January 2003 FOCUS 1 FOCUS January 2003 FOCUS is published by the Mathematical Association of America in January, February, March, April, May/June, FOCUS August/September, October, November, and December. January 2003 Editor: Fernando Gouvêa, Colby College; [email protected] Volume 23, Number 1 Managing Editor: Carol Baxter, MAA 4Remembering Henry L. Alder (1922-2002) [email protected] By Gerald Alexanderson Senior Writer: Harry Waldman, MAA [email protected] 7Lowell W. Beineke Named Editor of The College Please address advertising inquiries to: Mathematics Journal Carol Baxter, MAA; [email protected] President: Ann E. Watkins, California State 8A Year in the Life of the MAA: The Statistics University, Northridge By Ann Watkins First Vice-President: Carl C. Cowen, Second Vice-President: Joseph A. Gallian, Secretary: 10 NSF’s Advanced Technological Education Program Martha J. Siegel, Associate Secretary: James J. Tattersall, Treasurer: John W. Kenelly By Victor Katz Executive Director: Tina H. Straley 12 NSF Beat: Opportunities at the National Science Foundation Associate Executive Director and Director of Publications and Electronic Services: By Sharon Cutler Ross Donald J. Albers FOCUS Editorial Board: Gerald 13 Report: 14th General Assembly of the International Alexanderson; Donna Beers; J. Kevin Mathematical Union Colligan; Ed Dubinsky; Bill Hawkins; Dan By Harry Waldman, based on a report by Donald G. Saari Kalman; Peter Renz; Annie Selden; Jon Scott; Ravi Vakil. 14 Short Takes Letters to the editor should be addressed to Fernando Gouvêa, Colby College, Dept. of Mathematics, Waterville, ME 04901, or by 15 Letters to the Editor email to [email protected]. Subscription and membership questions 17 Memories of Arnold Ross should be directed to the MAA Customer By Glenn Stevens Service Center, 800-331-1622; e-mail: [email protected]; (301) 617-7800 (outside 18 Being a Mathematics Educator in a Department of Mathematics U.S. and Canada); fax: (301) 206-9789. Eileen Fernandez Copyright © 2003 by the Mathematical Association of America (Incorporated). On the cover: Lake Fibonacci is a recently created reservoir at the Maryland Science and Educational institutions may reproduce articles for their own use, but not for sale, Technology Center, located in Bowie, MD. The lake's remarkable centerpiece is a mas- provided that the following citation is used: sive, yet elegant fountain that spurts water as high as 36 feet into the air. Created as a “Reprinted with permission of FOCUS, the mathematical sculpture by artist and mathematician Helaman Ferguson, the fountain is newsletter of the Mathematical Association made up of more than 45 tons of Texas granite, layered in alternating colors and rising to of America (Incorporated).” a height of 18 feet. It is supported by a concrete and steel platform atop pilings pounded 40 feet into the lake floor. For more on Lake Fibonnaci see Ivars Peterson's Oct. 21, 2002 Periodicals postage paid at Washington, DC and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: MathTrek column on MAA Online at http://www.maa.org/mathland/ Send address changes to FOCUS, mathtrek_10_21_02.html. Photograph courtesy of Helaman Ferguson. Mathematical Association of America, P.O. Box 90973, Washington, DC 20090-0973. FOCUS Deadlines ISSN: 0731-2040; Printed in the United States of America. May/June August/September October Editorial Copy March 15 July 8 Display Ads March 25 July 10 August 20 Employment Ads March 11 June 11 August 13 2 January 2003 FOCUS Arthur Benjamin and Jennifer Quinn Named New Editors of Math Horizons Arthur Benjamin, of students. In 1993, she Harvey Mudd College, joined the faculty at and Jennifer Quinn, of Occidental College in Occidental College, Los Angeles where she have been selected as currently chairs the the new editors of Math mathematics de- Horizons, beginning partment. with the September 2003 issue. Their term Quinn has served as will last five years. Newsletter Editor for the Southern Cal- Professor Benjamin Jennifer Quinn Arthur Benjamin ifornia Section of the earned his B.S. in MAA, is an Associate Applied Mathematics Editor for Math- from Carnegie Mellon and his PhD in for Fibonacci numbers. In addition to ematics Magazine, and is completing her Math-ematical Sciences from Johns spending time with his wife and two sixth and final year on the board of the Hopkins. Since 1989, he has taught at daughers, he enjoys tournament Spectrum book series. In 2001, she was Harvey Mudd College, where he is backgammon, racing calculators, and honored to receive the Distinguished currently Chair and Professor of performing magic. Teaching Award for the Southern Mathematics. He has served as Editor of California section of the MAA. Her the Spectrum book series for MAA, and Jennifer Quinn truly feels as if she has research interests include combinatorial currently serves on the editorial boards led a charmed life. She had the privilege proof, graph theory, and combinatorial of Mathematics Magazine and the UMAP of earning a