POLICIES FOR SENIOR SEMINAR (MATH 4901) (2005-2006)

1. Objectives of course

   • To give students the opportunity to do in-depth and independent mathematics-related research projects that would require students to integrate their mathematical knowledge from one or more different areas.
   • To give students the opportunity to enhance their communication skills by way of written reports and oral presentations.

2. Overview

   Welcome to the 2005-2006 math discipline senior seminar! In this seminar, you will be working on a single topic throughout the academic year, writing a paper on it, and presenting your topic to an audience consisting of at least the Math Faculty and your peers in this course.

   You will be meeting regularly with your advisor(s), member(s) of the math or stats disciplines faculty, throughout the process.

   In addition to your advisor, it is strongly recommended that you have a SECOND READER for your paper so that you receive constructive suggestions from more than one person (advisor) way before you submit your near-final version to the mathematics faculty. This second reader should be another (preferably math) faculty member.

   You should give a version of your paper to your second reader at AT LEAST TWO WEEKS before your near final version is due. The idea is that your near final version has been read and commented on by at least two faculty before the other math faculty members read them.
   We suggest that you have your second reader chosen at the beginning of the second semester of your project so that he/she is aware of the time required to read your paper.

3. Your topic.

   You will be spending a lot of time on studying your topic, so make sure you have a topic that interests you! Topics in pure mathematics or applied mathematics are all very welcome. A topic directly related to something in a course you have taken or are taking would be a good idea.

4. Your paper.

   Papers are typically about 10-15 single-spaced pages in length, including small figures and tables, if any. Some papers may have lengthy appendices containing data, computer-generated tables, etc.

5. Your presentation.

   Presentations are 40 minutes in length, the first 15 minutes of which should be geared towards a general audience; a good suggestion for the 1st 15 minutes would be to touch on the motivation or the general mathematical ideas behind your project. The audience will include the mathematics faculty members and the other students in the 2005-2006 seminar. There will be others in the audience as well: students interested in the 2005-2006 seminar, whoever responds to your poster or to the announcement in the UMM's Weekly Bulletin, UMM's Events Calendar, friends you invite, etc. This is a UMM event.

   The Senior Seminar is meant to be an integrative experience for you. You may be combining things you learned from more than one class. You may be combining your mathematical knowledge with a personal interest. Certainly the paper will require you to use your writing skills as well as your mathematical skill. For many students, the presentation is a totally new experience, requiring mastery of the subject matter, technical control over the mode of presentation, and public speaking skills. We are sure you will find your year-long experience challenging while at the same time, fun and worthwhile.

6. Details and timeframe.

   Similar to last academic year, there will be two different time-lines that a student can follow to complete Math 4901. Regardless of which timeline you choose, the total length of time (from the beginning till the final report is turned in) for a student to work on senior seminar is ``two semesters".

   • Spring Semester Year X till Fall Semester Year X.
     Students who are either planning to graduate at the end of fall semesters, or planning to do student teaching during Spring Year X+1, or planning to do study abroad or just simply not being on campus during Spring Year X+1, are requested to sign up for this timeline.
   • Fall Semester Year X till Spring Semester Year X+1.
     This is a more common timeline for those who will be here on campus for the entire academic year right before their graduation.

   Only under extenuating circumstances will other arrangements be made. The coordinator of Math 4901 needs to be informed of any changes or extenuating circumstances at the beginning of the semester you plan to finish your senior seminar, i.e. your presentation.
   
   

   Deadlines are

   	Spring 2005-Fall 2005	Fall 2005- Spring 2006	Spring 2006-Fall 2006	Fall 2006- Spring 2007
   Advisor Chosen	Jan 17	Sep 2	Jan 17	Sep 8
   General Area Chosen	Jan 17	Sep 2	Jan 17	Sep 8
   Specific Topic Chosen	Feb 11	Sept 30	Feb 11	Sept 30
   Project proposal with mathematical foundation and research plans due:	May 3	Dec 12	May 3	Dec 11
   Second reader's access to draft :	at least two weeks before near final version is due	at least two weeks before near final version is due	at least two weeks before near final version is due	at least two weeks before near final version is due
   Near final version due	Nov 15	March 27	Nov 17	March 29
   Discussion with faculty committee	Nov 28-29	April 10-12	Nov 28-29	April 9-11
   Presentations	Dec 5-7	April 17-20, 24-26	Dec 4-6	April 16-19, 23-26
   Final version due	Dec 12	May 1	Dec 11	May 1

   
   
   

7. Discussion (15 minutes) with faculty committee

   At this discussion, the faculty committee will give you their responses to your near final version of your reports and they will give you a few suggestions or even have questions for you.

   And you will also be given a copy of the 2005 new evaluation form This eval form will be given to everyone who attends your presentation. This is so that you will know the attributes that will be assessed.

   Usually, it takes about 15 minutes per student for this discussion.

   You are requested to incorporate changes or suggestions from the faculty committee into your final version of your report and also into your presentation.
   
   

   Advisory comments on procedure

   All students need to register for Math 4901 for the semester that they want to start their senior seminar. You will be receiving a ``K'' grade at the end of the first semester. You will be receiving an ``A-F'' grade at the end of the second semester.

   Since your choice of advisor and general area is important to you, you should probably actually make these choices during christmas break or summer break if you are starting in Spring or Fall semesters, respectively.

   You are expected to meet about twice a month with your advisor throughout the academic year. Towards the end of the first semester, your advisor will expect to be seeing appropriate progress toward completion of the paper. You should be becoming clearly more expert on your topic. You should be gathering the necessary data or carrying out the necessary computer work, if appropriate. The paper should be taking shape. By the middle of the second semester, you should start preparing your presentation as well.

   Your grade

   
   
   

   Grading Scheme

   30%	Active participation throughout the process
   10%	Project Proposal with mathematical foundation and research plans
   30%	Final written paper
   30%	40-min presentation

   
   
   

   Active participation throughout the process means primarily that you have worked substantially in between meetings with your advisor and you have attended all the math senior seminar presentations during the two semesters that you are working on your senior seminar project.

   Your overall course grade will be decided by your advisor in consultation with the rest of the math discipline faculty.

   To enhance the value of the presentation component of the course, audience members will fill out the evaluation forms after each presentation. Your advisor may use these comment forms to help determine your grade for your presentation. However, the principal purpose of these forms is to provide you with useful feedback.

   Specific guidelines for paper and presentation.

   • Periodic feedback on your progress
     As mentioned in the overview section, you will be meeting regularly with your advisor(s), member(s) of the math or stats disciplines faculty, throughout the process of doing your project and writing up your paper.

     In addition to your advisor, you should have a SECOND READER for your paper so that you receive constructive suggestions from more than one person (advisor) way before you submit your near-final version to the mathematics faculty. This second reader should be another (prerably math) faculty member. And second reader should have a draft of your paper at least two weeks before the near final version is due.

   Originality
   You should strive for some degree of originality in your project.

   In pure mathematics, if you choose to present a famous result, you might find it hard to be original. In this case you might want to examine the presentation of this result in two reference works. You could combine what you felt was best from these two presentations, keeping in mind your particular audience. You could perhaps add an example that you worked out yourself.

   In applied mathematics, applying something you learned in a class to your own situation or your own data would be plenty original.

   Level
   In your paper and especially your presentation, you should aim to be understandable to your fellow seminar members. It is easy to have thought about the basics of your topic for so long that you forget that others are just beginning in your topic. ``Blowing away'' the audience by formula after formula in your presentation is severely frowned upon!

   Mathematical content.
   Many topics, especially in applied mathematics, have both a substantial non-mathematical component and a substantial mathematical component. This being the math discipline seminar, you should make sure that the mathematical component of your topic gets considerable attention.

   Regardless of your topics and of the areas of your topics, if you are actually using what you learned in some of your advanced math courses here, you're probably on track. What to include and what to omit in your paper and presentation is subtle; your advisor should give you help here.

   Professional quality.
   Your final paper and your presentation should be quite polished. You are expected to use LaTeX or some other high quality software for the paper. The visual component of your presentation can be a mixture of blackboard work, transparencies, and computer projection. In most cases, the best choice is to work primarily or exclusively with transparencies. It is best if the spoken part of your presentation has a sense of informality to it. Memorizing and repeating your written paper is not appropriate! On the contrary, you can expect and should welcome questions that might take you a bit to one side of what you planned to say. Again your advisor should be able to help you out on all these issues.

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Here is a small sample of previous Math 4901 papers:

• Chris Orth, Fall 2005 (pdf format).
• Katie Sullivan, Spring 2005 (Word format).
• Paul Ting Ho, Spring 2004 (Word format).
• Teri Merkins, Spring 2004 (Word format).
• Jill McDonald, Fall 2003 (Word format).
• Curtis Kunkel, Spring 2003 (Word format).
• Jeanna Schultz, Spring 2003 (Word format).
• Steve Formaneck, Spring 2002 (Word format).

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The coordinator of Math 4901 Senior Seminar for 2005-2007 is Peh Ng.
Please feel free to email me at pehng@morris.umn.edu or stop by my office (Science 2330) if you have any questions at any time, and please do not procrastinate in asking if you are unsure of something.

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Last Modified Wednesday, March 22, 2006
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