Five Bard College Students Win Gilman International Scholarships to Study Abroad
Five Bard College students, Ezra Calderon ’25, Adelaide Driver ’26, Dashely Julia ’26, Nyla Lawrence ’26, and Brenda Lopez ’26, have been awarded highly competitive Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships by the US Department of State. Gilman Scholars receive up to $5,000, or up to $8,000 if also a recipient of the Gilman Critical Need Language Award.
Five Bard College Students Win Gilman International Scholarships to Study Abroad
Five Bard College students have been awarded highly competitive Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships by the US Department of State. Gilman Scholars receive up to $5,000, or up to $8,000 if also a recipient of the Gilman Critical Need Language Award, to apply toward their study abroad or internship program costs. This cohort of Gilman scholars, who will study or intern in over 90 countries, represents more than 500 US colleges and universities.
Bard College Mathematics and Italian Studies double major Ezra Calderon ’25, from Harlem, New York, has been awarded a Gilman Scholarship to study at the University of Trento in Italy via exchange, for the spring semester 2025. “This scholarship provides an exciting opportunity to improve my language skills and conduct research while abroad for my Senior Project in Italian Studies,” says Calderon.
Bard College Studio Art major Adelaide Driver ’26, from Taos, New Mexico, has been awarded a $4000 Gilman Scholarship to study at Kyoto Seika University in Japan, for the spring semester 2025. “Receiving this scholarship means the world to me. I have always wanted to study abroad, but money was a concern. This scholarship provides the opportunity to study what I love in an incredible place. I am so grateful,” says Driver. She serves as a peer counselor at Bard and will be studying illustration at Kyoto Seika.
Bard College junior Dashely Julia ’26, who is jointly majoring in Architecture and Art History with a concentration in Latin American and Iberian studies, has been awarded a $3000 Gilman Scholarship to study at Bard College Berlin in Germany, for the spring semester 2025. “Winning the Gilman Scholarship holds profound significance for me. It represents the opportunity to engage with diverse cultures and gain new perspectives that will enrich my understanding of art history and architecture. As someone deeply passionate about exploring how cultural and historical contexts shape artistic and architectural practices, studying abroad is more than an academic pursuit—it is a lifelong dream come true,” says Julia, who is a Posse Puerto Rico Scholar and lead peer mentor for the Office of Equity and Inclusion at Bard.
Bard College Computer Science major Nyla Lawrence ’26, from Atlanta, Georgia, has been awarded a $5,000 Gilman scholarship to study at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan via exchange, for the spring semester 2025. “My grandmother told me this quote from Derek Bok: ‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.’ There is always something to be ignorant about but, I am happy the Gilman Scholarship provides others and myself the ability to learn more about the world while also studying. Studying abroad not only allows for broader education opportunities, but also life lessons and responsibility before exiting college, which I am really excited for,” says Lawrence, who will be learning Mandarin, her third language after English and German, to better communicate and traverse the land. Lawrence is currently one of three captains of the Bard women’s volleyball team and the Katherine Lynne Mester Memorial Scholar in Humanities for the 2024–2025 academic year at Bard.
Bard College Psychology major Brenda Lopez ’26, from Bronx, New York, has been awarded a $3,000 Gilman scholarship to study at Kyung Hee University in Seoul via exchange, for the spring semester 2025. “I couldn’t be more grateful, and I can’t wait to see how this scholarship helps me when spending my time in Korea,” says Lopez. At Bard, Lopez is part of the Trustee Leader Scholar Project Nicaragua Education Initiative and a clubhead for the K-DIARY club on campus.
The Department of State awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to approximately 1,600 American undergraduate students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, in this fall 2024 cycle. All scholarship recipients are US undergraduate students with established high financial need as federal Pell Grant recipients. On average, 65 percent of Gilman recipients are from rural areas and small towns across the United States, and half are first-generation college or university students.
Since the program’s inception in 2001, more than 44,000 Gilman scholars have studied or interned in more than 170 countries around the globe. Supported by the US Congress, the Gilman Scholarship is an initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is aided in its implementation by the Institute of International Education. To learn more about the Gilman Scholarship and its recipients, including this newest cohort, visit gilmanscholarship.org.
Suzanne Kite, aka Kite, distinguished artist in residence, assistant professor of American and Indigenous Studies, and director of the Wihanble S’a Center for Indigenous AI at Bard, was interviewed by ArtNews about her work in ensuring that Indigenous artists are involved throughout the development of AI systems.
Bard Professor Suzanne Kite Interviewed for ArtNews
Suzanne Kite, aka Kite, distinguished artist in residence, assistant professor of American and Indigenous Studies, and director of the Wihanble S’a Center for Indigenous AI at Bard, was interviewed by ArtNews about her work in ensuring that Indigenous artists are involved throughout the development of AI systems. “I think that what we call AI is soon going to be split into its many, very separate systems, instead of this blanket calling everything AI,” said Kite, an Oglála Lakȟóta artist who has been using machine learning in artwork since 2018. “There are so many different things happening. If there is not diversity of thought, even basic cultural thought—but real diversity of thought—then we will just end up at a dead end with things.” Kite discusses earlier models of machine learning which she used to create art, how her work at Bard focuses on developing ethical AI frameworks deeply rooted in indigenous methodologies, and her public art project Cosmologyscape, in collaboration with Alisha B Wormsley, which solicits dreams from the public that are translated into quilting patterns generated from 26 Black and Lakota symbols and which will debut as sculptures at Ashland Plaza in Brooklyn from September 22 to November 3.
Valerie Barr, Margaret Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Bard College, together with Carla E. Brodley and Manuel Pérez-Quiñones, examines in a new study how institutions of higher learning should reconsider the metrics by which they measure data to improve diversity and broadening participation in computing analysis and assessment.
Professor Valerie Barr: “Visualizing Progress in Broadening Participation in Computing: The Value of Context”
Valerie Barr, Margaret Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Bard College, together with Carla E. Brodley and Manuel Pérez-Quiñones, examines in a new study how institutions of higher learning should reconsider the metrics by which they measure data to improve diversity and broadening participation in computing analysis and assessment. “Concerns about representation in computing within the US have driven numerous activities to broaden participation,” they write. However, as Barr points out, “the standard analysis of computer science degree data does not account for the changing demographics of the undergraduate population in terms of overall numbers and relative proportion of federally designated gender, race, and ethnicity groupings.” The study argues that the consideration of students’ intersectional identities, along with using multiple data-analysis methods, would aid in more accurate assessments of the effectiveness of curricular, pedagogic, and institutional interventions for expanding representation in computing.
A talk by Linda Tigani, '08 Chair and Executive Director of the NYC Commission on Racial Equity RKC 10110:10 am EDT/GMT-4 In November 2022, NYC voters declared that our city is a multiracial democracy that integrates racial equity in government practices such as rule-making, decision-making processes, and investment of public funds. However, this is an aspiration. As the use of technology grows in government practice, public service practitioners must align the pathway toward a multiracial democracy and the processes, decisions, and application of artificial intelligence. Racial equity assessments to identify and remove negative racial bias is a key promising practice that aligns with addressing questions of ethics, human rights, and racial inequities in society. This talk will explore the current use, according to the law, and the challenges associated with integrating racial equity into the local government process.
Linda Tigani is the Chair and Executive Director of the NYC Commission on Racial Equity (CORE), where she leverages over a decade of government experience to work with New Yorkers to create meaningful change and advance racial equity. Prior to this role, Tigani was the acting Chief Equity and Strategy Officer for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she led the Race to Justice team, an internal initiative to transform the agency into an anti-racist organization. She worked with New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan and across the health department to implement an equity-focused strategic plan in all agency programming and operations. Tigani also served as Senior Director for Children, Youth, and Families in the Office of Community Mental Health and as an Education Policy Advisor for First Deputy Mayor Fuleihan.
Along with her proven track record in government, Tigani has demonstrated her dedication to New York City communities through her work with youth, parents, and community-based organizations. She provided direct services to families in need, ensuring that those most impacted by longstanding inequities informed the development of interventions and research addressing the impact of racism and poverty. Tigani's background as a social worker and long-time community advocate centering racial equity within education, health, environmental justice, and youth development prepared her for her government roles.
Tigani is a native New Yorker. She holds a Bachelor's degree from Bard College in Sociology and a Master's degree in Social Work from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College.
Thursday, April 17, 2025
A talk by Theresa Law, Computer Science Program Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Trust is a multifaceted concept that is a necessary component in most of our interactions, whether they be social, team-based, or goal oriented in nature. As robots enter our world, we need to understand what it means to trust a robot and what factors and situations have an impact on human-robot trust. This talk will introduce an overview of trust before discussing two types of trust that can be used to categorize the way human-robot interaction researchers define, investigate, and measure trust. The speaker will also present a study that looks at whether and how trust in robots transfers between environments.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Campus Center, Weis Cinema5:30 pm – 8:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 In the 21st century, fueled by technology, data, and algorithms, math determines who has the power to shape our world. The math documentary COUNTED OUT explains how, “…whether we know it or not, our numeric literacy—whether we can speak the language of math—is a critical determinant of social and economic power.”
Reem-Kayden Center5:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Join our December graduating seniors as they present their senior project research!
Saturday, December 7, 2024
Albee 3rd Floor Math Lounge6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Association for Women in Mathematics is hosting a math-themed cookie decorating event. Snack and beverages included! Everyone is welcome.
Thursday, November 21, 2024
Reem-Kayden Center Lobby5:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Come and join us for a game night! Refreshments for all and prizes for winners. Games to play include: Quads, SET, Rubik's Cube Solving/Mosaics and more.
Friday, October 25, 2024
Reem-Kayden Center4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join our summer research students as they present their work!
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
George D. Rose, Bard class of ’63 Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium3:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Since Galileo, the goal of scientific understanding is to explain complex phenomena with a compact description, a model. Yet today, artificial intelligence –specifically, machine-learning using neural nets– has engendered a radical departure from traditional approaches. Machine-learning using neural nets is not grounded in a unifying theory. There are no hypotheses being tested. Instead, the goal is to find parameters (often billions of them) that can capture the phenomenon under consideration and to then utilize the parameters predictively. This approach has met with stunning success in multiple venues, but it is no longer science as we have come to know it.
Where do we go from here? In this talk, George D. Rose will address this question using the protein folding problem as an example.
Monday, September 30, 2024
Caitlin Myers, Middlebury College Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium1:30 pm – 3:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 The end of Roe sparked seismic shifts in the landscape of American abortion access, and two years later it is far from stable. Abortion bans have shuttered providers, and the resulting flows of patients across state borders have taxed a small number of facilities at the front lines. As doors closed at brick-and-mortar abortion clinics, digital windows opened. Online abortion providers have proliferated, and virtual abortion services provided by mail-order pills have surged by more than 80 percent. Professor Myers will discuss how she collects and uses data to describe these changes and analyze their effects, with a focus on quantifying how many people are "trapped" by abortion bans.
Caitlin Myers is the John G. McCullough Professor of Economics at Middlebury College and a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her research examines the casual effects of abortion policies and access on demographic, health, and economic outcomes.
Professor Myers’ scholarship is published in leading scholarly journals and is frequently covered in the media. She spearheaded the economists’ amicus brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health and testified in the U.S. Senate Budget Committee on the links between reproductive policy and economic policy.
Currently, she disseminates data on the changing landscape of abortion access through abortionaccessdashboard.org and Open Science Framework and is working on projects measuring the effects of the Dobbs decision.
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Sylvester James Gates, Jr. Clark Leadership Chair in Science, Distinguished University Professor, and Regents Professor at the University of Maryland Blithewood5:00 pm – 6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 In 1995 Edward Witten, described by Brian Greene as “a million times smarter than we are,” proposed a solution to the “quantum gravity problem” that evaded Stephen Hawking. Until 2020, no solution consistent with Richard Feynman’s view of quantum theory had been found. Einstein believed “...science and art tend to coalesce,” and following this connection the speaker and two PhD students found the first such solution. This talk describes how artwork solved a mathematics problem. Reception to follow
The inaugural MathScape combines an international workshop on cutting-edge research in mathematics with a public lecture linking to the arts and humanities. MathScape 2024 features the mathematics used by the physicists in their quest to create a “theory of everything”.
MathScape 2024 is supported by Chuck Doran, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Mathematics and Physics
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Monday, May 20, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Sunday, May 19, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Thursday, May 16, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Monday, May 13, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Sunday, May 12, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Thursday, May 9, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Monday, May 6, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Sunday, May 5, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Thursday, May 2, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Monday, April 29, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Sunday, April 28, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Thursday, April 25, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Monday, April 22, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Sunday, April 21, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Thursday, April 18, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
RKC Computer Lab7:00 pm – 11:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A great place to study computer science, meet with your study group, and consult with a computer science tutor. Drop in!
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Geillan Aly, Compassionate Math Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium1:30 pm – 3:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 The field of STEM offers many personal and professional rewards. However, emotions may stand in the way of such rewards. In this workshop, we will explore imposter syndrome and other socioemotional phenomena which may affect one’s ability to engage with and succeed in a field as competitive and demanding as those in STEM. Participants will have an opportunity to explore and reflect on their feelings towards studying STEM. Participants begin by reflecting on and sharing their previous learning experiences to place these experiences in context, learning that: (1) they are not alone; (2) their experiences are likely not tied to them as an individual, but are a result of sociohistorical forces. This allows students to think deeply and critically about how they approach their studies. Participants then reorient themselves based on these new realizations and their motivation to succeed. This reorientation includes strategies and tips for studying, focusing on learning mathematics in particular. Finally the workshop gives participants an opportunity to work on a mathematical problem, setting the stage for a positive opportunity to engage with mathematics and their other studies. All participants are encouraged to participate in small-group and whole session discussions throughout the program, reducing the “I’m alone” stigma and forming bonds with others in the group. They are also encouraged to continue working and studying together after the workshop is completed.
Dr. Geillan Aly, the Founder of Compassionate Math, is a math educator who centers the socioemotional factors that contribute to success in mathematics. She holds the fundamental assumption that learning math is both an emotional and cognitive endeavor. A former award-winning Assistant Professor who has taught for over fifteen years, Dr. Aly transforms math classrooms through engaging professional development and student-focused workshops that center emotions while establishing a culture of engaging with rigorous mathematics. She received her PhD in Teaching and Teacher Education and Master’s in Mathematics from the University of Arizona. Underlying Dr. Aly’s work is a dedication to equity and social justice. She enjoys traveling and seeing live music and is an avid chef, wife, and mother to a beautiful boy.
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Reem-Kayden Center Lobby5:00 pm – 6:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Join us in celebrating our December graduating seniors as their present their work!
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Thomas Fai, Brandeis University RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Why do organelles within cells have their particular sizes, and how does the cell maintain them given the constant turnover of proteins and biomolecules? To address these fundamental biological questions, we formulate and study mathematical models of organelle size control rooted in the physicochemical principles of transport, chemical kinetics, and force balance. By studying the mathematical symmetries of competing models, we arrive at a hypothesis describing general principles of organelle size control. In particular, we consider flagellar length control in the unicellular green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and develop a minimal model in which diffusion gives rise to a length-dependent concentration of depolymerase at the flagellar tip. We show how similar principles may be applied to model the size scaling of the nucleus in terms of the nuclear-to-cell volume ratio.
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Zoe Wellner, Carnegie Mellon University RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Often, continuous and discrete are treated as opposites of each other. The Borsuk--Ulam theorem states that for any continuous map from the sphere to Euclidean space, $fcolon S^dto R^d$, there is a pair of antipodal points that are identified, so $f(x)=f(-x)$. This theorem deals with continuous objects, is fundamentally topological, and yet, it has numerous applications to discrete results. We will look at how these methods apply to some problems, including chromatic numbers of Kneser graphs (like the Petersen graph which you see pictured) and the Ham Sandwich theorem: given a $d$-dimensional sandwich with $d$ ingredients, with a single cut you can split your sandwich in half such that every ingredient is exactly halved as well. We will also look at what it means to take a colorful generalization of a result and why it is helpful.
Thursday, November 9, 2023
RKC 1116:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Friday, October 27, 2023
Reem-Kayden Center4:00 pm – 6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium5:00 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Majoring (or interested) in science or math but unsure about whether grad school is right for you?
The Bard Interdisciplinary Science Research Accelerator is sponsoring a panel discussion, Q&A, and networking event with admissions administrators and faculty from across the region.
We’ll talk about what master’s and PhD programs are out there, what they are like, and how to optimize the rest of your time spent at Bard.
Panelists:
Delilah Gates Gravity Initiative Postdoctoral Associate Research Scholar, Princeton University
Andrew Harder Director of Graduate Admissions, Mathematics Department, Lehigh University
Emily Harms Senior Associate Dean, The Rockefeller University
Felicia Keesing David and Rosalie Rose Distinguished Professor of Science, Mathematics, and Computing, Bard College
Chris Lafratta Professor of Chemistry, Bard College
Chuck Doran Distinguished Visiting Professor of Mathematics and Physics, Bard College
Open to all Bard students, especially those moderated in mathematics or the sciences.
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Adam Sheffer, CUNY RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 The Szemerédi–Trotter theorem is a simple statement about points on lines in the plane. Surprisingly, this result turned out to be surprisingly useful. Over the past 20 years, it has been used to prove impressive results in combinatorics, number theory, harmonic analysis, model theory, theoretical computer science, and more.
In this talk, we will introduce the Szemerédi–Trotter theorem and see how it can be used in unexpected places. We will also chat about the current research front—how mathematicians are currently trying to extend this theorem.
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Jen Gaudioso ’95, Sandia National Labs RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Dr. Jen Gaudioso, the director of computing research at Sandia National Labs, will take you on a journey covering the breadth of computing and information science research at Sandia. She’ll cover the full spectrum of computer science, from fundamental research to real-world applications that impact crucial areas like energy security, climate science, engineering, and national security missions. Dr. Gaudioso will highlight some of the exciting possibilities that lie ahead in these fields such as quantum computing, neuromorphic computing, codesign strategies, and the ever-evolving realms of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Discover how these breakthroughs are reshaping our world and driving innovation. Join us to hear about the key research questions and collaborative partnerships essential to overcoming these complex challenges.
Jennifer Gaudioso ’95 is currently director of the Center for Computing Research at Sandia National Laboratories. She oversees research in discrete mathematics, data analytics, cognitive modeling, and decision support materials. Previously, Jen has served as director of the Center for Computation and Analysis for National Security, and also the International Biological and Chemical Threat Reduction Program. She served on two National Academies Committees that addressed biodefense issues. In addition to her Bard degree, Jen has a masters degree and PhD in physical chemistry from Cornell University.
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Meenakshi McNamara, "Generalizations of the ErdH os--Ginzburg--Ziv Theorem Via Topology” Skye Rotstein, “Billiard Dynamics on the Double Pentagon” Josef Lazar, “Machine Learning for Emotional Text to Speech Modeling”
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Chris Elliott, Amherst College RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 I'll give an introduction to the mathematics behind supersymmetry. Supersymmetry is a novel idea in physics for a symmetry that relates two different sorts of elementary particle: "bosons", which describe the fundamental forces of nature, and "fermions", which make up matter. In mathematics we can study "super" versions of objects such as vectors, which have bosonic and fermionic components. I'll introduce some of these ideas, and end by presenting some novel calculations in the world of superalgebra developed by my undergraduate research students Osha Jones and Ziji Zhou this summer, which have applications to quantum physics in three dimensions.
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Megan Doherty Bea, University of Wisconsin Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium5:30 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 In the U.S., many lower-income families rely on high-cost loans like payday loans to make ends meet. These loans can be detrimental families’ economic well-being and remain controversial in policy circles. Yet, payday lending scarcely existed thirty years ago. How did payday lending become a multi-billion-dollar industry, and what can be done to protect consumers? To answer these questions, Dr. Bea draws on a range of data sources, including lending companies’ financial documents, state legislative records, and geographic data on payday lender locations. In weaving together these diverse data sources, her work reveals how financing from big banks in a context of limited regulation facilitated the industry’s rapid growth and points to new policy avenues for fostering a more equitable and inclusive financial system.
