Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne Department of Mathematical Sciences Archive of Seminars, Workshops, and Events

Spring 2018

• Photo, Video, and Abstracts page for Spring 2018 events

Colloquium

• Bin Chen, Purdue University Northwest Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Convolutional Neural Network and its Applications, May 2.
• Drake Olejniczak, Western Michigan University, A Foray into Ramsey Theory, April 9.

Analysis Seminar

• Martino Fassina, University of Illinois, Type conditions for CR submanifolds, March 28.

College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Lecturer

• Bernd Buldt, SIRIously, Do You Know What I Mean - Philosophy, Mathematical Logic, and the Quest for Artificial Intelligence. March 15. Photo page

PI Math Club

• Drew Swartz, Data Scientist at IRI Chicago, and IPFW Alumnus, A chat about Data Science careers, April 30.
• 2018 Math Matters Student Talks Event, April 18:
  • Photo page
  • Flyer
  • Melissa Sarrazine, Cellular Automata
  • Aiham Hassan, Pappus' Hexagon Theorem
  • Xiao Yuan, Modeling Dependence among Stock Prices
  • Giang Le, Numerical Investigation on the Solar System
  • Vincent Rivera, Solving Second-Order Recurrence Relations
  • Skyler Haas, IHSAA's Nearest Neighbor Nightmare
• Pi Day Event
• Alan Legg, Sonoluminescence – light from sound, Feb. 7.

Pi Mu Epsilon

• Christer Watson, Manchester University Department of Physics, Gravitational Waves, April 8.

Fall 2017

Colloquium

• Photo page
• Arno Kuijlaars, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Phase transitions for large domino tilings of the Aztec diamond.  Aug. 23.

Analysis Seminar

• Yifei Pan, Harmonic Maps, Nov. 1.
• Yifei Pan, Hopf Lemma, Oct. 18.
• Yifei Pan, Julia Lemma, Sept. 27.
• Adam Coffman, Perturbations of isolated zeros, Sept. 13.

PI Math Club

• 2017 Celebration of the Mathematical Mind Event: Oct. 30.
  
  • Poster:
  • Photo page
  • Rockets in the Classroom: It Really is Rocket Science, Michael Hollman, NASA Student Launch Initiative Consultant 
  • Stamping Through Mathematics, Robin Wilson, Oxford University 
  • Here’s Looking at Euclid: 1000 Years of Greek Mathematics, Robin Wilson, Oxford University

Summer 2017

Colloquium

• Photo page
• Vassil Yorgov, Fayetteville State University, Extremal Binary Codes of Length 72.  May 22.

Spring 2017

Colloquium

• Photo page
• Peter Boyvalenkov, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, On Bounds for Antipodal Spherical Codes. May 10.
• Annette Ricks Leitze, Ball State University, A Journey into Online Teaching: Tips and Tidbits, May 8.
• W. Doug Weakley, My Life with Queens.  April 11.
• Drew Lipman, Clemson University, Normal Domains Arising from Graph Theory. March 29.

Analysis Seminar

• Photo page
• Yifei Pan, Kobayashi metric III and IV, April 13 and 20
• Yifei Pan, Nowhere conformal maps, March 16.
• Yifei Pan, Kobayashi metric II - the flat case, Feb. 23.
• Adam Coffman, Mobius transformations and ellipses, Feb. 14
• Peter Dragnev, Logarithmic interactions on the sphere in the presence of discrete external field, Feb. 7.
• Alan Legg, Deformations of quadrature domains, Feb. 2.
• Yifei Pan, A Kobayashi metric for Riemannian manifolds?, Jan. 26.

PI Math Club

• The Math Matters annual student talks event
  • Photo page
  • Program
  • Anthony Hartle, Calculating NHL Ratings using an Adapted Elo Model
  • Srikiran Dasari, based on joint work with Connor Malott, Families of Polar Curves
  • Aaron Thieme and Matthew Wyss, Formality as Permutation Invariance
  • Diana Bezuhlyy, Modeling the Volatility of Lincoln Financial Group Daily Stock Returns
  • Duy Anh Do and Giang Le, How Math Guides the Stars
  • Kenda Barnes, Modeling Adult Women's Weight
• Prof. Andrew Rich, Manchester University, The Better Box Paradox, March 22.
• Prof. L. Kuznar, IPFW Department of Anthropology, Graph Theory and the Stability of Middle Eastern Conflict: What Comes After ISIS? Feb. 8.

Fall 2016

Colloquium

• Photo page
• Daniela Ferrero, Texas State University, The Power Domination Problem. Oct. 31.
• N. Rao Chaganty, Statistics Program Director, Old Dominion University, Graduate Education and Programs: An option for undergraduate students. Oct. 24.

Conference

• The 2016 Midwestern Workshop on Asymptotic Analysis was here on the IPFW campus, Oct. 7-9.
  • Conference series web site
  • Local (IPFW) information page
  • Local maps/travel/housing page (link expired)
  • Photos from the event
  • Supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation

PI Math Club

• Prof. A. Downs, IPFW Department of Political Science, When Math Mattered in Indiana, Dec. 7.
• Prof. D. Vasquez, IPFW Department of Physics, Chaos in Dynamical Systems, Nov. 16. 
• Prof. S. Gillam, IPFW Department of Physics, Updates on the IPFW undergraduate astronomical observatory, Oct. 5. 

Summer 2016

Colloquium

• Photo page
• Ramon Orive, Universidad de La Laguna, On external fields created by point masses, May 26.

Colloquium

• Photo page
• Juming Pan, Bowling Green State University, Model Selection in Linear Regression, Feb. 17.
• Daniel Yorgov, University of Colorado - Denver, Discovering Novel Genetic Factors that Influence the Vitiligo Pigmentation Disorder, Feb. 22.
• Dawit Tadesse, University of Cincinnati, Classification Methods and Their Applications in Gene Expression and Annual Financial Data, Feb. 23.
• Jay Bagga, IPFW Visiting Researcher, and Ball State University Department of Computer Science, Are Trees Graceful?, March 23.
• Sheryl Stump, Ball State University, The Common Core and Its Legacy in Indiana.  March 30.
• Linda Lesniak, Western Michigan University, Chvátal's Tough Conjecture, April 11.
• Keng Deng, IPFW Scholar in Residence, and University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Competitive Exclusion and Coexistence in a Two-Strain Pathogen Model with Diffusion,  April 18.
• Alan Legg, Purdue University WL, The Bergman Projection and Polynomials on Ellipsoids, April 19.
• David Benko, IPFW Visiting Researcher, and University of South Alabama, Guessing the Probability of a Fake Coin, April 28.

Analysis Seminar

• Yifei Pan, Global existence for Cauchy-Riemann equations, March 23.
• Adam Coffman, Isolated CR singularities of real 3-manifolds in C³, April 5.

PI Math Club

• The Math Matters Student Talks event, April 20.  Photo page
  • Christina Wiler, Cost Comparison: Early Intervention vs Special Education for Children Diagnosed with Autism
  • Jessie Moffitt, Discrete Mathematics in Computer Science
  • Lingxi Wu, Computational Mathematics and Minimizing Energy
  • Vreneli Brenneman, Magic Squares

• Event: Pi Day Celebration, March 14, 2016 (3-14-16!).

• Prof. Coroian, A Few Hard-to-Believe Facts in Everyday Math, March 2.  

Pi Mu Epsilon

• Jay Bagga, IPFW Visiting Researcher, and Ball State University Department of Computer Science, The Mathematics and Technology of Elections and Voting, April 24.

