Section NexT

Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) is an MAA professional development program which provides support to those in the beginning stages of an academic career in the mathematical sciences. Participants are given access to resources to help them adjust to institutional expectations with regard to teaching, scholarship, and service. One of the primary strengths of the program is the establishment of a peer support group providing important contacts for beginning faculty.

The Allegheny Mountain Section NExT was established in Spring 2000. Its goals are similar to those of the national program, supporting new faculty in the Section in their teaching, and in integrating into the profession. Other objectives include establishing links between the different types of institutions in the Allegheny Mountain Section. Topics of interest include effective teaching, reform, pedagogy, and professional development, especially achieving tenure, balancing work and life, and securing grants.

Allegheny Mountain Section NExT workshops occur twice annually: at the Spring Section Meeting of the Allegheny Mountain Section of the MAA, and in a special fall workshop (typically in September).

To join the mailing list, please email one of the two current co-coordinators: Dr. Kristen Pueschel - Penn State New Kensington (klp65@psu.edu) or Dr. Kuei-Nuan Lin - Penn State Greater Allegheny (linkn@psu.edu).

Fall 2025 SECTION NEXT workshop

Saturday, September 13, 9am-5pm, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

Registration: link
Registration link closes on 9/1/2025. For late registration, please contact Dr. Kristen Pueschel (klp65@psu.edu) or Dr. Kuei-Nuan Lin (linkn@psu.edu).

Schedule
9:00–9:30 Breakfast
9:30–10:20 AI in Action: Improve, Create, Integrate, a Hands-on Workshop, Lew Ludwig, Denison University
10:20–10:30  Break 
10:30-10:40 Question and Answer, Lew Ludwig, Denison University
10:40-11:30 Leveraging LLMs in Higher Education: Transforming Research, Learning, and Creativity, Lew Ludwig, Denison University
11:30-12:15 Lightning talks
12:15–1:15 Lunch
1:15–2:30 Putting the Differential Back into Calculus, Bud (Eugene) Boman, Penn State University and Bob Rogers, SUNY Fredonia
2:45–3:45 Group Brainstorm: What do I do if I face these issues in my classroom?
4:00–5:00 Social Hour 

AI in Action: Improve, Create, Integrate, a Hands-on Workshop, Lew Ludwig, Denison University
As mathematics educators, finding the time to explore the practical applications of AI in our teaching can be challenging. This hands-on workshop, designed specifically for those with minimal AI experience, will guide you through effective ways to use AI to improve your existing assignments, create innovative new ones, and seamlessly integrate generative AI into your busy academic life. We will primarily use ChatGPT, the platform most used by students.

This session will be highly interactive, featuring group discussions and hands-on activities, so it will not be recorded. Throughout the workshop, we will actively use ChatGPT to demonstrate its capabilities and explore its applications in mathematics education. To fully engage with the workshop materials, we recommend that attendees create at least a base account on a generative AI platform such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini before the session. This will allow you to upload files and experiment with AI tools in real time, ensuring a more productive and immersive learning experience.

By the end of this session, you will have a solid understanding of how AI operates in educational contexts and its potential implications for mathematics instruction. You'll leave equipped to make well-informed decisions about whether and how to incorporate AI tools into your teaching practices based on your specific educational objectives and classroom needs.

Leveraging LLMs in Higher Education: Transforming Research, Learning, and Creativity, Lew Ludwig, Denison University
With the growing capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs), generative AI tools now offer powerful support for faculty research and student mentoring. This session focuses on tools like Google Gemini Pro and NotebookLM to streamline early stages of academic inquiry—conducting literature reviews, drafting annotated bibliographies, and synthesizing background information.

Whether you're exploring a new research area, guiding students through open questions, or advising senior capstone projects, these tools can help organize knowledge, uncover connections, and clarify thinking. No prior AI experience is required—we’ll walk through practical examples tailored to faculty and student needs.

Join us to see how generative AI can support both your own scholarly work and your students’ academic development, helping you ask better questions, find relevant literature, and build strong foundations for deeper inquiry.

Putting the Differential Back into Calculus, Bud Boman, Penn State University and Bob Rogers, SUNY Fredonia
Historically, the Differential Calculus (based on Leibniz’ conception of the differential) predates the modern Derivative Calculus (from Lagrange’s function dérivée) by over 100 years.  It predates Weierstrass’ limits by nearly 200 years. Differential Calculus was invented to solve very particular kinds of problems and the differential techniques pioneered by Leibniz were specifically designed to facilitate their use in solving such problems. The foundational idea of a limit was invented to justify Leibniz’ techniques, not to use them. Introducing Calculus to students as a problem-solving tool before addressing its logical foundations -- approaching the topics historically, using differentials, rather than logically, using limits -- has certain pedagogical advantages. However, instructors will need to significantly rethink, reorganize, and retool the standard syllabus to smooth this transition. The purpose of this workshop is to facilitate and guide this re-invention. Participants will learn to develop the differentiation rules in the manner of Newton and Leibniz, using differentials rather than limits. They will compare and contrast the solutions of significant, often historical, problems obtained using the calculus differentialis of Leibniz, as opposed to the Derivative Calculus of Lagrange. The source material for the workshop’s activities will be drawn from our OER Calculus textbook Differential Calculus: From Practice to Theory.