Graduate Student Advisory Committee (GSAC) Colloquium

Organizational meeting

Note the unusual date: Wednesday Jan 10, 4:35 pm. Room: JWB 335.

Graduate student forum

Note the unusual date: Wednesday Jan 17, 4:35 pm. Room: JWB 335.
This is a town-hall style event featuring our incoming and outgoing Directors of Graduate Studies. Bring your questions, comments, and concerns about being a graduate student in the math department. There will also be a few short presentations about resources available to graduate students.

Applications of intersection homology in representation theory and data science

Note the unusual date: Wednesday Jan 24, 4:35 pm. Room: JWB 335.
In the early 1970's, Mark Goresky and Robert MacPherson developed a revolutionary tool for the study of stratified topological spaces. They called this new theory intersection homology (IH). Almost immediately, IH spread to various areas of mathematics, gaining new interpretations and applications far beyond the scope of the original theory. As examples, we will discuss two areas of modern research stemming from the development of IH. First, we will consider how IH can be used to study representations of invertible complex and p-adic matrices. Second, we will demonstrate how the mathematical techniques used to study IH can be applied to modern problems in data science and manifold learning. This talk will aim to give a general overview of the historical development and modern applications of IH, while avoiding technical drudgery at all cost. As such, no prerequisites will be assumed.

Adversarial correction of experimental effects in high-throughput imaging assays

High-throughput imaging assays generate thousands to millions of images of cells under a large variety of genetic and chemical perturbations. Despite following best practices, the statistics of these images drift from experiment to experiment and even plate to plate within an experiment due to many factors, and require correction before data from different experiments can be compared. In this talk I will introduce the work being done at Recursion Pharmaceuticals, then show how this correction can be accomplished via an adversarial training task using control perturbations on each plate.

Teaching, learning, and puzzles

Many mathematics students have trouble graduating from the procedural algebra taught in high school to the creative problem-solving taught in college. However, there is already a fun leisure activity that develops skills needed to excel in college mathematics: puzzles. We discuss how to find, write, and use puzzles in your own teaching, the benefits and drawbacks of doing so, and how the usage of puzzles humanizes mathematics, as well as providing an accessible introduction to puzzlehunts and puzzle culture. The audience will also solve a puzzle written specifically for this talk.

Counting points on algebraic curves over finite fields

In this talk we will look at the problem of counting rational points on algebraic curves over finite fields. At first glance this problem might seem like something that must be handled case-by-case, but there is a wealth of deep theory that can be applied to it to great effect. In particular, we will look at some of the consequences of the Riemann hypothesis for algebraic curves over finite fields for the problem of point-counting.

5-minute research talks, meet-and-greet with snacks.

Aim: to match graduate students to potential advisors, to spread awareness of research happening in the department, and to inspire conversation.
Are you a graduate student looking for a research advisor? Generally curious about what types of research the professors in our department do? Want to meet new people? Then this event is for you! Come hear six professors summarize their research in only five minutes each. The second half of this event will be an informal meet-and-greet over snacks, where you can chat with your potential advisors and their students.
Professors in alphabetical order:
- Jonathan Chaika
- Tommaso de Fernex
- Christel Hohenegger
- Sean Lawley
- Firas Rassoul-Agha
- Peter Trapa

Wind, water, money, and math: The Navier-Stokes equations and Millenium Prize Problem

The Navier-Stokes equations underlie a wide variety of mathematical models of fluid flow in engineering and the sciences. Mathematically, they are a system of nonlinear partial differential equations for the unknown fluid velocity and fluid pressure. They are also the subject of one of the six unsolved Millennium Prize Problems. A correct proof of (or counter-example to) the problem statement set out by the Clay Mathematics Institute would yield a $1,000,000 prize. This talk will comprise a friendly introduction to the Navier-Stokes equations, the Millennium Prize Problem statement, and some recent theoretical results - no prerequisites will be assumed beyond Calculus 3 / a basic understanding of Differential Equations.

Szemerédi's theorem and ergodic theory

Erdős and Turán conjectured that every large enough set of integers contains finite arithmetic progressions of arbitrary length. This was proved in the seventies by Szemerédi. In this talk we will see what "large enough" means and how, following Furstenberg, the theorem can be proved using ergodic theory.

AWM Speaker Series with Dr. Candice Price

In February 2017, Erica Graham, Raegan Higgins, Shelby Wilson and myself created the website “Mathematically Gifted and Black” to highlight the contributions and service of Black Mathematicians to academia, education, government, industry and society. This website hit on the importance of representation, knowing our history and knowing our impact. In this presentation, I will tell you about my mathematical journey through the reflective lens of my participation in the creation of the website www.mathematicallygiftedandblack.com.

Academic jobs panel

Finding an academic job can be a difficult and confusing challenge, but we can learn a lot from people who have gone through the process themselves. This event will feature a panel of graduate students who have all received academic job offers. Each panelist is willing to discuss their experiences with the job search process. Please come with your questions about finding an academic job and any related topics.

Things I wish I had known in graduate school

Micro Talks II

Seven mathematicians will have no more than five minutes to present their research as thoroughly and accessibly as possible. Topics will run the gamut from pure math, math biology, and other applied math topics. Knowledge of calculus and analytic thinking are required.

Organizational meeting