2012 Joint Mathematics Meeting

This year the JMM, held by the American Math Society (AMS) and Math Association of America (MAA) took place in Boston, MA and my summer MSSB REU project was selected to present a poster at the Undergrad Poster Session. This was my first experience at a big conference (the JMM is touted online as the largest math conference in the world at 7K+ registrants), and it was definitely a learning one. I got to see a handful of interesting talks, present my poster, explore Boston, and catch up with friends that I hadn’t seen since the summer.

Here’s the day by day of what I was up to. I talk mostly about the food.

Wednesday

I carpooled down with my advisor Chris Danforth and also along for the ride were Lewis Mitchell (postdoc in climate at UVM) and Kameron Harris (masters student at UVM). We left bright and early from Burlington, at 7AM while temperatures lingered in the 2F range.

Arriving at about 11, it was extremely daunting at first trying to find talks to attend. Turned out that there weren’t any going on until lunch, so we checked out the conference center and then all got lunch at Legal Sea Foods.

In the afternoon, I was able to attend some interesting talks, get in a speedy 4 mile run on some great trails with outstanding views, and then that night Jim, Paul and I met up with Lewis and Kam and two of Kam’s friends for dinner at this really hip place called The Other Side Cafe. They had Left Hand Milk Stout on tap! And delicious veggie burritos.

Thursday

The four of us, and Chris’s former teacher at Bates College, Chip Ross at lunch at the Top of the Hub which was on top of the very tall Prudential Building. The views were great, and we talked a lot about bifurcations which I understand, but not at the level that these guys do who’ve been studying dynamical systems for some time. Views from the top:

boston!!!

Everyone from the REU from the summer were in town for dinner, except for Laurel who was still on her way, so we all got together for dinner at restaurant recommended by Jim called The King and I. It was great thai food and company! That was pretty much it for that night.

the dinner invitation I texted out

Friday

The theme of the this post is definitely feeling to me like food and travel, and not as much math, but this is more interesting for the most part. The first day I grabbed breakfast, I got two eggs on a wheat bagel at ABP and it was real good. I first went to support a fellow hokie, Scott Burton, present his research from the past summer on graph theory stuff. I went to a few other talks after that were actually not what I expected, and I guess that happens.

Now that the entire REU gang was in, except that John and Hussein bailed for lunch, we took the T up to the North End to see historic Boston and get some great food. We ate a really small italian place, and it was just us. It felt just like we were eating in the kitchen of an italian lady’s kitchen, and the spinach ravioli come recommended by me!

the old north church

laurel was happy!

my bro Paul

Emily (right) inside Mike's Pastry

I tried again to find some interesting talks, and sort-of did. But before long it was time for me to do what it was that I’d come to do, present my poster! The ugrad poster session was nuts, with over 300 posters being presented. It turned out to not work very well having all four us man one poster, so we took 30min turns at explaining what we did this past summer.

the poster session, huge!!

After the poster session, Laurel and I headed out for what turned out to be an amazinggg run. Check it out. Here is the view we had from the trail on the Charles River, looking back at Boston where we’d come from:

water like glass, dirt trail, awesome

I was late for dinner at the Back Bay Social Club, where I got the dirtiest look I ever have from a bartender, when I didn’t tip on a $8 beer. I’ve never paid that much, and actually had out $6, ready to leave a dollar tip even if it cost 5. But 8!? Sticker shock I guess. But looking on the menu later, the beer I ordered was actually only supposed to be 7…whatever.

Kam, Lewis and I ended up heading to BU for drinks w Kam’s friend again, and it was a fun night up there. I forget the name of the little town.

Saturday

Perhaps the most interesting talks of the conference from the group that I came with took place on Sat morning. We heard from experts in the field on Data Assimilation and Dynamical Systems, and I learned quite a bit. I also got to meet Chris Jones, who gave an excellent talk, and is the head of the MCRN that is offering a course this spring that I am considering attending.

I had to check out of the Westin, and carried all of my stuff (with some help) to lunch at the Cafetaria Boston w Laurel, Paul, Lewis, and Kam. Their fish tacos were great.

