Math Dept 2014-2015 Newsletter 19
Monday,
6 April 2015
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Past
newsletters can now be reached via the department website.
Click
on ŇRead the NewsletterÓ in the bottom.
Newsletter
is sent out when there is something new.
Please
send entries by the end of the workweek --Ed
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MEETINGS
AND SEMINARS IN THE DEPARTMENT
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Special Events for this week
The Department Chair Search
Committee has determined a list of five finalists for the position: Profs. Banyaga, Buskes, Diagana, Hattingh, and Veerman.
These candidates are scheduled to
interview with the Provost, Dean Lee, Dean Harris, Dr. Adeboye,
the Search Committee, and the departmental support staff on the dates of
April 8, 9, 10, 16, and 17. Prof. Veerman is in
Greece and his interviews will take place via Skype.
Colloquia
by Profs. Buskes, Banyaga, and Hattingh are scheduled for April 8, 9, and 10
respectively in ASB 213 from 4:10 -- 5:00. In
addition, Prof. Veerman should be available
to faculty members who would like to talk to him via
Skype at 11:30 in ASBB 213 on
April 17.
For more information contact Neil Hindman
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Mondays
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Evolution Equations & Dynamical Systems seminar
Mondays 12.10 to 1pm, 213 ASB-B
April 6, Tepper Gill (Howard
University)
The class of strong distribution Banach
spaces
Organizer: Toka Diagana
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Geometry
& Topology Seminar
Place:
Mathematics Department Room: ASB-B 213.
Time:
3.10 PM -4.00 PM.
Remi Ombolo
Topic of his
sequence of talks: ALGEBRAIC
DEFORMATION THEORY
Coordinator:
Stanley M. Einstein-Matthews
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Tuesdays
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Topological
Semigroups and Ramsey Theory Seminar
12:10-1:00
in Annex III room 231.
Neil Hindman will be speaking on "Some Ramsey type theorems
for k-term sums in R".
Coordinator:
Neil Hindman
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Wednesdays
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Combinatorics Seminar
2 to 3
pm, 201 or 203 ASB-B
Coordinator:
Lou Shapiro
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Graduate Student Seminar
Room
No. 229 of the Annex III building, from 1:10 to 2:00pm
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April
8, 4/10 to 5pm, room 213, ASB-B
Special colloquium by Candidate for Chairman
Prof. Buskes
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April
9, 4/10 to 5pm, room 213, ASB-B
Special colloquium by Candidate for Chairman
Prof. Bunyaga
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Fridays
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Applied Mathematics Working Seminar
2:10-3
pm in ASB-B room 213
Currently
in the seminar, Dr. Henok Mawi
is leading a "Discussion on the Refractor Problem". This problem
Ňoriginates in engineering in the study the reflecting surfaces to reshape
electromagnetic radiation in a prescribed manner.Ó He will provide background
material to state the problem, discuss recent advances that include numerical
applications, and then state open questions. Next, Dr. Roberto DeLeo will discuss the numerics
associated to this problem via Perl.
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Mathematics
Department Colloquium
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4.10
to 5 pm, ASB-B 213
April
10
Special colloquium by Candidate for Chairman
Prof. Hattingh
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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.
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TALKS
AND WORKSHOPS OUTSIDE DEPARTMENT
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1. Metro
Area Differential Geometry Seminar (MadGuys)
The
Baltimore-Washington Metro Area Differential Geometry Seminar (MADGuyS for short) is a new joint seminar between
the math departments of University of Maryland - College Park, Howard
University and of Johns Hopkins University.
We
meet twice a year, alternating between locations, for a day of talks on various
topics in geometry.
Next meeting:
Saturday
April 18, 2015
Krieger
Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Speakers: Christine Breiner
(Fordham), Mark Haskins (Imperial College London)
,L‡szl— Lempert
(Purdue)
For
further information, please contact Roberto De Leo or Stanley
Einstein-Matthews.
2. AWM Symposium showcasing Women
MathematiciansŐ Research
As a
member of the Executive Committee of the Association for Women in Mathematics
(AWM), Talitha Washington would like to share
information about the upcoming AWM Research Symposium 2015 that will be
held at the University of Maryland, College Park, April 11-12, 2015. The
symposium will showcase the research of women in the mathematical professions.
It will feature four plenary talks, special sessions on a broad range of
research in pure and applied mathematics, and poster sessions for
graduate students and recent PhDs.
3. ASA Datafest in
DC April 10-12
http://www.amstat.org/education/datafest/
The ASA DataFest is a data analysis
challenge where students working in teams attack a large and complex surprise
dataset over one weekend. The main goal of the competition is to get
students to collaborate (and compete) on a data analysis question that is likely
beyond the scope of what they see in their classes. The judging is based not
only on the computational and the analytical skills of the competitors, but
also how well they communicate their results in a short amount of time.