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Theresa Law, Computer Science Program RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Trust is a multifaceted concept that is a necessary component in most of our interactions, whether they be social, team-based, or goal oriented in nature. As robots enter our world, we need to understand what it means to trust a robot and what factors and situations have an impact on human-robot trust. In this talk, I introduce an overview of trust before discussing two types of trust that can be used to categorize the way human-robot interaction researchers define, investigate, and measure trust. I further explore trust measurements by presenting an online user study that dives deeper into subjective trust questionnaires. I then discuss another user study about the interplay between emotional intelligence, gender, and trust to examine factors that affect trust in robots. Finally, I present a model for trustworthy robot behavior as implemented in the DIARC cognitive architecture.
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
RKC 11111:50 am – 1:10 pm EDT/GMT-4 Eat Pizza and Meet Faculty and Students!
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Susan D'Agostino, '91 RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Long before Susan D’Agostino wrote, How to Free Your Inner Mathematician: Notes on Mathematics and Life (Oxford University Press, 2020), she was a student at Bard College in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There, she majored in anthropology, took nearly as many classes in film, and avoided the math department. She also filled countless journals sitting on the back steps of Manor House, nurturing a burning desire to write. But Bard writing faculty, including William Weaver, Chinua Achebe, John Ashbery, Mona Simpson, and Robert Kelly exuded a gentle, if unspoken, message that she needed more life experience to give her writing soul. And so, upon graduating from Bard, she moved into a small cabin 50 feet from a barn housing 42,000 chickens, took a job traveling through Central and South America, and began studying theoretical mathematics. Susan’s post-college path took her far from Annandale-on-Hudson, but the life perspective she cultivated at Bard continues to provide a true north in her life. In this talk, attendees will hear stories from her book that are focused on defining success for oneself in both math and life.
Susan D’Agostino is a science writer and mathematician whose work has been published in The Atlantic, Washington Post, Inside Higher Ed, Scientific American, Wired, Quanta, BBC, Nature, National Public Radio, and other outlets. She is the author of How To Free Your Inner Mathematician (Oxford University Press, 2020). Susan is the technology reporter at Inside Higher Ed, where she provides substantive analysis on pressing issues facing higher education today for 2.3 million monthly readers. Her writing has been recognized with fellowships from the Columbia University School of Journalism, Reuters Institute at Oxford University, the National Association of Science Writers, the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, and the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation. She earned a PhD in mathematics at Dartmouth College, an MA in science writing at Johns Hopkins University, and a BA in anthropology at Bard College.
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Allison Stanger, Visiting Professor of Technology and Human Values RKC 11112:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Friday, April 28, 2023
John L. Bell, Western University Hegeman 10712:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 The concept of the continuum is one of the oldest in philosophy and mathematics. A continuum is conceived of as a continuous entity possessing no gaps or interruptions. We commonly suppose that space, time and motion are continua. The continuum concept was first systematically investigated by Aristotle c. 350 B.C. His major conclusion was that a continuum cannot be reduced to a discrete entity such as a collection of points or numbers. In the 17th century Leibniz’s struggle to understand the continuum led him to term it a labyrinth. In modern times mathematicians have formulated a set-theoretic, or “arithmetic” account of the continuum in discrete terms, although certain important thinkers, such as Brentano, Weyl and Brouwer rejected this formulation, upholding to Aristotle’s view that continua cannot be reduced to discreteness.
Closely allied to the continuum concept is that of the infinitely small, or infinitesimal. Traditionally, an infinitesimal has been conceived of, geometrically, as a part of a continuous curve so small that it may be regarded as “straight”, or, numerically, as a “number” so small that, while not coinciding with zero, is smaller than any finite nonzero number. The development of the differential calculus from the 17th century until the 19th century was based on these concepts.
In my talk I shall present a historical survey of these ideas.
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Kristina Striegnitz, Union College RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Data plays an increasing role in shaping our lives. It is, therefore, important to help non-experts understand, evaluate and draw inferences based on data. Data is often represented as graphs. However, prior research has shown that many people struggle with graph comprehension. We compared the effectiveness of presenting data as a graph to a text summary and to a combination of the two. Furthermore, we explored whether, in the combined presentation, color-coding or graph annotations helped non-expert readers better understand the underlying data.
Kristina Striegnitz is an associate professor of computer science at Union College in Schenectady, NY. Before coming to Union she did a postdoc with Justine Cassell at Northwestern University. Kristina has a joint PhD from Saarland University in Germany and University Henri Poincare, Nancy 1 in France. Her research is in natural language generation and dialog systems. She is particularly interested in embodied interactive systems that are situated in physical or virtual environments.
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Alan Thompson, Loughborough University RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 A pseudolattice is a (multidimensional) grid of points, equipped with a function that takes two points from the grid and returns an integer. A simple example would be the grid of points (x,y) in the plane with integer coordinates x and y, along with the dot product which takes two such points (a,b) and (c,d) and returns the integer ac+bd. I begin with a gentle introduction to the theory of pseudolattices, before presenting two settings in which they show up in geometry. The first describes configurations of points and curves on surfaces, whilst the second encodes the geometry of families of tori over a disc. Interestingly, despite the fact that the two settings seem unrelated, the pseudolattices that show up in each setting are identical. This is an example of the general phenomenon of "mirror symmetry," first discovered by theoretical physicists, which says that many geometric objects which seem to be unrelated nonetheless share fascinating properties.
Monday, April 10, 2023
Ursula Whitcher, American Mathematical Society RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Adinkras are decorated graphs that encapsulate information about the physics of supersymmetry. If we color the edges of an Adinkra with a rainbow of shades in a specific order, we obtain a special curve that we can study using algebraic and geometric techniques. We use this structure to characterize height functions on Adinkras, then show how to encapsulate the same information using data from our rainbow. This talk describes joint work with Amanda Francis.
Saturday, April 8, 2023
An Audiovisual Interactive Installation Avery Integrated Media Room8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Come experience particle-wave duality and participate in the double slit experiment through interaction with our immersive installation built with projection and quadraphonic sounds. The music composition and generative visuals design incorporates mathematical functions that capture features of waves and particles, which are fundamental to quantum mechanics as well as our physical world.
Friday, April 7, 2023
An Audiovisual Interactive Installation Avery Integrated Media Room8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Come experience particle-wave duality and participate in the double slit experiment through interaction with our immersive installation built with projection and quadraphonic sounds. The music composition and generative visuals design incorporates mathematical functions that capture features of waves and particles, which are fundamental to quantum mechanics as well as our physical world.
Thursday, April 6, 2023
An Audiovisual Interactive Installation Avery Integrated Media Room8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Come experience particle-wave duality and participate in the double slit experiment through interaction with our immersive installation built with projection and quadraphonic sounds. The music composition and generative visuals design incorporates mathematical functions that capture features of waves and particles, which are fundamental to quantum mechanics as well as our physical world.
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Karen Lange, Wellesley College RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 You can make a simple family tree by starting with a person at the root and then adding two branches for her parents, and then adding two branches for the parents of each of her two parents, and so on. Such a family tree is an example of a binary tree because each level of the tree has at most two branches. We'll see that every binary tree with infinitely many nodes has an infinite path; this result is called Weak Kőnig's Lemma. But just because we know a path exists, doesn't mean we can find it. Given Weak Kőnig's Lemma, it's natural to ask whether we can compute a path through a given binary tree with infinitely many nodes. It turns out the answer to this "Path Problem" is "no", so we say that the problem is not "computable". But then what exactly is the computational power of this Path Problem? Using the Path Problem as a test case, we will explore the key ideas behind taking a "computable" perspective on mathematics (over an "existence" one) and describe an approach for measuring the computational power of mathematical problems. We'll see that the computational power of problems varies widely and studying problems' power helps to illuminate what really makes problems "tick". This talk will highlight ideas from graph theory, theoretical computer science, and logic, but no background in any of these subjects is necessary.
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Rylan Gajek-Leonard, '16, Union College RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 We all have an intuitive notion of 'distance' between two numbers. For example, we might say that the distance between the numbers 3 and 5 is 2, and the distance between -5 and 1 is 6. But what do we really mean by 'distance'? Are there other ways to measure numbers? It turns out that the answer is yes: for every prime number p, there is a way to measure numbers in terms of their divisibility by p. In doing this, we are led to the world of "p-adic numbers", a strange place where all triangles are isosceles and where every point in a circle is its center. The theory of p-adic numbers permeates nearly all aspects of modern number theory. In this talk, we will define and gain intuition for the p-adic numbers and see some of their applications to problems in number theory.
Rylan completed his bachelor's degree in mathematics and music performance at Bard College, where he was also a cellist in the conservatory. He obtained a master's degree from the University of Cambridge, where he also performed with the Cambridge Philharmonic, and a PhD from UMass Amherst. Rylan currently teaches at Union College in Schenectady, New York. His research is in algebraic number theory and arithmetic geometry.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
James Marshall, Sarah Lawrence College RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Since the 1920s, physicists and philosophers have been trying to understand the strangeness of the subatomic world as revealed by quantum theory, but it wasn't until the 1980s that computer scientists first began to suspect that this strangeness might represent a source of immense computational power. This realization was soon followed by key theoretical advances, including the discovery of algorithms that harness the quantum phenomena of superposition and entanglement, enabling quantum computers in principle to solve certain problems far more efficiently than any conventional computer. Around the same time, researchers built the first working quantum computers, albeit on a very small scale. Today the multidisciplinary field of quantum computing lies at the intersection of computer science, mathematics, and physics, and is one of the most fascinating areas in science, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the future. In this talk I will give an overview of the basic mathematical ideas behind quantum computing, and use them to illustrate two particularly interesting results: the quantum search algorithm, and quantum teleportation.
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Tifin Calcagni, The Global Math Circle RKC 11112:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Magic squares are mathematical structures that have been known since ancient times; most likely many of their properties are still left undiscovered. Magic squares are an ideal topic for mathematical exploration and discovery with participants of all levels. Since 2020, Global Math Circle has carried out this activity with various groups. This topic was the foundation of a whole circle project in Colombia. We made five versions in which children of the United States 2020-I, 2022-II, Colombia 2020-I (urban online), Colombia/Peru 2021-II (urban online), 2022-II Colombia (Rural Face-to-face). Exploration of magic squares lead to discussions ranging from basic arithmetic, combinatorics, geometry, vector spaces, and more. We want to show you how to use magic squares as a springboard topic to get at larger mathematical explorations with students of diverse backgrounds and readiness levels.
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
RKC 11111:50 am – 1:10 pm EST/GMT-5 Welcome Back
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Reem-Kayden Center4:00 pm – 5:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Join our December graduating seniors as the present their work!
Friday, October 21, 2022
Reem-Kayden Center4:00 pm – 6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join our summer research students as they present their work!
Join our students in presenting their summer research! Reem-Kayden Center4:00 pm – 6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Friday, October 22, 2021
Dani Schultz Merck Pharmaceuticals Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium12:10 pm – 1:10 pm EDT/GMT-4 Aspects of this session will highlight my journey from a small town in northern Wisconsin to the bustling east coast where leaning into discomfort has been critical in driving my career at Merck and the chemistry that I have pursued. Throughout my career, I have tapped into my ability to forge meaningful collaborations, internally and externally, to challenge the status quo and drive disruptive thinking – both in chemistry but also in improving STEM culture. I’ll briefly touch upon some recently completed academic-industrial research collaborations that aimed to empower early-career female professors and provide a platform to mentor and train female professors and students in pharmaceutical research. Throughout all of this, I have a passion for diversity, equity and inclusion and will share how I’ve navigated raising important, and at times difficult, topics and how to influence workplace culture. I’ve learned a lot through failed experiments along the way and I am looking forward to an active discussion with fellow changemakers!
Dani Schultz received her PhD from the University of Michigan working with Professor John Wolfe and was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Professor Tehshik Yoon. Since joining Merck in 2014, Dani has been a member of Process Chemistry and Enabling Technologies in Rahway, NJ and as of 2021 became the Director of the Discovery Process Chemistry group in Kenilworth, NJ. Throughout her time at Merck, Dani has been involved in the development of synthetic routes for drug candidates spanning HIV and oncology – forging meaningful collaborations, both internally and externally, to address the synthetic challenges that occur during pharmaceutical development. Most recently, she has served as co-host to the Pharm to Table podcast that aims to elevate the people and stories behind #MerckChemistry.
Thursday, May 20, 2021
Join our graduating seniors in presenting their research! Main Commencement Tent5:30 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Please see the abstract booklet below for full descriptions of students' research.
Hala Nelson, James Madison University Online Event3:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Today's popular AI is mostly software, algorithms, and big data processing. Mathematics powers most of these AI techniques that are rapidly integrated into every aspect of our society and are useful for a vast array of applications. AI agents only understand numbers, more specifically, blobs of zeros and ones. In this talk we will use undergraduate mathematics to make an AI agent process our natural language, recognize what she sees, and make intelligent decisions. We will work out simple examples that have wide applications in the Artificial Intelligence sphere. This is an extremely undergraduate friendly talk and you only need to have calculus and linear algebra backgrounds.
For underrepresented students in STEM. https://meet.google.com/azc-hvgc-cus6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join us for a conversation on virtual learning and internships in math and the sciences.
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Reem-Kayden Center6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Join our December graduating seniors in presenting their senior projects. Light refreshments will be served
Monday, November 11, 2019
Campus Walk Above Kline9:30 am – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5 In a rare occurrence, the planet Mercury will pass in front of the Sun on the morning of November 11. However, this is not a celestial event that one can view by looking to the heavens with an unaided eye, since
a) Mercury is very small compared with the Sun, and
b) You shouldn't look directly at the Sun.
In order to view the transit (clouds permitting) the Physics Program will have a telescope with a solar filter set up on Campus Walk, just up the hill from Kline. Drop by anytime from 9:30am until the transit ends at 1pm to check out this planetary alignment for yourself.
Note the next chance to view a Mercury transit from Bard will be on May 7, 2049.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Visiting Artists: Codie (Sarah Groff Hennigh-Palermo and Kate Sicchio) Blum Hall6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Codie is a live coding duo, working with sounds and visuals. This event will include a talk on the development of live coding performance techniques, followed by an improvised audio/video performance. The performance will feature Bard music seniors Bird Cohen, Ezra Kahn, and Maeve Schallert.
Free and open to all.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Sarah Groff Hennigh-Palermo & Kate Sicchio
Blum Hall6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 This talk and performance will focus on the work of Codie, a live coding group working with visuals and sounds. The talk will give background to the live coding community as well as the development of our live coding practices. The performance will show a world of colors, shapes, beeps and boops all created through real-time computer programming.
Codie is a live coding a/v group based in Brooklyn NY and Richmond VA (USA). Codie is seen in New York, Philadelphia, Berlin, Madrid, Sheffield and beyond in clubs, in living rooms, and on roof tops. Codie makes live performance, films and installations with code. https://codie.live/
Sarah Groff Hennigh-Palermo is an artist, programmer, and erstwhile data designer. She has created data-obscured art sites, new computer languages, and hybrid nostalgia machines. Her current focus is livecode and digital abstraction. Sarah is an alumna of the School for Poetic Computation, Recurse Center, Brown University, and NYU Tandon School of Engineering. She has taken part in group shows at Sonar+D, Westbeth, Day for Night, and Flux Factory. http://sarahghp.com/
Dr. Kate Sicchio is a choreographer, , media artist and performer whose work explores the interface between choreography and technology with wearable technology, live coding, and video systems. Her work has been shown internationally in many countries including the US, Germany, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, and the UK at venues such as PS122 (NYC), Banff New Media Institute (Canada), V&A Digital Futures (London), and Artisan Gallery (Hong Kong). http://www.sicchio.com
6:15 p.m. talk / 7:00 p.m. performance with special Bard guests Bird Cohen, Ezra Kahn, and Maeve Schallert
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium11:00 am – 12:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 One of the most fundamental tropes of digital game design is state-tracking: The player picks up the Blue Key, so they are now able to open the Blue Door. This is endemic to games’ emphasis on Progress, of a colonialist mastery of the world and mastery of game systems. How does digital storytelling transform when you take away or limit the author’s ability to track state, as with a tool like Twine or Bitsy? What other models of stateless interactive literature exist? What does this all have to do with queerness and nonlinear time? Let’s dismantle the state as a tool for hegemonic game design. Anna Anthropy is a game designer, educator, and thirtysomething teen witch. She is the Game Designer in Residence at DePaul University and the author of Make Your Own Twine Games! and Make Your Own Scratch Games! She lives in Chicago with her familiar, a little black cat named Encyclopedia Frown.
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Reem-Kayden Center3:30 pm – 4:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Come meet your fellow summer researchers and have some snacks!
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Reem-Kayden Center6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join our seniors in presenting their Senior Project research!
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Join our December graduating seniors in presenting their senior projects Reem-Kayden Center6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Light refreshments will be served.
Friday, November 2, 2018
Dr. Kathryn E. Stein ’66 Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium5:00 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Kathryn Stein ’66, PhD, an immunologist with more than 30 years of experience, received the John and Samuel Bard Award in Medicine and Science from Bard College.
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Reem-Kayden Center6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join faculty and students who participated in this year’s program in presenting their work.
Thursday, May 17, 2018
8:30 pm – 10:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Buses leave from Kline South stop at 8:30 pm.
Join us at the Montgomery Place visitor center for a short talk by Prof. Antonios Kontos on the science of Jupiter—from the days of Galileo to the latest NASA missions—followed by telescope viewing of Jupiter and its moons, a guided tour of the night sky, and a round of ask-a-physicist-anything.
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Join Science, Mathematics & Computer graduating seniors in presenting their senior projects. Reem-Kayden Center6:30 pm – 8:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Monday, April 2, 2018
Discover how brain scanning offers new pathways for education Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium4:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 John Gabrieli Investigator, McGovern Institute, MIT Grover Hermann Professor, Health Sciences and Technology; Professor, Brain and Cognitive Sciences
John Gabrieli is the director of the Athinoula A. Martinos Imaging Center at the McGovern Institute. He is an investigator at the Institute, with faculty appointments in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, where he holds the Grover Hermann Professorship. He also has appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is the director of the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative. Prior to joining MIT in 2005, he spent 14 years at Stanford University in the Department of Psychology and Neurosciences Program. He received a PhD in behavioral neuroscience in the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a BA in English from Yale University. In 2016 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Reem-Kayden Center6:30 pm – 8:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Join our December graduating seniors in presenting their senior projects
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Reem-Kayden Center6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Queens, NY4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 The Science, Mathematics & Computing Division will be sending a bus down to the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY on Sunday, September 24. Space on the bus is LIMITED. The bus will depart RKC promptly at 8 a.m. and return to campus at approximately 7 p.m.
Tickets to get into the Faire and a spot on the bus are $25. CASH ONLY, EXACT CHANGE ONLY, NO REFUNDS Reservations will be accepted until Wednesday, September 20
TO RESERVE YOUR TICKET AND A SPOT ON THE BUS, PLEASE SEE MEGAN KARCHER, RKC 219. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Ilya R. Fischhoff Postdoctoral Associate Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium3:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Ilya Fischhoff is a postdoctoral fellow with The Tick Project (www.tickproject.org). The Tick Project is a 5-year study to determine whether controlling ticks at the neighborhood scale reduces tick-borne diseases in people. One of the tick control methods that The Tick Project is evaluating is Met52, a biopesticide containing spores of a tick-killing fungus. In assessing Met52, it is important to evaluate not only its efficacy in reducing tick-borne disease but also its impacts on non-target organisms. Ilya will present results from an experiment he conducted last summer to assess the effects of Met52 on non-target arthropods in lawn and forest habitats typical of residential yards. Ilya sampled arthropods on treatment and control plots, before and after spray with Met52 on the treatment plots or water on the control plots. Ilya used multivariate models to analyze the data on arthropod abundance in 25 taxonomic orders. There were significant effects of plot location, period (before vs. after spray) and habitat (lawn vs. forest), but no effect of treatment (Met52 vs. water). A retrospective power analysis showed that the study had an 80% chance of detecting a reduction in arthropod abundance of 55% or greater. Based on these results, Ilya and his collaborators concluded that the use of Met52 in suburban yards is unlikely to cause meaningful reductions in the abundance of non-target arthropods. Finally, Ilya will also talk briefly about a microcosm experiment he is setting up to examine interactions among Met52, ticks, and brush-legged wolf spiders, a natural enemy of ticks.
