Stanford University Mathematics Camp
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Stanford University Mathematics Camp, or SUMaC, is a competitive summer mathematics program for rising high school juniors and seniors around the world. The camp lasts for 4 weeks, usually from mid-July to mid-August. It is based on the campus of Stanford University.
Like the Ross Program at Ohio State and the PROMYS program at Boston University, SUMaC does not put emphasis on competition-math preparations but focuses instead on advanced undergraduate math topics.
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[edit] History
SUMaC was founded in 1995 by Professors Rafe Mazzeo and Ralph Cohen of the Stanford Mathematics Department and is currently directed by Prof. Mazzeo, Dr. Pierre Albin, and Dr. Rick Sommer. Dr. Sommer was an Assistant Professor in the Stanford Mathematics Department and is currently a Deputy Director of the Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY), at Stanford. He designed the Program I course and has been teaching versions of it since the first SUMaC in 1995. The Program II course is designed and taught by Prof. Rafe Mazzeo. In recent years, Dr. Pierre Albin has also started teaching Program II with Prof. Mazzeo. Dr. Pierre Albin currently teaches at MIT.
[edit] Programs
- Program I investigates non-constructibility in geometry, classification of patterns in two dimensions, error-correcting codes, cryptography, and the analysis of the Rubik's cube. The mathematics that is central to solving these problems comes from the areas of abstract algebra and number theory.
- Program II contains an introduction to selected topics in combinatorial, differential, and algebraic topology. The program emphasizes developing ideas from, and problems in, geometric topology where methods from abstract algebra and calculus have proven to be effective tools.
[edit] Other activities
During the camp, there are frequent guest lectures given by internationally renowned mathematicians. These talks are in the areas of current mathematical research. Ravi Vakil, a current Stanford mathematics professor and a 4-time Putnam Fellow, talked to the students in 2007. Also in 2007, Tyson Mao, one of the best cube solvers in the world, taught SUMaC students how to solve the Rubik's cube. Other speakers in 2007 included Drs. Kay Kirkpatrick (MIT), Ted Shifrin (University of Georgia), and Pete Storm (Stanford). Students at SUMaC also engage in a variety of sports activities during their free time. Such sports include basketball, tennis, badminton, table tennis, and ultimate.
[edit] Teaching assistants and counselors
Most of the SUMaC residential counselors and teaching assistants are Stanford mathematics graduate students and undergraduate math majors. SUMaC usually has a 1-to-4 ratio of staff to students, with most of the teaching assistants serving in the role of live-in counselors. Many of the SUMaC teaching assistants and counselors return from previous years, and some attended SUMaC in high school.
[edit] Residence
SUMaC students have traditionally been housed in Synergy [1], a small Stanford-student residence that is a famously vegitarian co-op during the academic year, though there has been years when students lived in Κappa Αlpha (KA). Each student has a roommate, and the floors are divided by sex. Dining takes place at a separate dining hall shared by other summer youth programs at Stanford.
[edit] Other Facts
SUMaC was the backdrop for Justina Chen Headley's book Nothing But the Truth (and a Few White Lies), a teen novel about a half-Taiwanese girl who finally finds her identity at the math camp.