B.A. from Williams College, matrix theory. Other pursuits include Journal. In 2000, he received the MAA’s an M.S. from the University of Illinois, too much committee work, home Haimo Award for Distinguished College Chicago, and a Ph.D. from the University renovations, and raising a beautiful and University Teaching. His research of Wisconsin, Madison. She cannot millennium baby boy. interests include game theory and imagine a professional career that doesn’t combinatorics, with a special fondness include doing mathematics and teaching CBMS Announces 2003 Regional Research Conferences The Web of Modularity very year, the Conference Board of the University of Memphis E June 3–7 Mathematical Sciences (CBMS) and the http://troy.msci.memphis.edu/cbms University of Illinois at Urbana- National Science Foundation (NSF) Champaign sponsor Regional Research Conferences Free Boundary Problems in Partial Differ- in various areas of mathematics. The ential Equations and Applications http://www.math.uiuc.edu/cbms/ conferences are intended to stimulate in- May 18–22 Fully Nonlinear Equations in Geometry terest and activity in mathematical re- Wayne State University June 23–27 search. Each lasts five days. About 30 http://www.math.wayne.edu/~gzlu/cbms/ University of Notre Dame funded participants are invited to each cbms.html conference, ranging from established re- http://www.nd.edu/~cbms/ searchers to graduate students and other Stochastic Partial Differential Equations See newcomers to the field. Five conferences and their Applications http://www.cbmsweb.org/NSF/ for more information. will be offered this year: May 19–23 2003_conf.htm Illinois Institute of Technology CBMS is also calling for proposals for conferences for next year; see Expansion Methods in Combinatorics http://www.iit.edu/~duan/SPDE.html http:// May 13–17 www.cbmsweb.org/NSF/2004_call.htm. 3 FOCUS January 2003 Remembering Henry L. Alder (1922-2002) By G. L. Alexanderson If one were asked, “ Who would be best R. Ford Award for Expository Writing for described as representing the MAA?”, the his beautiful article, “Partition Identi- name that would leap to mind is, “Henry ties—from Euler to the Present,” that ap- Alder,.” From 1956, when he was elected peared in the American Mathematical Chair of the Northern California Section, Monthly in 1969. This work described a until his death, Henry was given one sig- broad range of ideas in partition theory, nificant responsibility after another in the and “Present” in the title included work Section and at the national level. He per- from some of his own research papers in formed these tasks splendidly, always con- the Bulletin of the American Mathemati- scientiously and carefully, with meticu- cal Society and the Pacific Journal of Math- lous attention to detail, and showing wis- ematics. Certain generalizations of the dom, diplomacy, and tact. He truly be- Rogers-Ramanujan identities involve lieved in the importance of the work of what are now called Alder polynomials. the Association. Through his many years When he published that paper in the of tireless service and his inviting others Monthly the editor, Harley Flanders, into the profession through his collegial- wrote that Henry has probably contrib- ity and mentoring, Henry Alder personi- uted more than anyone else to the present fied the spirit of the MAA. Sadly for the vitality of this Association.” The same MAA, his family, colleagues, and friends, could be said today. Henry died of cancer on November 6, 2002, at the age of 80, at his home in Henry L. Alder Henry Ludwig Alder was born in Davis, California. Duisburg, Germany on March 26, 1922, happened. He chaired the Committee on but with Swiss citizenship. He and his Between 1960 and 1975, he was the na- the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo family moved to Zürich in 1933 where he tional Secretary of the MAA, and in rec- Awards for Distinguished College or Uni- finished school and started his college ognition of that outstanding service, he versity Teaching of Mathematics and is education at the Eidgenössische was designated Secretary Emeritus, the largely responsible for the successful Technische Hochschule. In 1941 he trans- only person in MAA history to be so hon- implementation of that important pro- ferred to the University of California, ored. A few years later he was elected na- gram, funded through an endowment Berkeley, where he received his B.A. in tional President for 1977-78. In 1960 he from another former MAA President mathematics and chemistry in 1942. He had been approached by Carl Deborah Tepper Haimo. He chaired the remained at Berkeley, with the exception Allendoerfer, then President of the MAA, first committee on the Sliffe Awards and of service in the U.S. Army Air Corps in about being nominated for Secretary. He was largely responsible for the formula- 1944-45, and wrote a dissertation under asked what the principal responsibilities tion of that program by which we reward the direction of the eminent number would be.