Math 497 Senior Projects
Spring 2026

Syllabus

Key Dates

• Senior oral exam- Saturday, Jan 24 at 9AM
• Power and Privilege Symposia are on Thursday, Feb 19 (no classes that day)
• Undergrad Research Conference is on Tuesday, Apr 14 (no classes that day)
• The 9th annual PiMUC conference is on Saturday, May 2 (everyone will give their oral presentations that day).

Links by Day

• Week 1 (Jan 20-22)
  • Tuesday
    Today we'll review the syllabus and schedule. We'll do a short exercise on what makes a good paper. Then we'll discuss LaTeX and Beamer, and take a look at Overleaf. Finally, we'll discuss the homework.
    • Overheads
    • Latex Handout
    • Oral Exam Info
    • Homework for Thursday
  • Thursday: Our first set of oral presentations.
• Week 2 (Jan 27-29)
  • Tuesday: Work Pipeline for our Projects and Peer Review
    • Pipeline Discussion
      • Deadlines for the Project
      • Math Project Handout
      • Stats Project Handout
    • Peer Review Workshop
      • How does Peer Review work?
      • What should an author do after peer review?
    • HOMEWORK for Thursday: Read Krantz, 1.1-1.8
      Answer the readback by Wednesday 11:59 PM.
  • Thursday
    Today we're discussing Krantz's text on how to write mathematics, then we'll take a look at applying for a job.
    • Discussion on Krantz:
      • Handout- Examples of bad writing.
      • The Krantz Critique Sheet
    • Jobs and AI
      • Job ad (fake job generated by ChatGPT, but based on similar types of jobs)
      • Five fake resumes (generated by ChatGPT)
      • Possible rubric to rate the applications
      • Example rating by Claude AI
      • Alex's resume- Before and After
  • Homework: Remember to write in your project idea to Canvas before class on Tuesday.
• Week 3 (Feb 3-5)
  • Tues Feb 3: Class will be in the library (with librarian Amy Blau)
  • Thur Feb 5:
    • Reminder of course deadlines
    • More on writing: What's an "argument"?
    • Notes on the bibliography
    • Examples and Group Work
• Week 4 (Feb 10-12)
  • Tues Feb 10: We'll talk about writing, how to put together a good talk. There will be time today for writing your project and presentation.
    Interesting clip- Philosophy of Math
  • Thur Feb 12: Oral Presentations
• Week 5 (Feb 17-19)
  • Tues Feb 17: Class discussions and time for writing
    • Youtube clip- Math and AI - about 10 minutes
    • Youtube clip- Stats and AI - about 10 minutes
    • Handout for discussion
    • Homework: Work on a draft of your project- we'll start doing peer review on Tuesday. Reading homework: Look over Chapter 2 of Krantz' text- We'll discuss it as we go next week.
  • Thur Feb 19: No classes - Power and Privilege Symposia
• Week 6 (Feb 24-28) Focus on writing and peer review this week.
  • Tuesday links:
    • Summary of the reading (Ch 2, Krantz)
    • Peer Review Handout
  • Thursday: Today was our first peer review session.
• Week 7 (Mar 3-5) [End of week is mid-semester!]
  • Tuesday: Short day. We'll discuss what's due at the end of the week, and then the rest of class time is for reading and writing.
    • Rough Draft Notes- What do I need to turn in?
  • Thursday: Go to the "Career and Community Fair"
• Week 8
  • Tues, 3/10: This week we focus on peer review of the rough drafts.
  • Thur, 3/12: Discuss the schedule after break. Discuss citations and use of AI.
    • Slides on Citations and AI
    • Ethics Quiz
    • AI Ethics from Taylor & Francis
• Spring Break
• Week 9 (3/31-4/2)
  • Deadlines for Math 497
  • Tues: Individual meetings
  • Thur: Oral presentations
• Week 10 (4/7-4/9)
  • Tues: Finish oral presentations
  • Thur: Peer Review
• Week 11 (4/14-4/16)
  • Tues: Undergrad Research Conference- No classes today.
  • Thur: Individual meetings and Abstract Checks
• Week 12 (4/21-4/23)
• Week 13 (4/28-4/30)
  • Both days: Final rehearsal of oral presentations.
  • Presentations will be in the Hall of Science on Saturday, May 2nd.
• Week 14 (5/5-5/7)
  Open writing sessions.
• Week 15: Final Project Due on Friday, May 15