The Putnam Exam
Since 2006 I have served as UTSA's liaison to the organizers of the Putnam competition. The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition is probably the largest competition of its kind in the world. Held yearly, it is open to college students in North America (U.S.A. and Canada), and in recent years it has counted close to 4,000 contestants from over 500 institutions.
In 2007, for the first time ever, UTSA's team was ranked among the top 30% of institutions entering the competition, finishing 145th out of 516. This was a fantastic achievement in light of the fact that UTSA had entered the competition a handful of times since the 1980's and (to the best of my knowledge) never had a UTSA contestant scored a single point. Kudos to the 2007 team members: Wenlong Zheng, Dang Nguyen and John Fuini. In addition, congratulations to Nguyen Nguyen, who got a perfect score in one of the problems. Cheers, too, go to the other students taking the test, all of whom were quite motivated and several of whom were freshmen getting their feet wet.
I run weekly Open Office Hours on Friday afternoons. These office hours are meant to serve as an opportunity for students interested in competition-style problem solving to work together and get help as well as (hopefully) inspiration. Among the regular attendees are students enrolled in MAT 4953 (Problem-Solving Seminar), as well as alumni of that course and students wishing to train to enter the Putnam competition. This fall 2008 the meetings are held Fridays 4-7pm in room H.S.S. 3.02.40. Free snacks are provided courtesy of the math department.
Students interested in signing up for the 2008 exam, to be held on Saturday 6 December, should contact me by Friday 3 October.
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