Title: Projections on Banach spaces and a lifting property of operators Prof. Maria Fernanda Botelho Department of Mathematical Sciences The University Of Memphis Abstract: In this talk I will present properties of contractive projections and explain their role in the existence of norm preserving lifts of operators. A pair of Banach spaces (X, J), with […]
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 protein structures over the last two decades have demonstrated the existence of many deeply knotted proteins, and researchers now hypothesize that the knotting presents some […]
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 Earth on average by 5 degrees centigrade. Yet despite their importance, the response of clouds to climate change is very uncertain. This is especially true […]
Panelists: Tatiana Bradley, Michelle Goodwin, Isys Johnson, John Lentfer, and Matthew vonAllmen We will have a panel discussion with graduates from the Claremont Consortium who have taken different pathways after graduation. After introductions, there will be time for open questions from the audience. Afterward, breakout rooms will be open for a casual discussion with the panelists and […]
Title: What we talk about when we talk about math Speaker: Prof. Lillian Pierce, Nicholas J. and Theresa M. Leonardy Professor of Mathematics at Duke University Abstract: In 1864, the mathematician J. J. Sylvester wrote: May not Music be described as the Mathematics of the sense, Mathematics as Music of the reason?...Thus the musician feels […]
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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 […]
