Spring 2020
Tuesdays, 4:35-5:35 PM, JWB 335
MATH 6960-001
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 7 January | Organizational Meeting |
| 14 January | How to Be a Mathematician Without Doing Math | Rebecca Hardenbrook Abstract: Time and time again we as graduate students in mathematics are told of the many career paths we can follow, but usually these are in the context of academia or industry. In this talk, we will explore the wonderful spectrum of possibility available to us through our understanding of logic, comfort with complex thought, and ability to communicate ideas precisely. No prerequisites are required for this talk; however, an existential sense of dread with regards to your life's purpose is encouraged. |
| 22 January (Note Different Day) | Funding discussion/panel | Professional Development Committee Abstract: We will talk about funding opportunities for the summer and the academic year. This will give you options on how to be payed over the summer and how to get a semester without teaching. Additionally, there are some great experiences and you can build up your CV. |
| 29 January (Note Different Day) | How to Win a Race If You're Not a Robot | Claire Plunkett Abstract: How should runners pace themselves during a race if they want to finish as fast as physically possible? A robot should run with a constant speed the entire race, but elite athletes vary their speed during races on the order of 10%. The physiological limits of the human body can explain why a constant speed is not the best strategy. In this talk, I'll use a system of ODEs to model the anaerobic energy and speed of a runner in order to determine a better strategy. |
| 4 February (Starts at 4:45) | AWM Speaker Series | Katy Craig Abstract: |
| 12 February (Note Different Day) | Rainbow Mathematics | Emily Smith Abstract: This talk will be a discussion of my experiences in mathematics as a member of LGBT+ communities. |
| 18 February | When in doubt, nondimensionalise | Chee Han Tan Abstract: We will present the theory of dimensional and scaling analysis and demonstrate its power through a series of examples. Along the way, we will "prove" the physical version of Buckingham-Pi Theorem (BPT) which is a quintessential trick in applied math. Time permitting, we will prove the mathematical version of BPT. This talk is largely based on the recent SIAM-review article "Dimensional and Scaling Analysis" by Gjerrit Meinsma. |
| 25 February | The mathematics of bell-ringing | Anna Nelson Abstract: Change ringing is the long-practiced art of ringing tuned church tower bells in a particular order, resulting in a series of mathematical sequences. Given a certain set of moves and without sheet music, change-ringers will ring every permutation of bells without repeating a permutation, and somehow end with the same sequence of bells they started with. In this talk, we will investigate the mathematical foundation of change ringing, look at specific change ringing sequences, and how these changes are related to group theoretic ideas, such as Cayley graphs, Hamiltonian cycles, and the Steinhaus–Johnson–Trotter algorithm. A live demonstration will also be performed! |
| 3 March | Title | Keshav Patel Abstract: |
| 10 March | Spring Break | No talk Abstract: Have fun! :) |
| 17 March | Title | Rebecca Hardenbrook Abstract: |
| 24 March | Title | Janina Letz Abstract: |
| 31 March | Title | Sam Swain Abstract: |
| 7 April | Title | Eli Clarke Abstract: |
| 14 April | Title | 5 minute talks Abstract: |
| 21 April | Elections |