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Jeremy R. Manning, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences Dartmouth College Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium3:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Our memory systems leverage the statistical structure of the world around us (context) to organize and store incoming information and retrieve previously stored information. This enables us to recognize the situations we are in and to adapt our behaviors accordingly. For example, your might choose to behave differently on a road trip with close friends versus commuting into work with your boss, even though many aspects of your perceptual experience are preserved across those two scenarios. You might also remember different aspects of conversations from those trips when asked about them later.
In my talk, I will explore the extent to which (and the circumstances under which) these sorts of processes may be manipulated to influence memory. I’ll begin by exploring these processes using a simple word list learning paradigm. I’ll show how we can influence memory performance (specifically, how many words people remember and the order people remember the words in). Then I’ll talk about how these same ideas can be applied to “naturalistic” memories, such as memories for scenes in a movie or concepts learned in the classroom.
Thursday, July 6, 2017
Antonios Kontos, Physics program Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium3:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 With three detections and counting, the Advanced LIGO gravitational-wave observatories have opened a new window into the Universe. For now, all the detected gravitational-waves originated from collisions of two black holes. The effect that these gravitational-waves have as they pass through space is to stretch and compress space-time, much like sound waves stretch and compress the air. To understand the challenge of detecting this effect here on Earth, imagine (if you can) that a reasonably strong gravitational wave changes the length of one kilometer by one thousandth of a proton's diameter. At this level of sensitivity, quantum mechanics and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle start playing a significant role and if we want to listen further into the Universe, we need to manipulate the quantum nature of light to our advantage. In this talk I will give an overview of gravitational waves, how LIGO detects them, and why quantum mechanics matters when measuring distances with such precision.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Reem-Kayden Center6:30 pm – 8:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join Science, Mathematics & Computer graduating seniors in presenting their senior projects.
Monday, April 24, 2017
a VR demonstration provided by Christopher Klabes In Studio X in Avery3:15 pm EDT/GMT-4
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Ramsey Nasser RKC 1003:15 pm EDT/GMT-4 Ramsey Nasser is a computer scientist, game designer, and educator based in Brooklyn. His work explores issues of justice in computing and the role of human culture in coding. He researches programming languages by building tools to make computation more expressive and implementing projects that question the basic assumptions we make about code itself. His games playfully push people out of their comfort zones, and are often built using experimental tools of his design. Ramsey is a former Eyebeam fellow and a professor at schools around New York. When he is not reasoning about abstract unintuitive machines, he goes on long motorcycle trips.
Monday, March 13, 2017
Mike Lazer-Walker, class of 2011 Avery 1163:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Mike Lazer-Walker (2011) builds software tools, interactive art, and experimental games in New York. In the past, he’s worked with the MIT Media Lab’s Playful Systems research group and Pivotal Labs, and on popular apps such as Timehop and Words With Friends. As a game designer and artist, his work has been featured at events ranging from IndieCade and the Game Developer's Conference to the Smithsonian museum and NPR's All Things Considered.
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Adam Kearney, class of 2012 RKC 1114:45 pm EST/GMT-5
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Reem-Kayden Center6:30 pm EST/GMT-5
Friday, October 21, 2016
Hegeman 2042:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Rebecca Schiavo, Senior Assistant Director from Columbia's Office of Undergraduate Admissions, will be coming to talk about the 3+2 and 4+2 BA/BS Combined Plans. This is an ideal opportunity to get definitive answers to your specific questions. She visits only once in two years, so don't miss her talk.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Reem-Kayden Center6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Reserve Your Seat by September 26 New York Hall of Science, Queens, NY4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 The Science, Mathematics & Computing Division will be sending a bus down to the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY on Saturday, October 1. Space on the bus is limited. The bus will depart RKC promptly at 8 a.m. and return to campus at approximately 7 p.m.
Tickets to get into the Faire and a spot on the bus are $30.00. Cash only, exact change only.
To reserve your ticket and a spot on the bus, please see Megan Karcher, RKC 219 (office hours are Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.)
Monday, September 12, 2016
We want you to participate in trying out a new Science Literacy assessment developed here at Bard!
Assessment sessions are being held on Sunday, September 11 at 3 p.m. and on Monday, September 12 at 7 p.m. RKC second floor pods7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 The assessment is done in pairs, takes a little more than 90 minutes to complete, is designed to see how you go about finding the answer to a science-related question, and is pretty fun to do! Treats provided for all who participate!
**science majors are always welcome!**
Bring a laptop for the assessment
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Reem-Kayden Center6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium2:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join a panel of professors from Bard and other local colleges for a discussion on gender, sexism, and empowerment in science. The panel is hosted by Women in S.T.E.M. at Bard, a group which aims to provide inspiration and support to underrepresented minorities in science and their allies.
Q&A and reception with refreshments will follow.
Friday, April 8, 2016
April 7-8, 2016 at Bard College a two day symposium exploring the place of sound in the arts, sciences, and humanities Blum9:00 am EDT/GMT-4 Friday, April 8 @Blum
9am Prelude Georgian Polyphony Workshop with Carl Linich
10am Aurality A panel discussion with Tomie Hahn (RPI), Brian Hochman (Georgetown University), Julianne Swartz (Bard College), & Amanda Weidman (Bryn Mawr College) Chaired by Alex Benson (Bard College0
11:30am Interlude Physics of Sound with Matthew Deady Soundwalk with Todd Shalom
1:00pm Transmission A panal discussion with Masha Godovannaya (Smolny College), Tom Porcello (Vassar College), Drew Thompson (Bard College0, and Olga Touloumi (Bard College0 Chaired by Danielle Riou (Bard College)
2:30pm Interlude Oral History Workshop with Suzanne Snider Soundwalk with Todd Shalom
3:30pm Resonance A panel discussion with Marie Abe (Boston University), Emilio Distretti (Al-Quds), Erica Robles-Anderson (NYU), Maria Sonevytsky (Bard College), & David Suisman (University of Delaware) Chaired by Laura Kunreuther
5:00pm Deep Listening Workshop with Pauline Oliveros
6:00pm Closing Remarks **This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required for all interludes**
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Roberto Rojas-Cessa New Jersey Institute of Technology RKC 11512:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 In this presentation, we discuss the problem of Internet Protocol (IP) address lookup and the challenges it has dragged for long time. We focus on schemes based on binary trees, which are known to be lagging in lookup speed as compared to content-addressable memory solutions. We present a recently designed IP lookup scheme, called Helix, that performs parallel prefix matching at the different prefix lengths and uses the helicoidal properties of binary trees to reduce their height. Helix minimizes the amount of memory used to store long and numerous prefixes and achieves IP lookup and route updates in a single memory access. We show the evaluations of the performance of Helix with several IPv4 and IPv6 forwarding tables. Roberto Rojas-Cessa received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Polytechnic University (now the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, Polytechnic Institute), Brooklyn, NY. Currently, he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology. He has been involved in design of systems for high-speed computer communications, and in the development of high-performance and scalable packet switches and reliable switches. His research interests include data center networks, high-speed switching and routing, fault tolerance, quality-of-service networks, network measurements, and distributed systems. He is the recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award 2013 from the Newark College of Engineering. He is a recipient of New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame - Innovators Award in 2013. He is a Senior Member of IEEE.
Thursday, March 10, 2016 – Friday, April 1, 2016
Please see the link below for information on applying for a Distinguished Scientist Scholar Award. Application deadline is Friday, April 1
Stefan Mendez-Diez, Utah State University Hegeman 20412:00 pm EST/GMT-5 In physics, supersymmetry is a pairing between the carriers of mass and energy appearing in theories of subatomic particles. These physical theories can be described using graphs known as Adinkras. We will tour the mathematics of supersymmetry by illustrating how we can construct Adinkras using binary cubes and error correcting codes. We will discuss recent results that allow us to give a geometric interpretation of these physical theories using Grothendieck’s theory of dessins d’enfants, or “children’s drawings.” This will lead us to consider spin structures and discrete Morse functions as a natural part of supersymmetry.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Reem-Kayden Center6:30 pm EST/GMT-5
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Professor Frank Scalzo Health Professions Adviser Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium6:00 pm EST/GMT-5 Professor Frank Scalzo will introduce the pathways leading to post-baccalaureate degrees in the health professions including, traditional medicine, allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, optometry, etc. etc. The discussion will be tailored to the interests of the audience. If you are interested in a health profession, you should attend this discussion.
For more information, please contact Professor Frank Scalzo at [email protected].
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Scott Lydiard, class of 1973 RKC 11112:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 I have been following the evolution of software through mobile, social media, mashups and IoT (Internet of Things). This has been primarily in my role hiring "software people". The breadth and depth of the field has exploded. Everyone knows this. What is subtler, successful software is often dependent on critical, out-of-the box thinking. Hello, Bard! Standard Computer Science curricula will NOT prepare one for the next Unicorn (firms with over $1 Billion evaluation, with 1000x returns for investors). It will prepare you for IBM, Mobil or Citicorp style careers. If there are any.
I taught web design and development at the University of California — San Diego. I was a reference for some of my students and so got to speak with many recruiters and hiring managers (Qualcomm, US Navy, NSA, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Accenture). What they were looking for, in many cases, were eye openers for me. It wasn’t anything I was teaching.
Looking back in my hiring, I made mistakes. BIG mistakes. I followed the myth of STEM and classical computer science majors. I thought the emergence of startups and the “Failure is Okay” culture were Silicon Valley anomalies. They aren't. We will review what the Amazons, Googles and Apples say they are looking for (and ask for in Interviews). There are creative thinking roles in Cloud, social media, and mobile technology that didn't exist ten years ago. For a Liberal Arts major, Computer Science can be an “enabler” for non-traditional careers. We will look at some Use Cases for "Security" and "Algorithms". We will eulogize "Waterfall Development" and review the new development standard, "Agile".
Twenty years ago the liberal arts majors worked for the engineers in building paradigm changing systems. Now the roles are reversing.
Scott Lydiard is a software engineer passionate about software development education and technical careers. While the central theme of his career has been software, he has spent 10 years in the oil business (Chief Engineer for Baker Hughes), 10 years in the mapping business (Vice President of Engineering of the world's largest mapping company), 10 years for the government (Navy - NSA Consultant for Satellite Communications) plus Chief Technology Officer for the military (Predicate Logic) and in the entertainment business (Nielsen).
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Ashley Gavin, All Star Code RKC 1114:30 pm EDT/GMT-4 Join this event's co-sponsors, the Center for Civic Engagement and the Computer Science Program, to hear Ashley Gavin give a talk about diversity in STEM fields.
Ashley Gavin is the Curriculum Director of All Star Code, a non-profit organization helping to get more young men of color into the tech sector. Prior to her work at All Star Code Ashley spent 2 years working as a software engineer at MIT Lincoln Labs, and then went on to serve as the founding curriculum director of Girls Who Code. She continues to teach computer science as an adjunct faculty at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She did her undergraduate degree at Bryn Mawr College where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with honors in Computer Science.
Friday, September 25, 2015
The language of experience and evaluation: Logical and linguistic investigations into subjective judgment Reem-Kayden Center Room 101 Abstract: We’re all in the business of evaluation. We evaluate basketball players and beers, movies and motels, students and teachers. Philosophical discussions both contemporary and classical have elevated the notion of a judge or point of view in explaining the central puzzling feature of evaluation — the tug-of-war between the subjective genesis of and objective standards of correctness for evaluative judgments. In recent years there has been a torrent of work at the intersection of philosophy and linguistics on so-called "faultless disagreements" — disputes (e.g. over whether vanilla ice cream is tastier than chocolate ice cream) that seem to concern mere personal preferences. I argue that popular accounts misconstrue the meaning of evaluative expressions and that the claims at issue concern norms of experience. On the way to this conclusion, we’ll touch on a number of issues in logic and linguistics: quantification, genericity, modality, and aspect.
Alex Anthony is a PhD candidate at Rutgers University, Department of Philosophy. After completing his undergraduate studies at Wesleyan University he participated in Summer Schools in Logic, Language and Information in Ljubljana, Slovenia and in College Park, Maryland before enrolling at Rutgers. At Wesleyan he received the Wise Prize for the best paper in Philosophy. At Rutgers he received the Presidential Fellowship, one of ten awarded annually university-wide to an outstanding doctoral student.
this is the last seminar in the series
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Reem-Kayden Center
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Morgon Kanter, ’09 RKC 111 The internet can be a dangerous place. Beneath the friendly facade of online shopping and captioned cat pictures lie a large number of bad actors who want to take over your computers and steal your money. Come find out how they do it, why they do it, and how Google is stopping them.
Friday, September 18, 2015
The language of experience and evaluation: Logical and linguistic investigations into subjective judgment Reem-Kayden Center Room 101 Abstract: We’re all in the business of evaluation. We evaluate basketball players and beers, movies and motels, students and teachers. Philosophical discussions both contemporary and classical have elevated the notion of a judge or point of view in explaining the central puzzling feature of evaluation — the tug-of-war between the subjective genesis of and objective standards of correctness for evaluative judgments. In recent years there has been a torrent of work at the intersection of philosophy and linguistics on so-called "faultless disagreements" — disputes (e.g. over whether vanilla ice cream is tastier than chocolate ice cream) that seem to concern mere personal preferences. I argue that popular accounts misconstrue the meaning of evaluative expressions and that the claims at issue concern norms of experience. On the way to this conclusion, we’ll touch on a number of issues in logic and linguistics: quantification, genericity, modality, and aspect.
Alex Anthony is a PhD candidate at Rutgers University, Department of Philosophy. After completing his undergraduate studies at Wesleyan University he participated in Summer Schools in Logic, Language and Information in Ljubljana, Slovenia and in College Park, Maryland before enrolling at Rutgers. At Wesleyan he received the Wise Prize for the best paper in Philosophy. At Rutgers he received the Presidential Fellowship, one of ten awarded annually university-wide to an outstanding doctoral student.
this is the last seminar in the series
Friday, September 11, 2015
The language of experience and evaluation: Logical and linguistic investigations into subjective judgment Reem-Kayden Center Room 101 Abstract: We’re all in the business of evaluation. We evaluate basketball players and beers, movies and motels, students and teachers. Philosophical discussions both contemporary and classical have elevated the notion of a judge or point of view in explaining the central puzzling feature of evaluation — the tug-of-war between the subjective genesis of and objective standards of correctness for evaluative judgments. In recent years there has been a torrent of work at the intersection of philosophy and linguistics on so-called "faultless disagreements" — disputes (e.g. over whether vanilla ice cream is tastier than chocolate ice cream) that seem to concern mere personal preferences. I argue that popular accounts misconstrue the meaning of evaluative expressions and that the claims at issue concern norms of experience. On the way to this conclusion, we’ll touch on a number of issues in logic and linguistics: quantification, genericity, modality, and aspect.
Alex Anthony is a PhD candidate at Rutgers University, Department of Philosophy. After completing his undergraduate studies at Wesleyan University he participated in Summer Schools in Logic, Language and Information in Ljubljana, Slovenia and in College Park, Maryland before enrolling at Rutgers. At Wesleyan he received the Wise Prize for the best paper in Philosophy. At Rutgers he received the Presidential Fellowship, one of ten awarded annually university-wide to an outstanding doctoral student.
this is the last seminar in the series
Friday, September 4, 2015
Olin 102 Interested in applying for a Fulbright Scholarship, a Watson fellowship, or another postgraduate scholarship or fellowship? This information session will cover application procedures, deadlines, and suggestions for crafting a successful application. Applications will be due later this month, so be sure to attend one of the two information sessions!
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Reem-Kayden Center The Science, Mathematics & Computing Division will be sending a bus down to the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY on Saturday, September 26. Space on the bus is LIMITED. The bus will depart RKC promptly at 8 a.m. and return to campus at approximately 7 p.m.
Tickets to get into the Faire and a spot on the bus are $30.00 CASH ONLY, EXACT CHANGE ONLY. Reservations will be accepted until Friday, September 18
TO RESERVE YOUR TICKET AND A SPOT ON THE BUS, PLEASE SEE MEGAN KARCHER, RKC 219. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Reem-Kayden Center Join the graduating seniors in the Science, Mathematics and Computing Division in presenting and celebrating their senior project work
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Khondaker Musfakus Salehin Networking Research Laboratory, New Jersey Institute of Technology RKC 111 Internet is a major backbone for communication these days. It runs a plethora of applications that connect users from different parts of the world. However, the performance of these applications depends on the qualitative state of the Internet which has to be determined for ensuring user satisfaction. Network measurement is an applied field of research that characterizes the Internet by measuring different network parameters for efficient use of the Internet infrastructure and for successful end-to-end communications with guaranteed user satisfaction.
This talk focuses on the active measurement of different network parameters that does not require a large infrastructural and administrative supports from the Internet. Here, new solutions for actively measuring two network parameters, packet processing time (PPT) of workstations and queueing delay at routers, will be initially discussed. PPT is a static network parameter whereas queueing delay is a dynamic network parameter in the Internet. This discussion will present the importance of the above stated network parameters, challenges to measure them in the Internet, and the accuracy of the proposed solutions both in the testbed and real-life environments. Then a preview of current research regarding PPT in the presence of a hardware artifact, called interrupt coalescence, in the network interface card of workstations and queueing delay over a multiple-hop path will be discussed. Finally, an overview of future research directions in the field of active network measurement will conclude the talk.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Amy LaViers, Assistant Professor in Systems and Information Engineering, University of Virginia RKC 115 How do you get a robot to do the disco? Or perform a cheerleading routine? These acts require a quantitative understanding of two distinct movement behaviors and pose new problems for the high-level control of humanoid robots. This talk will discuss the use of movement observation, taxonomy, and expert knowledge, for example, as found in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies, an embodied theoretical framework developed by dancers, to facilitate the production of diverse robotic behaviors. In this talk, a `behavior’ will be defined by a set of movement primitives that are scaled and sequenced differently in different behaviors. Methods toward extracting such primitives automatically from human movement will be discussed as well as methods that allow for different scaling sequencing schemes. These methods will be applied to real robotic platforms and presented in a context that motivates the fundamental value of high-level abstractions that produce a wide array of behavior.Amy LaViers is an Assistant Professor in Systems and Information Engineering at the University of Virginia and director of the Robotics, Automation, and Dance (RAD) Lab where she studies develops algorithms for automation inspired by movement and dance theory. She completed her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. Her research began at Princeton University where she earned a certificate in Dance and degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Her senior thesis earned top honors in the MAE department, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Lewis Center for the Arts. At Georgia Tech, she was the recipient of the ECE Graduate Teaching Excellence Award and a finalist for the CETL/BP Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award. In her final months at Georgia Tech, she choreographed a contemporary dance show entitled “Automaton” that explores the ideas of style and automation outlined in her dissertation. She is currently enrolled in the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies’ Certification in Movement Analysis (CMA) program.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Zombies, the Liberal Arts, and the Digital Age A lecture by Mark Sample, Davidson College
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium While the relevance of the liberal arts—indeed, their very survival—is an ongoing conversation in contemporary culture, little consideration has been given to the place of the liberal arts in the distant future. A hundred years from now, five hundred, what will the liberal arts look like? In this speculative talk I explore the ubiquitous figure of the zombie as an allegory for our collective failure to imagine the future of the liberal arts in the digital age and beyond.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Applications are due to Megan Karcher, [email protected], by Friday, April 3 Reem-Kayden Center Distinguished Scientist Scholar (DSS) AwardGuidelines and Application Instructions All current students concentrating in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics or physics are eligible to apply for a Distinguished Scientist Scholar (DSS) Award. These awards are given to exceptional students who have distinguished themselves academically in one of the above-mentioned disciplines in the division of Science, Mathematics and Computing. The exact amount of each award is determined by the Financial Aid office, on average $5000 for each academic year, and includes the opportunity to apply for a summer research stipend to participate in NSF or NIH sponsored summer research programs at other institutions, if the student is not already eligible for federal funding. Like other science students at Bard, DSS recipients are also eligible for BSRI funding for summer research at Bard. Please note that this is a very competitive process and only a few awards will be given out each year. · Eligibility: To apply for a DSS award (commencing in the fall), a student must meet the following eligibility criteria:o Concentrating in one of the following programs: Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics or Physics.o Not currently receiving a DSS scholarship or award.o Cumulative GPA of 3.0 overall in the college.o Cumulative GPA of 3.5 in courses in the SM&C Division. · Application Procedure:o Write a letter of request to the DSS Committee. The letter should discuss your plan of study in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and/or physics.o Write an essay about an experience in science or math that you found particularly interesting.o Ask two Bard faculty members to write you letters of recommendation. At least one of these faculty members must be in the SM&C Division. They should submit their letters directly to Megan Karcher.o Submit this information as attachments via e-mail to the SM&C Division secretary, Megan Karcher ([email protected]) · Selection Criteria: Awards will be granted to students showing exceptional qualifications in their areas of study and based upon the following:o College academic records.o Letters of recommendations from the faculty.o A strong interest in working in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, or physics.o Availability of funds. · Deadline: Applications must be submitted no later than Friday, April 3rd, 2015. The DSS Committee will meet shortly after that, and will make recommendations to the Director of Financial Aid, who will determine the final awards. You should receive word of whether you have been selected to receive a DSS award by early May. Questions? Contact Robert McGrail, Chair of the Division of Science, Math and Computing, [email protected].
