Math Dept 2015-2016
Newsletter 9
Monday, 23 November 2015
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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Past newsletters can now be
reached via the department website.
Click on ÒRead 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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Mondays
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Combinatorics Seminar
The Combinatorics
Seminar will meet on Mondays at 2:10 in Chemistry G-06.
Coordinator: Lou Shapiro
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Geometry & Topology Seminar
The speaker will be: Professor David James:
He will be giving a series of
talks on:
THE TOPIC: SURGERY ON SIMPLY-CONNECTED MANIFOLDS: THE FUNDAMENTAL THEOREM.
TIME : 3:10PM-4:00PM,
PLACE; MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT, ROOM: 0213.
ABSTRACT: He will
develop the techniques for constructing normal cobordisms
and prove the fundamental theorem.
Along the way he will try to give the main
ideas and results of surgery on simply-connected
manifolds.
Coordinator: Stanley M. Einstein-Matthews
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Tuesdays
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Topological Semigroups
and Ramsey Theory Seminar
The
Seminar on Topological Semigroups and Ramsey Theory
will meet Tuesdays from 12:10 -- 1:00 in Annex III, room 231.
Neil
Hindman is speaking on "preserving integer
images of matrices".
Coordinator: Neil Hindman
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Wednesdays
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Evolution Equations & Dynamical
Systems seminar
2:10-3:00, in the Lounge Room of the
Math Dept.
The seminar
will cover all areas and subareas of evolution equations and dynamical systems
as well as their applications.
Organizer: Toka
Diagana
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Graduate Student Seminar
3.10 to 4pm Annex bldg. Graduate student office
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Fridays
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Algebra-Number
Theory Seminar
3.10 to 4pm, Room 201
No
meeting this Friday. Will start next semester.
The theme will be to study ÒFourier Analysis on
Number FieldsÓ by D. Ramakrishnan and
find out how it can
be useful in our research.
Co-coordinators: Sankar Sitaraman and Dani Szpruch
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Mathematics Department Colloquium
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No further colloquia this semester.
4.10 to 5 pm, ASB-B 213
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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. (via Aziz Yakubu) Cancer (Howard University Mathematical
Biology Workshop on Health Disparities)
December 5, 2015 at Howard
University in L. K. Downing (LKD Room 2019)
This first workshop on cancer and mathematical modeling of
cancer, to be held at Howard University on December 5, 2015 (LKD room 2019)
will bring together biologists, engineers, chemists, mathematicians, medical
school and public health officials, pharmacists and physicists to identify the
diversity of challenges scientists have faced in the treatment of cancer.
Special emphasis will be placed on problems that are likely to be tractable to
mathematical modeling and where such modeling can help shed light on the
biological process.
Workshop Objectives:
¥
Promote interdisciplinary collaborations with many departments within Howard
University and other universities in the DC area devoted to exploring solutions
to the diversity of challenges we have faced in the treatment of cancer.
¥
Encourage the establishment of new collaborations for research on Health
Disparities.
¥
Develop a regular, series of mathematical biology workshops for the DC area
that meets every 3 months at Howard University.
Participation in this workshop is free. There is no
registration fee and lunch will be served. For more information about the
workshop please send an email to; ayakubu@howard.edu
or talitha.washington@howard.edu.
2. (via Aziz Yakubu)
2016 Spring Opportunities Workshop for Women in Math
Sciences
Held at SAMSI in Research Triangle Park, NC.
April 6-8, 2016
The application deadline is February 22, 2016.
The primary goals of the workshop is
two-fold: (i) to familiarize women and/or under-represented
minorities in the mathematical sciences with professional opportunities in
academia, industry, and government, and (ii) to focus on challenges currently
faced by women or minorities in mathematical sciences.
Grothendieck memorial day
at Fields Institute
December 10, 2015 at the Fields Institute
http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/programs/scientific/15-16/grothendieck/
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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1.
