Math Dept 2013-2014 Newsletter 22

 

Monday, 31 March 2014

 

All of this yearÕs newsletters can now be reached via the department website now. 

Click on ÒNewsÓ in the sidebar. Thanks to Richard Bayne for putting it up there.

Big thanks to Talitha Washington for initiating this. 

—Ed.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

Newsletter is sent out when there is something new.

Please send entries by the end of the week  --Ed

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

MEETINGS AND SEMINARS IN THE DEPARTMENT

 

----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Every Monday

 

1. Combinatorics Seminar

 

Room 202, 4pm.

 

Organizers: Alex Burstein and Lou Shapiro

 

 

2. Geometry and Topology Seminar

 

ASB-B 213 3.00 to 4pm

Speaker: Professor Joseph Yeager

Topic: SYMPLECTIC  AND CONTACT GEOMETRY.

 

Stanley M. Einstein-Matthews

Coordinator

 

----------------------------------------------------------

 

Every Tuesday

 

The Seminar on Topological Semigroups and Ramsey Theory

 

Tuesdays at 11:10 a.m in room 233 of Annex III

Amir Maleki will speak on "amenability".

 

Organizer: Neil Hindman

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Wednesday April 2

 

Math Dept Monthly Meeting

4.10 – 5pm ASB-B 213

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday April 4

 

Annual Scholarship Day

 

4.10 to 5 pm, ASB-B 213

 

Scholarships will be awarded through endowment funds and/or gifts from the following generous donors: the Elbert F. Cox Scholarship Fund, the Solveig Espelie Foundation, the George H. Butcher, Jr. Prize Fund,   the James Donaldson Prize (initiated with a donation by Dr. Peter Lax),  the Gerald Chachere Award for Excellence in Mathematics, and for the first time this year a generous gift from Phillips 66.

 

Mathematics Department Colloquium

 

No colloquium today. 

 

Fluid dynamics seminar

 

Seminar will take place after colloquium, and at 4.30 if there is no colloquium.

 

 

Abstract:  (Neil Hindman)

The "Fluid" refers to soda and beer.  The "Dynamics" refers to the topics of conversation, which is as likely as anything to deal with RGIII and the Washington Football Club. Pizza, including a vegetarian option, and wings are provided.

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------

 

TALKS AND EVENTS OUTSIDE THE DEPARTMENT 

                

----------------------------------------------------------------

 

1. (via Talitha Washington)  "Afternoon In Honor to Cora SadoskyÓ

 University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 4, 2014.

 

This conference will feature the five invited speakers, who will lecture on current mathematical developments connected to Cora Sadosky's research in Harmonic Analysis and Operator Theory. Initiating the event will be a half hour talk about Cora's life.

Invited Speakers:Svitlana Mayboroda, Michigan State University, Jill Pipher, Brown University

Gustavo Ponce, University of California at Santa Barbara, Rodolfo Torres, University of Kansas, 

Sergei Treil, Brown University

 

Conference Website: http://www.math.unm.edu/conferences/13thAnalysis/

 

2.   Summer School for Undergraduate Students: 

"Train Tracks, Diffeomorphisms of Surfaces and Automorphisms of Free Groups,Ó 

   Instructor: Mladen Bestvina

  University of Utah from July 7 - 18, 2014.  

 

For details, go to:  http://www.math.utah.edu/agtrtg/traintracks/

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------————————————————————————

ANNOUNCEMENTS

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Conference on Frontiers of Hierarchical Modeling

(Talitha Washington)

There will be a number of awards to assist graduate students in statistics, biostatistics, survey methodology or a related area in a U.S. university to attend the conference on Frontiers of Hierarchical Modeling in Observational Studies, Complex Surveys and Big Data that will be held May 29-31, 2014, at the University of Maryland, College Park campus. Please see:  http://www.jointprogram.umd.edu/ghosh/docs/finsupport.pdf

 

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

SCHOLARSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES (from various sources)

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

1.  Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 Workshops.

