Math Dept 2020-2021 Newsletter 13

Monday, 19 April 2021

 

 

 

Past newsletters can now be reached via the department website.

 

[Click on “About” and then “News and Events”]. 

Newsletter is sent out when there is something new.

Please send entries by the end of the workweek –Ed.

 

 

MEETINGS AND SEMINARS IN THE DEPARTMENT

 

 

Mondays

 

 

Combinatorics Seminar

 

TBA

 

Coordinator: Louis Shapiro

 

 

 

 

WEDNESDAYS

 

 

Math team/Math Club meetings 

 

Please contact organizers for zoom link.

 

Organizers: Jill McGowan (math club), Lou Shapiro (math team)

 

 

 

Thursdays 

 

 

Seminar on Topological Semigroups

 

To start, Dr. Justin Moore of Cornell will talk about some of his recent work.

Time Thursdays at 2pm. Seminar will meet using Zoom. Please contact coordinator for a link.

 

Coordinator Dennis Davenport  

 

 

 

Graduate Student Seminar

 

Meeting from 4 to 5pm on Thursdays. Contact coordinator for link.

 

Coordinator: Noel Bourne 

 

 

 

Fridays

 

 

Mathematics Department Colloquium

 

 

 

This semester our Colloquium talks are shared between us and Cornell's Colloquium.

 

Friday, April 23

Richard Darling, NSA

Topic: Comparison-based Approach to Unsupervised Learning.

 

On Friday, April 16, Fern Hunt of NIST talked about "Finding Effective Spreaders for Fast Communication in Small and Large Networks.”

 

 

 

               

  TALKS AND WORKSHOPS OUTSIDE DEPARTMENT

 

 

 

1.  NAM Faculty Conference on Research and Teaching Excellence (FCRTE) on May 22, 2021. This one-day virtual conference, geared towards faculty from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), will include the Albert Turner Bharucha-Reid Lecture, contributed talks from faculty, and a panel discussion.

 

The 2021 Albert Turner Bharucha-Reid Lecture will be given by Dr. Rhonda Fitzgerald, Norfolk State University. Her talk is titled, “From Riding the Bench to Leading the Team. Rewriting the Instructional Playbook for Pre-Calculus using the Flipped Model."

 

There is a call for Presenters to submit abstracts for contributed talks. Each talk will be 15 minutes in length (with 5 minutes for questions). Please complete the abstract submission form by Saturday May 1, 2021 at 11:59pm EST if you are interested in giving a talk at the FCRTE.

 

REGISTER HERE for the Faculty Conference on Research and Teaching Excellence (FCRTE) by purchasing your ticket on Eventbrite!

 

For more information about NAM and the history of the Faculty Conference on Research and Teaching Excellence, visit https://www.nam-math.org/fcrte.html.

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Dr. Naiomi Cameron, Vice President and Program Committee Chair, at vice-president@nam-math.org

 

2. (Thanks to Aziz Yakubu) UPSTAT 2021 Conference Data analytics competition (online)


This year’s data analytics competition features the social justice problem of disparity in policing. This is a challenging issue and the corresponding statistical analysis is fascinating and interestingly broad.

 

Details at http://upstats.org

Competitors from high school level all the way up to the doctoral level are allowed vie for some amazing prizes.  People beyond the doctoral level or no longer matriculated are not allowed to compete.

 

3. (Thanks to Dennis Davenport) Fermilab two-part quantum webinar series

 

Registration Link

 

Part 1 (April 16th, 3-4pm CT): An Overview of Fermilab and its Quantum Research.

Part 2 (April 23rd, 3-4pm CT): Research Opportunities for Interns, Fellows, and Visiting Faculty.

 

In addition to quantum science and technology, Fermilab offers many other exciting research opportunities. Here are just a few: 

Dark matter and dark energy, Accelerator technology for particle accelerators,

Superconducting magnets and RF, Particle physics, High intensity proton beams, Cryogenic applications and many others.

 

 

 

In previous newsletters:

 

 

MAA Mathfest Aug 4-7, 2021, online

 

The Park City Math Insititute

 

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Undergraduate Mathematics Conference (online) April 23-24, 2021.

