Math Dept 2024-25 Newsletter 9
Monday, 10 February 2025
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
Data Science Seminar
Faculty and Graduate Students are invited to present their research at the Data Science Seminar. This includes research in other areas that involves data science.
Contact coordinator for more information.
Co-ordinator: Edmund Ameyaw
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TUESDAYS
Seminar on Topological Semigroups
Tuesdays, 11 am on zoom.
Neil Hindman has been speaking on some notions of size in partial semigroups.
Contact coordinator for zoom invite.
Coordinator Dennis Davenport
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Math Biology Seminar
On Tuesday, 2/11, 1-2pm Kathleen Hoffman of UMBC will speak.
Title: Mode switching in organisms for solving explore-versus-exploit problems
Talk will be 1-2pm in room 319 of Graduate School Building.
Coordinators: Katie Gurski, Yeona Kang
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Combinatorics Seminar
Contact coordinator Lou Shapiro for zoom link.
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Number Theory Seminar
Tuesdays at 2.15pm, on zoom.
Francois Ramaroson will continue speaking on Elliptic curves and Holm curves.
Contact coordinators for zoom link.
Coordinators: Francois Ramaroson and Sankar Sitaraman
WEDNESDAYS
Math team/Math Club meetings
Organizer: Jill McGowan
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FRIDAYS
Undergraduate Math Seminar
Seminars will resume soon.
More details – contact Bourama Toni
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Mathematics Department Colloquium
Fridays, 4.10 to 5pm. Room 213 and zoom.
Friday, 14 February
Rachel Saidi, Montgomery College
Title TBA
The colloquium schedule and videos are available at this website: https://deleo.website/HU/colloquium.html
TALKS AND WORKSHOPS OUTSIDE DEPARTMENT
1. “Journeys of Black Mathematicians” documentary on PBS
(From NAM, the National Association of Mathematicians)
NAM members, mathematicians, and students from the African American mathematics community are featured in this important film series. For the development of this project, Black mathematician Johnny L. Houston, PhD, a Co-Founder of NAM and Professor Emeritus of Elizabeth City State University, served as the primary Consultant and Chair of the Advisory Group responsible for selecting a cross-section of Black mathematicians in the USA, most of which were members of NAM.
During Black History Month, February 2025, public television stations across the nation (from Washington, DC to Los Angeles) will be airing the two-part documentary series Journeys of Black Mathematicians: Part 1: Forging Resilience and Part 2: Creating Pathways. Each part is one hour. The link below shows stations, air dates and times across the United States from February 1 through March 1, 2025 where, when, and the time the series will beshown:
https://zalafilms.com/jbm/airdates.html
(look for your community station, more dates are being added weekly)
2. . (Thanks to Dennis Davenport)
a) Graduate Student Combinatorics Conference (GSCC)
This year at the University of Southern California from March 15-17, 2025.
The conference will include plenary addresses from three keynote speakers: Rosa Orellana
(Dartmouth
College), Persi Diaconis (Stanford University), Fan Wei (Duke
University)
along with a series of ~20 minute research talks from
graduate students.
Travel
funding application deadline: January 31
Talk application
deadline: January 31
Abstract submission deadline: February
21
Registration deadline: March 1
b) International Mathematics and Statistics Students Research Symposium
April 12, all day. Virtual conference organized by African Mathematical Union
Registration is free. Information and Application
3. UDC 5th Annual Teaching Roundtable
April 11, 2025, UDC.
This year's theme is “Inclusive Excellence: Fostering Engagement Through Diverse Perspectives.” Details and Abstract Submission
4. SIMIODE EXPO 2025
14 - 16 February 2025. Fifth international online conference devoted to teaching and learning differential equations through a modeling approach and broader issues.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Moussa Doumbia writes:
I
am delighted to share that my newest research article has been
published. It is titled "Asymptomatic Malaria Infections in
Pregnant Women of Ngbo in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi
State of Nigeria", and it was published in La Matematica!
Full
version here: https://rdcu.be/d7Rt0
2. Our colleague Talitha Washington returns to Washington
Our congratulations on her new appointments, including as Professor of Mathematics. Announcement from the provost:
Talitha
Washington, Ph.D., is appointed as the executive director of CADSA,
the new Center for Applied Data Science and Analytics and the Sean
McCleese Endowed Chair in Computer Science, Race, and Social Justice.
The purpose of CADSA is to advance Howard’s leadership as a major
hub of data science for social impact research and to train the next
generation of data scientists with expertise in analyzing racial
bias.
A nationally recognized mathematician, Dr. Washington
returns to Howard University where she previously served as a tenured
faculty member in the Department of Mathematics. She also currently
serves on the U.S. Census Bureau’s Census Scientific Advisory
Committee of the U.S. Census Bureau and is the president of the
Association for Women in Mathematics. Her research focuses on the
applications of differential equations to problems in biology and
engineering as well as the development of nonstandard finite
difference schemes to numerically solve dynamical systems.
