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Mathematical Sciences Colloquium
This Colloquium is sponsored by the Department of Mathematics and the Brooklyn College Math Club. Talks are accessible to a broad audience of students and faculty in mathematics and related disciplines. It is usually held during common hour on Tuesdays from 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm in 1127 Ingersol, but the day, time and location does change so please note the details listed by each talk.
Spring 2016
Speaker: Rodrigo Treviño (Brooklyn College, Mathematics)
Date: Tuesday Feb 23, 2016
Title: Swedish Royalty and Space Travel
Abstract: I will talk about the origins of dynamical systems going back to attempts to know whether the solar system is stable, and some of its modern uses, such as space mission design. Dynamical Systems is the field of mathematics in which objects in motion are studied. It is the field which gave us the word “chaos” in its scientific concept and thus license to describe complex systems as chaotic. Come and learn about dynamical systems and enjoy free pizza!
Speaker: Jeffrey Suzuki (Brooklyn College, Mathematics)
Date: Tuesday Mar 15, 2016
Title: The Worst Form of Government, Except for All the Rest
Abstract: In a democracy, decisions are made by consensus, and social choice theory is the branch of mathematics that focuses on decision making: If voters have a choice of alternatives A, B, C, etc., then a social welfare function takes the set of voter preferences and maps it to a ranking of the alternatives. We'll examine several voting systems to identify desirable features that we want in such a function, look at a surprising result of Kenneth J. Arrow (CCNY 1940), and see if there's a better way to make consensus decisions than the methods currently in use.
Speaker: John Donahue (Chief Product Officer, Sonobi)
Date: Tuesday April 5, 2016
Title: Applications of High Performance Computing, Mathematics and Data Science in Advertising
Abstract: The world of media and advertising is changing. Data and technology have disrupted a relationship and manual order driven business by providing ways to isolate, target and communicate with consumers in more efficient ways. This discussion will focus on how high performance computing, mathematics and data science help power this new world of advertising where technology enables billions of transactions to occur per day.
Speaker: Natalie Priebe Frank, Professor of Mathematics, Vassar College
Date: April 19, 2016
Title: Tilings: A mathematical model of crystals and quasicrystals
Abstract: We tell the story of the discovery of quasicrystals and how the mathematics of aperiodic order helps to understand them. The story begins with ideal crystals and the periodic tilings that model them. The possible symmetries of these periodic objects are completely understood and, given any particular crystal or tiling, reveal themselves through the process of diffraction. A diffraction image with symmetries impossible for ideal crystals led Dan Shectman to his Nobel Prize-winning discovery of quasicrystals in 1982. Interestingly, tilings with a similar form of aperiodic order had been discovered in the decades prior, and were immediately recognized as suitable models for Shectman's quasicrystals. The talk includes many beautiful pictures of crystals, quasicrystals, tilings, and diffraction images, and concludes with a brief look at the speaker's contributions to the mathematics of aperiodic order.
Previous Semesters
Fall 2015
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