Alum Gatherings
PROMYS alumni have always had a very strong record of returning repeatedly to the program as students, counselors, instructors, or visitors. Informal reunions have been ongoing, and many of our alums stay in touch with a large number of their fellow alums. Before 2009, the program rarely organized reunions. Starting with the very successful 20 Years of PROMYS Celebration in July 2009, PROMYS has started to hold regular reunions: at least two fairly large alum gatherings every year.. PROMYS also aims to ensure that all alumni are made aware of how much the program wants them to stay involved regardless of whether they are now a math professor, are in an obviously math-related field such as physics or computer science, or are in a field seemingly unrelated to math. Alumni are formally invited to every guest lecture during the summer session and to numerous other events, such as the annual PROMYS/RSI Frisbee game. We are always delighted to see our alums!
Glenn Stevens with alums at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle, Washington in January 2016
There are now at least three annual alum events:
- At least one alum reunion is held during each summer session. These gatherings always include two or more math talks given by alums and generally also involve Tosci's ice cream. New traditions at these events are people scavenger hunts and pizza serving order being determined by which tables solve tough math problems first.
- An alum gathering is held in January to coincide with the Joint Math Meetings (JMM) which bring many of our alums from all over the country and beyond. The alums come to the JMM to present their research, to learn of the research of others, to socialize with fellow mathematicians, and to broaden and deepen their mathematical outlook. This is a perfect time for old PROMYS friends to gather.
- As part of its mission to empower high school students to experience the world of adult mathematicians, PROMYS offers young alums guidance on their first participation in the otherwise potentially overwhelming Joint Math Meetings via a PROMYS-sponsored mentoring lunch with an experienced alum mathematician.
Recent Alum Gatherings Include:
20 Years of PROMYS Celebration July 24 - 26, 2009 – the schedule is here.
July 23, 2010 Alum/Student Dinner to enable current students and alumni to meet and talk
July 30, 2011 PROMYS Foundation Kick-off - to celebrate the establishment by the alumni of the PROMYS Foundation to support PROMYS and its financial aid program
January 6, 2012 Alum Gathering in Boston to coincide with the Joint Math Meetings being held that year in Boston.
January 7, 2012 JMM Mentoring Lunch for High-school-aged Alums
July 27, 2012 Gathering for Alumni and Current Students
January 11, 2013 JMM Mentoring Lunch for High-school-aged Alums
January 12, 2015 - Alum Gathering in San Antonio, Texas to coincide with the Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) there
On December 29, 2013, alum David Frohardt-Lane won $557,850 by winning the sportsbetting Vegas NFL SuperContest. Congratulations David!
On July 6, 2013, at the PROMYS 25th Summer Celebration, David gave a talk entitled "Predictive Modeling in Sportsbetting." Here's a video of his talk, and here's the abstract. David attended PROMYS in 1994 and 1995. After PROMYS, he went to Carleton College, where he majored in mathematics and then went on to get an MS in statistics from the University of Chicago. David works in finance: he spent 8 years at GETCO and now works at 3Red, a small trading firm in Chicago.
Front of 20 Years of PROMYS Celebration T-Shirt
Back of 20 Years of PROMYS Celebration T-Shirt
Gathering for alums and current students on July 27, 2012
Alums and current students and counelors at a gathering on August 6, 2016