Undergraduate Mathematics Symposium
Saturday, November 14, 2026
University of Illinois at Chicago
Organized by
Kevin Tucker and
Olga Kashcheyeva
About the symposium
The Undergraduate Mathematics Symposium at UIC is an annual one-day
meeting focusing on undergraduate mathematical research and
education. The meeting features plenary lectures by mathematical
researchers and a poster session where students present results from undergraduate mathematical research projects.
Download the 2026 symposium poster (PDF)
The next UMS will be held on November 14, 2026. It will feature a poster session for undergraduate researchers and two invited plenary lectures by mathematical researchers. Information about applying to present a poster can be found below.
Plenary speakers
- Jayadev Athreya (Fordham University)
Bouncing around: coding billiards in polygons
Abstract: How many (combinatorial) ways can a billiard ball bounce around a table? We answer this seemingly simple question when the billiard table is a regular polygon, in joint work with Pascal Hubert and Serge Troubetzkoy. A theme of this talk will be the fact that we in fact know very little about general mathematical billiards in polygons, even though they are very simple models of Newtonian mechanics. There will be lots of pictures, and introductions to many fun mathematical objects, including translation surfaces, group actions on moduli spaces, and in the end, trigonometric identities.
- Jennifer Park (The Ohio State University)
Diophantine problems and undecidability
Abstract: Computers have become more powerful than ever — however, there will always be problems that they won’t be able to solve. Hilbert’s tenth problem asks for an algorithm that decides whether any (multivariate) polynomial with integer coefficients has a solution in the integers or not. This problem was answered in the negative by Matiyasevich (building on the work of Davis, Putnam, and Robinson), and many variants of this problem (where the integers are replaced by other rings) are being discussed actively. Central to these variants is understanding the positive-existentially definable sets in their respective rings, and I will discuss these problems from a number-theoretic perspective.
Poster session
Undergraduates who have completed an REU, summer program, or other supervised mathematical research experience can apply to present a poster at UMS.
The deadline to request travel funding has now passed. There is no fixed deadline to apply to present a poster without requesting funding.
All poster presenters must also complete the participant registration form.
Attending the symposium
Everyone is welcome to attend. There is no fixed registration deadline, but please register so we can plan for the correct number of participants. Poster presenters must register as well as submit a poster application.
Schedule and locations
The tentative schedule of events is shown below.
| Saturday, November 14, 2026 |
| Time | Event | Location |
| 9:00 - 9:30am |
Sign-in and coffee |
SEO 300 |
| Morning session |
| 9:30am - 10:20am |
Plenary lecture |
ARC 241 |
| 10:30am - 12:00pm |
Poster session 1 |
ARC 241 |
| 12:00pm |
Lunch |
SEO 300 |
| Afternoon session |
| 1:15pm - 2:05pm |
Plenary lecture |
ARC 241 |
| 2:15pm - 3:45pm |
Poster Session 2 |
ARC 241 |
Code of Conduct
Speakers and participants in UMS must agree to the UMS Code of Conduct. Its purpose is to help the organizers ensure a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment for everyone.
Acknowledgment
UMS is supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation: NSF RTG 2037569.
