Call For First Year Officers

Are you a first year math student looking to get involved this year? The MU is looking for four first year officers to work with the execs to plan events and activities for the coming year.

Positions available:

1. Communications Officer
2. Academic Events Officer
3. Social Events Officer
4. Officer of the Treasury

Each first year officer will work closely with one executive member. To meet our team, and learn about the executive positions find us at our socials below! Application details forthcoming.

Call for Undergraduate Colloquium Speakers

Are you interested in presenting your undergraduate math research? Are you interested in presenting about a math topic you found intriguing, whether or not you’ve done original research on it? Are you interested in attending talks exploring different kinds of math?

The Undergraduate Math Colloquium is the right place for you. We will have (roughly) weekly math talks given by undergraduate students at UofT. The talks should be made as accessible as possible to most undergraduates.

Please email undergraduatemathcolloquium@gmail.com if you’d like to give a talk. More information and presentation dates coming soon!

Math Union Meet and Greet

Come and meet the Math Union executives as well as other math students at our meet and greet event! The event will be on Wednesday September 29th from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm just outside the South entrance of the Bahen building. Drop by at any time. There will be free coffee and snacks!

Math Union x Association for Women in Mathematics Hearts and Crafts Event

The UofT Association for Women in Math and Math Union are excited to present Hearts + Crafts! Join us on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2021 (1-4 PM EST) for some math art fun and a “Queers in Mathematics” trivia afternoon!

Using straight lines to create concentric circles and cardioids, we’ll create some beautiful heart art that you can then decorate and share. A Kahoot trivia event focused on LGBTQ+ individuals in mathematics will take place afterwards with a chance to win gift card prizes! All are welcome!

Register at https://sgdo.utoronto.ca/stec_event/awm-mu-present-hearts-and-crafts/

Join our Discord Server!

The Math Union invites you to join our brand new Discord server:

https://discord.gg/n3HYSBB4u7

Please read and agree to the rules. Only after doing this will you be able to access the entire server. Everyone is welcome:)

Canadian Undergraduate Mathematics Conference Preparation

The Canadian Undergraduate Mathematics Conference (CUMC) is an annual conference for mathematics undergraduates in Canadian universities.

To help you prepare talks for this year’s conference, we will be holding a series of workshops between the 28th of June and the 30th of July.

Registration: If you would like to attend any of these sessions, please fill out the following form to join our mailing list. https://forms.gle/avxKNm9ziNPZotXE6 (Zoom links to all events will only be available to people on the list.)

Please check this page for updates!

I – Workshops

Professor Micheal Pawliuk (UTM) will be running the following three workshops:

Note: The following workshops will be recorded. Please make sure to join our mailing list if you would like access to the recordings.

Monday June 28th at 3 PM EDT (Toronto time) – What to expect at the CUMC.

This workshop will feature a panel of students who have previously been to the CUMC. They will share their experiences and you will be able to ask questions. By the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:

  • Describe the format and participants of the CUMC.
  • List common expectations for the conference (dress code, what kind of talks are appropriate, who gives talks, etc.)

Monday July 5th at 3 PM EDT (Toronto time) – Coming up with a good presentation topic.

This workshop will focus on coming up with good ideas for presentations at the CUMC. By the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:

  • Create multiple appropriate presentation topics for the CUMC. Create learning objectives for a presentation.
  • Refine a given topic to be memorable and engaging.

Professor Pawliuk is also happy to give advice and feedback by email to students who don’t know what they want to present! You can contact him at:

m [dot] pawliuk [at] utoronto [dot] ca

Monday July 12th at 3 PM EDT (Toronto time) – Making a good 20-minute video presentation.

This workshop will focus on creating good 20-minute video presentations for the CUMC. It will be primarily “low tech” in that it will focus on making effective, memorable presentations because of the fundamentals of good presentations (and not just fancy editing). By the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:

  • Modify a presentation based on audience, learning objectives, and personal preference.
  • Create a video presentation in multiple ways and adjudicate their appropriateness.

These workshops will be beginner friendly, and you can attend any of them even if you do not plan on attending the CUMC!

II – Peer-Feedback Sessions

The second set of activities will consist of peer-feedback sessions. Interested participants will be sorted into groups of three or four (each group containing at least one experienced presenter) to share their talks and give each other feedback. We will send out a registration form for the peer-feedback sessions after the workshops. Please make sure to join the mailing list if you wish to receive this form!

You do not need to have a complete presentation to take part in these peer-feedback sessions: the group discussions can also be used to chat about your abstracts, or to go over the outlines of your presentations, for example.

Details will be sent on July 16th so that you can meet between the 19th and 30th of July. Groups will need to schedule their own meetings during this time.

We will try to match people from different schools together wherever possible, keeping in mind your availabilities and presentation topics.

III – Mock Conference

About a week before the CUMC, we will have a small mock conference for participants to practice their talks. Last year, this mock conference had both asynchronous and synchronous components. We asked participants to submit video recordings of their talks ahead of time, and we hosted live Q&A sessions with the presenters.

How the mock conference will work this year will depend on how many interested students we have. Due to time limitations, capacity for this event may have to be capped, with priority going to UofT students.

Contact: If you have any questions, please contact Yuveshen Mooroogen at yuveshen [dot] mooroogen [at] mail [dot] utoronto [dot] ca.

UPDATE: ELECTIONS PUSHED TO START OF NEXT YEAR

Hi all, we hope you are holding up okay at home. Due to the circumstances, we’ve decided to postpone elections for the 2020-2021 Math Union Executive until the start of the new academic year. In the meantime, for the summer term and until the elections are run, we’re appointing an Interim Executive. Your two Interim Executives are Curtis Grant and Martin Shoosterman.

If you have questions or concerns, feel free to email us at mu@math.toronto.edu. Stay strong and healthy everyone!

ANNOUNCEMENT: EVENTS AND ELECTIONS

Hi all, due to current events, we will be cancelling our events for the remainder of the semester. This tentatively includes elections for the Math Union executive for 2020-2021; we are waiting for word from the Arts & Science Student Union to give final word on how we will proceed with elections.

If you have questions or concerns, feel free to email us at mu@math.toronto.edu. Stay safe!

Micheal Pawliuk: A History of Functions

We’ll have a Math Union talk next week on Tuesday, March 10 at 6:10pm in BA 6183. Prof. Micheal Pawliuk will be speaking about the history of functions! As always, there will be food.

Title: A History of Functions

Abstract: What is a function? Our current definition is surprisingly recent, and it figuring it out was a result of important questions in mathematics and physics. Updating our definition resulted in having to “redo” a bunch of seemingly solved mathematics.

We’ll trace the history of functions from the mid 1800s forward to the birth of topology.

Kasun Fernando: Statistical Properties of Dynamical Systems

 

There will be a Math Union lecture on Wednesday, March 4, at 5:10pm in BA024. Kasun Fernando will be speaking about the statistical properties of dynamical systems. Food will be served!

 

Title: Statistical Properties of Dynamical Systems

 

Abstract: Since the work of Boltzmann in statistical mechanics, physicists and mathematicians alike were interested in looking at deterministic chaotic systems with a probabilistic eye. Later, with the mathematical foundations laid out by Birkhoff, Kolmogorov and von Neumann, the systematic study of statistical properties of dynamical systems aka Ergodic Theory started to flourish. My talk will be a brief introduction to this probabilistic approach to making sense of chaotic phenomena.