Dr.
Washington recently served as the inaugural director of the Atlanta
University Center (AUC) Data Science Initiative and a professor of
mathematics at Clark Atlanta University. In addition, she has held a
prestigious appointment at the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a
program director in the Convergence Accelerator Program and in the
Division of Undergraduate Education, where she was instrumental in
establishing NSF’s first Hispanic Serving Institutions program. She
has also served as a faculty member at Duke University, the College
of New Rochelle, and the University of Evansville.
The
recipient of various honors, Dr. Washington is a fellow of the
American Mathematical Society, the Association of Women in
Mathematics, and the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS). She earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics
degree from Spelman College and a master’s degree and Doctor of
Philosophy degree from the University of Connecticut. She also
received an honorary doctorate in science from the University of
Connecticut.
3. HU Research Month Call for Papers
April is research month at Howard. The Research Symposium happens April 24-25.
Deadline for abstracts of oral presentations, posters, workshops and seminars is March 1.
Submit abstract at https://researchmonth.howard.edu/
SCHOLARSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
(from various sources)
1. Ph. D positions in Number Theory in Europe
PhD position in "Cohomology, Geometry, Explicit Number Theory" (COGENT), from the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Doctoral Network detailed here:
The hosting universities are in Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Braunschweig, Durham, Galway, Grenoble and Sheffield.
The call for applications for 13 PhD positions opened today and applications will be considered from 28th February until all positions have been filled.
2. Summer Internships at WSSC water
WSSC manages water resources and drainage in Maryland.
3. (Thanks to Dennis Davenport)
a) Openings at Gettysburg College
Finishing PhD students are invited to apply for two VAP openings. The area of specialization is open and the teaching load is 3 courses per semester. Beyond an interest in innovative teaching in a liberal arts environment, preference will be given to candidates who have potential to promote a campus environment in which traditionally minoritized students will thrive. Application review starts on February 10th and will continue until the positions are filled.
b) NYU Quantitative Aging Summer Research Internship
c) Generation Teach (GT)’s award-winning Summer Teaching Fellowship
Generation Teach provides undergraduate and high-school students with high-quality summer teaching experiences. 100% of summer 2024 teaching fellows reported developing skills they will use whether or not they become teachers. The fellowship is an amazing opportunity for students to earn money while gaining valuable experience and developing professional skills.
Application deadlines are February 15 and March 15.
More Information and Application
4. WEF (Water Environment Federation) programs for STEM students
The WEF InFLOW (Introducing Future Leaders to Opportunities in Water) STEMpath program is a scholarship opportunity that engages students in their 3rd/4th+ year undergrad or 1st/2nd year master’s program between 18 and 35 years old representing historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups. This program introduces students currently enrolled in STEM programs to career opportunities in the water sector through WEF programs and events.
Deadline Feb 27.
More Information and Application
5. FAU Smmer Institute in Biostatistics and Data Science (SIBDS) 2025
Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton Campus)
Undergraduates/early graduates with STEM courses can apply for May 19th--June 27th, 2025 NIH Funded Training Program.
Deadline March 14th, 2025
6. National Nuclear Security Administration
Students of minority serving institutions can apply for PATH scholarship that provides stipends for a year or two.
Deadline March 2.
See previous newsletters for more opportunities
INTERESTING ARTICLES AND WEBSITES
1. Mathematicians Solve Infamous ‘Moving Sofa Problem’
Similar to the problem we solve in Calculus about the longest length that can turn a corner between two hallways, people have been trying to find the shape (the metaphorical “sofa”) with the largest area that can turn a corner.
2. (Thanks to Louise Raphael) Prime Numbers in a Play by Tom Stoppard
Louise recently saw a play by Tom Stoppard and sent us the playbill. An excerpt:
“Prime numbers are the prime metaphors in Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt. Early in the play, Ludwig Jacobowicz, a mathematician, recounts a recurring dream. He has solved the riddle of prime numbers. He has proven the hypothesis of Bernhard Riemann, postulated in 1859. Of course, Ludwig is wrong. Riemann' Hypothesis remains unproven to this day. The scenes in Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt at first move through time in a linear sequence. It starts firmly as a play set in 1899. Before the intermission, it leaps forward to 1924, initiating a sudden series of rapid shifts. After the interval, we are off, hurtling through time. With each of these shifts, the world of the characters changes in unthinkable ways. History, it seems, is like a prime number too. It defies rational explanation. "If we think of the world's future, we always mean where it will be if it keeps going as we see it going now, “ Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote in 1929. "It doesn't occur to us that it is not going in a straight line but in a curve, constantly changing direction."