 

 Please visit the website

(http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/index-mpe.html) for additional information.

 

Upcoming workshops in 2014:

 

   Workshop on Sustainable Human Environments

   Location: Rutgers University

   Dates: April 23-25

http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/HumanEnvironments/

 

   Workshop on Global Change

   Location: UC-Berkeley

   Dates: May 19-21

http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/GlobalChange/

 

   Workshop of Data-aware Energy Use

   Location: UC-San Diego

   Dates: September 2014

http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/EnergyUse/

 

We are looking to involve Early Career Researchers, which are defined as faculty or researchers who have earned their doctorate within the previous three years, postdocs, graduate students, and upper-level undergraduates with research experience. Opportunities to apply for financial support are included on the websites for each workshop.

 

2. NRC Research Associateship Programs 

 

 The National Research Council of the National Academies sponsors a number of awards for graduate, postdoctoral and senior researchers at participating federal laboratories and affiliated institutions. These awards include generous stipends ranging from $45,000 - $80,000 per year for recent Ph.D. recipients, and higher for additional experience.  Graduate entry level stipends begin at $30,000.  These awards provide the opportunity for recipients to do independent research in some of the best-equipped and staffed laboratories in the U.S.  Research opportunities are open to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and for some of the laboratories, foreign nationals.

 

 

Detailed program information, including online applications, instructions on how to apply, and a list of participating laboratories, are available on the NRC Research Associateship Programs Web site (see link above).

 

3. The Noyce Mathematics Education Teaching scholarship at NC State University is a stipend/scholarship offered to students interested in being prepared as a highly qualified mathematics teacher who will teach in a high-needs district.  Graduates who pursue a Master of Teaching in Secondary Mathematics or a Master of Education in Secondary Mathematics can receive $25,000 for one academic year.

 

Each scholar will teach two years in a high needs high school for each academic year of funding and participate in all Noyce program activities.  Please share this opportunity with any students that you believe will benefit from it.  For more information, please visit poe.ced.ncsu.edu/noyce.   Applications are due by April 15. 

 

4. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Postdoctoral Research Awards

 

The SunShot Postdoctoral Research Awards support innovative solar research by offering recent Ph.D. recipients the opportunity to conduct applied R&D at universities, national laboratories, and other research facilities.

Application Deadline: April 30, 2014

For more information and to apply, visit: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/education/postdoctoral

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

INTERESTING ARTICLES AND WEBSITES

---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

1. (From Aziz Yakubu) Please find an article on one of our PhD students, Evelyn Thomas.

https://www.siam.org/news/news.php?id=2136

 

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Evelyn Thomas and her PhD advisor Dr. Katharine Gurski.

 

 

2. (From Aziz Yakubu)  New (and free) handbook - Math Modeling: Getting Started and Getting Solutions

 

 Over the past nine years of working with teams participating in SIAMÕs MoodyÕs Mega Math Challenge, we have found that many participating students (rising seniors and college freshman) do not know how to start working on or get to a solution for the open-ended realistic problems posed. What started as a pamphlet with some step-by-step guidance grew into a handbook with a companion document to make connections to the Common Core State Standards and some easy-to-use reference cards for the lower energy teams that want to get straight to the point. This work also dovetailed nicely with two SIAM-initiated workshops with the National Science Foundation (NSF) on Modeling across the Curriculum, one held in August 2012 and one in January 2014.

 

The content of the handbook is suitable for both high school and undergraduate students interested in learning how to do math modeling.

 

Authors Karen Bliss, Katie Fowler, and Ben Galluzzo wrote the handbook, responded to reviewer comments, and delivered a final manuscript late in 2013. SIAM has edited and produced the material, with funding from The MoodyÕs Foundation in conjunction with MoodyÕs Mega Math Challenge, and from the NSF. 

 

You are invited to view (and share) online the full color versions or print the less ink saturated version at http://m3challenge.siam.org/about/mm/

(received from Michelle Montgomery, Director of Marketing and Outreach, SIAM

--Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics)

 

 

 

 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------