4. Ki-Net and CNA Workshop
http://www.math.cmu.edu/cna/KiNetCNA/index.html
http://www.ki-net.umd.edu/content/conf?event_id=292
Carnegie Mellon University
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Center for Nonlinear Analysis
Pittsburgh, May 27-29, 2015
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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1. (from Crepin Mahop) Nomination of
candidates for the 2015 scholarship Competition
Note: Scholarship day has been
postponed to April 17.
Following
its tradition of encouraging academic excellence for its undergraduate
mathematics majors, the Department of Mathematics is calling for Nominations of
our best students for the 2014-2015 Scholarship Competition. The Scholarship
Day will be held on April 17, 2015. I am writing to request that you kindly
communicate to the Scholarship Committee (Jill McGowan, Dan Williams and CrŽpin Mahop) the names of
promising students in your present or past classes.
As a reminder, these scholarships are
made available each year 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 and the Gerald Chachere Award for Excellence in Mathematics.
2.
Lou ShapiroŐs paper
ŇForty two Catalan Identities (and why
you might care)Ó has been published in
Bulletin
of the ICA (the Institute of Combinatorics and its
Applications) volume 71, May 2014 pages 94-102.
3.
(from Neil Hindman) Call for
Nominations: Speakers for Sectional meeting of the AMS at Stony Brook.
There will be a sectional meeting of
the AMS in Stony Brook this spring. Neil Hindman
is on the Eastern Section Program Committee, whose job it is to determine the
invited addresses at the sectional meetings. He has been asked to ask his
colleagues for suggestions. Such speakers are not only supposed to be
accomplished mathematicians, but also good speakers. If you have
suggestions, please contact Neil.
4.
Call For Papers: Howard Workshop on Management of Natural Resources this summer
To maintain the long-term well being of
the global population, management of the world's natural resources must
emphasize conservation and renewal over depletion and spending. Natural
resource management is a broad topic with both national and international
policy implications. This workshop will investigate challenges for the
mathematical sciences including models that describe processes affecting water,
forests, and food supplies. They involve complex adaptive systems that
interconnect natural systems with human ones, thus calling for understanding of
both types of systems. To support this initiative, the Center for Discrete
Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS) will sponsor a workshop
on Management of Natural Resources as part of a special program called
Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013+ (http://mpe2013.org/mpe2013index/). The
workshop will be held at Howard University in Washington, DC on June 4-6, 2015.
Aziz Yakubu will be one of the speakers.
For more details including program and
guideline for submission go to:
http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshops/NaturalResources/
4.
(via Aziz Yakubu) SIAM Activity
Group on Mathematics of Planet Earth (SIAG/MPE)
This activity group will focus on
planet Earth, its life-supporting capacity, and the impact of human activities.
With the establishment of SIAG/MPE,
SIAM recognizes the responsibility of the mathematics and computational science
community to address the issues of global change, loss of biodiversity, and
sustainable development. The new Activity Group will provide a forum in SIAM to
discuss the mathematical and computational issues of climate, sustainability,
ecology, natural resources, food systems, the
environment, socio-economic systems, and related topics. SIAG/MPE will join
forces with other disciplines to further interdisciplinary research in these
new application areas.
Activities will include a biennial SIAM
Conference on Mathematics of Planet Earth, minisymposia
at SIAM Annual Meetings, workshops, and other conferences. The inaugural
meeting of SIAG/MPE is scheduled for the fall of 2016.
Membership is open to SIAM members,
who can join the Activity Group
at https://my-helper.siam.org/forms/join_siag.htm or by calling SIAM
Customer Service (http://www.siam.org/contact/). SIAM membership is
free for many students and includes membership in two SIAGs, so we encourage
students to join SIAM and add SIAG/MPE to their subscription. By joining
SIAG/MPE, your name will be added to our e–mailing list, which is used to
announce conferences and opportunities related to Mathematics of Planet Earth.
A SIAG/MPE web portal is in preparation.
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SCHOLARSHIP AND
FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES (from various sources)
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1. Congresswoman
NortonŐs Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Scholarships
Details
and Applications here
|
CBC
Spouses Visual Arts Scholarship: The CBC Spouses Visual Arts Scholarship was
established in 2006 for students who are pursuing a career in the visual
arts. Deadline: May 1, 2015 CBC
Spouses Heineken USA Performing Arts Scholarship: Established in the year
2000, the CBC Spouses Heineken USA Performing Arts scholarship program was
developed in honor of the late Curtis Mayfield to ensure that students
pursuing a career in the performing arts receive the financial assistance to
achieve their goals. Deadline:
May 1 2015 CBC
Spouses Education Scholarship: The CBC Spouses Education scholarship is a
national program that awards scholarships to academically talented and highly
motivated students who intend to pursue full-time undergraduate, graduate or
doctoral degrees. Deadline:
may 22nd 2015. For
more information contact Del. NortonŐs N.E. District Office @ (202) 408-9041 |
2. DOE
Postdoctoral fellowship in Solar Energy Research
In
order to spur innovation in solar energy, the U.S. Department of Energy Office
of Energy Efficiency and Renewable energy (EERE) is now accepting applications
for postdoctoral researchers in solar energy to participate in the EERE
Postdoctoral Research Awards. The EERE Postdoctoral Research Awards support
research on energy efficiency and renewable energy to help solve our nationŐs
energy challenges. This year, this exciting program will offer up to five
recent Ph.D. recipients the opportunity to conduct applied research projects to
advance breakthrough solar energy technologies at universities, national
laboratories and other research facilities. Former recipients of the EERE
Postdoctoral Research Awards are now faculty and staff scientists at major
research institutions and national laboratories.
