UPCOMING MATH EVENTS (click on an event for further details, such as room numbers, titles and abstracts)
Latest news: Congratulations to Math Seminar student Jonathan Guardado, who will be transferring to UCI in Fall as a math major and who will be collaborating with Steven Miller (Williams College) in serious mathematical research (number theory and/or probability) in the Summer 2025 Polymath, Jr. Research Experience for Undergraduates, funded by the National Science Foundation.
Recent news: Congratulations to former Math Seminar student and FC Math Research Intern Kat Goldman, who completed her Ph.D. in Mathematics in Spring 2024 at the Ohio State University with a specialty in Geometric Group Theory. She also was awarded a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and will be conducting her research at McGill University in Canada.
Congratulations to Khoi Vo, former Math Seminar student and FC Math Research Intern, who is working on a Ph.D. in Applied Math at UC Riverside. He has been named Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant twice.
Students who are interested in working as paid summer math research interns should consult mathprograms.org and should seriously consider enrolling in one of our two-unit Math Seminar courses: Math 290F/290HF Pure/Honors Pure Math Seminar, Math 291F/291HF Applied/Honors Applied Math Seminar, and Math 295F/295HF General/Honors General Math Seminar for 2 units of transferable (CSU/UC) credit for giving talks on unsolved problems in math, writing a mini-thesis on such a problem, and fully participating in math competitions (the AMATYC Student Math League and Putnam Competition). Dr. Clahane's paid NSF REU Summer internship placement success rate and graduate admissions placement rate for students who have completed at least one Seminar course is 100%. The course will not be offered in Fall 2025 due to the fact that Dr. Clahane is on load bank leave that semester, but the course will be offered by him in the Spring, provided that suficiently many students register for the course in advance.
Students who have completed a rigorous math research experience such as the one offered by the Seminar courses during their time at FC perform disproportionately better in their STEM courses than students who do not complete a seminar course at FC.
Soon, we will list students from the Seminar courses who have completed or who are completing doctoral or master's degrees in a STEM field. The LaTeX typesetting skills and professional speaking skills learned in Math Seminar courses provide a sturdy foundation for success in upper division STEM courses and graduate school, whether in math or not.
More Details
NEW American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges National Monthly Math Colloquium
Sponsored by the AMATYC Research & Mentoring Experiences for Students & Faculty Academic Network
Spring 2025
The third Friday of each month via Zoom
Email Dr. Dana Clahane, Organizer, at dclahane@fullcoll.edu for the Zoom link
11am-12 noon Pacific Standard Time
FOCUSED POTENTIAL RESEARCH TOPICS for the MATH SEMINAR CLASSES: TBA: Large Values of Tangent, the Mathematics of Neural Networks, Atiyah's Claimed Todd Map, Control Theory, Evolution Algebras, or other topics depending on the interests and background of the participants.
NO Prerequisite mathematics is required for enrollment into these courses. Any student at any level of math preparation, no matter how low, can take a Seminar course and do well, and ALL students can choose to take Honors Seminar courses now - you are strongly encouraged to take the Honors courses instead of the regular sections.
These Math Seminars are designed to introduce students to and engage them in open/unsolved problems in mathematical science, while improving students' ability to read and write higher-level mathematics proofs. Contact Dr. Clahane at dclahane@fullcoll.edu for more details or for answers to questions you may have.
REGISTRATION IS NOT REQUIRED for you to participate in the Colloquia, but registration is required for participation in the Math Seminars due to a recent administrative decision. The research, scientific typesetting, and presentation skills that you learn in these Seminars may make them the most useful classes you ever take.
Choose any of the following courses (they all meet at the same time, with the same instructor, same Room as above).
MATH 290 PURE MATH SEMINAR/MATH 290H HONORS PURE MATH SEMINAR
MATH 291 APPLIED MATH SEMINAR/MATH 291 HONORS APPLIED MATH SEMINAR
MATH 295 GENERAL MATH SEMINAR/MATH 295H HONORS GENERAL MATH SEMINAR
Outside of class, students are expected to put about 2.5-6.25 hours per week into the research projects that they are assigned.
2 units, CSU/UC Transferable credit
Also, later in Fall 2025 and every Fall thereafter:
WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM MATHEMATICAL COMPETITION
The FIRST SATURDAY IN DECEMBER
8am-4pm
Room TBA
Students should initiate their registration process for the competition in advance by emailing Dr. Clahane no later than October 10, but advance registration is only required if you want lunch to be served to you that day.
This is a six-hour, two part exam consisting of twelve challenging math problems that test student mastery of mathematical skills needed for success in higher level mathematics - the competition is held throughout the USA and Canada and is appropriate for students who have had or who are enrolled in calculus.
See the link at the left side bar link for more details, to be posted shortly, or see the above google calendar for practice and competition locations.
MORE INFORMATION AND OLD EXAMS/OUTLINES OF SOLUTIONS can be found in Prof. K.S. Kedlyaya's "Putnam Archive" at http://kskedlaya.org.
WHAT HAPPENS AT THE MATH COLLOQUIA?
Updates by students who have made progress on their research projects
Talks by mathematicians on unsolved problems that college students can explore, including special guest university and four-year college mathematics faculty and researchers and scientists in mathematics in industry.
Discussions of Putnam, AMATYC Competition, and College Math Journal/Math Magazine problems
Training on how to find problems, make new discoveries, and clearly talk/write papers on the results.
A lively, friendly, supportive atmosphere that is comfortable and welcoming to persons of all backgrounds and abilities.
Continued development of an unsolved problems website that contains self-contained explanations that can be understood by anyone at any level, for each problem presented (under construction).
Communication of interesting historical information related to math and its applications.
ONLINE RESOURCES FOR PRESENTATIONS