What Happens at MPM?

MPM is a packed four days, with activities planned from 9am to dinner time. You can expect some of the activities to be intellectually and emotionally intense, but there is also lots of time to have fun, relax and eat!

The activities at MPM fall into four themes. Read more about each below!

Academic Development

Individual Projects

Each participant reads an accessible math paper and gives a 5-minute presentation on the last day of the workshop. There are 5-10 graduate students and advanced undergraduates on hand to help guide students. On the last day, participants are paired with a graduate student and give a practice talk before their presentation.

Mini-Workshops

At each of the two mini-workshops a faculty member or post-doc gives a one-hour, interactive presentation on an accessible mathematical topic. These talks are similar to talks given at Math Circles;  examples from past years include permutation groups, error-correcting codes and topological data analysis.

Problem Sessions

A one-hour daily “break-out session” gives participants the chance to work on problem sets in small groups. The problem set is meant to encourage collaborative thinking. 

Career Building

Future Opportunities Panel

At the future opportunities panel, we invite approximately 10 former math majors to answer questions about their jobs. In the past we have had teachers, actuaries, financial analysts, professors, and research scientists from companies like Medtronic, 3M, and Target.

Summer Opportunities Workshop

The summer opportunities workshop highlights the types of research and internship opportunities available for math majors over the summer. 

Community Building

Group meals

During MPM, we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner as a group.  One of the dinners is with panelists from the Future Opportunities Panel. At one of the breakfasts, we invite leaders from eight math and STEM related student groups (including WiM, Math Club, the Undergraduate Research Seminar, and Out in STEM (OStem)); many of these leaders are past MPM Participants.  In 2021, we plan to host a Meet-the-Faculty dinner.

Scavenger Hunt

Self explanatory!

Monster Project

Design a monster to confront your biggest math fears!

Diversity and Inclusion

In each of the following one hour sessions, at least half the time is made up of small group discussions facilitated by a graduate student: