Oregon’s rural university hosts math conference

Oregon’s rural university hosts math conference 

April 28, 2021 LA GRANDE, Ore. –  On April 10, Eastern Oregon University math professor Amy Yielding co-hosted the Pacific Inland Mathematics Undergraduate Conference (PiMUC) for college students to present their original math research.

EOU virtually hosted the PiMUC, where students from all over the Pacific Northwest presented their latest mathematical discoveries. Due to the ongoing pandemic, this was the second year the conference has been held virtually and the first year EOU hosted the event that was attended by over 13 colleges and universities.  

Yielding and her colleagues from Gonzaga University and Oregon State University, Bonni Dichone and Nathan Gibson, recognized that their students needed an opportunity to present their work and worked to keep the conference up and running. Unless it’s applied mathematics, presenters have a hard time engaging with a general audience and can’t get into the nitty-gritty aspects of their abstract mathematical research, Yielding said. 

“These little meetings where it’s undergraduate-only and math specific are really helpful for the students because it boosts their moral that they’re not alone, [it shows them] there’s other people who are really into this stuff, provides an audience that knows what they are talking about and asks good questions…they can all geek out and there’s just something about it that is just amazing,” Yielding said. 

Cash prizes were awarded to the top speakers thanks to the Pacific Northwest Section of the Mathematical Association of America and Pi Mu Epsilon. 

Yielding also works closely with the EOU Math Club, four of which presented their own original research in Stick Knots, has membership dues of $3.14, and is involved with the EOU Science Journal. 

Learn more about the EOU mathematics program at eou.edu/math. 

By PR Intern Emily Andrews