Title: Collective Behavior in Locust Swarms from Data to Differential Equations Prof. Jasper Weinburd Department of Mathematics Harvey Mudd College Abstract: Locusts are devastating pests that infest and destroy crops. Locusts forage and migrate in large swarms which exhibit distinctive shapes that improve efficiency on the group level, a phenomenon known as collective […]
Title: A tribute to Professor Ellis Cumberbatch (1934-2021) Abstract: The math colloquium on December 1st will be devoted to remembrances of our beloved CGU colleague Professor Ellis Cumberbatch, a pillar of the Claremont mathematics community, who passed away in September. Three brief talks by his friends and collaborators, Professor John Ockendon (University of Oxford), Dr. […]
Title: Modeling the waning and boosting of immunity Speaker: Dr. Lauren Childs Assistant Professor and the Cliff and Agnes Lilly Faculty Fellow Virgina Tech Abstract: Infectious disease often leads to significant loss of life and burden on society. Understanding disease dynamics is essential to the development and implementation of earlier and more effective interventions. Traditionally, perfect, […]
Title: Solving the Race in Backgammon Speaker: Prof. Arthur Benjamin Smallwood Family Professor of Mathematics Harvey Mudd College Abstract: Backgammon is perhaps the oldest game that is still played today. It is a game that combines luck with skill, where two players take turns rolling dice and decide how to move their checkers […]
Title: Modeling Zoonotic Infectious Diseases from Wildlife to Humans Speaker: Prof. Linda J. S. Allen, P. W. Horn Distinguished Professor Emeritus Texas Tech University Abstract: Zoonotic infectious diseases are diseases transmitted from animals to humans. It is estimated that over 60% of human infectious diseases are zoonotic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified eight priority zoonoses […]
Title: On sparse geometry of numbers Speaker: Prof. Lenny Fukshansky, Department of Mathematics, Claremont McKenna College Abstract: Geometry of Numbers is an area of mathematics pioneered by Hermann Minkowski at the end of the 19th century. He achieved stunning success introducing a novel geometric framework into the study of algebraic numbers, prompting mathematicians of later generations to compare […]
The Field Committee Meeting is our chance to socialize with our colleagues and coordinate our course offerings for the coming academic year (2022-2023). Please come to discuss course offerings and other synergistic items. Refreshments in the Shanahan sunken courtyard at HMC starting at 4:00, meeting in Shanahan B460 at 4:20. We will be back in […]
Title: The 6 Cs - Covid and the 5 Claremont Colleges Speaker: Maryann E. Hohn, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Pomona College Abstract: The Claremont Colleges' (5Cs) environment consists of students, faculty, and staff that congregate together in indoor spaces, creating a higher risk for possible COVID-19 infection. Additionally, a majority of the students live on […]
Title: Voronoi Tessellations: Optimal Quantization and Modeling Collective Behavior Speaker: Prof. Rustum Choksi, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University Abstract: Given a set of N distinct points (generators) in a domain (a bounded subset of Euclidean space or a compact Riemannian manifold), a Voronoi tessellation is a partition of the domain into N regions […]
Title: Geometry of continued fractions Speaker: Oleg Karpenkov, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Liverpool Abstract: In this talk we introduce a geometrical model of continued fractions and discuss its appearance in rather different research areas: -- values of quadratic forms (Perron Identity for Markov spectrum) -- the 2nd Kepler law on planetary motion -- Global relation […]
Title: Linear independence, counting, and Hilbert's syzygy theorem Speaker: Youngsu Kim, Department of Mathematics, Cal State San Bernardino Abstract: Linear independence is an essential concept in mathematics and one of the most fundamental notions in linear algebra. Linear algebra studies the solutions of linear equations. Algebraic geometry studies the solutions of polynomial equations (of arbitrary degree). […]
Title: Contact topology and geometry in high dimensions Speaker: Bahar Acu, Department of Mathematics, Pitzer College Abstract: A very useful strategy in studying topological manifolds is to factor them into ``smaller" pieces. An open book decomposition of an n-manifold (the open book) is a special map (fibration) that helps us study our manifold in terms of its (n-1)-dimensional […]
