Education Committee

Committee Charge

Roles and Responsibilities

The Education Committee has responsibility for supporting the Vice President for Education in SIAM activities related to education, both graduate and undergraduate. These activities include recommendations on education policy and curricula in areas relevant to SIAM; carrying out programs to promote applied mathematics and computational science; and providing advice on general policy issues in education in the mathematical sciences.

Policy recommendations require approval of the SIAM Council and must go through the SIAM Vice President for Education.

In carrying out its roles and responsibilities, this committee oversees several ongoing programs. These include:

• Student Day at the SIAM Annual Meeting
• A session at the Joint Math Meeting that focuses on educational issues
• Visiting Lecturer Program
• Student Chapters
• Careers brochure and related documents
• Math Contest in Modeling (MCM) and other contests involving students
• SIAM Student Paper Prizes
• SIAM Undergraduate Research publication in applied and computational mathematics

Other activities may include:

• Curriculum guidelines for programs in mathematical sciences or computational sciences
• Advice on national guidance on curriculum issues in the mathematical sciences (to include K-12)

Structure of the Education Committee

The Committee on Committees and Appointments shall appoint a chair of the Education Committee who will report to the SIAM VP for Education. The number of appointments to this committee is not fixed, but that number should be justified by the ongoing activities of the committee. The Chair of the Committee shall recommend appointments to this committee to the Committee on Committees and Appointments which oversees the appointment process on behalf of the SIAM President. The length of each term shall be three years. Terms should staggered so that approximately one-third of the terms end each year. Individuals serve additional terms subject to SIAM policies on term limits.  SIAM recommends that appointed committee members serve at most two consecutive terms, although exceptions can be made in special circumstances.

The Chair of the Education Committee, in consultation with the VP at Large, may create subcommittees to carry out the programs of this committee. Subcommittees are ordinarily formed from a subset of members of the Education Committee. In the case that a subcommittee requires special expertise or abilities not found on the Education Committee, subcommittee appointments should go through the Committee on Committees and Appointments process for committee appointments.

Committee membership should reflect the breadth and diversity of the Society. Committee members should have broad knowledge of the Society and its members.

How the Committee Conducts its Business

The Education Committee traditionally meets twice per year. It holds one meeting during the January Joint Math Meetings; and one meeting during the SIAM Annual Meeting. Any business that must be transacted between these two meetings is ordinarily done via e-mail.

Festivals Working Group

The Festivals Working Group is appointed by the chair of the Education Committee to organize SIAM booths at the USA Science and Engineering Festival and the National Math Festival. The working group will consist of three (3) members, with three (3) year terms; the second-year member chairs the committee. While the working group is being formed,  terms will be intentionally staggered. Members of this group should include at least one of the two student members of the Education Committee. Members generally will be selected from volunteers in the SIAM booth at previous festivals. Preference will be given to members located near Washington DC, where the festivals occur.

Donate · Contact Us · Site Map · Join SIAM · My Account