This is a summary for all Pi Mu Epsilon Chapters of the meeting of the National Council of Pi Mu Epsilon, Inc., July 31st in Madison, Wisconsin.

This is a summary for all Pi Mu Epsilon Chapters of Pi Mu Epsilon’s conference July 30 through August 1, 2008 in Madison, Wisconsin.

• Activities.  There were 48 Pi Mu Epsilon student speakers at the national Pi Mu Epsilon conference held in conjunction with MathFest 2008.
• Speakers who requested transportation reimbursement also received $180 to help defray the costs of lodging, food, registration, etc.  Pi Mu Epsilon was able to give these students this subsistence because of a grant from the National Security Agency. 
• The J. Sutherland Frame Lecture, Symmetries of Things, was given to a standing-room-only audience by John H. Conway from Princeton University.
• Michelle Ghrist, Chapter Advisor of our Colorado Gamma Chapter at the United States Air Force Academy, received the triennial award for outstanding service to the students in her Chapter.  This was the first time the award was given.  It consists of a $500 cash award and a plaque.
• Twelve student speakers received $150 cash awards for the excellence of their presentations.  Eight of these cash prizes were subsidized by a grant from the American Mathematical Society, one was furnished by the Council on Undergraduate Research, one was given by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, one was given by the MAA’s Special Interest Group on issues of Environmental Mathematics, and one was given by the MAA’s Special Interest Group on Mathematical Biology.  These awards were presented immediately following the Pi Mu Epsilon Banquet with Pi Mu Epsilon speakers and faculty advisors in attendance. 
• The list of winners and complete list of speakers and their titles appears in the appendix at the end of this report.
• The Student Reception welcoming Pi Mu Epsilon and MAA student speakers the evening before MathFest began was well-received.
• The second annual breakfast for Chapter Advisors held at MathFest 2008 was again great success, and Pi Mu Epsilon will continue to host these breakfasts at MathFests.  Pi Mu Epsilon has discontinued sponsoring the joint advisor breakfasts at the winter meetings since at those meetings the Pi Mu Epsilon table in the Exhibit Hall is the primary place to meet and talk to faculty and students associated with our Pi Mu Epsilon Chapters.
• Council Business.  All nine national Councillors met Thursday morning July 31.  Also present at the meeting as visitors were Rhonda McKee, Richard Poss, Harold Reiter, and Robert Woodside.
• Election.  The triennial Pi Mu Epsilon Council elections were held this spring. The successful nominees who assumed their offices on July 1, 2008 were: President-Elect Eve Torrence, Journal Editor Brigitte Servatius, Secretary-Treasurer Leo Schneider, and Councillors Paul Fishback, Jacqueline Jensen, Kendra Killpatrick, and Angela Spalsbury.  David Sutherland and Joan Weiss advanced from President-Elect and President to President and Past President, respectively.  105 Chapters cast their votes either electronically or by USPS.
• Lectureship Grants.
1. The Council will accept applications for additional Lectureship visits for the spring 2009 term.  The deadline for the applications will be December 1, 2008.
2. During the spring 2008 term, visits were made to three Chapters in the Pi Mu Epsilon National Lectureship Program for 2007-2008:  President-Elect David Sutherland visited our Oklahoma Beta Chapter at Oklahoma State University on March 6 and 7; Councillor Angela Spalsbury visited our Oregon Epsilon Chapter at Linfield College on March 13 and 14; and  Journal Editor Brigitte Servatius visited our Oregon Beta Chapter at Oregon State University on May 31.
3. The Council approved funding in our 2008-2009 National Lectureship and Enhancement Program for our Florida Iota Chapter at the University of Tampa, our Indiana Epsilon Chapter at St. Mary’s College, our Massachusetts Eta Chapter at Fitchburg State College, and our Pennsylvania Lambda Chapter at Clarion University.
• New Chapters.  In business conducted by email since its January meeting, Council voted unanimously to establish the following new Chapters:
1. Our 328th Chapter, Texas Tau, at Midwestern State University, which was installed by the then-President-Elect David Sutherland on March 11, 2008.
2. Our 329th Chapter, Kentucky Eta, at Centre College, which was installed by our Secretary-Treasurer Leo Schneider on April 9, 2008.
3. Our 330th Chapter, Oregon Zeta, at Willamette University, which will be installed by our President, David Sutherland, this fall.
4. Our 331st Chapter, Illinois Mu, at Olivet Nazarene University, which will be installed by our Secretary-Treasurer Leo Schneider this fall.
• Reactivated Chapters.
1. During the spring 2008 term these three Chapters had formal reactivation ceremonies:  Michigan State University (Michigan Alpha) where Councillor Paul Fishback presided at the reactivation ceremony on April 15, 2008.  Cleveland State University (Ohio Eta) where Secretary-Treasurer  Leo Schneider presided at the reactivation ceremony on April 30, 2008. Oregon State University (Oregon Beta) where Journal Editor  Brigitte Servatius presided at the reactivation ceremony on May 30, 2008.
2. These two formerly Inactive Chapters requested permission to again begin inducting members in the spring 2008 term, and they will schedule formal reactivations ceremonies during the 2008-2009 academic year: Alabama State University (Alabama Zeta) and the University of Tampa (Florida Iota).  The Pi Mu Epsilon President gave permission to the founding Chapter Advisor to again begin inducting members into the California Mu Chapter at California State University Long Beach, but that Chapter apparently decided not to reactivate at this time.
• Finances.  The financial report for the July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008 fiscal year showed that Pi Mu Epsilon is in good shape and was accepted unanimously by the Council.  The budget for the July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009 fiscal year was approved.
• Pi Mu Epsilon Journal. 
1. The Andree Award for the best student-written article in the 2007 issues of the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal went to Sarah Baker and Larisa Perolli who co-authored Log Concavity in Lattice Path Matroids in the spring 2007 while they were undergraduates at George Washington University.
2. The Editor of the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal reported an increase in papers submitted for publication.  There is still a desire to increase the number of student-written articles.  In the 2007 issues of the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal there was an insufficient number of papers with student authors to distribute all the prize money available for the Richard V. Andree Award.  Articles coauthored by students and faculty are not eligible for this award.
3. The Problems Section of the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal continues to be popular.  The problems that appear in the spring and fall issues of the Journal are posted on the Pi Mu Epsilon web page, http://www.pme-math.org/ on March 1 and October 1, usually ahead of the time the Journal is mailed to our members.  October 1, 2008 is the deadline for solutions submitted to the problems that were posted on March 1, 2008, and the solutions to those problems will be printed in the fall 2008 issue of the Journal.  Similarly, March 1, 2009 will the deadline for solutions submitted to the problems that will be posted on October 1, 2008, and the solutions to those problems will be printed in the spring 2008 issue of the Journal.
4. A searchable index for the titles and authors of all articles that have appeared in the Pi Mu Epsilon Journal is on our web site.  Articles that have won the Richard V. Andree Award are given special recognition in the index. 
• President-Elect Eve Torrence represented Pi Mu Epsilon at the gala celebration in Washington, DC honoring the 12 winners of the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad.
• Chapters are asked to verify that their listing is up to date and correct in our listing of Chapters at http://www.pme-math.org/chapters/statelists.html
• Chapters should file their annual Chapter Report at http://www.pme-math.org/chapters/chaptersubmit.html