The afternoon was the session on Mathematics of Climate Change and Sustainability which was chaired by Chris and he spoke in first. The first three talks were great, and after that more educations based and less mathie. I learned from each of the first three. Apparently it got a little more heated later, about the challenges and obligation to teach mathematics with applications in the classroom. I had dipped out to haul my luggage two miles across Boston to Lewis’ hotel, the Omni Parker.

I had some free time while the talks were over, and Kam and Lewis were at the hockey game so I grabbed my laptop and headed to find a coffee shop with wireless. I stopped at Jos A Bank to ask why my shoes seemed to be falling apart on the bottom, but apparently it’s normal wear for dress shoes.

wasn't sure they were supposed to wear like this

I ended up stopping at the ABP, where I got a little package of grapes and little bag of assorted nuts to hold me over till dinner which I was actually quite productive and researched for, then registered for my classes this spring.

That night, we got dinner again at The Other Side and I got the other veggie burrito which was also excellent. And I had the Avery Salvation Ale, a belgian strong ale and it was reallyyy good.

We met up with a couple other mathematicians after at some bars called the Dead Author’s Club, and then Boston Beer Works. They were home to more really good beer, in particular the Slumbrew Porter Squared Porter was amazing. It was pretty neat for me to be by far the least educated in the group, the other guys were post-docs at MIT and on fellowships. All in all, it was a really great night out on the town and to cap off a great week in Boston.

Sunday

We headed out of Boston at like 11AM, and Chris had picked up some more amazing canolies from Mike’s Pastry to cure Lewis, Kam and my hangovers. I felt fine, but the canoli was much appreciated. Upon returning “home,” I’ve been able to rest up, get groceries and make dinner, write this up and get ready to head into the office tomorrow.

Ushering in a new year

Beginning with a look at this past year, I cannot be much happier. A list of highlights would only do disservice.

An update since moving out of BBurg and being in limbo at home: I have had two full weeks at home to rest up before moving to Burlington, VT. Safe to say that I’ve definitely caught up on sleep, having slept in till 11AM almost every day. Got in some good, and not so good, training and got to spend lots of time with great friends, the best.

It’s only natural that I’ll announce my resolution for this year, in a [not really so] public manner. I started by examining the resolutions of 2011: vegetarian, biking miles > driving miles, and no big beer. For more detail on each: http://andyreagan.com/2010/12/28/christmas-update/. I held the first for 2.5 months, drove home too many times to get the second I’m pretty sure (although I didn’t really keep good track), and definitely succeeded at limiting myself to craft brews.

Resolution 1: Eat healthy

It’s so hard to be specific with diet, but how can I get more vague than this? Well, I’m not going to go veg again, but am going to try to eat better for my overall health (including my heart). With @rumblinstumblin having a heart attack earlier this year, it was no doubt a wake up call to me that I do have a family history and I need to watch what I eat NOW because it will have an effect down the road. So, more recently, I have tried to cut back on my sat fats, and haven’t eaten red meat (with the exception of grilling fillet mignon once a week ago) in a few months.

My dad has really into this health phase, focusing his passion on eating well and it has been both amazing and pretty inspiring. My mother likes to call him “110% or nothing” and there isn’t a much better description. Be it stocks, raising me, looking at colleges, or now eating healthy he can really get into something that motivates him. And most recently, he’s radically changed the way he eats, exercises every day, and is in pretty amazing shape.

Looking into the modern science of heart health, there is a great deal of information and it’s very confusing (most recently reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes). The answers to the question of what we should eat are not as good as we’d hope for something so basic. But, I do think that it can be boiled down to some pretty simple facts (e.g. Michael Pollan’s Food Rules). I had a great convo w Carrie Carlton abt all this, and she sent me to a blog that has a food pyramid that most accurately describes my goals: (via http://www.diseaseproof.com/)

Resolution 2: Tracking my mobility

Considering that my girlfriend is 5 hours away, and I’m driving to Burlington tomorrow, I don’t think that I’ll be able to bike more miles than I drive this year. But, I intend to keep track! I’ve got a Garmin that I’m going to put on my commuter bike as well, and I’m going to track my driving miles at fuelly.com (thx @rbsherfy for the tip).