IPFW Outstanding Research Award Lecture

• Peter Dragnev, The Mathematics of the Soccer Ball: A Mathematician's Quest to Minimize Energy, March 18.  Photos from the Event

Colloquium

• Robert Womersley, University of New South Wales, Australia, Efficient Spherical Designs with Good Geometric Properties, Dec. 2.
• Laurent Baratchart, INRIA, France, Singularity Distribution of Best Meromorphic Approximants, Nov. 4. 
• Ramón Orive, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain, A Variation on the Classical Stieltjes Electrostatic Model, Oct. 7.
• Photo page

Analysis Seminar

• Adam Coffman, Examples for Green's Theorem with discontinuous partial derivatives.  Sept. 23.
• Peter Dragnev, Minimal energy configurations, Parts 1-2, Sept. 30, Oct. 21.
• Yifei Pan, Unique continuation problems, Parts 1-2, Oct. 28, Dec. 2.

PI Math Club

• Sofia Lyrintzis, IPFW math major, Children's drawings on a torus. Sept. 30.  
• A Gathering for Gardner - Celebration of Mind event: Nov. 13.

College of Arts and Sciences Enhancement of Learning Presentation

• Sue Mau, with Samantha McGlennan, IPFW alumnus and Summit Middle School teacher, Better Together - Lessons Learned from Paired Field Experience Placements
• Poster
• Powerpoint slides
• Photo page

Colloquium

• Photo page for Summer 2015 Colloquium Series
• Yang Liu, Zhejiang Normal University, China, and IPFW Visiting Researcher, Controllability, stabilization, and synchronization problems on Boolean control networks. June 3.
• Johann Brauchart, Technische Universität Graz, Austria, Covering, Separation, and Discrepancy for Random Points on the Sphere. May 27.

Colloquium

• Photo page for Spring 2015 Colloquium Series
• Maya Stoyanova, Sofia University, Universal Lower Bounds on Energy - Computational Aspects, March 18.
• Peter G. Boyvalenkov, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Energy Bounds for Codes and Designs in H(n,q).  March 4.
• Peter Dragnev, IPFW, Universal lower bounds for potential energy of spherical codes, Feb. 4.

Analysis Seminar

• Yifei Pan, Unique continuation for higher-order Cauchy-Riemann operators II. March 6.
• Adam Coffman, Counterexamples in one complex variable, II.
  
• Yifei Pan, Unique continuation for higher-order Cauchy-Riemann operators.
• Yifei Pan, Unique continuation and three circles.
• Adam Coffman, Counterexamples in one complex variable, I.

PI Math Club

• Math Matters: PI Math Club/Pi Mu Epsilon student talks, April 22.
• Bre Anne Briskey, Men or Women: Who Really Talks More?
• Jessie Moffitt, Modeling Water Distribution Using Flow Networks
• Luke Bertsch, Optimal Blackjack Strategy
• Vreneli Brenneman, Solomon's Pool
• Photo Page
• Poster

Pi Mu Epsilon

• Prof. Anderson, Convergent isn't necessarily well-behaved, May 3.  Photo Page

Fall 2014

MIGHTY Graph Theory Conference

• Friday/Saturday, October 3/4
• IPFW conference web site
• MIGHTY conference series web site
• Photo Page for Graph Theory Week
• L. Beineke Birthday Crossword Puzzle,

Colloquium

• Robin Wilson, Open University, England, Euler: 300 Years On.  Oct. 1. Photo Page.   Joint with PI Math Club 
• Peter Hamburger, Western Kentucky University, and IPFW Emeritus, Social and Socioeconomic Sciences and Dimension of Posets.   Oct. 2.  Photo page. 

• A Celebration of the Mathematical Mind event for the Martin Gardner Centennial
  •  
  • Soap Bubbles and Geometry, by Professor Adam Coffman - Maple Code and Graphics of Minimal Surfaces presented during the talk
  • Short talks on recreational mathematics by Professor Berry, Andy Rich, Manchester University, and Mel Royer, Indiana Wesleyan University.
  • Photo Page
• Robin Wilson, Open University, England, Mathematics: A Philatelic History. Oct. 3. 
  • In this talk I cover the entire history of mathematics in just over an hour! To do so, I shall illustrate it in an unusual way – with over 300 postage stamps featuring mathematics and mathematicians – some very bizarre!
  • Photo page

• Fourth annual symposium: Friday/Saturday, September 19/20.
• concurrent with 2014 Midwestern Workshop on Asymptotic Analysis
• Workshop web site
• Photo Page
• Workshop poster:
• Workshop program:
• List of Abstracts:

Summer 2014

Workshop

• Summer Summit for Excellence in Math & Science. July 14.