The complete and official minutes of this meeting will be available by request from the Pi Mu Epsilon Secretary-Treasurer after they are approved at the January 2009 meeting of the Pi Mu Epsilon Council in Washington, DC.

Leo J. Schneider
Secretary-Treasurer, Pi Mu Epsilon, Inc.
Appendix

Pi Mu Epsilon Student Speakers at MathFest 2008

Prizes for outstanding Pi Mu Epsilon student talks, presented to the students at the Pi Mu Epsilon banquet Saturday evening, were:

• American Mathematics Society awards for excellence in student exposition and research (in alphabetical order):
• Samuel Behrend, Ohio Iota Chapter at Denison University, Determining Intrinsic Triple Linking in Straight-Edge Embeddings of K9.
• Alicia Brinkman, Wisconsin Delta Chapter at Saint Norbert College, How We Roll: The Theory and Construction of the Square Wheel Bicycle.
• Iordan Ganev, Ohio Delta Chapter at Miami University, Order Dimension of Subgroups.
• Brendan Kelly, New Jersey Chapter at The College of New Jersey, How to Obtain Algebraic Information from Zero-Divisor Graphs.
• Daniel Lithio, Michigan Delta Chapter at Hope College, Modeling Dynamics of a Volleyball Serve: Choosing the Optimal Trajectory.
• W. Ryan Livingston, Ohio Xi Chapter at Youngstown State University, Can 2008 be the First Digits of 2n?
• Jared Ruiz, Ohio Xi Chapter at Youngstown State University, A Surprising Sum of Arctangents.
• Jeremy Thompson, Colorado Gamma Chapter at the United States Air Force Academy, Numerical Semigroups and Wilf’s Conjecture.
• Council on Undergraduate Research award for outstanding student research and exposition:
• Sara Jensen, Wisconsin Epsilon Chapter at Carthage College, An Alternate Proof of the Anti-Pasch Conjecture.
• Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics award for outstanding student exposition and research in applied mathematics:
• Doug Wajda, Ohio Xi Chapter at Youngstown State University, Partial Differential Equation Model of Traffic Flow.
• MAA Special Interest Group -- Environmental Mathematics awards for outstanding exposition and research  in  environmental mathematics:
• Vincent Martinez, New Jersey Theta Chapter at The College of New Jersey, Plant-Pathogen Dynamics.
• MAA Special Interest Group – Mathematical Biology: The Janet L. Anderson Award for outstanding exposition and research  in Mathematical or Computational Biology:
• Heather Ackerson, Minnesota Delta Chapter at the College of Saint Benedict, RNA Secondary Structure – A Statistical Analysis.

This is the complete list of Pi Mu Epsilon Student Speakers:

Also in attendance for the entire meeting in Madison was Erin L. Parks, an official Delegate from the New York Pi Chapter at SUNY Fredonia.