Colloquium Series Winter 2004

The Department of Mathematics has organized an exciting series of lectures by colleagues across the Division of Academic Affairs who will discuss the uses of mathematcs in their various disciplines. The series began in the fall semester 2003 and resumes this semester with the first lecture on Bioinformatics.

These lectures should be of interest to those who appreciate the power of mathematics and to those who doubt it. Students, whether studying mathematics or another discipline, are especially encouraged to attend.

All lectures will be presented from 4:00-5:00 p.m. in Pray Harrold Hall. All participants are invited for cookies and coffee in the Math Den (Pray Harrold 501) at 3:30.

Math Across the Curriculum Series Lecture #6: Bioinformatics
Dr. Marianne Laporte, Biology, Mon, January 26, 2004 (PH 323) 4 pm

Math Across the Curriculum Series Lecture #7: The Functions of Behavior or How Did a Behavioral Ecologist Get Mixed Up with Equations Like These?
Dr. Peter Bednekoff, Biology, Tues, March 2, 2004 (PH 324) 4 pm

Math Across the Curriculum Series Lecture #8: Bioinformatics from a statistical viewpoint
Dr. Kathy Chu, Mathematics, Monday, April 12, 2004 (PH 323) 3 pm

Superconductivity: from Kamerlingh-Onnes to Ginzburg-Landau Equations and Abrikosov Vortices, Dr. Dmitry Glotov, Monday, February 2, 2004.

The Poisson Distribution and its Applications (Actuarial Science and the Real World), Dr. Seonkoo Han, Tuesday, February 3, 2004.

Permutations via Microchip Switches or "Is the Transportation Problem Mathematics, Really?, Dr. Bogdan Doytchinov, Wednesday, February 4, 2004.

Dr. John Curran, Monday, February 9, 2004.

Duplication Models for Biological Networks?, Dr. Linyuan Lu, Post-Doc at the University of California at San Diego, Thursday, February 12, 2004.

How What a Neuron Likes Tells You What a Neuron Does?, Dr. Melinda Koelling, Monday, Sloan Fellow at the Center for Neural Science at New York University, February 16, 2004.

Positive Solutions of Systems of Differential Equations?, Dr. Haiyan Wang, Tuesday, February 17, 2004.

Math Gems Seminar Winter 2004

Once again, Dr. Walter Parry led the popular Math Gems Student Seminar. The series met each Friday in Room 217 Pray-Harrold at 3 pm beginning on January 16th. Topics included:

Euler's formula and Platonic solids
Shape of space
Five Color Theorem
Four Color Problem
More coloring results
Green's Theorem
Isoperimetric inequality
Probability problems
Random walks

All students are welcome!

Colloquium Series Fall 2003

What is Nonsmooth Analysis?, Dr. Bingwu Wang, Department of Mathematics, Eastern Michigan University, Tuesday, September 23, 2003.

Math Across the Curriculum Series Lecture #1: Is Mathematics a Necessary Condition for Economic Analysis?
Dr. Raouf Hanna, Economics, Mon, October 13, (PH 419)

Math Across the Curriculum Series Lecture #2: Cliometrics: How Did One Cultural Historian Become a Bean Counter?
Dr. Linda Pritchard, Dean, College of Arts and Science, Mon, October 27 (PH 419)

Math Across the Curriculum Series Lecture #3:Quantitative Analysis and Political Science (AKA-- Yes, you really do need to understand math to understand politics!)
Dr. Rhonda Kinney, Political Science, Tues, November 11 (PH 417)

Math Across the Curriculum Series Lecture #4: Finding the Collaboration in Collaborative Filtering
Dr. Ben Keller, Computer Science, Mon, November 17 (PH 419)

Math Across the Curriculum Series Lecture #5: The Graphs of Finance
Dr. Susan Moeller, Finance, Tues, December 2 (PH 417)

Colloquium Series Winter 2003

When Does an Ideal Become Principal?, Dr. Dave Folk, Department of Mathematics, Eastern Michigan University, Monday, January 27, 2003.

Introduction to Linear Regression, Dr. Peter Caithamer,United States Military Academy, January 30, 2003.

Fitting and Testing the Continuation Ration Logistic Regression Model Based on Case-Control Data, Dr. Cheng Peng, University of Toldedo, February 3, 2003.

Generating Functions, Alfred Akinsete, St. Cloud State University, February 6, 2003.

A Characterization of the Skew-Normal Distribution, Jose Almer Sanqui, Bowling Green University, February 7, 2003.

Meet Bob and Alice, Christopher Monico, Notre Dame University, February 11, 2003.

Crystallography: Applied Mathematics, Dr. Christine Clark, Department of Geography and Geology, Eastern Michigan University, March 19, 2003.

Promoting Equity in Mathematics Education Through Effective Culturally Responsive Teaching, Dr. Joan Cohen Jones, Department of Mathematics, Eastern Michigan University, March 31, 2003.

Math Gems Seminar Winter 2003

Beginning on January 17, 2003, Dr. Walter Parry led the Math Gems Student Seminar. The series met each Friday in Room 217 Pray-Harrold at 3pm. Topics included:

Countable sets, Cantor diagonalization, Continuum Hypothesis
Rational and irrational numbers; irrationality of pi and e
Roots of polynomials; algebraic and transcendental numbers
Liouville numbers
Chebyshev polynomials
Computation of pi
Straightedge and compass constructions
Space-filling curves

All students are welcome!

Colloquium Series Fall 2002

Option Pricing, Dr. Ovidiu Calin, Department of Mathematics, Eastern Michigan University, October 7, 2002

The Slice Sampler, Paul Green, Department of Mathematics, Eastern Michigan University, November 12, 2002

Careers in Biostatistics for Mathematics Majors, Dr. Rod Little, University of Michigan, November 20, 2002.

Several Generalizations of the Old Newton-Raphson Method, Dr. Ken Shiskowski, December 2 - 3, 2002.

Nel Noddings visits the Department of Mathematics

The Department of Mathematics hosted a breakfast with Dr. Nel Noddings on November 4, 2002. Dr. Noddings spoke on "Caring in the Mathematics Classroom" to a group of about 40 future mathematics educators. Dr. Noddings is a former president of both the Philosophy of Education Society and the John Dewey Society. She is a member of the Kappa Delta Pi Laureate chapter and holds many other awards and recognitions. She is the author of some 13 books, as well as numerous chapters and articles. Noddings is Professor of Philosophy and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Dr. Nel Noddings and Dr. Bette Warren