MAT 5900

Topics in Contemporary Mathematics

Instructor: Dr. Alice Deanin

Office: SAC 371

Office Phone: x9-4817

Office Hours: TuTh 1-2, 4-5pm;

appointment recommended

Goals: This course will help students to develop research and library skills, and provide experience in reading, writing and presenting mathematical material. As a capstone course for the program, students are encouraged to use this opportunity to relate their work to long-term study and/or career goals.

Topic: Each student will select a topic that is of current interest in the mathematical sciences. The chosen topic will be the focus of study during the entire semester.

Format: During the semester, each student will give four half-hour long oral presentations. This will be done on a rotating basis. For each presentation, the student will post an announcement of the talk at least two days in advance, and will prepare a detailed written report to be submitted within one week of the presentation.

Talks: The first of a student's four talks will be of a general nature, perhaps at the level of a popular article. The next two talks will be on mathematics necessary to understand technical aspects of the chosen topic; these will be based on sources such as upper level undergraduate text material. The final talk will be based on technical expository or research literature and will highlight specific advanced mathematics supporting the chosen topic.

Writing: The written reports for each talk should enhance the exposition given in the oral presentation. They should include a bibliography and referencing. In addition to these longer writings, after each student's presentation, the other members of the class will take five minutes to write a short note (one paragraph) summarizing the content of the talk just given. These summaries will be reviewed by the speaker and given to the instructor at the following class meeting. There will be some other short (instructor reviewed) writing exercises during the semester as well.

Grading: Grades in this course will be given for oral presentations and written reports (rated for clarity, organization and technical accuracy), and for participation in the written summaries of presented talks and other written work.

The final grade will be determined as follows:

ORAL PRESENTATIONS	40%
WRITTEN REPORTS	50%
OTHER WRITINGS	10%
TOTAL	100%