Are you looking for the Spring 2025 Conference instead?

The 2026 Spring Conference, our 30^th spring conference, was held at Santa Rosa Junior College on March 13 and 14, 2026 in Santa Rosa, CA. The theme of the conference was "The Radius of Learning" as we celebrate holding the spring conference at one of our local community colleges on Pi Day.

Why does π come from circles, and not other shapes like polygons or ellipses? Why does the derivative of area equal perimeter for circles but not squares?  Exploring these questions leads to surprising insights into what "roundness" is — and is not — about.

Corey Shanbrom earned his PhD in Mathematics from UC Santa Cruz in 2013. Since then he has been a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at California State University, Sacramento, where he is currently Professor and Director of the Peer Assisted Learning program.

Through the ages, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, which we call π, has fascinated mathematicians and non-mathematicians alike. In this presentation we will explore the history, the mysteries, and the controversies surrounding this famous number.

John was born and raised in Riverside California where he learned to dislike smog and congested freeways. After graduating from Humboldt State College with a BA in mathematics, he began teaching at Clark Junior High School in Glendale, California. He remained at Clark for two and a half years (aging 10 years during that time). He subsequently taught at Crescenta Valley High School for four years.  During that time he took classes at the University of Southern California and earned his MA in mathematics with the main goal of moving up on the salary schedule. He later realized that this qualified him for teaching at the junior college level and began looking for a place to settle down permanently. In the Fall of 1981 he was hired to teach full time in the mathematics department at Santa Rosa Junior College where he remains.

In 2010 John won the Poyla award for an article that he wrote on the cycloid for the College Mathematics Journal. He notes that this makes him a "one-hit-wonder" since he has no intention of ever writing another journal article.

John has spoken at numerous local, state, and national conferences. In addition to his wife, his family includes three daughters, a son, two sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law and eight grandchildren. He retired in 2018 in order to pursue his hobbies of teaching one or two classes each year and growing Pythagorean trees.

Future CMC³ Conferences

Information about future conferences is available. For additional conference information, contact the Conference Chair. For registration information contact the Membership Chair