Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics

The Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics (HCSSiM) is a residential program for mathematically talented high school students. The program has been conducted each summer since 1971, with the exceptions of 1981 and 1996, and has more than 1500 alumni. [cite web | url=http://www.hcssim.org/faq.php | title=HCSSiM home page, Frequently and Less Frequently Asked Questions with Frequent Answers | accessdate=2008-04-14] [cite news | author=Laura A. Haight | title=Hamming It Up At Hampshire: Mathematics Gone Hogwild | work=Harvard Crimson | date=1982-02-05 | url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=186796 | accessdate=2007-03-04]

The program was created and is still headed by Professor David C. Kelly. For the past several years the co-director has been [http://toroidalsnark.net Sarah-Marie Belcastro.]

The program is housed at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and generally runs for six weeks from early July until mid-August. The program itself consists of lectures, study sessions, math workshops (general-knowledge classes), maxi-courses (three-week classes run by the senior staff members), and mini-courses (specialized shorter classes).

On a typical day, students spend the morning in class, have lunch together with the faculty, and then have several hours to use at their leisure. They return for the "Prime Time Theorem" (an hour-long talk on an interesting piece of mathematics given by a faculty member or a visitor), have dinner, and then spend a few hours solving problems.

Although the entire student body changes every year, HCSSiM has a number of well-established traditions. Some of the oldest of these traditions deal with the repeated use, in mathematical problems, jokes, and lectures, of the number 17 (and its multiples) and the Yellow Pig. These two traditions were started by Professor Kelly, who collects objects with yellow pigs on them and examples of the number 17 in print.

HCSSiM receives highly favorable reviews from its students; many unconditionally recommend it to anyone interested in mathematics. Many students go on to professional careers in mathematics. An occasional publication [For instance, cite journal | author=Joel Auslander | coauthors=Arthur T. Benjamin and Daniel Shawcross Wilkerson | title=Optimal leapfrogging | journal=Mathematics Magazine | volume=66 | year=1993 | issue=1 | pages=pp. 14–19 | url=http://www.math.hmc.edu/~benjamin/papers/leapfrogging.pdf] has resulted from work done at the program. Well-known alumni of the program include two MacArthur Fellows, Eric Lander and Erik Winfree, as well as Lisa Randall, Dana Randall, and Eugene Volokh. Many alumni return to the campus for a few days around Yellow Pig's Day (July 17) of each year. This observance was formalized for 2006 in "Yellow Pig Math Days," which was conducted in observance of 2006 being the 34th offering of the HCSSiM Program (34 being a multiple of 17).

The Summer Studies has been funded in the past by the American Mathematical Society [cite journal | first=Allyn | last=Jackson | title=Supporting a National Treasure | journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society | month=November | year=2003 | volume=50 | issue=10 | pages=1221 | url=http://www.ams.org/notices/200310/commentary.pdf | accessdate=2007-03-04] and the U.S. National Science Foundation. [ HCSSiM received funding under the Young Scholars Program (YSP) of the Division of Research on Learning (DRL) of the NSF. The grant award numbers were [http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=8855094 8855094] , [http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=9055090 9055090] , [http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=9256071 9256071] , and [http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=9452685 9452685] .]

Other math programs have been organized loosely based on the Hampshire Program, including "The Université Mathématique d'Eté" by Daniel Elliott Loeb at SUPAERO 1991 and ENSAM 1992.

Yellow Pigs Day

Yellow Pigs Day, held annually on July 17, is a humorous celebration created and observed by mathematicians at Hampshire College and HCSSIM. The day is marked by exchanging gifts relating to yellow pigs or mathematics, singing [http://www.yellowpigs.net/yellowpigs/YP_songs yellow pig songs] , and playing sports such as Ultimate and Quidditch.

Yellow Pigs Day was started by Michael Spivak and David C. Kelly. Spivak's published books include easter egg references to yellow pigs, and Kelly maintains an extensive collection of yellow pigs. In 2006, Hampshire College held a Yellow Pig Math Days conference, as part of the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics program.

Other Alumni

*Toby Ayer, Rhodes scholar and lecturer at MIT
*Bram Cohen, developer of BitTorrent
*Lenore Cowen is professor of computer science at Tufts University
* [http://www.cs.umbc.edu/%7Emariedj/ Marie des Jardins] is a professor of computer science at UMBC.
*Paul Edelman, Professor of Mathematics and Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University
*Josh Greene, winner of the Morgan Prize
* [http://www.utpb.edu/UTPB_adm/AcademicAffairs/CollegeOfArtScience/DeptOfScienceMathematics/ProgramOfMathematics/Faculty/feit_p.htm Paul Feit] is a professor of mathematics at University of Texas of the Permian Basin
* [http://econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/gellison/ Glenn Ellison] is an economics professor at MIT.
*Daniel Elliott Loeb, financier at Susquehanna International Group
* [http://research.sun.com/people/slandau Susan Landau] is distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems.
* Robert Lipshutz is Vice President at Affymetrix.
* [http://faculty.uml.edu/jpropp/ Jim Propp] , Professor of Mathematics, University of Massachusetts Lowell
*Lisa Randall, Professor of Physics, Harvard University
* [http://mba.yale.edu/faculty/profiles/nalebuff.shtml Barry Nalebuff] is a professor at Yale University School of Management.
* [http://ecademy.agnesscott.edu/%7Elriddle/ Larry Riddle] is a professor of mathematics at Agnes Scott College.
* [http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPST/riskin.html Jessica Riskin] is Professor of History at Stanford University
*Seth Schoen, Technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation
* [http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research_people.nsf/pages/sorkin.index.html Greg Sorkin] is research staff member in the mathematical sciences at IBM.
* [http://www.wellesley.edu/Math/Pages/faculty.html Ann Trenk] , Professor of Mathematics, Wellesley College
*Jade Vinson, winner of the Morgan Prize
*Eugene Volokh [cite web | url=http://www.hcssim.org/alumns.php | title=HCSSiM home page, Information about, by, and for HCSSiM alumns | accessdate=2008-05-03] , Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

References

External links

* [http://www.hcssim.org HCSSiM Homepage]
* [http://hcssim.livejournal.com HCSSiM LiveJournal]
* [http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/index.php?f=408/ HCSSiM Forum] moderated by HCSSiM Co-director sarah-marie belcastro