Reem-Kayden Center Students presenting: Oliver Bruce, Michael DiRosa, Jacob Fauber, Andy Huynh, Caitlin Majewski, Henry Meyers, Cameron West, Clare Wheeler
Advisers: Rebecca Thomas, Matthew Deady, Keith O’Hara, James Belk, Csilla Szabo, Sven Anderson, Sarah Dunphy-Lelii, Christopher LaFratta
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
RKC 100 Android app building workshop for everyone! No coding experience required. Feel free to bring your own Android device.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
The Science, Mathematics & Computing Division will be sending a bus down to the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY on Saturday, September 20. Space on the bus is LIMITED. The bus will depart RKC promptly at 9 a.m. and return to campus at approximately 7 p.m.
Tickets to get into the Faire and a spot in the van are $30.00. CASH ONLY, EXACT CHANGE ONLY. Reservations will be accepted until Friday, September 12
TO RESERVE YOUR TICKET AND A SPOT IN THE VAN, PLEASE SEE MEGAN KARCHER, RKC 219. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Reem-Kayden Center
Monday, April 14, 2014
A lecture by Morgon Kanter, '09 RKC 111 The internet can be a dangerous place. Beneath the friendly facade of online shopping and captioned cat pictures lie a large number of bad actors who want to take over your computers and steal your money. Come find out how they do it, why they do it, and how Google is stopping them.
Monday, March 17, 2014
A presentation by Dr. Robert Moniot, Chair, Department of Computer & Information Science, Fordham University and Dr. Damian Lyons, Director, FRCV Lab, Fordham University
RKC 100 The first presentation overviews the Computer and Information Science (CIS) department at Fordham University and introduces the CIS graduate program in Computer Science.
In the second presentation, three pieces of ongoing research at the FRCV Lab will be overviewed: visual homing, multirobot exploration and formal analysis of robot behavior to generate performance guarantees.
Visual homing is a navigation approach first proposed as a model of inspect behavior. Because it requires only visual image comparisons, it is a simple and general approach. However, goal directed motion in the absence of distance information can be error prone. Nirmal & Lyons (2013) proposed a stereocamera based visual homing whose performance improves on that of regular visual homing.
In deploying a team of robots to explore an area for search and rescue or C-WMD missions, it is preferable for the team to spread out and cover the area as quickly as possible. It is difficult to design a simple, decentralized dispersion algorithm that works with a wide range building layouts. Liu and Lyons (2014) developed a simple yet general potential field approach based on the concept of generating a potential in empty space that reflects coverage.
It would be preferable to deploy autonomous teams rather than teleoperated robots to handle C-WMD missions given the potential for widespread and serious damage. However, autonomous robots can behave very unpredictably. Formal verification techniques, such as model-checking, could be applied to this problem, but the requirement parallel activities, time-constrained and probabilistic action, and real-number variables all cause extreme state-space size issues. Lyons and Arkin (2012) propose an approach to verification of behavior-based robot systems based on a process algebra model of recurrence a dynamic Bayesian network for probabilistic filtering. They show that this can be used for efficient verification of performance guarantees and validate the guarantees with extensive experimentation.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Reem-Kayden Center Students presenting: Julia Les Maxwell McKee Lydia Meyer Eric Reed
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
RKC 107 Why Computer Science?
Top 5 Reasons to Take Computer Science: 5. Without computer science...not much works 4. There will always be jobs for coders 3. Solving problems is never boring 2. Creating technology is lucrative 1. Make.Really.Cool.Things
Workshops are at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. December 10-14
Participate in workshops during CSED Week for a chance to win a $50 Amazon giftcard
Contact [email protected] if interested, or just show up to the workshops
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Reem-Kayden Center Students presenting: Emin Atuk, Tedros Balema, Griffin Burke, Kathleen Burke, Desi-Rae Campbell, Kody Chen, Yan Chu, Matt Dalrymple, Tom Delaney, Georgia Doing, Leila Duman, Colyer Durovich, Matthew Greenberg, Sumedha Guha, Asad Hashmi, Emily Hoelzli, Nushrat Hoque, Seoyoung Kim, Muhsin King, Midred Kissai, Julia Les, Lei Lu, Yuexi Ma, Katherine Moccia, Gavin Myers, Van Mai Nguyen Thi, Matthew Norman, Molly North, Nathaniel Oh, Ian Pelse, Linh Pham, Christina Rapti, Joanna Regan, Diana Ruggiero, Iden Sapse, Clara Sekowski, Sabrina Shahid, Min Kyung Shinn, Anuska Shrestha, Eva Shrestha, Shailab Shrestha, Olja Simoska, Ingrid Stolt, Henry Travaglini, Shuyi Weng, Clare Wheeler, Noah Winslow
Advisers: Craig Anderson, Sven Anderson, Paul Cadden-Zimansky, John Cullinan, Olivier Giovannoni, Swapan Jain, Brooke Jude, Christopher LaFratta, Robert McGrail, Emily McLaughlin, Keith O’Hara, Bruce Robertson, Lauren Rose, Rebecca Thomas
Thursday, September 26, 2013
A Talk by Lev Manovich Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center How do we navigate massive visual collections of user-generated content consisting from billions of images? What new theoretical concepts do we need to deal with the scale of born-digital culture? How do we use data mining of massive cultural data sets to question our cultural assumptions and biases? The Software Studies Initiative (softwarestudies.com) was established at the University of California, San Diego in 2007 to begin working on these questions. Lev Manovich will briefly present the techniques they developed for exploratory analysis of massive visual collections. This presentation will be illustrated with examples of their research, including analysis of 2.3 million Instagram photos, 1 million pages from manga books, and 1 million user-created artworks (from http://www.deviantart.com/ ). Manovich will also discuss how computational analysis and visualization of big cultural data sets leads us to question traditional discrete categories used for cultural categorization such as "style" and "period."Lev Manovich is the author of Software Takes Command (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013), Soft Cinema: Navigating the Database (The MIT Press, 2005), and The Language of New Media (The MIT Press, 2001) which is d”scribed as “the most suggestive and broad ranging media history since Marshall McLuhan." Manovich is a Professor at The Graduate Center, CUNY and a Director of the Software Studies Initiative at CUNY and California Institute for Telecommunication and Information (Calit2).
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Visualizing Patterns in User-Generated Content, Art, Games, Comics, Cinema, Web, and Print Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center How do we navigate massive visual collections of user-generated content consisting of billions of images? What new theoretical concepts do we need to deal with the scale of born-digital culture? How do we use data mining of massive cultural data sets to question our cultural assumptions and biases? The Software Studies Initiative (softwarestudies.com) was established at the University of California, San Diego in 2007 to begin working on these questions. Lev Manovich will briefly present the techniques they developed for exploratory analysis of massive visual collections. This presentation will be illustrated with examples of their research, including analysis of 2.3 million Instagram photos, 1 million pages from manga books, and 1 million user-created artworks (from http://www.deviantart.com/ ). Manovich will also discuss how computational analysis and visualization of big cultural data sets leads us to question traditional discrete categories used for cultural categorization such as "style" and "period."Lev Manovich is the author of Software Takes Command (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013), Soft Cinema: Navigating the Database (The MIT Press, 2005), and The Language of New Media (The MIT Press, 2001) which is d”scribed as “the most suggestive and broad ranging media history since Marshall McLuhan." Manovich is a Professor at The Graduate Center, CUNY and a Director of the Software Studies Initiative at CUNY and California Institute for Telecommunication and Information (Calit2).
Monday, September 2, 2013
The Science, Mathematics & Computing Division will be sending a bus down to the New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY on Saturday, September 21. Space on the bus is LIMITED. The bus will depart RKC promptly at 9 a.m. and return to campus at approximately 6 p.m.
Tickets to get into the Faire and a spot in the van are $30.00. CASH ONLY, EXACT CHANGE ONLY. Reservations will be accepted until Friday, September 13
TO RESERVE YOUR TICKET AND A SPOT ON THE BUS, PLEASE SEE MEGAN KARCHER, RKC 219. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:00 p.m.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Bard College Campus
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Reem-Kayden Center Students presenting: Adenike Akapo, Raed, Al-Abbasee Ammar Al-Rubaiay, Perry Anderson, Michael Anzuoni, Jeremy Arnstein, Nina Bar-Giora, Ian Barnett, Brendan Beecher, Abhinanda Bhattarcharyya, Cara Black, Sheneil Black, Laura Bradford, Cameron Brenner, Ross Cameron, Emily Carlson, Matteo Chierchia, Diana Crow, Kierstin Daviau, Jonathan De Wolf, Ha Phuong Do Thi, Katharine Dooley, Alexia Downs, Kimara DuCasse, Amy Eisenmenger, Jose Falla, Margo Finn, Joseph Foy, Prabarna Ganguly, Nabil Hossain, Matthew Hughes, Linda Ibojie, Miles Ingram, Lena James, Blagoy Kaloferov, Sun Bin Kim, Thant Ko Ko, Ruth Lakew, Hsiao-Fang Lin, Sam Link, Amy List, Weiying Liu, Julia Lunsford, Iliana Maifeld-Carucci, Claire Martin, Andres Medina, Jose Mendez, Tiago Moura, Jonathan Naito, Anam Nasim, Rachit Neupane, Mark Neznansky, Jeffrey Pereira, Liana Perry, Anisha Ramnani, Lydia Rebehn, Nolan Reece, Jonah Richard, Loralee Ryan, Perry Scheetz, Joy Sebesta, Erin Smith, Will Smith, Frank Stortini, James Sunderland, Oliver Switzer, Jacqueline Villiers, Weiqing Wang, Jasper Weinrich-Burd, Michael Weinstein, Layla Wolfgang, Fanya Wyrick-Flax, Sara Yilmaz, Anis Zaman, Wancong Zhang, Feifan Zheng
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
EXTENDED DEADLINE Applications due Tuesday, April 30
All current students concentrating in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics or physics are eligible to apply for a Distinguished Scientist Scholar (DSS) Award. These awards are given to exceptional students who have distinguished themselves academically in one of the above-mentioned disciplines in the division of Science, Mathematics and Computing. The exact amount of each award is determined by the Financial Aid office, on average $5000 for each academic year, and includes the opportunity to apply for a summer research stipend to participate in NSF or NIH sponsored summer research programs at other institutions, if the student is not already eligible for federal funding. Like other science students at Bard, DSS recipients are also eligible for BSRI funding for summer research at Bard. Please note that this is a very competitive process and only a few awards will be given out each year.Eligibility: To apply for a DSS award (commencing in the fall), a student must meet the following eligibility criteria:o Concentrating in one of the following programs: Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics or Physics.o Not currently receiving a DSS scholarship or award.o Cumulative GPA of 3.0 overall in the college.o Cumulative GPA of 3.5 in courses in the SM&C Division. Application Procedure:o Write a letter of request to the DSS Committee. The letter should discuss your plan of study in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and/or physics.o Write an essay about an experience in science or math that you found particularly interesting.o Ask two Bard faculty members to write you letters of recommendation. At least one of these faculty members must be in the SM&C Division. They should submit their letters directly to Megan Karcher.o Submit this information as attachments via e-mail to the SM&C Division secretary, Megan Karcher ([email protected])Selection Criteria: Awards will be granted to students showing exceptional qualifications in their areas of study and based upon the following:o College academic records.o Letters of recommendations from the faculty.o A strong interest in working in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, or physics.o Availability of funds.Deadline: Applications must be submitted no later than Friday, April 12th, 2013.The DSS Committee will meet shortly after that, and will make recommendations to the Director of Financial Aid, who will determine the final awards. You should receive word of whether you have been selected to receive a DSS award by early May. Questions? Contact Sven Anderson, Chair of the Division of Science, Math and Computing, [email protected].
Friday, March 15, 2013
Campus Center, Weis Cinema Followed by Q&A with filmmaker LeAnn Erickson
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
RKC 100 A lecture by Chris LaFratta Chemistry Program, Bard College
In an effort to explore the interface between chemistry and information science, we have constructed a system to send a message that is powered by a combustion reaction. Our system uses the thermal excitation of alkali metals to transmit an encoded signal over long distances. A message is transmitted either through the burning of methanol-soaked cotton string or a fuse that is embedded with combinations of potassium, rubidium, and/or cesium ions. By measuring the intensity at the characteristic emission wavelength of each metal in the near IR, unique signals can be distinguished. We have detected these signals from 1 km away, and the signal is detectable for tens of minutes. Potential applications of this platform include covert messaging for defense applications or remote self-powered environmental sensors. This work, which seeks to encode and transmit information using chemistry instead of electronics, is part of the new field of “infochemistry”.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Website Anyone who is interested in submitting a scientific research paper or scientific review to be peer-reviewed should send in their submissions to [email protected] by March 1st.
For more details on our submission guidelines, check out our tumblr at bardsciencejournal.tumblr.com or email us and ask for a pdf copy.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Reem-Kayden Center Students Presenting: Stephanie Dunn Adviser: Felicia Keesing
Justin Gero Adviser: Felicia Keesing
Liza Miller Adviser: Brooke Jude
Keaton Morris-Stan Adviser: Philip Johns
Megan Naidoo Adviser: Philip Johns
Jonah Peterschild Adviser: Felicia Keesing
Damianos Lazaridis Giannopoul Adviser: John Cullinan
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Campus Center, Weis Cinema Please join the Written Arts program and the Experimental Humanities concentration for a reading of
THE SILENT HISTORY
"A groundbreaking novel, written and designed specially for iPad and iPhone, that uses serialization, exploration, and collaboration to tell the story of a generation of unusual children — born without the ability to create or comprehend language, but perhaps with other surprising skills of their own."
WIRED calls the project "entirely revolutionary"; the LA Times writes that "it dramatically advances the way digital novels take advantage of the iPhone and iPad." It's a significant work in the (future) history of digital literature.
Authors Kevin Moffett and Matthew Derby will read from the project and answer questions at 7pm on Thursday, 12/6, in Weis Cinema. More information about The Silent History is online at http://www.thesilenthistory.com.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
RKC 100 A lecture by Marina Raykova, Class of 2006
Traditional approaches to generic secure computation begin by representing the function ⨍ being computed as a circuit. If ⨍ depends on each of its input bits, this implies a protocol with complexity at least linear in the input size. In fact, linear running time is inherent for non-trivial functions since each party must “touch” every bit of their input lest information about the other party's input be leaked. This seems to rule out many applications of secure computation (e.g., database search) in scenarios where inputs are huge. Adapting and extending an idea of Ostrovsky and Shoup, we present an approach to secure two-party computation that yields protocols running in sublinear time, in an amortized sense, for functions that can be computed in sublinear time on a random-access machine (RAM). Moreover, each party is required to maintain state that is only (essentially) linear in its own input size. Our protocol applies generic secure two-party computation on top of oblivious RAM (ORAM). We present an optimized version of our protocol using Yao's garbled-circuit approach and a recent ORAM construction of Shi et al.We describe an implementation of this protocol, and evaluate its performance for the task of obliviously searching a database with over 1 million entries.Because of the cost of our basic steps, our solution is slower than Yao on small inputs. However, our implementation outperforms Yao already on DB sizes of 218 entries (a quite small DB by today's standards).
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Masa Inakage Dean and Professor Keio University Graduate School of Media Design
We are thrilled and emotionally moved by compelling content such as film, game, and live performance. This talk aims to share the experiences to design magical moments of fun and engagement, drawn from various digital media projects. Find out how Keio University Graduate School of Media Design conducts projects from screen media to tangible media.
Masa Inakage is Dean and Professor at Keio University Graduate School of Media Design. He is an artist/designer, creative director, and producer, as well as strategist and is one of Japan's leading authorities on emerging technologies and digital entertainment. His artworks and animation works have been shown internationally at galleries and festivals, including Museum of Modern Art in NYC and Ars Elextronica Center in Linz, Austria.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
RKC 100 A lecture by Ben Axelrod iRobot Corporation
What is a roboticist? What does a roboticist do? In this presentation, Ben Axelrod, a research scientist at iRobot Corp, will chronicle some of his robotics projects. These projects include a wide variety of robots, everything from small LEGO robots to 300 pound rescue robots, from manipulators to walking robots. Recent projects at iRobot Research will also be showcased. Fun robot videos included, of course.
Ben Axelrod holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Syracuse University and a MS degree in Computer Science with a specialization in robotics and intelligent systems from Georgia Institute of Technology. He is currently a Research Scientist for iRobot Corporation. A position he has held for two years. Before coming to iRobot, Ben has worked for CoroWare Inc., Microsoft, and Iguana Robotics. Ben has been working, playing, and learning about robotics for over 12 years.
