Common Ground Across Disciplines: What do mathematics and engineering educators have in common? A lot, it turns out, as was discovered in January when a group of ASEE members attended the joint meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America.

The Exxon Education Foundation sponsored the educators' trip to the San Antonio, Texas, meeting in an effort to build bridges between the disciplines, according to Robert Witte, senior program officer. "A lot of the work going on in mathematics is directly applicable to engineering," Witte explained, so the disciplines should find ways to work together.

Shirley Pomerantz, chair of ASEE Mathematics Division, says the disciplines have a vested interest in each other's welfare. "Mathematics departments depend on engineering departments to provide them with students, and engineering departments depend on mathematics departments to prepare their engineering students," Pomerantz explains.

Mathematics and engineering programs often recruit from the same student pool, and, in fact, the educators often cross disciplines themselves. Mathematics is the foundation of engineering, and many of the ASEE participants recalled how their love of math led them to engineering. Also, several of the mathematics educators said that at one time or another in their education or careers they had considered pursuing engineering instead of mathematics.

With the common ground established, the educators set about finding ways to work together for their mutual benefit. The purpose was not to adopt any policy or agenda, but to raise awareness of the issues and to encourage cross-disciplinary communication. All of the participants agreed to go back to their campuses and do just that.

In at least one instance, however, a participant didn't even have to wait to get back to campus. Anton Pintar, an associate professor at Michigan Technological University, explains that he saw a familiar face at the conference-the chair of his college's mathematics division-and the two ended up discussing their respective disciplines and their common challenges and goals.

Pomerantz says she'd like to see a continuation of that type of dialogue at ASEE division meetings and annual conferences, perhaps through more joint sessions on mathematics and engineering topics. She says she will also propose a formal liaison between ASEE and the Mathematical Association of America.

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• The Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) is looking for engineering problems to use in its Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science (TEAMS), an academic competition for high school students. TEAMS problems reflect the level of rigor found in first semester engineering courses. See www.jets.org/teams  for the required problem format and examples. For more information, contact Joe Essman, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Ohio University, 334 Stocker Center, Athens, OH 45701; (614) 593-1574; fax (614) 593-0007; e-mail: essman@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu ; or see www.jets.org
   
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