Colloquium

• David Benko, University of South Alabama, Comparing Tennis Tournaments 
  • July 29 - Photo page
  • Abstract: The four major tennis tournaments (Grand Slams) are the Australian Open, the US Open, the Roland Garros, and Wimbledon. They are played on different surfaces and under different weather conditions. Which one is the best tournament? The answer seems subjective but we will find a mathematical method to answer objectively. Our method is applicable to other sports, too.
• Peter Boyvalenkov, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Polynomial Techniques for Investigation of Spherical Designs, May 22.

Spring 2014

Conference and Student Competition

• Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5, the Department of Mathematical Sciences hosted the Spring Meeting of the Indiana Section of the Mathematical Association of America.  Events included invited and contributed talks, and the 2014 Indiana College Mathematics Competition.  Photos from the Event

Colloquium

• Dusty Grundmeier, University of Michigan, Hilbert Functions and Positivity Conditions in Complex Analysis.  April 16.    Photo Page
• Keng Deng, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Blow-up for the Heat Equation with a General Memory Boundary Condition. April 23. 

PI Math Club

• PI Math Club/Pi Mu Epsilon student talks: At this annual event, IPFW students talk about their research or independent projects. Talks are April 16, about 15 minutes long. The talks will be judged for cash prizes sponsored by Pi Mu Epsilon.  
  • Luke Bertsch, Fantasy Baseball Simulation
  • Vreneli Brenneman, Geometry Meets Origami: Halving the Square
  • Charles Burd, Even Statisticians Love Geometry
  • Alex Liu, Everyone Deserves A Second Chance
  • Magali de Macedo, Using Finite Series to Evaluate the Life-Cycle of Chemical Reactors
• An Analysis of Pass-the-Pigs, Prof. Michael Sonksen, University of New Mexico, and IPFW alumnus.  April 10 

Pi Mu Epsilon

• Prof. Lipman, What's your birthday? April 27.

Fall 2013

Spring 2012

Colloquium

• Maxim Yattselev, University of Oregon, Spurious poles in Padé approximation of algebraic functions, Feb. 27. 
• Yuan Zhang, University of California San Diego, Global extension and rigidity for local holomorphic isometric embeddings, Feb. 28. 
• Peter Hamburger, Western Kentucky University, Much Ado about Real Numbers, April 4.   (joint with PI Math Club)

IPFW Featured Faculty

• Yifei Pan, Solvability of Partial Differential Equations. Feb. 24.  Photo page

PI Math Club

• Student talks event:  April 11.
  • Calculus for Climatologists, Guchen (Alex) Liu
  • The Easiest Solution Isn't Always the Best Solution, Even in Math, Aldane Hoilett
• Billy Rhoades, Indiana University Bloomington Emeritus, Euler Was Right. Jan. 25.

Pi Mu Epsilon

• Yvonne Zubovic, Mathematics, Magic, and the Mysteries of Life.  April 15. Photos from the 2012 Event

Analysis Seminar

• David Redett, An introduction to weakly stationary processes.  March 12.
  
  • Abstract: I will begin by defining what it means for a stochastic process to be weakly stationary. We will then consider some examples. After identifying the spectral measure for a weakly stationary process, we will see how properties of this measure are reflected in the structure of the weakly stationary process.

Fall 2011

Analysis Mini-Symposium

• Program and Photos

Colloquium

• Yuan Zhang, UCSD, Chern-Moser-Weyl tensor theory and its applications to the Hopf Lemma for CR maps, Nov. 11.

