Graduate Student Advisory Committee (GSAC) Colloquium Schedule:

Welcome back.

This is an organizational meeting in which we'll discuss plans for upcoming events and colloquia.

T-shirts, intramural sports, skiing

This is an organizational meeting in which we'll discuss further plans for upcoming events and colloquia.

Gröbner Bases and Integer Programming

In this talk we consider the problem of choosing the best combination of coins to make change. Curiously enough, this simple (?) problem will lead us to a vast generalization of polynomial long division. No background is required.

Talk cancelled

There will be no colloquium this week.

Talk cancelled

There will be no colloquium this week.

Futurama Theorem

Math on TV?! Today we'll talk about a theorem which appears in an episode of Futurama. And yes, we are going to watch an episode of Futurama in today's colloquium.

Talk cancelled

There will be no colloquium this week.

In an ideal world...

We will describe the history behind Kummer's `ideal numbers', the objects which eventually became the ideals of a ring. The famous story goes that a young and timid Kummer, who believed he had a proof of Fermat's last theorem, finally had an excuse to communicate with the great Dirichlet. Dirichlet's response to the proof simply informed him that it depended on unique prime factorization, which failed in general! Determined, Kummer found the missing `ideal' primes and recovered unique prime factorization! Well, almost...

Spectral Theory of Linear Operators

Spectral theory which is first introduced in linear algebra is an important topic in Applied Mathematics. By generalizing results analogous to eigenvalue decompositions of matrices, we are able to solve more difficult problems such as integral and differential equations. In my talk, I plan to discuss the general results of the spectral theory of matrices (briefly), compact operators, and differential operators.

Spring break!

There will be no colloquium this week.

Talk cancelled

There will be no colloquium this week.

Change Point Analysis for Dependent Functional Data... But First an Intro to Statistics

Thanks to advances in computing and data collection (special thanks to Sun micro-systems) analysis of high dimensional data has become an increasing necessity. Often times, classical multivariate techniques (statistics on vectors) are inadequate for such data sets. In my talk, I will discuss how treating high dimensional data as functional observations can be useful, as well my most recent project on developing a change point test for dependent functional data. If words like data and statistics are scary to you do not fear! I will have a short introduction to statistics where I will put to rest an age old question.

Busy Beavers and Big Numbers

In this talk we will learn a little bit of computational theory. Along the way, we will have a contest, meet some furry creatures, encounter super-astronomical numbers, and see how the ability to express large numbers reflects the progress of civilization. There will be no abstract algebra or PDEs.

Talk cancelled

There will be no colloquium this week.

The Search For the Perfect Wave

What makes the perfect wave? Many characteristics of waves in the ocean can be described by a class of PDEs known as Hyperbolic Conservation Laws. I will start with a very simple example, the linear advection equation, to highlight several of its wider-reaching features. I will tie this together with some of the numerical techniques designed to solve a variety of related problems. Specifically, a current topic of research, the 2-D Shallow Water Equations which model ocean waves, including tsunamis.

Organizational Meeting

If you are interested in joining a subcommittee or becoming a contact in your research area for prospective and incoming students, we will defintely have openings and you should attend.