Title: Spectral gap in random regular graphs and hypergraphs Abstract: Random graphs and hypergraphs have been used for decades to model large-scale networks, from biological, to electrical, and to social. Various random graphs (and their not-so-random properties) have been connected to algorithms solving problems from community detection to matrix completion, coding theory, and various other […]
Title: Finding soap films in non-Euclidean geometry Abstract: In many computer graphics applications we approximate a smooth surface with one made up of tiny triangles. A common problem is to determine which way to move the vertices (the corners of the triangles), so that the total surface area decreases. If the boundary of the surface […]
Title: Our muscles aren't one-dimensional fibres. Abstract: Skeletal muscles possess rather amazing mechanical properties. They possess an intricate structure, and behave nonlinearly in response to mechanical stresses. In the 1910s, A.V. Hill observed muscles heat when they contract, but not when they relax. Based on experiments on frogs he posited a mathematical description of skeletal […]
Title: An ideal convergence: an example in noncommutative metric geometry Abstract: The ability to calculate the distance between sets (rather than just distance between points) has found applications in geometry and group theory as well as various branches of applied mathematics. The Hausdorff distance and the Gromov-Hausdorff distance are standard distances used in these applications. […]
Title: How do zebrafish get their stripes — or spots? Abstract: Many natural and social systems involve individual agents coming together to create group dynamics, whether the agents are drivers in a traffic jam, voters in an election, or locusts in a swarm. Self-organization also occurs at much smaller scales in biology, though, and here […]
Title: Groups, Graphs and Trees Abstract: What do we mean by the geometry of a group? Groups seem like very abstract objects when we first study them, and it's natural to ask whether we can visualize them in some way. Given a group with a finite set of generators and relators, I will describe a […]
Title: Trace Ideals and Endomorphism Rings Abstract: In many branches of mathematics, the full set of "functions" between two objects exhibits remarkable structure; it often forms a group and in some special cases it forms a ring. In this talk, we will discuss this phenomenon in Commutative Algebra. In particular, we will talk about the […]
Title: Puzzling Permutations Abstract: Permutations are one of the most fundamental notions in mathematics. In this talk, we will discuss a visual representation of permutations and introduce some games one can play to help "see" different properties. These puzzling games can be used to provide insight into deeper mathematical content as well. Time permitting, we […]
Title: Topic Models, Methods, and Medicine Speaker: Prof. Jamie Haddock (Harvey Mudd College) Abstract: There is currently an unprecedented demand for efficient, quantitative, and interpretable methods to study large-scale (often multi-modal) data. One key area of interest is that of topic modeling, which seeks to automatically learn latent trends or topics of complex data sets, […]
Title: Quantitative Approaches to Social Justice Prof. Chad Topaz (he/him/his) Co-Founder and Executive Director of Research, QSIDE Institute Professor of Mathematics, Williams College Abstract: Civil rights leader, educator, and investigative […]
Title: Clouds and Climate Prof. Tapio Schneider Theodore Y. Wu Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering California Institute of Technology Abstract: Clouds are an essential regulator of climate. They cool […]
Title: Topological descriptions of protein folding Speaker: Prof. Helen Wong, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Claremont-McKenna College. Abstract: Knotting in proteins was once considered exceedingly rare. However, systematic analyses of solved […]
