On April 1, 2005, Rafeek Mohamed '08, Christopher Woytovich '08 and Prof. Erika King traveled to Kingston, Ontario to the MAA Seaway Section Spring Meeting. This trip was generously funded by the Math Club and the Hobart Dean's office. The conference consisted of several invited speakers giving talks on a variety of topics such as "Discovering Galileo" and "The Ring of 'Integer'-Valued Polynomials" as well as contributed talk sessions. In addition to the conference, Rafeek, Christopher and Prof. King also enjoyed eating at great restaurants and learning a little about Canadian culture by visiting Bellevue House, where the first prime minister of Canada lived. Below is what Rafeek and Christopher had to say about their experiences.
Rafeek: Attending the MAA Seaway Section Meeting was one of the smartest decisions I've made towards gaining more knowledge of Mathematics. The conference was held at Queen's University, and featured many Math talks by professors and undergraduate students from various universities. Although some of the material was above my league, the presenters reached out to me and got my attention. One of the most interesting things about the conference that dumbfounded me was how natural it was for the presenters to relate mathematics to art, physics and having fun. Furthermore, one of my favorite talks was "Counting Jugglable Permutations of Sequence with Integer Averages," by SUNY Fredonia's Jacob McMillen. The title pretty much gives it away. Besides the lectures and meeting new people in the Mathematics field we (the group) also had a chance to see Kingston, Canada. From the University to the town's Indian restaurant it was all a great experience. Moreover, there is absolutely no reason I wouldn't attend another MAA meeting.
Christopher: On April 1st-2nd 2005 I attended the MAA Seaway Section Spring meeting in Kingston, Canada. Being my first Math conference, I didn't know what to expect. However, the event mostly comprised of University professors and undergraduates giving a small talk on topics in Mathematics. Some of the lectures were very intense. However, some were very interesting and informative. From the fuzzy set theory to the juggling permutation it was very intriguing. Another reason I was happy I got to attend the MAA meeting was because this was my first time in Canada. Aside from the lectures, it was interesting getting to see how others from a different country interacted with math and its various subtopics. This was one experience where I learned a lot, not only about math but about a different place, so it was almost as though I killed two birds with one stone.
