Math and Cookies is an undergraduate research seminar and Department seminar is for math faculty members.
Math and Cookies and Department seminar will alternate each week.
These seminars are partly supported by NSF LEAPS-MPS (DMS-2532394).
If you are interested in giving a talk (or you know somebody), please let me know!
The following is the list of the speakers for the seminar for Spring 2026.
We meet: Wednesdays 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm at TBA
Feb 11: Daniel Corey (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)
Title: Point configurations and matroids
Abstract: Point configurations are a classical object of study in mathematics, dating back to early work in projective geometry and combinatorics. Roughly speaking, a point configuration is a collection of points in an ambient (often projective) space together with information about which subsets of points are collinear or linearly independent. The combinatorial data underlying these dependence relations is encoded by a structure called a matroid. Matroid theory is an area that is seeing much development in recent years, especially in connection to algebraic geometry. In this talk, I will explain what a matroid is from this perspective. We will explore the geometry that arises when we fix a matroid and consider all point configurations that realize it. This leads to the notion of a realization space, which can be described using systems of polynomial equations and inequalities. The fundamental result in this area is Mnëv’s universality theorem, which shows that realization spaces satisfy “Murphy’s Law” in that every singularity type can occur. I will conclude by presenting the smallest explicit example of a matroid whose realization space is singular, which was found in joint with Dante Luber.
Feb 18: Jose David Beltran Lizarazo (The University of Iowa)
Title: Formation of singularities in nonlinear conservation laws
Abstract: In this talk, we will illustrate the formation of singularities in classical solutions to some nonlinear conservation laws in one space dimension. Using elementary tools from calculus we show that, even when the initial data is smooth, classical solutions break down in finite time, and first order derivatives blow up. We will discuss some of the physical interpretations of these singularities together with the challenges that this phenomenon imposes in the analysis of nonlinear conservation laws. Finally, we introduce some strategies to study the existence of solutions for these kind of problems.
Mar 5 (Thursday): We have two speakers (NOTE: Special Date and Time).
Dongeun Kim (Assumption University), 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm.
Title:
Abstract:
Seung-Wook Kim (Bentley University), 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm.
Title:
Abstract:
Apr 29: Hyunsun Lee (Brigham Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Title:
Abstract: