Mathematics Events at the 2014 AAAS Meeting

Steven Strogatz, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics at Cornell University, received the 2014 AAAS Award for Public Engagement with Science for "his exceptional commitment to and passion for conveying the beauty and importance of mathematics to the general public." In his remarks, Strogatz thanked his high school calculus and physics teachers.

This symposium was organized by Jason Rosenhouse and Laura Taalman of James Madison University, but neither could attend because of the weather. Francis Edward Su (left), Harvey Mudd College, introduced the topic and later gave a talk "From Cake- Cutting to Mathematical Economics," in which he showed how a variety of problems could be solved with Sperner's Lemma. Gary McGuire, University College Dublin, spoked about his computer-aided proof that showed that a Sudoku puzzle must have at least 17 filled-in cells in order to have a unique solution.

Steven J. Brams (left), New York University, filled in for a speaker who couldn't attend and talked about how states that are non-competitive in presidential elections are still important to candidates, primarily because a candidate needs to win fewer competitive states to win the election. Later Samuel Merrill III, Wilkes University, spoke about his research into liberal/conservative cycles in politics. He has found that in the U.S. it takes about 30 years for political opinions to return to where they started.

AMS Public Awareness Officer Annette Emerson and Assistant Director of the AMS Washington Office Anita Benjamin staffed the exhibit, which featured the 2014 Calendar of Mathematical Imagery and Mathematical Moments--a series of over 100 posters that promote appreciation of the role mathematics plays in science, nature, technology and human culture. Among the other items offered were the Powered by Math and 2014 Mathematics Awareness Month "Mathematics, Magic & Mystery" posters; and selected AMS books. Visitors to the exhibit included mathematicians, scientists from many disciplines, press, teachers, and Family Days participants.