Senior Colloquiums

For more than 20 years, the Department of Mathematical Sciences has included as a graduation requirement the requirement that all students graduating with one of the majors within the department should give a senior colloquium.

Every year, these lectures occur during the last two or three weeks of the spring semester.

These lectures are 15 minutes long on any math-related topic of interest to the speaker.

Each student that is graduating will need to choose a topic to speak about.  It is suggested that student consults with their former professors regarding what are good topics.  

Basically, we expect that students will talk about something you already know about.  If they are doing an honor’s thesis that involves math, you can talk about that.  If they are doing an REU or an internship, they can talk about what they are doing there. If they are in Choose Ohio First, they could talk about the project that you are working on there.  If there is some topic in a class that has interested them, they can talk about that.  In other words, anything that is related to mathematics is fair game.  We prefer it to be something the student already knows about.  Students should plan to speak for 15 minutes.  Students can use Beamer, PowerPoint, chalkboard, or any other format that fits their topic.

All students that are planning to graduate some time during the current calendar year (May, August, December 2024), are expected to give a senior colloquium during the spring of the calendar year.  The week before spring break, the undergraduate coordinator will ask each graduating student to email their topic for approval of your topic.  At that time the undergraduate coordinator will also ask each graduating student to send the times that would be convenient for them to speak during the designated week(s) of the spring semester.

Early in the semester, the undergraduate coordinator will ask that everyone who is planning to graduate in the current year: either in  May, August or December to e-mail them so that they can compile a list of who will be speaking.

If you have any questions, please contact the undergraduate coordinator:

Xiaoyu Zheng --   Office: 320 MSB, phone: 330-672-9089 , e-mail: xzheng3@kent.edu