College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Lecturer

• Peter Dragnev, Electrons, Buckyballs, and Orifices: Nature's Way of Minimizing Energy.  Nov. 9.  Photo page

PI Math Club

• J. Millspaw, IPFW Physics, Noisy Color Math, Oct. 19. 

Discrete Math Seminar

• Drew Lipman, University of Waterloo alumnus, An introduction to primal graphs, Nov. 14.
• M. Lipman, M. Walsh, and L. Hicks, Proper graph coloring. Sept. 26.

Analysis Seminar

• I. Kossovskiy, University of Western Ontario, Mappings of 2-nondegenerate hypersurfaces in dimension three, Nov. 11.
• Y. Pan, On solvability of nonlinear partial differential systems of any order in dimension two. Sept. 27.

Summer 2011

Colloquium

• David Benko, University of South Alabama, On a Remarkable Infinite Series. May 26.

Spring 2011

Conference 

• MIGHTY LI graph theory conference at IPFW, April 15-16, 2011. Photo page 1 - Photo page 2

Analysis Seminar

• Adam Coffman, Counterexamples to strong unique continuation for a Beltrami system in C².

PI Math Club

• Lunchtime presentation by Prof. Coroian, Brahe, Kepler, Newton and the Laws of Planetary Motion.  
• Student Talks event: 
  • Heip Nguyen, Roller Derby
  • Melissa Guse, Way Harder Than Fly Fishing: Comparing the means of two populations
  • Brad Moss, A New Approach for Comparing the Means of Two Populations
  • Garret Marshall, Generalized Estimating Equations and Quasi-Least Squares
• G. Venema, Calvin College,  Dimension Theory for Undergraduates. 
• D. Maloney, IPFW Physics, Deciding how to attack a problem.  

Pi Mu Epsilon

•  Alex James, IPFW alumnus, Educating a different kind of mathematician, May 1. Photo page

Fall 2010 

Colloquium

•  Lyn English, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane (Australia). Complex Learning in Interdisciplinary Contexts.
  • Professor Lyn English is internationally recognized for her extensive research and publications in mathematics education, which has spanned preschool through to year 10. Her areas of research include mathematical modelling in the primary school, problem solving and posing, statistical reasoning, analogical reasoning, early mathematical development, and web-based distributed learning communities. Prof. English's new field of research is engineering education in the middle and primary school, involving collaborative work with staff from QUT's School of Urban Development and Purdue University's Institute for P-12 Engineering Research and Learning, where she is a member of the Institute's advisory board. Prof. English is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. She is founding editor of the international journal Mathematical Thinking and Learning, which is published by Taylor & Francis in the US. Prof. English is on the editorial board of several international journals including Contemporary Educational Psychology, The International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, and Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice.
• Subramanian Arumugam, Kalasalingam University (India).  Distance Magic Graphs.
  • Abstract: A graph G with n vertices is called distance magic if its vertices can be labeled with the numbers 1, 2, … , n in such a way that the sum of the numbers assigned to the neighbors of a vertex is always the same.  In this talk, we survey the literature on distance magic graphs, and then present some of our recent results, open problems, and conjectures.

PI Math Club

• Garret Marshall, IPFW graduate student, Longitudinal Data Analysis.
• Matt Walsh, Harmony and Compromise: The Math Behind Musical Scales.  
• Allen Schwenk, Western Michigan University, What Does 'Mean' Mean?  

Discrete Math Seminar

• Matt Walsh, Binary base-phi representations of positive integers
• Doug Weakley, Is every C-infinity word recurrent? 
• Marc Lipman, Complete sphere-of-influence graphs.
• Chip Vandell, Connected decycling in hypercubes.
• Marc Lipman, Highly-connected networks with low degree.

Analysis Seminar

• Peter Dragnev, Ping pong balayage and convexity of the Riesz and logarithmic equilibrium measures.
  • Abstract: Let E be the union of finitely many intervals or arcs on the unit circle.  In joint work with David Benko we prove that the equilibrium measure of E has a convex density.  This is true for both the classical logarithmic kernel, and the Riesz kernel. The electrostatic interpretation is the following: if we have a finite union of subintervals on the real line, or arcs on the unit circle, the electrostatic distribution of many "electrons" will have convex density on every subinterval. I will present applications of this result to external field problems and constrained energy problems.

