Women in Mathematics (WIM) Electronic Newsletter
Fall 1998, Issue 2
November 17, 1998
http://www.math.umd/~wim/Fall98/Issue2.html
WIM Graduate Student Seminar
WHEN : Wednesday, November 18th, at 4 p.m.
WHERE : Room 1310, Department of Mathematics
TITLE : Basic Spectral Theory of Hill's Equation
SPEAKER : Sarah Standard
ALL GRADUATE STUDENTS ARE WELCOME!!
Rhonda Datcher will give the last WIM talk of the semester on December 2nd.
We are now looking for women to give talks in the spring. Get in touch with
Ruth Auerbach (rauerb@math.umd.edu)
or Beth Arnold (eaa@math.umd.edu)
to volunteer.
WIM Brown Bag Lunches
The next lunch will be at noon in room 1310. This will be an organizational meeting/pizza lunch to determine the direction WIM should be heading. To facilitate discussion, WIM will be surveying math grad students here at UMCP. To encourage participation, we're springing for the pizza. Please come and share your ideas and concerns.
WIM Survey
WIM is dedicated to serving the needs of women mathematicians at UMCP...
but what exactly does that mean? What are the needs of women in our
department? This is the question we're hoping you'll answer in the survey
WIM is devising. A paper copy is on it's way into mailboxes, and an email
version will appear soon in this site. We plan to discuss the results of
the survey over pizza on the 24th (see above). So, please, share your views!
If you get a survey, fill it out! If you don't receive one, ask for it!
And come on the 24th to share pizza & your ideas.
What We're Reading Now
The Seasons of a Woman's Life by Daniel J. Levinson
(Ballantine Books, 1996)
Based on interviews with forty-five women, the author compares
businesswomen, faculty members, and homemakers with respect to major
life transitions, life structure, and satisfaction. Included are many
stories from these women's lives.
Jingo by Terry Pratchett
(Harper Prism, 1998)
Like many of his earlier books, this fantasy is set in Discworld
(where when ships sailing toward the horizon look like they're falling
off the edge of the world, it's because they really are). Jingo is an
indictment of mindless militarism & knee-jerk anti-Arab prejudice (or
rather, anti-Klatchian prejudice), and it's really funny. How is this relevant
to WIM? Because Pratchett slips in the invention of zero and it's importance
for mathematics. And he's good at writing strong female characters. He
writes intelligent fantasy/humor with frequent references to mathematics
(like Interesting Times, with references to chaos theory, or his description of a cat in four dimensions) and is definitely worth checking out.
Read any good books lately? If you have something you'd like to suggest, please let us know! (wim@math.umd.edu)
Editor: Cathy Jones
(caj@math.umd.edu)
Organization: WIM (wim@math.umd.edu or
http://www.math.umd.edu/~wim)
Last modified: Tue Nov 17 20:54 1998