[External] 5 April, 2025 - Math For All Corvallis @ Oregon State University
Math for all has the purpose of fostering inclusivity in mathematics by holding talks and discussions in both research and education. This conference will be targeted to undergraduate and graduate students, post-docs, and faculty members from institutions across Oregon and provide a friendly, open environment to learn and discuss mathematics.
Find more info on their website: Math For All Corvallis
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[External] 26 April, 2025 - 9th Cascade RAIN Meeting @ Oregon State University
The Mathematics Department is pleased to welcome all participants to the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis, Oregon, for the 9th Cascade Regional Applied Interdisciplinary and Numerical (RAIN) Mathematics Meeting, co-organized by SIAM Pacific Northwest Section.
Find more info on their website: 9th Cascade RAIN Meeting
5 February, 2025 - SIAMinar with Joseph Skudlarek
Octilinear Flight Lines -- A Fast 2D Metric MST Technique
Original computational geometry research producing an O(n*lg(n)) scanline solution for creating a close-enough-to-Euclidean minimum spanning tree for (overlapping) regions, deployed in production to create *visual flight lines* in a chip layout editor; used to graphically show logically but not yet physically connected elements -- includes the tricky non-Euclidean geometry proof that it works. Replaced a too-simple solution that took hours to run with a fast approximate solution that takes seconds to complete.
We'll talk about metric space norms, including octilinear, and visually how it compares with L^1 (Manhattan), L^2 (Euclidean), and L^inf (Chebyshev); justify how we create a valid sparse underlying spanning graph from which we build the minimum spanning tree; and show that the straight-forward Nearest Neighbor heuristic does not always work. We show how we break the 2D problem into 1D pieces, most of which can be done in parallel, improving performance in the real world.
Career Advice -- A Dinosaur's Perspective
What's it like to work in high tech, and what are some important career issues? What are good situations to seek out, and bad situations to avoid? What's some helpful advice, especially for those just starting out in their career?
Get an insider's view, illustrated with war stories and peppered with aphorisms, from someone who's still riding the wave, from punch cards to smart cards, from mainframes to microprocessors, from microcode to no code, and many things in-between.
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23 January, 2025 - SIAMinar with Johannes Krotz
Title: Dynamic Likelihood Filtering in Transport Problems
Abstract: A Bayesian data assimilation scheme is formulated for advection-dominated advective and diffusive evolutionary problems, based on the Dynamic Likelihood (DLF) approach to filtering. The DLF was developed specifically for hyperbolic problems --waves--and in this talk, it is extended to handle advection-diffusion problems. As a Bayesian filtering approach, it is a method of state estimation and uncertainty quantification. A brief Introduction to Bayesian Filtering will be given.
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4 December, 2024 - SIAMinar with Dr. Jane MacDonald
Title: The Postdoctoral Journey: Not Unlike the Ups and Downs of Cross-Country Skiing
Abstract: Join me as a I share my story of the ups and downs of life as a post-doctoral researcher. I’ll recount how I chose my path, lessons I have learnt along the way, and what’s on my mind now as I navigate this phase of my career. Alongside these personal reflections, I’ll introduce one of my recent research interests — a mathematical model I developed for cross-country skiing — where I will draw some parallels between navigating a cross-country ski track and my science career.