About iRobot Corp: iRobot designs and builds robots that make a difference. The company’s home robots help people find smarter ways to clean, and its defense & security robots protect those in harm’s way. iRobot’s consumer and military robots feature iRobot Aware® robot intelligence systems, proprietary technology incorporating advanced concepts in navigation, mobility, manipulation and artificial intelligence. For more information about iRobot, please visit www.irobot.com.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Reem-Kayden Center Students studying the liberal arts and sciences need lucrative, creative career opportunities. The tech industry needs a more diverse, creative work force. Bard can help. The BARD TECH MEETUP will serve as a networking event for faculty, alumni/ae and current students, and provide our students with a glimpse of future career paths. The first meetup will take place on October 20th in the Reem-Kayden Center for Science and Computation as part of the Fall Alumni/ae day. In conjunction with the Bard-St. Stephen's Alumni/ae Association, the Computer Science Program and the Career Development Office have planned a series of activities including: * creative computation workshop 10:30-noon RKC 100
* success in tech speed panel 2-3:15 RKC 103 Ross Shain, Film Software Designer (Arts '91) Bradford Reed, Composer, Performer & Producer (Arts '93) Eric Hoffman, Creative Director/Designer (Social Studies '94) Rebecca Bray, Interactive Designer/Artist (Social Studies '98) Kate Hartman, Artist, Technologist & Educator (Arts, '03) Jacqueline Bow, Malware Analyst (SM&C '10) Michael Walker, Software Engineer (SM&C '11)
* tech demos & mingle 3:30-4:15 RKC Lobby
Please encourage your students, both current and past, to attend. Interested faculty are also encouraged to participate.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Reem-Kayden Center Students presenting:Michael Anzuoni, Tedros Balema, Amanda Benowitz, Cara Black, Sheneil Black, Max Brown, Celeste Cass, Matteo Chierchia, Nikesh Dahal, Francesca DiRienzo, Leila Duman, Jose Falla, David Goldberg, Sumedha Guha, Nabil Hossain, Linda Ibojie, Lena James, Seoyoung Kim, Thant Ko Ko, Lila Low-Beinart, Yuexi Ma, Keaton Morris-Stan, Mark Neznansky, Matthew Norman, Ian Pelse, Liana Perry, Min Kyung Shinn, Olja Simoska, William Smith, Nathan Steinauer, Xiaohan Sun, James Sunderland, Weiqing Wang, Michael Weinstein, Clare Wheeler, Sara YilmazAdvisers: Craig Anderson, Christian Bracher, John Cullinan, Swapan Jain, Philip Johns, Brooke Jude, Tanay Kesharwani, Christopher LaFratta, Barbara Luka, Emily McLaughlin, Keith O’Hara, Lauren Rose
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Reem-Kayden Center Graduating Seniors: Daniela Anderson, Lilah Anderson, Nadya Artiomenco, Conor Beath, Rachel Becker, Jeannette Benham, Matthew Boisvert, Samantha Brechlin, Ke Cai, Nicole Camasso, Curtis Carmony, Deven Connelly, Shellie Ann Dick, Sara Doble, Siyao Du, Madison Fletcher, Briana Franks, Abigail Fuchsman, Kira Gilman, Erin Hannigan, Lucas Henry, Andrew Hoffman-Patalona, Maxwell Howard, Yunxia Jia, Adriana Johnson, Axel Kammerer, Nicole Kfoury, Sankalpa Khadka, Youseung Kim, Sining Leng, Emily Mayer, Stergios Mentesidis, Mariya Mitkova, Samantha Monier, Jessica Philpott, Jega Jananie Ravi, Laura Schubert, Lindsey Scoppetta, Evan Seitchik, Hannah Shapero, Abhimanyu Sheshashayee, Eli Sidman, Gabriella Spitz, Veronica Steckler, Joshua Tanner, Emma Taylor-Salmon, Isabelle Taylor, Giang Tran, Will Wisseman, Kimberly Wood, Zhiwei Wu, Dimin Xu, Jing Yang, Yongqing Yuan, Changwei Zhou
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Michael Littman Professor of Computer Science, Rutgers University It is incredibly powerful to write software to solve a specific problem. In many cases, however, there are important details that are just not known to the programmer at the time the program is written. In these cases, it is useful to write a kind of "meta" program---a program that can learn about the environment in which it is running and produce another program, tuned to the task at hand. Research in machine learning is concerned with developing exactly such programs. I will provide an introduction to this area, assuming no prior familiarity with machine learning but knowledge about programming and computational thinking.
Michael L. Littman is professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science at Rutgers University and directs the Rutgers Laboratory for Real-Life Reinforcement Learning (RL3). His research in machine learning examines algorithms for decision making under uncertainty. Littman has earned multiple awards for teaching and his research has been recognized with three best-paper awards on the topics of meta-learning for computer crossword solving, complexity analysis of planning under uncertainty, and algorithms for efficient reinforcement learning. He has served on the editorial boards for several machine-learning journals and was Programme Co-chair of ICML 2009.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Hegeman 308 Joshua Bowman SUNY Stony Brook Flat surfaces (such as a cube or tetrahedron with the vertices removed) show up in a variety of mathematical areas. Their structure can be studied using Delaunay triangles, which in most cases are uniquely determined by the surface. As a surface is deformed, its Delaunay triangles change, and the way in which they change can give us a surprising amount of information about the surface. The only prerequisites for this talk are knowing what a 2x2 matrix is, and a certain level of comfort with abstract constructions.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Hegeman 308 A lecture by Jan Cameron Vassar College Though the terminology may be unfamiliar, you have certainly seen a maximal abelian self-adjoint subalgebra (masa) of the complex matrices in your linear algebra course: the algebra of diagonal matrices. The notion of orthogonality for a pair of masas in M_n(C) is simple to describe, but surprisingly deep and relates to many areas of mathematics. In this talk, we'll consider the fascinating and important open problem of nding complete sets of pairwise orthogonal masas in the n x n complex matrices. We'll look at a few di erent ways to think about the problem, as well as why one might be interested in a solution, and an assortment of related questions. If time permits, I'll talk a bit about how orthogonal masas have come up in current research on structure theory of nite von Neumann algebras.This talk will be accessible to anyone who has had a course in linear algebra
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Hegeman 308 Kristin Camenga Department of Mathematics Houghton College Most people remember working with polyhedra in elementary and high school: cubes, prisms, tetrahedra, pyramids, etc. Euler's formula states that if V is the number of vertices, E the number of edges and F the number of faces of a polyhedron, V + F = E + 2. This is a beautiful and useful formula - but can't we do more? Can we get a similar theorem if we change some of our hypotheses? How does Euler's formula change if we allow polyhedra to be in dimension 4 or 5 or n? What if we look at angles of polyhedra instead of the number of faces? We will look at a number of examples as we generalize Euler's formula in these directions and others. We will end with a glimpse of open questions about angles in polytopes. No specific math background will be assumed, but curiosity is expected!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Hegeman 308 James Belk Mathematics Program Bard College A fractal is a mathematical shape that exhibits the same structure at a range of different scales. Among the most famous fractals are the Julia sets, which arise in a simple way from polynomials and complex numbers. In this talk, I will introduce Julia sets and discuss some of their basic properties. I will then indicate a connection between Julia sets and certain groups of functions on the unit circle. This talk should be accessible to students who have taken Proofs and Fundamentals. Some familiarity with groups would be helpful, but is not necessary.
Monday, February 20, 2012
RKC 102 A lecture by Sangmin Oh Kitware, Inc.
Huge amounts of consumer videos are uploaded and shared via Internet every day. The amount of such Internet consumer videos are growing at an unprecedented rate. The contents of these videos are indeed diverse, and also very unconstrained. Accordingly, the automatic computational capability to identify the videos which contain certain events such as a 'wedding' and 'soccer games' are more important than ever, with implications for practical applications such as video search and personal video organization. In this talk, we present one of the popular framework and latest results for Internet video search, where multiple sources of information from visual and audio evidences are fused to improve search quality. We show results on a large amount of Internet data collection, and discuss the state-of-the-art methods to extract diverse information from unconstrained videos. The results show that initial results are promising, but, also that we have a long way to go until computers can fully understand these videos as humans do.
Dr. Oh is currently a computer vision researcher at Kitware Inc. He received his Ph.D and MS from Georgia Institute of Technology, and his B.S. from Seoul National University, all in computer science. Dr. Oh works on a wide array of technical problems in areas including computer vision, robotics, and AI. He is interested in broad research topics related to building intelligent systems where traditional AI meets modern data-driven approaches.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Hegeman 308 A lecture by John Cullinan Mathematics Program
The Legendre Polynomials are orthogonal polynomials that have deep connections to mathematical physics. For example, they arise when solving the Laplace equation in spherical coordinates. It is also the case that the Legendre Polynomials are extensively studied for their number-theoretic properties. In this talk we will describe some of these properties as well as discuss some open questions surrounding the Legendre Polynomials. This talk should be accessible to students who are currently taking Proofs and Fundamentals (though some group theory will be used at the end).
**MATH TEA**The weekly Math Tea will immediately follow the seminar. Join us for tea and refreshments at 4:30 in the Albee 3rd floor Math Lounge.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Reem-Kayden Center Students presenting: Soloman Garber Yulia Genkina Nabil Hossain Anirban Joy
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium Learn the basics of coding using the Processing programming language in a fun-filled, hands-on workshop. Topics covered include basic creative coding theory, Processing what is it?, algorithmic art, computer-generated animation, simple imaging and interactivity. Leading creative coding practitioners and examples of their work will also be discussed. No prior programming or art making experience required.
Ira Greenberg is Director of the Center of Creative Computation and Associate Professor at SMU, with a joint appointment in the Meadows School of the Arts and the Lyle School of Engineering. His research interests include aesthetics and computation, computer graphics, visualization, physical computing, and computer science pedagogy. He has exhibited his artwork widely and is the author of two books, including Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art, 2007, Friends of ED, the first major reference on the Processing language. Ira received his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and his BFA from Cornell University.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Peter Skiff Physics Program The discovery of an unexpected acceleration of the expansion of the cosmos led to the awarding of the 2011 Nobel Prize to Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Reiss. While cosmic expansion (the continuous separation of galaxies and clusters) is neatly described by the use of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and Gravity, this acceleration is not (quite). The most popular of the current speculations involves a mysterious “dark energy” that was somehow lurking undetected in the13.5 billion year old cosmos until about 7 billion years after the origin, inflation, and “big bang” events began the evolutionary track. Apparently this dark energy comprises about 75% of the total matter and energy of the universe. This talk will review the expansion models and the techniques used to measure the galactic motions that led to this discovery, including the theory and observation of type Ia Supernovae. It will be descriptive (no mathematics), in order to be accessible to a general audience.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
RKC 111 4:45 Sankalpa Khadka
5:00 Zhiwei Wu
5:15 Kimberly Wood
5:30 Siyao Du
5:45 Joy Sebesta
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
RKC 111 **ROOM CHANGE LECTURE BEING HELD IN RKC 111**
A lecture by Nathan Ryan Department of Mathematics Bucknell University The distribution of the primes among the positive integers has long fascinated mathematicians. In this talk I will discuss this distribution and describe some of its surprising characteristics.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
RKC 111 4:45 Dimin Xu
5:00 Changwei Zhou
5:15 Yunxia Jia
5:30 Yongqing Yuan
5:45 Youseung Kim
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
RKC 101 4:45 Mariya Mitkova
5:00 Ke Cai
5:15 Zana Tran
5:30 Adriana Johnson
5:45 Jeanette Benham
Thursday, October 20, 2011
RKC 111 4:45 Stergios Mentesidis
5:00 Lindsey Scoppetta
5:15 Evan Seitchik
5:30 Yuan Xu
Thursday, October 13, 2011
RKC 111 A lecture by Kerri-Ann Norton, '04 Department of BioMedical Engineering Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Breast cancer is one if the leading causes of cancer deaths in women. While breast cancer is a dynamic disease that may change morphology (shape) over time and depending on its placement within the tissue, diagnosis of the disease is usually accomplished by examining 2D slices of stained breast tissue and assigning the sample a grade and morphology. Unfortunately, the correlation between grade (a way of evaluating how irregular the nuclei look) and patient outcome is poor, depends on details of the classification method used, and is complicated by the frequent presence of multiple morphologies within a single sample. Here, I show two examples of how using mathematical biology provides insights into the mechanisms that drive the disease and provides possible explanations for the difficulties in correlating morphology with patient outcome. Specifically, I use mathematical modeling techniques to study the progression of breast cancer over time under different cellular conditions and I use image processing to visualize the 3D morphology of breast cancer as compared to corresponding 2D slices. I find that differences in breast cancer morphology can result from different cancers with different cellular features or from cancers with the same cellular features at different time-points. I also find that early breast cancers with similar morphologies in 2D exhibit very different 3D morphologies. This work demonstrates the benefits of using mathematical and computational tools for studying cancer.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
RKC 101 Michael L. Frank President & Actuary, Aquarius Capital
Michael Frank is the founder and president of Aquarius Capital. He is a health and life actuary with twenty four (24) years of experience, including executive management experience with insurance, reinsurance, employee benefits consulting and managed care entities. His company provides financial and management consulting to a variety of organizations including insurance companies, investment bankers, reinsurers, HMOs, managed care organizations, hospitals, disease management, third-party administrators, accounting firms, private equity funds, Fortune 500 companies and other organizations servicing the insurance/reinsurance industry in the US and internationally.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
RKC lobby Students participating: Raed Al Abassee, Tedros Balema, Sheneil Black, Ke Cai, Nicole Camasso, Abhishek Dev, Erin Hannigan, Nabil Hossain, Matt Hughes, Nicole Kfoury, Youseung Kim, Thant Ko Ko, Brian Liu, Andres Medina, Jonathan Naito, Jessica Philpott, Eric Reed, Laura Schubert, Eva Shrestha, Nathaniel Steinaur, Joshua Tanner, Isabelle Taylor, Jasper Weinrich-Burd, Michael Weinstein, Will Wisseman, Dimin Xu, Yongqing Yuan, Feifan Zheng
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium You check your iPhone so often that it might as well be a part of your body. Why not skip the tiny screen and clunky keyboard and put your brain directly on the Internet? Author Michael Chorost will show emerging technologies that allow brain activity to be read and altered in unprecedented detail. He'll outline what a future "World Wide Mind" could look like and ask: Would you want to be part of it? Dr. Michael Chorost is the author of "World Wide Mind: The Coming Integration of Humanity, Machines, and the Internet" and "Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human." Totally deaf since 2001, Dr. Chorost now hears with two cochlear implants.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
RKC 111 A lecture by Georgi Gospodinov Bard College Knot theory is central to low-‐dimensional topology and has many applications to physics, chemistry, biology, etc. We study knots up to isotopies, i.e., deformations that do not tear the knot or pass it through itself. So isotopic knots are thought of as the same. The question arises, given two knots, how can we tell if they are isotopic or not? Knot invariants are functions that assign an object (usually an algebraic object such as a number, a polynomial or a more complicated structure) to a knot. We use knot invariants to detect knots that are different, by studying the algebraic objects associated with the knots.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
RKC 111 A lecture by Laurence A. Marschall Professor of Physics, Gettysburg College
Until 1995, we knew of no solar systems like our own in the universe. Yet in the past few years nearly 500 planets have been discovered orbiting stars other than our Sun using telescopes here on Earth, and, in early 2011 NASA announced the discovery of more than 1000 planets discovered from the orbiting Kepler mission. In this presentation I'll describe how this sudden flood of discoveries came about, explore some of the oddest and most noteworthy new worlds that have been investigated so far, and review what we have learned about the structure and history of our own planetary system from observing these far more distant planets.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Campus Center, Weis Cinema THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED AT A LATER DATE
A documentary by LeAnn Erickson
The screening is open to the public and will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
RKC lobby
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Reem-Kayden CenterStudents presenting: Thomas Anderson, Gregory Backus, Lionel Barrow, Julia Bennett, Alexandra Carver, Sebastien Cendron, Adam Chodoff, Sara Director, Elena Dragomir, Anastassia Etropolski, Margo Finn, Alexandros Fragkopoulos, Zoe Johnson-Ulrich, Melanie Kenney, Robert Kittler, Bella Manoim, Travis McGrath, Leandra Merola, Jules Moreau de Balasy, Olivia Nathanson, Angela Potenza, Nazmus Saquib, Madeline Schatzberg, Benjamin Selfridge, Erik Shagdar, Lisa Silber, Nathan Smith, Abigail Stevens, Adina-Raluca Stoica, Jacqueline Stone, Maksim Tsikhanovich, Zhexiu Tu, Regina Vaicekonyte, Stavros Velissaris, Michael Walker, Anshul Zota
Thursday, April 28, 2011
RKC 111 A lecture by Jan Cameron Vassar College In this talk we will introduce the field of operator algebras, currently one of the most exciting and widely applicable areas of mathematics. Our main objects of study are collections of linear transformations on vector spaces with special properties. Operator algebras possess both a rich algebraic structure, and a meaningful notion of distance, and as such have seen many natural connections to fields as diverse as signal analysis, geometry, group theory, and dynamical systems. We won’t cover all this ground; but we will look at a few of the most important examples of operator algebras, and conclude, if time permits, with a glimpse at some current research problems.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
RKC 111 A lecture by Japheth Wood MAT program and Math Circle Bard College Nim is an impartial combinatorial game with a long history and a mathematical theory. Jim (short for Japheth's Nim) is also an impartial combinatorial game that was invented by the speaker in February 2011! In this interactive math circle talk, participants learn how to play both Nim and Jim, and develop strategies that lead to a full understanding of the mathematical theory of both games. This talk will assume no mathematical or scientific background, and is open to all Bard students.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
RKC 111 A lecture by Marisa Hughes Cornell University
A manifold is a space that locally "looks like" Rn. The surface of the earth, for example, is a 2-manifold. In times past, our civilization was unable to distinguish this surface from the side of a cube; sailors feared that they may sail off the edge of the earth. In this talk, we will discuss what life would be like in other 2-manifolds and venture into higher dimensions. We will then begin folding these manifolds along certain symmetries to get a new (and often stranger) spaces. What do these spaces look like? How can we, as mathematicians, quantify the properties of life in a quotient space?
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium Join former Bardians Daniel Stone, Kale Kaposhilin, and Che Ruisi-Besares for an open discussion on the latest hotness in popular web development. Topics include social reputation analysis, "Big Data", and contemporary database implementation using CouchDB and MongoDB.
Evolving Media Network is a strategic consultancy with an eight year history of designing and developing customized interactive projects for a variety of industries. More than simply a development shop, we provide strategic technical consultancy, evaluating our clients' needs and advising a course of action -- we bring a wealth of experience and attention to detail from a variety of fields. The solutions we provide are completely custom-built, allowing us to fine-tune every aspect of our applications to your exact specifications. Our clients have included Fortune 500 Companies in the pharmaceutical, telecommunications, fashion and entertainment industries, as well as not-for-profit groups.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
RKC 111 A lecture by Ethan Bloch Mathematics Program Morse theory is an important tool in the study of smooth manifolds, which are the higher-dimensional analogs of surfaces. For example, Morse Theory is used in the proof of the higher-dimensional Poincare Conjecture. The idea of Morse Theory is to analyze a manifold by looking at the critical points of smooth maps from the manifold to the real numbers. This talk will provide an elementary introduction to the basic idea of Morse theory, and will discuss some recent analogs of Morse theory in polyhedral and combinatorial settings.
This talk should be accessible to students who have taken Calculus III.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
RKC 111 A lecture by Joseph KirtlandMarist CollegeIdentification numbers, such as credit card numbers, ISBNs, UPCs, and vehicle identification numbers, are used to identify individual items, specific products, people, accounts, and documents. Each time an identification number is transmitted, there is a chance that an error in the number will occur. To combat this problem, many identification number systems include a check digit and a mathematical calculation to determine if the number received was the number sent. This talk will present a variety of currently used check digit schemes. The schemes presented will range in complexity from ones using modulo arithmetic and permutations to ones that use group theory and dihedral groups.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
RKC 111 A lecture by Adam Lally IBM Senior Software Engineer
Building the Watson system presented a number of software engineering challenges. Watson consists of many components that must work seamlessly together, and Watson must manage a highly parallel computation in order to answer questions fast enough to compete with humans. Our approach to solving this problem is the DeepQA architecture, which defines the types of components that make up Watson and how they fit together. In this talk I will relate my experiences as a Senior Software Engineer on the Watson project. I will discuss the DeepQA architecture in detail and explain how the architecture was efficiently implemented in order to meet the speed requirement of the Jeopardy! challenge. (Note that this talk picks up from where the "What is Watson?" talk concludes, so that talk should be attended prior to attending this one.)
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Adam Lally IBM Senior Software Engineer IBM's Watson deep question answering system defeated two all-time champions on the Jeopardy! quiz show this February. Winning at Jeopardy! is a difficult challenge for a computer because clues are expressed in complex natural language over an extremely broad domain of topics, and because questions must be answered with very high precision and in a very short amount of time. In this talk I will discuss these challenges and our approach to solving them, and give a short demonstration of Watson. I will also discuss how the underlying technology of Watson may be applied to important applications such as in health care.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
All current students concentrating in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics or physics are eligible to apply for a Distinguished Scientist Scholar (DSS) Award. These awards are given to exceptional students who have distinguished themselves academically in one of the disciplines in the division of Science, Mathematics and Computing. Please note that this is a very competitive process and only a few awards will be given out each year. To apply for a DSS award (commencing in the fall), a student must meet the following eligibility criteria: o Concentrating in one of the programs in the SM&C Division (Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics or Physics). o Not currently receiving a DSS scholarship or award.o Cumulative GPA of 3.0 overall in the college. o Cumulative GPA of 3.5 in courses in the SM&C Division.
For complete application guidelines, please see the attached document.
RKC 111 A lecture by Matthew Noonan Mount Holyoke College You have to get your Differential Equations homework done fast in order to make it to a movie on time. What tricks can you use for reasoning geometrically about differential equations? Once you complete your work, how can you efficiently parallel park your car at the movie theater? And when you finally take your seat, how does your brain fill in missing details from the movie screen when part of your view is rudely blocked by somebody's head? And what on earth do these three things have to do with each other!?