I’m very interested in how we design our built environment to encourage sustainable mobility and active lifestyles, so by keeping track of how I move myself, we’ll see if I put the miles where my mind is.

Resolution 3: Crush it

I know I’m stealing Gary V’s punchline, and I don’t actually know how he used it, but by ‘crush it’ I mean to live this year with focus and drive. After getting a short break at home, I’m really ready to go back to school and spend the next year learning everything I can, and contributing to research. I suppose this resolution falls under the ‘goals’ category, but the resolution part is to just keep working hard and smart. If this were a goal last year, I more than succeeded, and I intend to keep it up!

Since I’ve been procrastinating packing for my move tomorrow (I haven’t started, it’s midnight, and I want to leave early tomorrow…) I should probably move along. Have a great 2012 my motivated blog followers!

 

Andy Reagan, B.S.

On December 16th, along with 1,300 other undergraduates, I received my Bachelor’s Degree! The fact that I finished my college degree is just setting in, since I’ve been so focused on finishing my exams and where I’m headed next. Without further adieu, I will be going to the University of Vermont to study Uncertainty Quantification under Dr. Chris Danforth beginning on Jan 1, 2011 with a GRA. The fact that I finished my ugrad early, ahead of my friends even, is just flying by as I move on (I get less of a break than those heading back to school!).

Highlights of finishing up include getting an A- in Real Analysis, which I am very proud of and while taking a very heavy course-load has proved to myself (and apparently some others) that I’m really ready for graduate study.

The Wednesday before the commencement ceremony I had a party at my house in Blacksburg that my parents supported with a catered Moe’s dinner and some carbonated beverages for my friends. It was great being able to bring all of my friends in BBurg together for one last time, and going downtown afterwards was a good deal of fun. And one of the best parts of all was the Thursday morning running that Chrissy, Andy, Rudy, Rachel and I went on, that was very excellent.

Graduation ceremony itself was great, preceded the night before by a great dinner at the Inn at Virginia Tech. We met the Dean of the College of Science at breakfast, and during graduation Team Graduation Beard was separated by college but we reunited later that night. I sat by Tina, which was actually a lot fun, and Dr Brown was the Master of Ceremonies so I got to talk to him for awhile and get a big hug before walking across the stage.

Dan Z and Dan K (and Dan Z jr) made it down for some pouch (porch-couch) drinking on Thursday night and then the ceremony Friday, and going out downtown in celebration Friday night as well. Ruthie was there for both the ceremony, lunch and DT that night as well, and I just polished off her peanut butter bar grad present, mmmm. After the ceremonies, the gang (parents, jean, dan, dan, ruthie, and I) had lunch at the one and only (well, I suppose there are actually two) Cabo Fish Taco. As good as ever. Then my parents headed home with a Honda Pilot full of my stuff that I’d packed up the day before. With the stuff I’d sent in David’s truck (to be transferred to my car in the Poconos) and the stuff that I fit in Zdan’s van, I didn’t have any problem transporting my belongings home. Or any need for the [embarassing] U-Haul. (I really hope I don’t have that much stuff).

Dan, Dan, and I pretty much sped back on Saturday, with a stop to get Alex some stuff he’d forgot in Blacksburg up in Nova, saving him the drive back. I definitely owed him that. Once we got to David’s (I drove the whole way), I spent the night there caroling and then next day hauling stone, shooting skeet, running singletrack w Smoky, and having some great conversation about the state of society with David. The Dans continued the three hour (claimed they did it 2:20, I really hope they didn’t) drive home.

Today I just finished getting housing arrangements, and mailed out my official acceptance letter for the GRA offer at UVM, two pretty important things to get wrapped up.

Upcoming in the next week is… guest lecturing in Zdan’s high school physics class about non-linear dynamics tomorrow, mountain biking with Sam at Highland Forest on Thurs/Fri, at some point building my free motion rollers, and then its Christmas Time!! I already got my big present today when it came in the mail, a super warm LL Bean jacket that I’ll surely need to stay warm in chilly Burlington.

That’s all for now! (For pictures, see my twitter, and I’ll post some up here later).