Tenth annual Underrepresented Students in Topology and Algebra Research Symposium (USTARS), April 29-30, 2021

 

QEM/NSF Talent Development and Innovation Sciences (TDIS) Summer Internship

 

David Blackwell summer research institute (Illinois; UCLA/Berkeley)

 

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

 

1. Scholarship day Awardees (Thanks to Jill McGowan)

 

 The department celebrated these awardees for their outstanding performance:

 

1)    James Donaldson award ($2000 prize, $1000 Donaldson + $1000 Solveig-Espelie): Naomi Rankin, junior, presented by Katie Gurski.

2)    George Butcher prize ($2000 prize, $1000 from Butcher + $1000 Solveig-Espelie): Sudarshan Bashyal, senior, presented by Dan Williams.

3)    Gerald Chachere prize ($1000 prize): Shakuan Frankson, graduate student, presented by Dennis Davenport.

4)    Solveig-Espelie awards:

i)      ($1500) Leshauna Hartman, senior, presented by Dan Williams.

ii)    ($1000):  Kenthia Roberts, sophomore, presented by Sankar Sitaraman.

iii) ($1250 each):  Sabrina Francis, senior, presented by Dan Williams; Keith-Jordan Wilkinson, senior, presented by Dan Williams; Paras Pokharel, senior, presented by Roberto De Leo.

5)    Cox prizes ($2000 each:  $500 from Cox, 1500 from Solveig-Espelie):

i)   Jalynn Borders, junior, presented by Tim Myers

ii)  Sabin Gaire, senior, presented by Crepin Mahop

iii) Christina McBean, senior, presented by Roberto De Leo

iv) Malik Woullard, junior, presented by Paul Bezandry

 

 

2. Saud Aldosary successfully defended his Ph. D thesis of the title “Non-Hyperbolic Points of 2-D Discrete (DE) Homogeneous Polynomial Systems” on April 8, 2021. His advisor was Faina Berezovskaya.

 

3. Pi Mu Epsilon society membership for graduate students (thanks to Jill McGowan): If you are interested in joining the math honor society Pi Mu Epsilon, the requirements are these: you have a 3.0 GPA from your undergraduate degree and in your math courses as an undergraduate, as well as in your last year as an undergraduate. If you meet these requirements and would like to join, please let me know.  I need your student ID and your address.

 

 

 

 

 

SCHOLARSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

(from various sources)

 

 

1. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Minority Serving Institutions Internship Program (MSIIP)

 

Application deadline

Monday, May 3, 2021, 8:00 am EST

 

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is sponsoring a new internship program for the 2021 summer. The NNSA Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) Internship Program aims to engage undergraduate and graduate students in world class research and operations opportunities within the NNSA enterprise and to increase the students’ awareness of federal career opportunities. This program is open to students enrolled in a Historically Black College or University (HBCU), Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), or Tribal College or University (TCU). Students will intern at one of the national laboratories.

 

Applications and supporting materials must be submitted at

https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/2021-NNSA-MSIIP

2. Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY). CTY is a nonprofit dedicated to identifying and developing the talents of academically advanced K-12 students around the world. We provide today’s brightest students with fun, challenging courses; a community of engaged learners; and a strong foundation for future success in college and their careers.

We are actively hiring part-time (casual; similar to adjunct), 100% telework roles to support our distance learning program, CTY L.I.V.E, which begins a new session in June 2021. We are currently seeking math instructors to teach across multiple subject areas. We also have some very niche instructor roles, where we are seeking individuals with experience in any of the following areas: AP, college math, computer science, disease modeling, game design and robotics.
More information and application materials.

 

 

 

In previous newsletters:

 

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

 

Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship

 

Ray Diversity Fellowships

 

MAA funding opportunities

 

Summer Lab Internships at DHS

 

 

 

INTERESTING ARTICLES AND WEBSITES

 

 

1. (Thanks to Dennis Davenport) Course Hero, meet Course Villain.

Embry-Riddle researchers create a search engine to help professors identify whether course content has been “compromised” on Course Hero, producing ripe conditions for student cheating.

Article from Inside HigherEd.