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.

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.

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.

Hi everyone! We will be having our first talk of the semester on Tuesday, January 28th, 2019 at 4:10pm. A post doc Christian Ketterer will be speaking.

Details of the room will be announced shortly!

Title: Synthetic curvature bounds – A friendly introduction

Hi everyone! Just a reminder that this Thursday, Jan 9, there will be a graduate applications workshop at 4pm in BA6183. For those of you who are applying to graduate schools now or are interested in applying in the future, this is a great opportunity to hear about the application process, what can be expected, and to ask specific questions to faculty and graduate students. Please fill out the (short!) RSVP form below if you are interested in attending – there is a space to ask specific questions in the form in advance!

The form: https://forms.gle/jYh46M8zBK2xWnkbA?fbclid=IwAR3Sd4aUNvYqVglxi9jUGQvr8vXVLvM3GLNO4fIFKq-Mb0ZI-Avf4fVakKc

Happy new year!

Hi everyone! For those of you applying to graduate schools with deadlines in January, as well as those who are perhaps thinking of applying to graduate schools in the future, we will be holding a graduate applications workshop on January 9 at 4pm in BA6183. There will be a faculty panel, as well as a graduate student panel, and an opportunity to ask questions about the application process and the like.

If you are interested in attending, please fill out the Google form below and include any questions you have for the panel.

Happy holidays!

https://forms.gle/jYh46M8zBK2xWnkbA

Join us for our last talk before the new year, given by Justin Martel, a former graduate student at U of T. The talk will be Thursday, December 12th at 5:10pm in BA6180. Pizza will be served in the Graduate Lounge at 4:40pm.

Abstract: Is the distance from Toronto to Moscow today the same as the distance 2000 years ago? To the mathematician, ”Surely not!” when the distance is reckoned at 7500 kilometers ac- cording to the model globe in his office. But ”Distance” as- sumes entirely different dimensions when measured in terms of Energy-variables. A distance changes when the actual transit is taken into account. And how is it possible for the Hominid, capable of sustaining only an average of 75 Watts throughout an eight hour day, to transverse such great dis- tance?

This talk will describe, in simple terms, the principles of Optimal Transportation. We will focus on elementary physical models, energy, and Least Action Principles.

Hi everyone! Our next event will be talks from the 2019 Canadian Undergraduate Mathematics Conference (CUMC) by three students, Isabel Beach, Curtis Michael and Nikki Sigurdson. It will be Friday, October 25th, 2019 at 6:10pm, in BA 6183.
Pizza and pop will be provided!

The talks:

The Beauty of the Hyperbolic Plane, by Isabel Beach

An Introduction to Mapping Class Groups and the Nielsen-Thurston Classification of Mapping Classes, by Curtis Grant

Finite Model Theory and First Order Definability, by Nikki Sigurdson

Cindy Blois, Thurs Jan 31, 4:30-6:00, BA6180

Title: Path-Ordered Exponentials

Yu-Wen Hsu, Wed Jan 30, 5:00-6:30, BA6180

Title: The Power of Geometric Evolution Flow