Summer 2010

Colloquium

• Erwin Mina-Diaz, University of Mississippi, Asymptotics of Polynomials Orthogonal on the Unit Disk with respect to a Positive Polynomial Weight, Aug. 11.
  • Abstract: We derive asymptotics for polynomials orthogonal over the complex unit disk D = {z : |z| < 1} with respect to a weight of the form |h(z)|², with h(z) a polynomial without zeros in D. The behavior of the polynomials is established at every point of the complex plane.
• N. Rao Chaganty, Old Dominion University, Multivariate Discrete Models Based on Copulas for Repeated Measurements. June 3.
  • The multivariate normal distribution is often used in the modeling and analysis of repeated measurements such as clustered and longitudinal data. While the multivariate normal distribution can simplify analysis in the continuous case, no corresponding multivariate distribution analogue has been commonly accepted for discrete variables such as binary, count or ordinal variables. The use of copulas for modeling multivariate discrete  responses is seen as a promising solution.  Specifically, exchangeable copulas can be used to model clustered discrete data, while longitudinal discrete data can be modeled by an appropriate copula with decreasing time-lag dependence. The specification of the multivariate discrete distribution through the use of copula functions provides complete inference, in the sense that maximum likelihood estimation and the calculation of joint and conditional probabilities are possible. In this talk, I will provide a concise introduction to copulas and discuss various methodologies for parameter estimation.

Spring 2010

Colloquium

• Yu Yan, Huntington University, The Scalar Curvature Deformation Equation on Locally Conformally Flat Compact Manifolds. April 28.
• Natalia Zorii, Institute of Mathematics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Equilibrium Problems for Infinite-Dimensional Vector Potentials with External Fields. May 14.  

Analysis Seminar

• Peter Dragnev, Asymptotic behavior of Carleman orthogonal polynomials.
• Adam Coffman, Glaeser's Inequality on an Interval.

PI Math Club

• Student talks: Cynthia Ellis, Origami: More than an art form; and Cindy Harter, A tale of transitivity.
• Lunchtime talk: Paul Richeson (IPFW student and intern at Lincoln Financial), and Rick Richmond, FSA, MAAA (actuarial consultant at Lincoln Financial), Becoming an Actuary.
• D. Maloney, IPFW Physics, Problems and Problem Solving Tools.

Pi Mu Epsilon

• Adam Coffman, Möbius transformations and ellipses.

Fall 2009

Colloquium

• Johann S. Brauchart, Vanderbilt University, Weighted Minimal Energy Problem on the Unit Sphere. Aug. 28.
  • Consider an isolated charged sphere in the presence of an external field exerted by a point charge over the North Pole. Point charges are thought to interact according to the Rieszs-potential 1 / r^s with d-2<s<d. (Here, d+1 is the dimension of the embedding space.) We present results from joint work with Peter Dragnev and Ed Saff concerning the weighted extremal measure solving this external field problem and its properties (support, representation, potential). 
• N. Rao Chaganty, Old Dominion University, Analysis of Clustered and Longitudinal Binary Data. Sept. 4.
  • Clustered and longitudinal binary data occur in genetics, biomedical, and a wide range of scientific studies. These data are naturally dependent, and common measures of association for the study of dependence between the binary variables include correlations and odd ratios. In this talk I will discuss permissible ranges of these measures of association. I will present some examples to show that the generalized estimating equations method, a nonlikelihood and moment based method, ignores these ranges and gives misleading p-values and incorrect conclusions. A proper likelihood approach for the analysis of dependent binary, and in general discrete, data is based on copulas. If time permits, I will give a short introduction to copulas as well.