This talk will require only elementary calculus and vectors. No special knowledge of differential equations will be assumed.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
RKC pods Representatives from AIT will be on campus to discuss the AIT program opportunities.
Pizza and refreshments will be served AIT is seeking motivated students to apply for its study abroad program. AIT embraces diversity and seeks creative and energetic students from all schools. The program offers a wide array of courses organized in the following areas: (1) Creative design and entrepreneurship; (2) Foundational courses in computer science; (3) Advanced applications including computational biology and computer vision for digital film post-production, and (4) Humanities and special topics courses related to Hungary’s rich cultural heritage. In addition, a diverse range of extracurricular activities are offered for exploring the historic heritage and contemporary cultural life of Budapest and the region.
AIT operates on 14-week terms. Applications for the spring term are due in mid-October and applications for the fall term are due in mid-March. Please see the AIT website for details.www.ait-budapest.com
Monday, February 14, 2011
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium Please join us to watch IBM's latest question answering computer system, Watson, compete on Jeopardy against past champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Watson's appearance on the popular game show is the latest milestone in a series of ongoing human-machine challenges in Artificial Intelligence history including chess, checkers, poker, and go. Rebecca Thomas of the Computer Science Program will give a short talk outlining the history of these challenges and some of the basic strategies used in programming Watson, and then we will watch the first match live.
Refreshments will be served
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Reem-Kayden Center Students presenting: Conor Beath Alexandra Bettina Matthew Boisvert Nicole Camasso Abigail Fuchsman Mary Cameron Ogg Samantha Root Laura Schubert Gabriella Spitz Sara Yilmaz
Advisers: Brooke Jude, Felicia Keesing, Catherine O’Reilly, Michael Tibbetts
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by John Ferguson Biology Program In July J. Craig Venter and his colleagues at the J. Craig Venter Institute announced the creation of a "synthetic cell" whose 1.08–mega–base pair genome was created from digitized genome sequence data. This was the first report of a viable cell created with a completely chemically-synthesized genome, although previous investigators had constructed functional viral particles from a chemically-synthesized genome. We will see how Venter's latest achievement fits in with his previous work and his future ambitions for "synthetic biology.”
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Albee 3rd floor Are you wondering which math course to take next semester?
Are you considering a math major?
Do you like to eat cookies and hang out with math students and professors?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, pelase stop by the Mathematics Program Open House
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium Chemistry Making the Connections – The 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Palladium Catalyzed Carbon-Carbon Coupling The formation of carbon-carbon bonds has been a challenge that, for many years, only nature has been able to accomplish effectively. With the ability to assemble carbon-containing molecules into more complex structures, a multitude of new materials and biologically active compounds can be prepared. This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki for their development of and contributions toward the field of transition-metal promoted reactions to create new carbon-carbon bonds.Lecture by Emily McLaughlin Chemistry Program Physics “for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene” Awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics for “producing, identifying and characterizing graphene”, a sheet of carbon atoms arranged in hexagons. Since Geim and Novoselov revealed their absurdly simple method for making graphene in 2004, thousands of papers about this material have been published. Graphene’s two-dimensionality gives rise to unusual properties of fundamental and practical interest, including its electrical conductivity, strength and flexibility. In this talk, we’ll take a look at how graphene was made and characterized and some of its significant properties.Lecture by Simeen Sattar Physics Program
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
RKC 111 A lecture by Sinan Gunturk Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York UniversityA fair duel is a mathematical abstraction that seeks infinite binary sequences which are highly balanced in a certain universal sense. This talk will present the origin of this problem, how some classical sequences fare as attempts to solve it, and the current best solution that is inspired by a signal processing algorithm.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
RKC 111 Ben Selfridge 4:45
Lexi Carver 5:00
Nathan Smith 5:15
Zhexiu Tu 5:30
Diana Khaburzaniya 5:45
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
RKC 111 Lionel Barrow 4:45
Alexandros Fragkopoulus 5:00
Jules Moreau 5:15
Greg Backus 5:30
Madeleine Schatzberg 5:45
Thursday, October 21, 2010
RKC 111 A lecture by Ursula Whitcher Harvey Mudd College The mathematical field of mirror symmetry was inspired by an observation made by string theorists: different candidates for the shape of the extra dimensions of the universe yield the same observable physics. We will describe pairs of "mirror" universes using geometric figures such as polygons, polyhedra, and their higher-dimensional analogues, polytopes.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Philip Johns Biology ProgramOne of the most elegant ideas in evolution is the notion that organisms cooperate with relatives because relatives share genes. Mutations that lead to relatives cooperating can spread through populations even if the altruistic individuals do not themselves leave offspring. This process is called kin selection. It is difficult to overstate how influential this idea has been over the last half century. But in the last 15 years modern genetics revealed that some of the most impressive examples of animal cooperation -- eusocial insects with sterile working castes -- involve animals that are not necessarily closely related. In fact, in some groups, cooperating animals may be unrelated. In August, Martin Nowak, Corina Tarnita, and Edward Wilson published a model explaining how relatedness, per se, is not necessary for the evolution of eusociality. This paper is enormously controversial. Fifty prominent scientists have reportedly signed a letter protesting its publication in Nature. In this talk, we discuss the elements of the model and why it is so controversial.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
RKC 111 Julia Bennett 4:45
Jackie Stone 5:00
Travis McGrath 5:15
Adam Chodoff 5:30
Anastassia Etropolski 5:45
Thursday, October 7, 2010
RKC 111 A lecture by John Cullinan Mathematics Program Given a polynomial in two variables F(x,t), if we substitute a constant for t then we are left with a one-variable polynomial. This is called a specialization of F(x,t). What algebraic or number-theoretic information about F(x,t) can be deduced from its specializations? Using simple examples as motivation, we'll discuss irreducibility and Galois properties of polynomials. These examples will allow us to state some of the deepest conjectures in number theory. Some exposure to abstract algebra will be helpful, but is not necessary.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
RKC 111 A lecture by Sam Hsiao Mathematics Program
The Catalan numbers, a famous sequence beginning with 1, 1, 2, 5, 14, 42, . . . (can you guess the pattern?), appear as the solution to a dizzying array of counting problems. I will discuss a few of the many different interpretations and uses of the Catalan numbers, including their connections to ballot counts and the drunkard's walk. While this talk will be elementary, familiarity with Taylor series will be helpful.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by David Gondek Harvard Medical School
Thursday, September 23, 2010
RKC lobby
Thursday, September 23, 2010
RKC 100 A seminar by Ethan Bloch Mathematics Program TEX (pronounced “tek”), of which LATEX is the most widely used dialect, is the state-of-the-art system for typesetting mathematical texts, widely used by mathematicians, scientists and computer scientists, as well as professional journals and book publishers. TEX is not a what-you-see-is-what-you-get word processor, but is rather a computer programming language, originally developed by the noted computer scientist Donald Knuth. Though TEX is a bit harder to use than a regular word processor, it is easily mastered, and offers a number of advantages for typesetting mathematical texts, including the ability to type very complicated mathematical formulas, automatic theorem numbering, and real portability between platforms. TEX is particularly well suited for senior projects in mathematics, computer science and the physical sciences. This talk will present some of the basic ideas of using LATEX.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
RKC lobby Come to the Science, Mathematics & Computing Division ICE CREAM SOCIAL Stop by to ask questions about courses being offered or find out more about majoring in the programs. Faculty members from each program will be there to answer questions.
Monday, May 17, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, May 16, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Reem-Kayden Center Students presenting:Erik Badger Oni Banks Jacqueline Bow Alex Carlin Aleksandar Chakarov Cedric Cogell Joseph Corey Ivelina Darvenyashka Jyoti Dev Tessa Dowling Jacob Ezerski Sarah Farell Jonathan Fivelsdal Wui Ming Gan Jun Harada Xian He Sam Israel Nina Jankovic Liz Jimenez-Martinez Huaizhou Jin Emanuel Krantz Leah Ladner Shun-Yang Lee Hannah Liddy Jason Mastbaum Robert McNevin Alison Mutter David Polett Hannah Quay-de la Vallee Adrita Rahman Viriya Ratansangpunth Che Ruisi-Besares Dale Simmons Fang Song Petar Stojanov Corinna Troll Alexandru Vladoi Nicholas Wilton Yu Wu William Wylie Xinyuan Xu
Monday, May 10, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, May 9, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Monday, May 3, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, May 2, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Monday, April 26, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, April 25, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
RKC 111 A lecture by Bradley Forrest Stockton College
We will explore Yes-No voting systems, systems where voters are choosing between only two options, for example when a bill or amendment is pitted against the status quo. Four specific real world Yes-No voting systems will be discussed: the UN Security Council, the European Economic Community (now the EU), the legislative branch of the U.S. Federal Government, and the procedure to amend the Canadian constitution. These voting systems highlight several interesting properties of Yes-No voting systems that we will investigate in detail.
Monday, April 19, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, April 18, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Monday, April 12, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, April 11, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Monday, April 5, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, April 4, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Thursday, April 1, 2010
RKC 111A lecture by Timothy Goldberg Cornell University Some pretty interesting mathematics, especially geometry, arises naturally from thinking about bicycles and how they work. Why exactly does a bicycle with round wheels roll smoothly on flat ground, and how can we use the answer to this question to design a track on which a bicycle with square wheels can ride smoothly? If you come across bicycle tracks on the ground, how can you tell which direction it was going? And what's the best way to find the area between the front and rear wheel tracks of a bicycle? We will discuss the answers to these questions, and give lots of illustrations. We will assume a little familiarity with planar geometry, including tangent vectors to curves.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Monday, March 29, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, March 28, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Reem-Kayden Center The Bard Summer Research Institute supports campus based summer research by undergraduate students in empirical/quantitative fields - anthropology, biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, physics, psychology, and sociology. Faculty propose research projects related to their own research that are appropriate for undergraduates participation and faculty act as mentors for the students. Each student selected to participate in BSRI receives a $2,500 stipend for the eight-week program. JUNE 7-JULY 30 APPLICATION DEADLINE-Monday, March 29th Students applications should be submitted via e-mail to Megan Karcher, [email protected], using the attached form.
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, March 21, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Monday, March 15, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, March 14, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Thursday, March 11, 2010
RKC 111A lecture by John McCleary Vassar College In 1911, Otto Toeplitz conjectured that a simple closed curve in the plane always has four points on it that form a square. This conjecture has been attacked in many ways over the last almost 100 years. I will present some of the approaches and reasons to believe it true.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Monday, March 8, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, March 7, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Thursday, March 4, 2010
RKC 111A lecture by Matthew Deady Physics Program You hear an airplane passing overhead, you look for it and realize the sound is coming from a different place than where you see the plane. This is due to the fact that the speed of sound is much less than the speed of light. So, one could ask, when do you first hear a plane?
Answering this question using simple calculus gives insights into wave propagation and reception, and a different way to understand the phenomenon of sonic booms. The physics and mathematics of sonic booms and related phenomena will be presented, including applications to the detection of particles in particle physics experiments.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 AuditoriumA Science on the Edge lecture by Philip Johns Biology program The Y chromosome is the chromosome that determines the development of males in humans and most other mammals. It is a small chromosome with very few genes. Evolutionary biologists have hypothesized the causes of its "degenerate" evolution. One prediction of how Y chromosomes degenerate is that the genes on Y chromosomes should evolve slowly. In a recent study titled, "Chimpanzee and human Y chromosomes are remarkably divergent in structure and gene content", Jennifer Hughes and her colleagues at MIT found that, contrary to expectations, genes on the Y chromosome have evolved incredibly quickly since humans and chimps diverged. We will discuss recent human evolution, how scientists have used the Y chromosome to make startling discoveries about humans in the past, and what the implications are that the Y chromosome is evolving as quickly as it is.
Monday, March 1, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, February 28, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Thursday, February 25, 2010
RKC 111A lecture by Jim Pivarski Texas A&M University The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a 17-mile circumference circular accelerator, in which two beams of protons (which are “hadrons”) collide with each other at the highest energies ever achieved in a laboratory. It has received more media attention than most physics projects -- why is this experiment important, and what is it for? That question could be answered many different ways, but I will present it in the context of the central story of the quest to understand what matter is: from electromagnetism to quantum field theory, the Standard Model, the search for the Higgs boson, and super-symmetry (time permitting). Equal weight will be given to theoretical motivations and experimental techniques.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Monday, February 22, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, February 21, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 AuditoriumA lecture by Dr. Mukhles Sowwan Al Quds University
In this talk I will speak about the international collaborative science project SESAME Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East. SESAME is being developed under the umbrella of UNESCO and is modeled closely on CERN. The first beam line will be operational in 2012. Several hundred scientists from the region and other parts of the world are expected to use this facility, which will cover disciplines ranging from archaeology to the medical sciences and nanotechnology. The members of SESAME are Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Pakistan, and Turkey. This makes SESAME a unique multidisciplinary center in this part of the world. In addition, I will talk about the Nanotechnology Research at Al-Quds University, and my views on science and politics, and international collaboration, in a volatile environment like the Middle East.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Monday, February 15, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, February 14, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Thursday, February 11, 2010
RKC 111A presentation by Kelvin Mischo Wolfram Research Mathematica is a powerful mathematical programming language and software package designed for technical computing. Mathematica features integrated symbolic manipulation, numerical computation with arbitrarily high precision, and numerous tools for creating graphics and visualizing data.
In this talk—which will be given entirely in Mathematica—we will discuss several useful applications of Mathematica for teaching and research in mathematics, the physical sciences, and economics. In particular, we will show how to design universal examples in Mathematica that can be used by faculty or students with no prior Mathematica experience. We will also discuss the basics of the Mathematica language and system, as well as some of the new functionality available in Version 7. No previous knowledge of Mathematica or mathematical programming will be assumed.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 AuditoriumTHIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED. A re-schedule date will be announced A Science on the Edge lecture by William Maple Biology program Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley and hundreds of biologists, paleontologists and anthropologists throughout the 19th and 20th centuries confronted the question of human origins without adequate fossil evidence. The similarity of apes and humans was clear but the links were missing. Even as more fossil, anatomical and biochemical evidence illuminated ape-human relationships, the mystery remained of accounting for the evolution of typical hominid bipedal locomotion from the knuckle-walking and arboreal locomotion of the African apes. The last 100 years of hominid fossil discoveries gradually pushed the age of our ancestry back to as much as 3+ million years (Australopithecus), but all were terrestrial bipeds. The discovery in the Ethiopian Afar Rift region of fragments (including a partial female skeleton) of a hominid now known as Ardipithecus ramidus clearly (at least to some) suggests a species that moved with both ape-like climbing and human-like bipedality. Recovery of other fossil vertebrates, invertebrates and plants in the same site clarified the ecological habitat as patchy forest.
The elucidation of the place of Ardipithecus in hominid evolution was named breakthrough of the year by Science Magazine.
Monday, February 8, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, February 7, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Thursday, February 4, 2010
RKC 111A lecture by Sam Hsiao Mathematics Program How many shuffles does it take to randomize a deck of cards? The famous paper by Bayer and Diaconis published in 1992 provides a definitive analysis of this problem. I will discuss the beautiful interplay between algebra and combinatorics that shows up in their work, and will survey subsequent developments that relate to my current research in algebraic combinatorics. This talk will assume a basic familiarity with abstract algebra.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Monday, February 1, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Sunday, January 31, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Thursday, January 28, 2010
RKC 111A lecture by Sarah Koch Harvard University
Julia sets are a certain family of fractals that arise from the iteration of polynomial maps on the complex plane. In 1983, Duaday and Hubbard discovered that two polynomial maps can sometimes be combined into a single dynamical system by "gluing together" the Julia sets, an operation known as mating.
In this talk, we begin with a brief introduction to complex polynomials, Julia sets, and the parameter space for quadratic polynomials (the Mandelbrot set). We then discuss the notion of mating two polynomials, focusing on the quadratic case. Finally, we will explore some examples where the mating does exist, and examples where it does not.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Monday, January 25, 2010
RKC 111A place to work on math homework, study with classmates, or find a math tutor
Every Sunday-Wednesday
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, December 14, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
RKC lobby Students presenting: Denise Feng Adviser: Michael Tibbetts
Genevieve Howell Adviser: William Maple
Paul Jordan Advisers: Craig Anderson and Michael Tibbetts
Paul McLaughlin Adviser: James Belk
Sarah Mount Adviser: Catherine O'Reilly
Jacob Pooler Adviser: Peter Skiff
Wyatt Shell Adviser: Philip Johns
Sarah Wegener Adviser: William Maple
Yi Xiao Adviser: Michael Tibbetts
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium 2009 Nobel Prizes
Swapan Jain lecturing on the Chemistry prize Awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome"
Michael Tibbetts lecturing on the Physiology or Medicine prize Awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"
Christian Bracher lecturing on the Physics prize Awarded to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor"
Monday, December 7, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
RKC 111A seminar by Sheila Miller United States Military Academy at West Point A left distributive algebra (LD) is a set with one binary operation satisfying the left distributive law. Examples of left distributive algebras in classical mathematics include groups under conjugation and the weighted mean; we are interested in the free left distributive algebra which appears in both set theory and braid groups. We give an introduction to the main theorems about free left distributive algebras, particularly theorems concerning a linear ordering and a normal form theorem, and end with a discussion of the Comparison Algorithm. Though the Comparison Algorithm is the most natural way to compare two terms in the free LD, it is an open question whether the Comparison Algorithm terminates when given two arbitrary terms of the free left distributive algebra.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, November 30, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, November 23, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium Molecular Shapes and Molecular Interactions: Insights from Infrared Spectroscopy
A lecture by Timothy Vaden Candidate for the position in Chemistry
Thursday, November 19, 2009
RKC 111 A lecture by Matthew Glomski Marist College A century ago, physicists Henri Bénard and John William Strutt (a.k.a. Lord Rayleigh) studied the onset of convection in a thin layer of fluid heated from below. This question, now termed the planar Bénard problem, has evolved into one of the true "classics" of classical thermodynamics. In this talk, we will borrow tools from subfields as disparate as calculus, geometry and logic to examine some proven results and investigate a few unanswered questions in the problem. This talk is intended to be accessible to all undergraduates with an interest in mathematics, computer science, and/or physics.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
RKC 101 Find out more about math and CS courses Get information about MATC courses Find out your math placement Find out about the BARC Algebra Workshops This drop-in session isn led by Q-director Maria Belk, and math and CS faculty.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, November 16, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
RKC 111 A seminar by Elisha Peterson United States Military Academy at West Point Have you ever seen one of those movies where the hero unearths an artifact covered with mysterious symbols, and it takes a brilliant scientist to decipher their meaning? Hollywood's tacit (and reasonable) assumption is that the mathematics of a different civilization would look very different. This talk is an accessible introduction to trace diagrams, a non-traditional notation for linear algebra that could plausibly have been developed by another civilization. Surprisingly, the notation is perfectly rigorous, and often leads to proofs more elegant than those written using traditional notation. The only prerequisite is an understanding of basic linear algebra and a willingness to work some examples to get used to doing real math with "doodles".
