This is the last Joint Mathematics Meeting jointly managed by the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. Plus today was the Association for Women in Mathematics panel celebrating its 50th anniversary. So forgive me for feeling a little nostalgic.
I searched Facebook and Twitter for posts from the past and was not disappointed.
2006: San Antonio. My first year as AWM Executive Director. And this was the year that Proofs That Really Count won MAA’s Beckenbach book prize.
2007: New Orleans. My second year as AWM Executive Director. And the year I won the Haimo Award. This was after Hurricane Katrina and the city was still hurting. I was proud that the mathematics associations committed to supporting the city and donated my prize money to Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans.
2008: San Diego. My last year attending as co-editor of Math Horizons. It was also the year that Nathan Kaplan won the Morgan Prize. I only mention it because this morning he gave an invited talk on codes from polynomials over finite fields.
2009: Twelve years ago today the JMM was in Washington DC during a time of transition. (The co-editorship of Math Horizons with Art Benjamin had just ended. Oh, and we were getting a new president.)
2010: Did not attend JMM San Francisco.
2011: New Orleans. I went and so did a lot of my friends. I do not seem to have any photos and few posts. I must have been busy.
2012: Boston. I gave an invited talk. It was the first appearance of the Countess and Sir Match-A-Lot.
2013: San Diego. My first JMM as 2nd VP of MAA. I introduced Tim Chartier’s invited talk. I think I worked harder on his introduction than some talks I have given. I called him a “hyper competent individual—uniquely balancing his creative energies as a teacher, researcher, writer, and artist.” It was also the meeting where Francis Su gave his Haimo Award presentation “The Lesson of Grace in Teaching.”
2014: Baltimore. My last JMM as 2nd VP of MAA. I led the Board of Governors in the first of many discussions to consider changing the governance structure of the association.
2015: San Antonio. The start of MAA’s Centennial year.
2016: Seattle. I got to meet James Tanton’s stars Pig and Penguin. And it was a particularly memorable President’s reception for that reason.
2017: Atlanta. Many memorable moments including the passage of new bylaws to implement changes in governance (see 2014), Francis Su’s retiring presidential address (the one that lead to his incredible and multiply award winning book Math for Human Flourishing), and Matt Richey’s lecture “Take What you Have Gathered from Coincidence: Understanding and Using Randomness”.
2018: San Diego. Perhaps one of my favorite photos and the start of MAA’s publication partnership with Taylor and Francis. As I was chair of the Council on Publications at the time this was a big deal.
2019: Baltimore. There was nothing better than watching my friend Su Doree receive the Haimo Award and introducing my undergraduate student to Cathy O’Neil.
2020: Denver. The last national meeting where we met in person.
Math in the Time of Corona 