PI Math Club

• G. Petruska, IPFW Computer Science, Series and Products: Euler's Wizardry.
  • The main topic of this talk will be Euler's famous summation formula (also known as the Euler-Maculaurin formula). Following Euler's path, we will deduce several interesting results, some of which go back centuries into the history of mathematics. Understanding the mathematical thinking and machinery of Euler's era, we will endeavor to apply these results to "obtain" more modern results, such as the famous Mertens' theorem.

Spring 2009

Colloquium

• Debraj Chakrabarti, University of Notre Dame, CR Functions on Singular Hypersurfaces.
  • We consider the question: which functions on a hypersurface M in C^n ( n > = 2) arise as the boundary value of holomorphic functions? When M is smooth, the answer to the global version of this question is that the function on M is CR (Bochner-Hartogs theorem.) There are however obstructions to local extension of CR functions (non-minimality). We consider the local problem for a class of singular hypersurfaces (which includes the real analytic singular hypersurfaces) and describe some new phenomena which can occur only in the singular case.
• David Benko, University of South Alabama, The Integrity of Graphs.
  • The integrity of a graph is a certain number which measures how difficult it is to break the graph into small components. This is a useful number to consider when designing networks. We calculate the integrity of "box-graphs" in dimension d (up to a constant factor). We also give an upper estimate on the integrity of planar graphs. Joint work with C. Ernst and D. Lanphier.

Analysis Seminar

• Adam Coffman, CR singularities of real 4-manifolds in C³, part III.

Pi Mu Epsilon

• John LaMaster, The fourth dimension.

PI Math Club

• Student Research Talks:
  • Garret Marshall, The confessions of tortured data
  • Richard Grzych, Relax, problem solved
  • Ryan Fritz and Chris Baber, How financial indicators compare with an economic indicator
• L. Beineke, IPFW, Through the Lurking Graphs.
  • Behind many a game and puzzle there lies some graph theory. In this presentation, we will give some of the ABCs of the subject, such as Asteroid, Bridg-it, Curious Coins, and Dots-and-Boxes (and more). The talk will be accessible to students without a background in graph theory.
• Peter Dragnev, School Districts on Mars, Fuel Depots on Jupiter, Inimical Dictators on Neptune?! Or How to Arrange Points on the Sphere.
  • Isn’t it interesting what connects the objects in the title? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all Schools were so perfectly located on Mars that no students in any School District had to walk “too much”? Or the Fuel Depots were so conveniently located that it was easy to ship fuel to all parts of Jupiter? And what about all these Dictators on Neptune, that hate each other so much, that we want them as far apart as possible?

    Now seriously, the “uniform” distribution of many points on the unit sphere is a highly non-trivial problem with applications throughout the whole spectrum of modern science. Whether one studies electrons in equilibrium from Physics, large fullerene compounds from Chemistry, orifices of pollen grain from Biology, or data encoding from Computer Science, one arrives at spherical arrangements of points that minimize some form of energy. So, tighten your seatbelts and prepare for a fascinating journey around the Galaxy of Minimal Energy Points.

• Drew Swartz, IPFW undergraduate math major, An Investigation of the Structure Underlying Irreducible Divisors.
  • Interested in learning about a current area of mathematical research? This talk will discuss some of the work being done by undergraduates, like yourselves, at an undergraduate research program at Wabash College, funded by the National Science Foundation. Don't be deterred if you have not yet had a course in Abstract Algebra. Plenty of time will be allocated towards giving a general introduction to the topics at hand.
    A current trend in algebraic research is to utilize graph theory as a tool to analyze the algebraic properties of special sets of numbers, called "rings." In this talk we'll examine how the relatively new concept of the "irreducible divisor graph" allows us to better understand factoring within rings.

See also:

• The current Pi Math Club and PFW Mathematical Sciences News and Events and Photos page.
• The archive of IPFW Mathematical Sciences seminars and workshops, 1999-2008.
• The archive of IPFW Mathematical Sciences seminars and workshops, 1997-99.
• The archive of IPFW Mathematical Sciences and Math Club events and photos, 1997-2018

This page is maintained by the Technology Committee of the Department of Mathematical Sciences.

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