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, November 9, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium Watching Rust Dissolve: Ultrafast X-Ray Absorption Measurements of the Reductive Dissolution of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles
A lecture by Jordan Katz Candidate for the position in Chemistry The reduction of Fe(III) is one of the most important chemical changes that takes place in the development of anaerobic soils and sediments, and the reductive dissolution of iron-bearing minerals by microbes plays a critical role in this process. Despite its importance in biogeochemistry, many questions remain about the mechanism of this electron transfer reaction, in part because the speed of the fundamental chemical steps renders them inaccessible to conventional study. Ultrafast time-resolved x-ray spectroscopy is a technique that can overcome this limitation and measure changes in oxidation state and structure occurring during chemical reactions that can be initiated by a fast laser pulse. We use this approach with ~100 ps resolution to monitor the speciation of Fe atoms in maghemite nanoparticles following photo-induced electron transfer from a surface-bound photoactive dye molecule.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
RKC 111 A seminar by Ethan Bloch Mathematics program It is well known that Newton and Leibniz invented calculus in the 17th century. It is less well known what exactly they did, and did not, do. In fact, many of the ingredients of calculus were known before Newton and Leibniz, and it took over one hundred years after them for calculus to be brought into the form in which we know it today, and another fifty years after that for all the details to be worked out rigorously. This talk will outline some of the main steps in the development of calculus from the ancient Greeks to the 19th century. Most of the talk will be accessible to anyone familiar with the basic ideas of calculus.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
RKC 111 Cedric Cogell 4:15
Huaizhou Jin 4:30
David Pollett 4:45
Sarah Farrell 5:00
Liz Jimenez 5:15
Aleks Chakarov 5:30
Monday, November 2, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium Creating Devices and Performing Analyses at the Micro-Scale A lecture by Christopher LaFratta Candidate for the position in Chemistry
Thursday, October 29, 2009
RKC 111 Ming Gan 4:15
Jonathan Fivelsdal 4:30
Alison Mutter 5:00
Xian He 5:15
Alex Vladoi 5:30
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
RKC 111 Che Ruisi-Besares 4:15
Elias Halloran 4:30
Xinyuan Xu 4:45
Shun-Yang Lee 5:00
Viriya Ratansangpunth 5:15
Hannah Quay de la Valle 5:30
Monday, October 26, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
RKC 100 A tutorial by Gidon Eshel Bard Center Fellow in Environmental Sciences
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, October 19, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
RKC 111A seminar by Jenny Magnes Vassar College Physics department We have shown that shapes representing functions can be opto-mechanically integrated and re-produced. This method involves linear opto-mechanical scanning. We show that angular opto-mechanical scanning can be used to classify shapes by symmetry groups. This information can then be used to identify objects mathematically based on their symmetries. Applications lie in the fields of psychology, quality control, and surveillance.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, October 12, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 AuditoriumA lecture by J.B. Nation University of Hawaii A projective plane is a planar geometry in which every pair of lines has a point of intersection. Heuristically, we think of parallel lines as intersecting at infinity. This talk will concern various ways in which we can construct projective planes, with particular attention to the structure of finite planes.
Monday, October 5, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, September 28, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
RKC 111A seminar by Robert W. McGrail Bard College ASC Laboratory The speaker presents a meta term rewriting system (TRS) for the laws of idempotence, right-cancellation, and right self-distributivity. Particular instances of this meta TRS demonstrate that the equational theories of quandles, involutory quandles, racks, and right symmmetric, right distributive groupoids (RSRD) are decidable. Moreover, another instance encodes the standard solution to the three-peg Tower of Hanoi problem. This is joint work with Peter Golbus of Northeastern University and Claudio Gutierrez of the University of Chile in Santiago.This talk will be accessible to those familiar with elementary formal mathematics.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, September 21, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
RKC 111A seminar by Robert W. McGrail Bard College ASC LaboratoryThe speaker introduces the word problem for recursively presented algebras. This will include a brief history of progress in this area, most notably Novikov's proof of the undecidability of the word problem for groups. The speaker will then present a reduction of the word problem for groups to the word problem for quandles as well as a reduction of the word problem for quandles to the word problem for racks. This demonstrates that quandles and racks also have undecidable word problems. This original research is joint work with Jim Belk of the Bard Mathematics Program.This talk will be accessible to any attendee familiar with group presentations and normal subgroups in group theory.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, September 14, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
RKC 100 A seminar by Ethan Bloch Mathematics Program TEX (pronounced “tek”), of which LATEX is the most widely used dialect, is the state-of-the-art system for typesetting mathematical texts, widely used by mathematicians, scientists and computer scientists, as well as professional journals and book publishers. TEX is not a what-you-see-is-what-you-get word processor, but is rather a computer programming language, originally developed by the noted computer scientist Donald Knuth. Though TEX is a bit harder to use than a regular word processor, it is easily mastered, and offers a number of advantages for typesetting mathematical texts, including the ability to type very complicated mathematical formulas, automatic theorem numbering, and real portability between platforms. TEX is particularly well suited for senior projects in mathematics, computer science and the physical sciences. This talk will present some of the basic ideas of using LATEX.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, September 7, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students and faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Monday, August 31, 2009
RKC 111 Get help at the Math Study Room! A place to work on Math homework, study with classmates, or find a Math tutor
Every Sunday - Wednesday RKC 111 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
RKC 111 Find out about math courses, math-related activities and events on campus, and the math major.
Math faculty members will be there to answer your questions.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
RKC lobby "Ice cream is happiness condensed" -Jessi Lane Adams
Come to the Science, Mathematics & Computing Division ICE CREAM SOCIAL
Stop by to ask questions about courses being offered or find out more about majoring in the programs. Faculty members from each program will be there to answer questions.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center, Room 101A seminar by John B. Ferguson Health Professions Advisor
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 AuditoriumA lecture by Sandy Simon Laboratory of Cellular Biophysics Rockefeller University Most studies in biology focus on the "averaged" behavior. Either the average behavior of a molecule (which we study by its biochemical activity), the average behavior of a cell (which we study by its physiology) or the average behavior of an individual (which we study by population dynamics). However, important lessons can be learned from studying single events. Examples will be given from our work on a number of projects ranging from studying single HIV viruses as they assemble, single vesicles as they are release by a cell to signal or internalized into a cell, single cells as they die and single tumor cells as they metastasize through the body.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
RKC lobby Join us in celebrating our graduating seniors as they present posters outlining their work.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
RKC lobby Join us in celebrating our graduating seniors as they present posters outlining their work.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
RKC lobbyStudents presenting:
Algebraic & Symbolic Computation Laboratory Adviser: Robert McGrail Jacqueline Bow Aleksandar Chakarov Bella Manoim Georgi Smilyanov Adina-Raluca Stoica Petar Stojanov
Biology Independent Research Students Advisers: Ken Howard, Philip Johns & Michael Tibbetts Elena Dragomir Rosa Levin Jessica Philpott Jega Jananie Ravi Hannagh Shapero Ilya Smirnoff Rachel Steinhorn
Math Independent Research Students Advisers: James Belk, Maria Belk & Lauren Rose Julia Bennett Adam Chodoff Liz Jimenez-Martinez
Tropical Ecology class Adviser: Catherine O'Reilly Erik Badger Tessa Dowling Genevieve Howell Allison James Hannah Liddy Chantal Ludder Elizabeth Lund Sarah Mount Loralee Ryan Wyatt Shell Marta Shocket
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
RKC 111 Serena Randolph 4:15 p.m.
Tina Zhang 4:40 p.m.
Scott McMillen 5:05 p.m.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
RKC 111 Nicholas Michaud 4:15 p.m.
Sylvia Naples 4:40 p.m.
Tomasz Przytycki 5:05 p.m.
Zhechao Zhou 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium Young Eun Choi "Developing a reversible and cell-specific system for inhibiting protein synthesis in C. elegans"
Trillian Gregg "Development of a Novel Method of Macromolecule Delivery into Cells"
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
RKC 111 Mona Merling 4:15 p.m.
Ezra Winston 4:40 p.m.
Dexin Zhou 5:05 p.m.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
RKC 111A lecture by Megumi Harada McMaster UniversityThe motivation for symplectic geometry comes from classical physics, but the modern theory is related to many other areas of mathematics (not just physics) such as combinatorics, representation theory, topology, algebraic geometry, and many others. I will give a "mosaic" glimpse of this exciting field of research by briefly discussing the following inter-related topics, all of which appear (in one way or another) in my current work: 1) From classical physics to symplectic geometry: the magic of Hamiltonians;2) Horn's problem: how linear algebra and symplectic geometry yield polytopes and combinatorics;3) Getting topology out of a function: a bit of Morse theory;and finally, time permitting, I will say a few words about how the themes (1)--(3) come together in my current work on the study of the topology of hyperKahler Hamiltonian quotients.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Spring 2009 Olin Humanities, Room 102 Greg LandweberSymmetry and SupersymmetryA symmetry is a way of transforming an object which leaves its fundamental properties unchanged. This can be as simple as the left-right reflective symmetry of a human face, or more abstract, like the symmetries of a triangle, polyhedron, or M. C. Escher lithograph. The field of abstract algebra studies groups of symmetries, using the algebraic properties of these symmetries to probe the structure of the underlying object itself. In other areas of mathematics, one often uses symmetry to simplify the study of otherwise complicated geometric shapes or differential equations.Symmetry is also a fundamental ingredient of particle physics. Symmetries of physical systems give rise to the laws of conservation of energy and momentum, which are basic principals introduced in a first-year physics class. In more advanced physics, gauge theory uses symmetry to explain the fundamental forces of nature that hold atoms together, cause radioactive decay, and give rise to the chemical properties of matter.Supersymmetry is a type of symmetry involving the interactions of objects divided into two separate yet equivalent categories, such as even/odd, positive/negative, white/black, good/evil. In physics, there is a natural division of elementary particles into two classes called "bosons" and "fermions", where the fermions comprise matter, and the bosons transmit forces. These two types of particles behave very differently from each other, but are governed by equations that are surprisingly similar. Supersymmetric physics explains that this dichotomy is no coincidence, but rather that the bosons and fermions are in fact interchangeable, and that any valid theory of particle physics must contain both types of particles.This seminar does not require any background in mathematics or physics, and will illustrate the mathematical concepts using pictures rather than equations.This seminar will be held in Olin 102 beginning at 7:00 p.m., and will be preceded by a reception in the Olin atrium at 6:30 p.m. Please join us!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium-RKCA lecture by Kathy Corrado Director, Onondaga County Crime Lab Forensic DNA analysis is used extensively in criminal investigations to either associate or exonerate individuals from leaving their DNA at crime scenes. The Director of the Onondaga County Crime Lab in Syracuse NY will provide insight into the real life workings of a forensic DNA lab including the types of evidence typically encountered, current technologies being utilized in the field, the significance of DNA matches, and examples of interesting cases. The benefits and concerns of the use and expansion of forensic DNA databases will also be discussed.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
RKC 111A lecture by Catherine O'Reilly Biology program and Simeen Sattar Chemistry program In February, NASA launched a rocket on a mission to deploy a new satellite. The rocket malfunctioned, sending the satellite, in development for the past 9 years and part of $273 million dollar system, into the ocean. The rocket was carrying the NASA's new Orbiting Carbon Observatory, a satellite intended to assess carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. The information from this satellite would have helped researchers understand the distribution of this greenhouse gas, providing data to improve climate models and insights into the 'missing carbon sink'.
Monday, April 20, 2009
RKC 111A lecture by Gidon Eshel Physics program I will first review the concept of stability in the context of variance maintenance by dynamical systems, starting in 1-D and working our way to N-D. I will provide numerous examples, both analytic (i.e., with no physical relevance) and from physically realizable system such as the jet stream or Spotted Owl survival in response to conservation efforts. I will discuss two methods of obtaining dynamical system's governing linear operator: (1) using analytic linearization of non-linear operators (with the examples of mid-latitude perturbations on the jet, and the Lotka-Volterra equations of population dynamics; and (2) data-based (empirical) derivation using covariance of strobed states. I will then introduce normality (self-adjointness), discuss time-scales, and emphasize the distinction between asymptotic and transient stability. I will conclude with the complete solution of the stability problem, a solution comprising both eigen analysis (and thus asymptotic stability) and Singular value Decomposition of finite time propagators (addressing transient stability).
Thursday, April 16, 2009
RKC 111A lecture by Harry Mairson Brandeis University
Static program analysis is a form of predicting the future: it's what a compiler does to predict the behavior of your program, so that at run-time, the compiled version of your code runs faster or better.
Control flow analysis (CFA) is a canonical form of static program analysis performed by compilers, where the answers to questions like "can call site X ever call procedure P?" or "can procedure P ever be called with argument A?" are used to optimize procedure calls. In the interest of compile-time tractability, these questions are answered approximately, possibly including false positives. Much experimental work has been done on flow analysis. Here we describe, instead, some analytic characterizations of how hard CFA is.
Different versions of CFA are parameterized by their sensitivity to calling contexts. We show that the simplest version of CFA, called 0CFA, is complete for PTIME. In other words, it is as difficult to solve as any problem requiring polynomial time. A family of generalizations of 0CFA providing better analyses, called kCFA (k a positive integer), has never been implemented efficiently. We prove that this is necessary: the problem solved by kCFA is complete for EXPTIME---it is as difficult to solve as any problem requiring exponential time.
Each proof depends on fundamental insights about the linearity of programs, appealing to ideas from linear logic and the geometry of interaction---a linear logic semantics that is effectively an exact form of control-flow analysis.
This is joint work with David Van Horn (Brandeis University), presented at the 2008 ACM International Conference on Functional Programming.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium-RKCA lecture by David Sloan Wilson Director, EvoS program Binghamton University For complex reasons, evolutionary theory was restricted to the biological sciences and avoided for most human-related subjects for most of the 20th century. That is now rapidly changing. The 21st century will witness an integration for the study of humanity comparable to the integration of the biological sciences that took place during the 20th century (and continuing). I will review current trends and how they are embodied in EvoS, a campus-wide evolutionary studies program at Binghamton University that has received NSF funding to expand into a nationwide consortium.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
RKC 111A lecture by Kristin Lane Psychology program Many mental activities occur automatically or unconsciously, including thoughts that are relevant to social perception, judgment, and action. This talk will present interactive illustrations of mental events that exist outside of conscious awareness or control; I will then show evidence that suggests that these ordinary processes can give rise to systematic social biases, which in turn can influence participation, interest, and performance in science and math domains. In particular, the talk will consider the gender disparity in science and mathematics in light of these findings from the mind sciences.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium - RKCA lecture by Georgia E. Hodes University of Pennsylvania Women are twice as likely as men to suffer an episode of depression, but only between puberty and menopause. This suggests a relationship between reproductive hormones and depression in females. However, most theories on the etiology of depression are based on research done solely in males. This talk will focus on current research examining sex differences in the effects of antidepressants on neurogenesis and depression associated behaviors using a rodent model. Additionally, this talk will examine how reproductive hormones influence cognitive function and the response to stress across the lifespan. The understanding of how males and females differ may lead to better treatments for depression in both sexes.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
RKC 111A lecture by Robert McGrail Laboratory for Algebraic and Symbolic Computation Bard College The speaker introduces the notion of a quandle, an algebra that arises in knot theory and group theory, as well as the concept of connectedness in algebras. In particular, every finite, connected quandle has an unambiguous permutation cycle structure associated to it. This cycle-structure can be simply and efficiently computed from an operation table for the quandle, and so serves as a useful combinatorial invariant for the classification of finite, connected quandles. The speaker will introduce an improvement to the isofilter program of the Prover9/Mace4 automated deduction suite based upon this invariant. Moreover, he will discuss the implications of this work to the goal of completing a computational classification of the variety of finite quandles. This is joint work with Aleksandar Chakarov (Bard '10).
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium - RKCA lecture by Michele Caggana, Sc.D, FACMG Director, New York State Department of Health, Newborn Screening ProgramNewborn screening began in New York State in 1965 with the addition of a single metabolic disorder called phenylketonuria (PKU). If you drink diet soda, you may see the bottle warning phenylketonurics not to drink these beverages. That's because prior to 1965, people who had PKU became mentally retarded and often were institutionalized because their disease was caught too late. With the advent of newborn screening, the Wadsworth Center, New York State's Public Health Laboratory could identify those affected babies at birth, before they suffered significant cognitive impairment by sampling a few drops of blood from a newborn's heel. By limiting intake of phenylalanine and protein in general, affected infants could live and function normally. Newborn screening has changed a lot over the years. The Program in New York is the largest, most comprehensive free program in the United States. We now screen for 45 disorders and use sophisticated equipment. This discussion will start in the early 60's, bring us to current activities in Albany, and we will glimpse into the future as well. In addition, factors that have impacted newborn screening in recent years will be discussed.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium-RKCA lecture by Cathy Gibson Skidmore College As integrators of the landscape, streams are heavily impacted by land-use change such as urbanization. Changes in ecosystem structure associated with urbanization are well known, but how ecosystem function changes as a result of these structural changes is not well understood. This talk will examine how urbanization affects nutrient cycling and whole system metabolism in both small headwater streams and large rivers. Maintenance of downstream water quality depends on the ability of stream to retain and process nutrients. This talk will examine what drives nutrient uptake in urban streams, how it differs from forested counterparts, and discuss implications for downstream water quality. In addition, we will look at the impact of hydrological modifications via dams affects these functions, as well.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
RKC 102A lecture by Jeff Suzuki Brooklyn College
What do a musical scale, a calendar, and the U.S. flag have in common? They are all solutions to the problem of finding a set of whole numbers that match a particular property. The solutions rely on the use of Diophantine equations and continued fractions, which offer the best rational approximation to a given real number.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Laszlo Z. Bito Auditiorium-RKCA lecture by S. James Gates, Jr. John S. Toll Professor of Mathematics Director, Center for String and Particle Theory University of Maryland Gauge theories seem to describe all of the known forces in Nature...except gravity as it is normally viewed. However, using the Cartan approach to the geometry of curved manifolds, even gravitation is seen to be almost identical to other gauge theories. This talk will be accessible to math and physics majors.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium-RKCA lecture by Richard S. Ostfeld Senior Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies The rate of species extinctions, both globally and from local communities, continues to accelerate. In recent years, ecologists have asked, to what degree will ecological communities lose their ability to provide “ecosystem services” as biodiversity is lost? This talk will describe how biodiversity loss affects the risk and incidence of zoonotic diseases (diseases transmitted from non-human vertebrates to humans). Zoonotic diseases, including avian influenza, Ebola, SARS, and plague, comprise the majority of so-called emerging infectious diseases. Most zoonotic pathogens can infect several wildlife host species. However, hosts differ strongly in their capacity to support population growth of the pathogen. Some hosts act as reservoirs that amplify pathogens, whereas others act as “dilution hosts” that can absorb but do not contribute pathogens. Therefore, the diversity and species composition of the host community is fundamentally important in determining pathogen transmission and disease dynamics. Reservoir hosts tend to be abundant, widespread species that are resilient to human-caused environmental degradation. In contrast, dilution hosts are often sensitive to environmental degradation, disappearing when biodiversity is lost. This presentation will describe three case studies of diseases – Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, West Nile virus encephalitis, and Lyme disease – that are exacerbated when biodiversity is reduced. Explorations of the mechanisms that underlie the increase in disease risk with reduced biodiversity suggest that other zoonotic diseases will behave similarly. These case studies show that the current biodiversity crisis is likely to increase human exposure to many infectious diseases.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
RKC 111A lecture by Peter Golbus, class of 2009 ASC Lab, Bard College This work presents a method for associating a class of constraint satisfaction problems to a three-dimensional knot. Given a knot, one can build a knot quandle, which is generally an infinite free algebra. The desired collection of problems is derived from the set of invariant relations over the knot quandle, applying theory that relates finite algebras to constraint satisfaction problems. This allows us to develop notions of tractable and NP-complete quandles and knots. In particular, we show that all tricolorable torus knots and all but at most 2 non-trivial knots with 10 or fewer crossings are NP-complete.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Laszlo Z. Bito Auditorium - RKCA lecture by Jason Schwarz Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience, Rockefeller University The teleost fish Aplocheilus can locate and capture its insect prey on the surface of the water without any visual input. An array of mechanosensory organs on the crown of the fish's head, the neuromasts, detect water surface waves in a manner analogous to the detection of sounds by tetrapods. The fish compares the intensities and latencies of stimuli at various neuromasts to determine the direction of the wave source and analyzes the wave spectrum to determine how far the wave has propagated. In view of the robustness of the behavior and the accessibility of the nervous system, prey localization by Aplocheilus offers us an experimental system useful in the study of fast neural signal processing.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
RKC 111A lecture by Rebecca Ryan MAT Program in Mathematics Bard College In 1973 Fischer Black and Myron Scholes settled a longstanding problem in economics: how to determine the fair value of a stock option. They realized that holding specific positions in stocks and in an option could render a portfolio instantaneously risk-free. Having eliminated the risk, solving for the value of an option became a feasible mathematical procedure. This revolutionary insight sparked the explosion of the now multi-trillion dollar derivatives market.