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SCHOLARSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
(from various sources)
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1. Opportunities at
various federal agencies
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From the Oak Ridge National Lab: For full listing see http://www.orau.org Oak Ridge
National Laboratory (ORNL) wants to pinpoint and capture some of the best new
minds entering scientific and engineering fields today. ORNLÕs two grand
research Challenges for 2016 focus on ÒSimulation and Design of Artificial
Model MagnetsÓ and ÒDistributed Energy Research – Powering Microgrids.Ó Applicants must be junior or senior
undergraduate students currently enrolled at an accredited U.S. college or
university. There are no citizenship requirements or GPA requirements to
apply. Find the full Challenge descriptions, the proposal template and the
application link on our website: www.orau.org/ornlchallenge. For questions about
the program, email Nicie Murphy, nicie.murphy@orau.org
or ORNLedu@orau.org. Deadline for applications: January 15th, 2016. From Department of Homeland Security (DHS): 2016 HS-STEM Summer
Internships: Undergraduate students receive a $6,000
stipend plus travel expenses. Graduate students receive a $7,000
stipend plus travel expenses. 10-week research
experiences at various centers. U.S. citizenship
required. Application deadline: December 16, 2015,
11:59PM EST Applications and supporting materials must be submitted at https://www.zintellect.com/Posting/Details/1468 Program Information: Detailed
information about the internships can be found at http://www.orau.gov/dhseducation/internships/ The National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has scholarships for
undergraduate students majoring in disciplines related to oceanic and
atmospheric science, research, or technology, and supportive of the purposes
of NOAAÕs programs and mission. Over 100 students are selected each year for
participation in the Ernest
F. Hollings (Hollings) and Educational Partnership Program (EPP) scholarship
programs. Educational Partnership Program
Undergraduate Scholarship: http://www.epp.noaa.gov/ssp_undergrad_page.html ◦
Application Deadline: January 29, 2016 ¥ Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship: http://www.oesd.noaa.gov/scholarships/hollings.html Application Deadline: January 29, 2016 2. (via Louise Raphael) Undergraduate Research Funding for Students/Faculty: CURM provides training and funding for mathematics
professors who want to do undergraduate research during the academic year at
their own institution with their own students. Specifically, CURM offers a
3-day summer training workshop for faculty on how to successfully mentoring
undergraduate students in research, $6000 for a course buyout for faculty,
$3000 stipend for each student, and a spring research conference. More
details are available at http://curm.byu.edu/, and there is a
Frequently Asked Question section at http://curm.byu.edu/node/39. Federal
Diversity Internship Initiative The Washington Center is currently looking for qualified candidates to
apply for our 2016 spring and summer internship opportunities. If accepted,
students will receive free, fully-furnished
housing close to their internship location, a twice-monthly stipend,
and professional guidance from a TWC adviser. Students will have a chance to intern for 10 or 15 weeks at
various federal agencies. To apply, interested students must submit an application by November
18, 2015 (for the spring semester), or January 15, 2016 (for the
summer term). For more information on the Federal Diversity Internship Initiative,
please visit: www.twc.edu/federal. Applications can be submitted at: www.twc.edu/apply. 3. (via Aziz Yakubu)
Undergrad Summer REU at Univ. Of West
Georgia NSF-funded Summer Research Experiences program for undergraduates in
Combinatorics, Number Theory, and Graph Theory, that will be held in Summer 2016 at the University
of West Georgia. This will be our sixth such summer program here at UWG
– we ran a similar program from 2007 through 2009 and 2014-2015. Students can apply online. For more information about the program
and application materials, please visit the webpage: http://www.westga.edu/assetsCOSM/math/2016_REU_Announcement.pdf The application deadline is February 15, 2016. |
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INTERESTING ARTICLES AND WEBSITES
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1. College
Cal Grades of AP Calculus Students at 21 Colleges
From David Broussard- former MAA president:
From the 1998 paper by Morgan and Ramist,
ADVANCED PLACEMENT STUDENTS IN COLLEGE: AN INVESTIGATION OF COURSE GRADES AT 21
COLLEGES, for students who got a:
5 on the AB exam, their average grade in Calc II was 3.23 with 80% earning A or B,
4 on AB resulted in average grade of 2.79, 66% earning A
or B,
3 on AB resulted in grade of 2.67 with 60% earning A or
B.
Students who had taken Calc I
at those institutions had an average Calc II grade of
2.52, with 54% earning A or B.
You can find more information at David Broussard's web
site June 2009 Launchings http://www.maa.org/external_archive/columns/launchings/launchings_06_09.html.
This blog still represents the most recent information.