Attendance at events sponsored by the fledgling Math Society is on the rise at Dartmouth, and the energy of Jonathan Huang '06, a mathematics and physics double major from Princeton, N.J., is at the root of the phenomenon. Assistant Professors of Mathematics Vladimir Chernov and Rosa Orellana, both advisors to the club, marvel at each event where there's a roomful of people interested in this often specialized topic, and they credit Huang's leadership for luring people in.
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"Jonathan is an amazing organizer," says Chernov. "He creates clever posters. He's found a nice way to combine the research and problem-solving aspects of math with a social component that makes the meetings fun, interesting, and accessible."
The Dartmouth Math Club preceded the current Mathematical Society, which was officially recognized by Dartmouth's Council on Student Organizations (COSO) last fall. About three years ago, Jennifer Carlson '04, Rajiv Menjoge '05, Alexei Pytel '05, and other students involved in this earlier club launched a math-themed lecture program, and Huang has rejuvenated it by introducing "Talks in Math and Pizza." With funding from both the mathematics department and COSO, the group can provide snacks for the attendees. Huang, Chernov, and Orellana agree that free food often draws a crowd, but it's the guest speakers that make the events compelling.
"My favorite lecture so far is definitely the one given by my friend Hunter Brooks ['06]," says Huang. "I asked Hunter to present a survey about a research project he had conducted. Not only did his talk connect to the previous one about Catalan numbers, but I found out that Hunter is a brilliant speaker. It was nice to see the Math Society bring out a side of [him] I have never seen before."
Huang says he believes that there's an impression in today's society that either you have the ability to do math or you don't, and that the discipline is extremely difficult to understand and impossible to explain.
"Almost every movie about math presents this image, and I feel like it can be very intimidating, to the point where math majors at Dartmouth are afraid of taking the courses that seem too challenging," he says. "The Math Society tries to dispel this negative impression by getting people involved."
Chernov is delighted with the Math Society's increasing success. "It's wonderful to see students excited by math," he says.
Huang agrees. "For me, what makes the Math Society fun is seeing people participate and get involved in math. My greatest reward is when students decide to take a course in a particular topic after attending a particular talk, or connect what they've seen at a talk to the material they're covering in their courses."
By SUSAN KNAPP
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