Project NExT

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Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) is a program sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) to aid in the professional development of mathematicians, statisticians, and mathematics educators after they receive their PhDs. It involves workshops and lectures on teaching, academic research, academic scholarship, and professional activities. The participants in the program are called Project NExT Fellows or sometimes Dots, and the program also provides ample networking opportunities for them. Each fellow is also provided with a consultant, who serves as a mentor for them.

1 History
2 Selection of fellows
3 The program
4 Affiliation with other professional development organizations
5 Dot colors
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

The first fellows were selected in 1994. In 2007, the total number of fellows surpassed 1000.

[edit] Selection of fellows

Fellows are selected based on an application, including a short curriculum vitae, a research statement, and a teaching statement expressing interest in the program. The application also requires a letter from the applicant's department chair guaranteeing funding to attend several conferences. About 80-100 fellows are selected each year.

[edit] The program

Project NExT fellows participate in MathFest during the year of their selection and the year after, and in the Joint Mathematics Meeting in the January after their selection as fellows. Each fellow is also assigned a consultant outside of their own institution. NExT fellows typically organize serval sessions at the Joint Meeting and MathFest, on topics of their choosing.

[edit] Affiliation with other professional development organizations

The national Project NExT program is strongly affiliated with Section NExT programs, which are run by local sections of the MAA, and involve many of the same activities. Section NExT fellows can also participate in the national workshops.

Project NExT is also strongly associated with the Young Mathematicians Network.

[edit] Dot colors

Every year a group of fellows is selected, the cohort is assigned a color, and thereafter wears a sticker (or dot) of that color to national mathematics meetings of the MAA. There are seven colors for the stickers, so cohort seven years apart have the same color sticker, although they are assigned a different name. Colors are frequently chosen according to the location of MathFest in the year of selection (for example, the peach dots first meeting was in Georgia, and the Brown dots first meeting was at Brown University). The colors since inception of the program are listed in the following table:

Red years	Green years	Blue years	Orange years	Silver years	Brown years	Gold years
1994: red	1995: green	1996: blue	1997: peach	1998: silver	1999: brown	2000: gold
2001: cardinal	2002: forest	2003: sky	2004: orange	2005: sterling	2006: sepia	2007: sun