Seminars, News, and Events
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Fall 2006 Archive
- Virginia Tech Regional Mathematics Contest Results
Special congratulations to Vishal Lama and Caroline Nielson for scoring in the top third in this difficult competition. Caroline was SUU's top scorer, tieing for 82nd among 347 participants. Vishal tied for 108th. Great job!
- TI Calculator Workshops
Alisha McCann, the Math Supplemental Instruction Coordinator, is giving workshops on TI Calculators every Friday from 4-6pm in 178C of the Sharwin Smith Center.
- Putnam Exam
The William Lowell Putnam Competition is a national contest for undergraduates. It will be administered to SUU students on Saturday, December 2, 2006, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in ELC 301. If you are interested in taking the exam, please contact Derek Hein at hein@suu.edu.
- CIET Focus Day
Give concerns, share ideas, meet your senators, and eat free pizza!
Thursday, November 30, 2006, 12pm in the Sharwin Smith Starlight Room
- Applied Research Center Seminar
Julio Facelli, Director of the University of Utah Center of High Performance Computing
Thursday, November 30, 2006, 4pm, Th 113
- Putnam Team Practices
Thursdays, 4:30-6pm in 301 ELC.
Everyone welcome! For study topics, see the SUU Math Club's Putnam Group website created by team captain Vishal Lama.
The William Lowell Putnam Competition is a national contest for undergraduates and is held on the first Saturday in December. Problems from past exams are available. Please contact Derek Hein at hein@suu.edu if you are interested.
- Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research (UCUR)
Friday, Feb. 2, 2007, at the University of Utah
Undergraduates from all disciplines are invited to present their research at the conference. Applications to present are due Wednesday, November 15. If you are submitting a project to the conference, please fill out the online form, print it, then fax it to Lynn White. The fax number is 435-865-8289. If you have questions, please call Lynn White at 435-586-7913.
- Math Club Meeting
Caroline Nielson, Southern Utah University
Wednesday, November 8, 2006, 4pm in ELC 301
Abstract: I will be giving a talk about a summer program I participated in last summer called a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). I will talk about my experience with the REU, benefits of going to one, application deadlines, and so on. There are REUs available in most of the sciences, so even if you aren't a math major, there will be information for you.
- Math Contest
The 28th Annual Virginia Tech Regional Mathematics Contest will be held on Saturday October 28, 2006, from 8:30am to 11:30am in the ELC conference room (4th floor in the ELC). Students are welcome to take the contest exam. Donuts and beverages will be served.
- SUU Math Dept Group Theory Research Team presents at BYU
Faculty member Eric Freden and students Caroline Nielson and Jennifer Schofield gave a colloquium at Brigham Young University on October 26, 2006.
Title: Groups, growth, formal languages, and computer graphics
Abstract: A growth series for a discrete metric space is a formal power series where the coefficient of x^r counts how many points in the space which are distance r from a specified origin. We use methods from analysis, computer science, and geometry to find growth series for groups and subgroups. The first presenter will exhibit a non-rational growth series for the Higman 3 group. The second presenter will introduce the Baumslag-Solitar groups and a general algorithm for computing growth series for a family of related subgroups. The third presenter will show some language theoretic results and a new algorithm that incorporates computer graphics.
- Utah Council of Teachers of Mathematics (UCTM) Annual Meeting
October 20-21, 2006, in Salt Lake City
Students interested in attending please contact Marty Larkin.
UCTM Announcement
UCTM Registration (due Oct. 6)
UCTM Speaker Application
- Applied Research Center Seminar
The road less paved, soap films, and minimal surfaces
Michael Dorff, Brigham Young University
October 19, 2006, 4pm, Th 113
Abstract: Four houses are located so that they form the vertices of a square that has sides of length one mile. These neighbors want to connect their houses with a road of least length. What should the shape of the road be? We will discuss the answer to this problem, and then talk about how it is related to soap film (what do you get when you dip a wire frame into soapy water) and a set of strange geometric shapes called minimal surfaces. Along the way we will play with some soap films and generate computer images of minimal surfaces.
- Department Seminar
Bioinformatics in Action
Evan Johnson , Harvard University
Wednesday, Oct 11, 2006, 4pm, in Hunter Conference Center, Charles Hunter Room
Evan Johnson Abstract
- American Mathematical Society (AMS) Sectional Meeting
Saturday and Sunday, October 7-8, 2006, in Salt Lake City
The following faculty from SUU will be presenting:
Andreas Weingartner An equivalence for the Riemann hypothesis in terms of
coefficients of orthogonal projections
Jianlong Han (with Peter Bates, Sarah Brown, and Guangyu Zhao) On some nonlocal phase-field equations
Chunlei Zhang (with Peter Bates) Traveling Pulses for the Nonlocal and Lattice Klein-Gordon Equations
AMS Sectional Meeting Program
- Careers Presentation
Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, 3-4pm at the Sharwin Smith Center Living Room
Free Pizza!
SUU alumni Evan Johnson (2002) will give a presentation on careers in Computer Science and Mathematics. He is currently working on his PhD in biostatistics at Harvard.
- Applied Research Center Seminar
Secure and High Performance Data Storage for Data Grids
Manghui (Michael) Tu, Southern Utah University
September 28, 2006, 4pm, Th 113
Manghui Tu Abstract
- Math Club Officers
Congratulations to the new and returning math club officers!
President: Kittle Montilla
Vice-president: Autumn Wassmuth
Secretary: Ally Lusk
Putnam Team Captain: Vishal Lama
Webmaster: Jared Adams
- Department Seminar
Visit Europe; Study Abroad, Salzburg University of Applied Sciences
Cheryl Whitelaw, Southern Utah University
Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 4pm, in ELC 301
Cheryl Whitelaw Abstract
- New Student Secretary
Welcome to Kaili Bennion, our new student secretary. A big thank you to former student secretary Kelly Jones. We wish her luck as she moves on bigger and better things!
- Math Club
The SUU Math Club is looking forward to another great year with new advisor Jianlong Han. Recently the club displayed a booth at SUU's Club Fair, where students got information and also played games such as the Towers of Hanoi. Interested students please email Jianlong Han.
- Supercomputer
SUU has recently acquired a supercomputer! The 120-processor Dell High Performance Linux Cluster will especially benefit research in the sciences, including mathematics. An article about the supercomputer appears on page 14 of the August 2006 Academic Affairs.
- New Faculty Member Chunlei Zhang
Welcome to new faculty member Chunlei Zhang, who recently received his PhD from Michigan State University. He specializes in partial differential equations and infinite dimensional dynamical systems.
- New Faculty Member Jim Brandt
Welcome to new faculty member Jim Brandt, who formerly taught at Prescott College. His areas of specialization are math history and math education.
- Owen Denison Retires
Best wishes to faculty member Owen Denison, who retired this summer.
Math Department