In this presentation, I will reconstruct the Black-Scholes portfolio from the ground up, assuming basic economic or mathematical knowledge from the audience. First, learn how investors use options, stocks, short positions, and long positions to speculate and to hedge. Then, explore how casinos hedge games to cover payouts. Finally, see how the Black-Scholes portfolio is analagous to a casino's hedging strategy.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 AuditoriumA lecture by Steven Gavlik Siena College Most vertebrates pass through two or more distinct life stages. Examples include hatching or birth (larval to juvenile transitions) and puberty (a juvenile to adult transition). Hormones of the endocrine system are primary controllers of the anatomical and physiological changes occurring during these life stage transitions. Fish undergo these transitions as free-living organisms, which allows for interactions between the hormonal control systems and the environment. This talk will present findings about the hormonal controls of two important fish life stage transitions – metamorphosis of Summer flounder and sex determination in American eel.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
RKC 111A lecture by John Cullinan Mathematics program Dynamical systems have been studied in the context of population modeling, fractal geometry, and topology for much of the 20th century, but it is only recently that they have been studied for their number-theoretic applications. In fact, many open questions in number theory can be rephrased in terms of dynamical systems. This talk will be an introduction to the arithmetic of polynomial dynamics and we will also discuss our recent work on the ramification of iterated rational functions.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
RKC 111Lecture by Ethan Bloch Mathematics Program The angle defect, which goes back to Descartes, is a very simple way of measuring the curvature at the vertices of a polyhedral surface in Euclidean space. The angle defect is the polyhedral (and much simpler) analog of Gaussian curvature, as studied in differential geometry. Although the angle defect is the only plausible definition of curvature at the vertices of a polyhedral surface, it turns out that there is more than one possible way to generalize this definition to arbitrary finite 2-dimensional polyhedra, and to higher dimensional polyhedra. This talk will present a few different such generalizations, and will discuss a way to compare these different generalizations in dimension 2. The talk will be elementary, though a willingness to consider higher dimensional polyhedra is required.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
RKC pod 222 A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors & fellow biology students!TuesdaysRKC POD 2227 p.m.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium The 2008 Nobel Prize Awards Christian Bracher, Physics programLecturing on the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded jointly to Yoichiro Nambu for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics and to Makoto Kobayashi and Toshilde Maskawa for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature. John Ferguson, Biology programLecturing on the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus. Michael Tibbetts, Biology programLecturing on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
RKC 111 A lecture by Cliona Golden Mathematics program Math plays a key role in the workings of many electronic devices we use in day-to-day life: MP3 players, digital cameras, cellphones, .... In this talk, we will discuss two fundamental math tools, Fourier Analysis and Wavelets, for the representation and processing of signals and images.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 AuditoriumLed by Stephanie Oleksyk (SES '06) Learn more about the Semester in Environmental Science at Woods Hole, MA.
Study environmental science in an array of ecosystems with researchers at one of the world's premier centers for biological research and education! The Semester in Environmental Science (SES) is a hands-on semester of courses taught in beautiful Woods Hole by some of the field's top scientists. The aim of the core curriculum is to study global problems in a local context. It covers ecosystem biogeochemistry and the biology of coastal bays, ponds, wetlands and forests of Cape Cod. Students conduct independent research projects and make connections with researchers that can lead to internships and jobs at the MBL.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Kline, President's Room Join Math and Computer Science students & faculty for an informal lunch gathering.
All are welcome!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
RKC terrace Attention all Biology students!!!A chance to do homework, get help with your classes, eat pizza and socialize with your professors and fellow biology students. Professors Felicia Keesing and Philip Johns will be hosting tonight.
Monday, December 8, 2008
RKC lobbyBiology program
Fall 2008 Independent Research Poster Session Students presenting: Alex Carlin Jyoti Dev Margo Finn Samuel Israel Allison James Anna Josephson-Day Sarah Mount Jessica Philpott Wyatt Shell Ilya Smirnoff Rachel Steinhorn Emma Taylor-Salmon William Wylie
Students presenting: Priyanka Oberoi Adviser: Felicia Keesing
"The Effect of Invasive Plant Species, Garlic Mustard Plant (Alliaria petiolata), on Entomopathogenic Fungi, Beauveria bassiana"
Faqir Usman Adviser: Sam Hsiao
"Using Graphs to Model the Spread and Containment of Fire"
Thursday, December 4, 2008
RKC 111 A lecture by Maria Belk Mathematics program Why are some structures rigid, but others fall down? We'll look at some simple structure and examine their rigidity. We'll start by considering bar frameworks - place the vertices of a graph in 2 or 3 dimensions, and think of the edges of the graph as bars, forced to maintain their length. After examining the rigidity of bar frameworks, we'll move to consider tensegrities. In a tensigrity framework, some of the edges are called struts and are allowed to increase in length while others are called cables and are allowed to decrease in length. These are tensegrities where the struts are suspended in the air by the cables, and yet the entire structure is rigid.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Sven Anderson Computer Science program Telling the difference between human and automated programs such as Web-bots has become important in preventing Web-bot access to e-mail addresses, private information and limited electronic resources. CAPTCHAs, programs that can accurately judge whether a user is human or machine, are the primary line of defense against Web-bot access. For example, Google's Mail program uses CAPTHCAs to prevent Web-bots from creating bogus user accounts from which to launch spam messages. Every day humans solve about 60 million CAPTHCAs. The human "computation" expended has an unintended benefit: it can be recycled to help digitize old printed texts that are unrecognizable using optical character recognizers. This talk, intended for a general audience, will explore the vanishing difference between humans and computer programs on current text CAPTCHAs and outline efforts to keep one step ahead of the intelligent Web-bots. We will also consider other efforts to recycle human computation.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Lisa Scheifele candidate for the position in Biology Mobile DNA presents a considerable challenge to genome stability due to its presence as dispersed repeats. Could this instability enable adaption and thereby explain why genomes retain high levels of mobile DNA? Indeed, we have found that following experimental evolution, strains with higher levels of repetitive DNA contain a broader variation in chromosome structure. The abundance of repetitive DNA must therefore be fine-tuned so that benefit of chromosome rearrangements in promoting genome evolution outweights the potential for lethal damage.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
RKC 111 A lecture by Keith O'Hara candidate for the position in Computer Science
Just as special purpose mainframe computers grew into general purpose personal computers, special purpose industrial robots are evolving into general purpose personal robots. Drawing on ideas from computer systems architecture such as parallelism, redundancy, heterogeneity, locality, and scaling laws, we propose a "robot systems architecture" perspective on the design of robot computing systems. From this perspective, two distributed robot systems built for tasks as varied as computing education and mobile robot navigation will be presented.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Jane Liu, candidate for the open position in Chemistry.
Due to their central role in regulating bacterial pathogenesis, small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) represent targets with therapeutic potential. To investigate the entire repertoire of sRNAs in the human pathogen, Vibrio cholerae, we developed a method, sRNA-Seq, to directly clone and analyze whole populations of V. cholerae transcripts, 14 to 200 nucleotides, by high-throughput pyrosequencing. From over 680,000 reads, 500 new intergenic sRNAs and 127 antisense sRNAs were identified.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
RKC 111 A lecture by Jim Belk
If you draw a grid on the plane and then zoom out, the empty squares between the gridlines become smaller and smaller until they are lost to sight. The result is that the large-scale geometry of the plane is essentially the same as the large-scale geometry of an infinite grid. In the same way, many non-Euclidean geometries can be understood on a large scale using infinite graphs. In this talk, we will explore the geometry of several graphs that arise in this fashion, and we will discuss the sorts of questions that one might ask about the geometry of an infinite graph.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Tracy Kress, candidate for the position in Biology.
From the beginning of transcription, mRNAs are processed in a myriad of ways to specify the correct timing, localization, and quantity of protein synthesized. To ensure the efficiency and accuracy of gene expression, transcription and mRNA processing steps are tightly coordinated both spatially and temporally. Despite their critical importance, few factors that regulate this coordination are known. I identified Npl3 as one such factor, and my work aims to uncover the mechanism of Npl3, and other factors, in this coordination.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Patrick Page-McCaw, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
I will present two stories on how the zebrafish can be used as a model of heart disease. In the first story, our lab has used genetic, pharmacological and surgical tools to dissect the affect of stress on cardiac output. In the second story, we have discovered that Serum Amyloid A is required for cholesterol transport early in embryogenesis and that the failure to transport cholesterol results in defects in Hedgehog signaling.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Jeremy Johnson, candidate for the open position in Chemistry
The mechanism of ribonuclease toxicity toward cancerous cells involves multiple steps, including cellular uptake and evasion of the ribonuclease inhibitor protein. Both of these steps of ribonuclease cytotoxicity are proposed to be controlled by the cationic nature of the ribonuclease and its interactions with the anionic cell membrane and anionic inhibitor. To understand the role that electrostatics play in ribonuclease biology, I investigated the effect that the positive charge of ribonuclease have on their cytotoxicity.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
RKC 111 Interested in summer research in mathematics?
Come to an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) information session.
Hosted by the Mathematics program
Students Sylvia Naples and Tomasz Przytycki and faculty members John Cullinan and Lauren Rose will be speaking on the application process and their own experiences with past REU's.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Brett Pellock, candidate for the open position in Biology.
Bacteria use small, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) to rapidly alter gene expression in response to changing conditions. Bacterial ncRNAs are small and difficult to identify experimentally. We are synthesizing computational and experimental methods to predict and validate the existence of ncRNAs in Shewanella oneidensis, a bacterium that can reduce a wide variety of substrates when grown anaerobically. Of particular interest is the ability of Shewanella to reduce soluble, toxic heavy metals to insoluble, much less toxic forms.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Alexis Gambis, The Rockefeller University
Alexis Gambis will speak about the importance of visual imagery and narrative in both science understanding and communication. He will give insight into his current thesis work explaining the mechanisms of cellular death, how to use the fruit fly as a genetic model to study human neurodegenerative diseases, and the fluorescent toolkit to visualize neurons in the fruit fly eye . Using the camera eye, Alexis has also been actively making films with scientific themes during his graduate career. Alexis will talk about his recent films and the importance of visual storytelling in science communication, show a few clips of his film "A Fruit Fly in New York", and share his recent experience pioneering the first science film festival in New York.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Richard A. Gordon, Professor of Psychology.
After the discovery of antidepressant drugs in the 1950s and the burst of research on neurotransmitters that took place in the 1960s, a scientific hypothesis about depression became firmly established in the community of researchers and clinicians: depression was rooted in depleted brain amines, such as norepinephrine and serotonin, a deficit that the antidepressants corrected. The amine hypothesis (known popularly and in pharmaceutical advertising as “chemical imbalance”) guided research throughout the rest of the 20th century. However, by the late 1990s it had become clear that direct research on the metabolism of depressed patients had failed to support the hypothesis. In this lecture I will discuss some exciting recent research that uses sophisticated techniques of brain imaging and has lent new support to the possibility that depleted amines are importantly involved in the chemistry of depression. Further commentary will be offered on the limitations and promise of this work, as well as some of the current thinking on the underpinnings of depression in the brain.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Swapan Jain, candidate for the open position in Chemistry.
According to RNA World hypothesis, early life used RNA for information storage and chemical catalysis. Small molecules may have played an important role in this endeavor by assembling nucleic acids during prebiotic evolution. Our results with proflavine and coralyne (small organic ligands) show that reactions carried out by protein enzymes today could have been achieved by non-enzymatic means. Mechanistic studies using hydroxyl radical footprinting have also been instrumental in our understanding of RNA structure. Future work aims to understand the structural changes that occur in riboswitches (noncoding region of mRNA) upon ligand binding. I would also like to investigate whether RNA can be regulated simultaneously by multiple pathways.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
RKC 111 New Biology course for spring semester:
Tropical Ecology
Professor Catherine O'Reilly
Tropical ecosystems are among the most biodiverse, most threatened, and the least studied in the world. This course will examine both practical and theoretical aspects that are unique to tropical ecosystems, including the role of geology, biogeochemical cycling, evolutionary processes and species interactions. In addition, we will discuss issues related to conservation, such as habitat fragmentation and climate change. This course will include lectures, student presentations, and research projects. Students will design, conduct, synthesize, and present a field research project. This course will involve a field trip to La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica over spring break.
Prerequisites: Moderation, Bio 202 Ecology and Evolution, Permission of the instructor.
Come to the information meeting to learn more about the field trip, acceptance into this course, and the additional costs.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium Speakers include:
Cristina Ballantine, College of the Holy Cross
"Expander Graphs: Algebraic and Combinatorial Constructions"
Margaret Bayer, University of Kansas
"Flag Vectors of Polytopes: An Overview"
Debra Boutin, Hamilton College
"The Determining Set: A (Smallest) Set that Identifies Every Vertex in a Graph"
Robert McGrail, Bard College
"Knots, Quandles, and the Constraint Satisfaction Problem"
Ed Swartz, Cornell University
"f-Vectors of Manifolds"
Thursday, November 6, 2008
RKC 111 A lecture by Charles Doran, University of Alberta.
We'll start by investigating the combinatorial properties of certain lattice polytopes in R^n, specifically reflexive polygons. By reinterpreting these as Newton polygons, we will relate these combintorial objects to algebraic equations naturally defined on complex tori. The vanishing loci of these equations are then elliptic curves, whose basic geometric and topological properties we will discuss. If time permits, we may also describe an application to string theory.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Brooke A. Jude, candidate for the open position in Biology.
Investigation into Vibrio cholerae revealed that this organism colonizes both chitinous aquatic surfaces and the human small intestine via GbpA. Sequence analysis has revealed a GbpA homolog in all other Vibrio species that have been sequenced to date. We hypothesize that other aquatic Vibrio, such as Vibrio fluvialis, Vibrio vulnificus, or Vibrio parahemolyticus may also utilize GbpA to bind to environmental and intestinal surfaces. Current investigations include screening of aquatic isolates for attachment potential via GbpA.
Monday, November 3, 2008
RKC 111 Tomasz Przytycki 4:30
Dexin Zhou 4:50
Scott McMillen 5:10
Tina Zhang
Monday, November 3, 2008
Hegeman 107 Interested in Studying Engineering? come hear about Bard's 3-2 combined plan with Columbia University. Derek Hernandez, former Bard student and current Columbia student, will speak about the program.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
RKC 111 Sylvia Naples - 4:15 p.m.
"An upper bound for the number of graceful labelings of a path with N edges"
Nicholas Michaud - 4:35 p.m.
"Delaunay Realizability of Certain Graphs"
Mona Merling - 4:55 p.m.
"Function Fields with Class Number Indivisible by a Prime 1"
Monday, October 27, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Peter G. Selfridge, Ph.D.
Virtual graphical environments (think Second Life or World Of Warcraft) have a number of real-world applications including training first responders, urban planning, and military training. Technology for creating both “geo-typical” terrain (e.g., a generic small city) and “geo-specific” terrain (e.g., downtown Kingston) has improved dramatically in recent years. What is missing is the ability to create realistic populations of regular people to populate the landscape: people commuting, going to lunch, taking their kids to daycare, et cetera.
This talk will first review some motivating applications, the current state-of-the-art in terrain generation, and the general problem. Approaches to creating realistic agent populations will be reviewed, including crowd modeling, game technologies, and work in AI-style cognitive architectures. Two key challenges will then be described: the creation and maintenance of realistic behaviors, and the idea of scalable cognition or cognition on demand. Some research ideas to address these challenges will be briefly sketched.
Bio:
Peter Selfridge received his Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Rochester and spent 19 years at Bell Labs and then AT&T Bell Labs doing research into sensory robotics, artificial intelligence, knowledge representation, software visualization, interactive database exploration, 3D web technologies, and more. For the last 5 years he has supported the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in their mission of funding revolutionary R&D to help maintain the technological superiority of the United States. He also does independent research in Artificial Intelligence.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
RKC 111 Sylvia Naples 4:30
Zhechao Zhou 4:50
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Matthew Deady, Physics program
The Large Hadron Collider at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland has just been turned on for initial testing. The "Standard Model" of particles and fields has successfully matched theory and experiment for more than 30 years, and results from the LHC will put the model to its most stringent tests yet. The large energies available will also undoubtedly answer questions about extensions of and alternatives to the Standard Model, including supersymmetry, dark matter, dark energy, and string theory. In this lecture, these theories and what might be learned about them from the LHC will be explored. We will also discuss the spurious concerns that the LHC might cause a black hole that would swallow the universe.
This talk will focus on the theories of particles, as a complement to the October 2007 talk which focused on the accelerator technology itself. An edited version of that talk appears in the latest issue of the Bardian.
RKC 111 Lecture by Allison Pacelli, Williams College.
How do you divide a candy bar fairly between two people? The most popular solution is known by many and can even be found in the bible: one person divides the bar in half, the other gets to choose which piece she wants. But what happens if three people are dividing the candy? Worse yet, what do you do if you're dividing a collection of indivisible goods? Things like TV's and pianos are not much use cut in half! The idea of fairness itself is considerably more complicated when more than two people are involved, but mathematics can be surprisingly useful in these situations.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Martha F. Hoopes, Mount Holyoke College
Early metacommunity theory emphasized four distinct models to explain the spatial structure, dynamics, and species composition of communities: species sorting, patch dynamics, mass effects, and the neutral model. Several tests of metacommunity theory have focused on these models and on determining their relative importance in explaining spatial community structure. Applying metacommunity theory to invasion ecology redirects the focus to examine how theory on spatial community dynamics can inform our understanding of spatial interactions when all species are not considered equal. This talk examines how a focal species approach affects the interpretation of processes critical to metacommunity dynamics. I offer some preliminary thoughts on conceptual differences between the four conceptual metacommunity models and explore these with three invasion case studies.
Friday, October 3, 2008
RKC 111 Tomasz Przytycki 4:30
Dexin Zhou 4:50
Scott McMillen 5:10
Tina Zhang 5:30
Thursday, October 2, 2008
RKC lobby Join the SM&C division faculty and students in presenting their summer research
Thursday, October 2, 2008
RKC 111 A lecture by Robert McGrail, Computer Science program.
L'Hopital's Rule is a useful tool for computing limits with indeterminate forms. In fact, it is too useful. The speaker demonstrates how some of these limits can be computed without this rule. This talk is a shamless ruse designed to introduce the 0-1 law of finite mondel theory as well as expose the unwitting members of the audience to some very beautiful mathematics.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
RKC 111 A lecture by Gregory Landweber, Mathematics program.
In calculus, we teach you how to take derivatives, and then once you're good at that, we tell you about second derivatives. But how do we go in the other direction and try to take HALF a derivative? It turns out that to take a half derivative, your functions need to come in pairs, analogously to how a complex number can be thought of as a pair of numbers, one real and another imaginary. Supersymmetry is the study of such pairings. This talk will discuss different ways that supersymmetry arises, both through explicit constructions, and through the notion of superspace.
**Some exposure to multivariable calculus and linear algebra will be assumed**
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Dr. Lisa Schwanz, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
Parasites negatively impact their host’s fitness, potentially damaging host tissues and impairing host physiological or behavioral performance. In response to parasitic infection, hosts may alter their physiology, behavior or life history in ways that minimize the costs of infection. In this talk, I examine the optimal life history response of hosts when infected with parasites that have varying impacts. In addition, I explore the impacts of schistosome infection in deer mice by examining host physiology, survival and reproductive investment. In accordance with predictions, deer mice infected with this parasite increase their investment in offspring.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium A lecture by Michael Tibbetts, Biology program.
What are the genetic bases of the qualities that we think of as uniquely human? Is there a set of “humaness” genes? Large-scale genome sequencing projects in multiple species are generating the kind of data that allow us, for the first time, to seriously ask such big questions. An article published in the September 5 issue of Science Magazine (Human-specific gain of function in a developmental enhancer, by Prabhakar, S. et al.) describes a gene whose human-specific activity may be necessary to form an opposable thumb. The nature of the differences between the human and chimpanzee versions of the gene they identify supports a popular model for how small modifications in genomes can lead to significant changes in physical characteristics. The methodologies employed by these researchers may lead to the discovery of genes important for other human-specific characteristics.