Caprioglio expressed the common sentiment of the students. “It was invaluable,” she said, “the connections made with undergraduates across the globe who have a passion for mathematics.” She also added for her personal growth, “getting the chance to network with leaders in the field of Math Education was awesome. It was incredible to see how research faculty are able to connect higher level and entry level math for students in K-12, I can’t wait to incorporate this into my lesson planning and teaching next semester.”