The application period for the EERE
Postdoctoral Research Awards closes on May 7, 2015. The awards will be
announced in July 2015 for the projects to start in September 2015.
3. Opportunities
at various federal agencies
i) EPA Part Time
Student Position in Cincinnati – Year Round!
The
EPA Laboratories in Cincinnati has a part-time position within the
Safety, Health, and Environmental Management (SHEM) Program.
The
Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Program Support Associate will
assist the SHEM team with technical and administrative duties required to
implement national, state, and local SHEM regulations and guidelines in the workplace.
The position is expected to begin in
April 2015. Apply today! For more information, and to access the application,
visit our website: www.orau.org/epa
Questions? Email EPAJobs@orau.org
ii) Postdoctoral
Research Associate Opening –
Characterization
of Nuclear Materials, Data Analysis & Aerosol Science
Savannah
River National Laboratory (SRNL) – Aiken, South Carolina
Research
may be conducted in one or more of the following areas: Materials
characterization R&D studies of nuclear materials, data processing and
statistical analysis, or aerosol measurement science. Candidates that can
demonstrate significant experience with a wide range of analytical instruments
and have published peer-reviewed scientific papers are encouraged to apply. The
position has an initial one-year appointment, with the possibility of renewal.
Want
to apply? Go to www.zintellect.com, make
an account, and enter the reference code SRNL-15-03-NSD to find the position
posting.
4. (via Aziz Yakubu) Openings at
Intel
Intel Corporation is actively accepting
applications for their BS, MS and PhD New Grad openings and would like to
invite students from the Department of Mathematics to apply.
https://intel.taleo.net/careersection/10000/jobdetail.ftl?job=753592
5. Harvard University School of Public Health Internships (via Aziz Yakubu)
Harvard T.H.
Chan School of Public Health, offers funding opportunities in the
form of scholarships, grants, fellowships, and loans are available at the
School through the Office of
Student Financial Services and academic departments as well as many internship
opportunities offered at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public
Health. Our School currently offers five summer programs ranging from 6-9
weeks in length. The programs are offered throughout the School in our
quantitative, lab-based and social science departments, including a
cross-departmental summer program. We highly recommend participation in these
programs to learn more about the student experience at Harvard and life in the
Boston/Cambridge area. Lastly as a resource for students interested in
navigating higher education, we offer graduate application counseling through
the Office of
Diversity & Inclusion to assist students in making their
applications to schools of public health as competitive as possible.
Contact: Kerri Noonan
Associate
Director of Admissions
Phone: 617-432-1031
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INTERSTING ARTICLES AND WEBSITES
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1. (from Louise Raphael)
Variable Stars, the Golden Mean
and a new
Physics based theory of life
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20150310-strange-stars-pulse-to-the-golden-mean/
Note
from Louise: The well-known mathematician Jean Taylor writes: Don't get
overenthusiastic about the "golden mean stars.Ó If you look at that
article carefully, you see that its basis is the statement "... an
irrational ratio tend to be the most stable; that is, they canŐt easily be
knocked off-kilter into a new state of motion. In that case, it might be the
fate of unstable stars to evolve until they arrive at a number like the golden
mean.." In other words, "a number like
the golden mean" is just "any other irrational number."
What is being talked about is just quasiperiodic
motion! You can see it on your own computer or graphing calculator by
graphing the function sin(x) + sin(C x), where C
is any irrational number. (Yes, I know you can't really put in an irrational
number, but you can get the idea. A C between 1 and 2 produces the most visual
interest.) A ratio having the same first few digits as the golden ratio
doesn't mean it has anything to do with the golden ratio!
A
new physics based theory of life:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20140122-a-new-physics-theory-of-life/
2. (from Aziz Yakubu) NYTimes
article: DonŐt Expect Math to Make Sense
3. (from Louise Raphael) Five Reasons Why Biologists Love
Math
https://nihdatascience.wordpress.com/2015/03/13/re-blog-5-reasons-biologists-love-math/
4. Book
on Riemann Hypothesis by Barry Mazur and William Stein
(Thanks to our friend from Purdue,
Edray Goins)
The two well
known number theorists provide an exposition of the famous problem accessible
to curious high school students and engineers. The book nevertheless has insights for all
mathematicians. They use numerical examples in a central way and sprinkle
anecdotes and examples from music and literature to computer science. The main
theme is a presentation of the relationship between the zeroes of the Riemann
Zeta Function and the primes in terms of spectra and Fourier analysis.
The online
book and a talk by Mazur outlining the book are available at http://wstein.org/rh/