Math Club Colloquium

Welcome to the Math Club Colloquium pages! Here you will find a record of colloquium talks dating back to 2010. Talks are accessible to a broad audience of students and faculty in mathematics and related disciplines. It is usually held during common hour on Tuesdays from 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm, but the day, time and location does change so please note the details listed by each talk. 

Academic Year 2012 - 2013

Speaker: Olympia Hadjiliadis (Brooklyn College)
Date: Thursday September 6, 2012
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1127N

Title: Quickest Detection and Algorithmic Trading
Abstract: My presentation is on the topic of statistical surveillance and quickest detection. We begin by providing an example of statistical quality control in an industrial production process. We define the out-of-control and in-control states of the process and describe how we attempt to distinguish them by using statistics based on the observations of the process. We also discuss further applications of the problem of statistical surveillance and quickest detection in finance, detection of enemy activity, the internet surveillance problem and signal processing. We draw attention to a specific statistic called the CUSUM. We construct CUSUM-based trend following trading algorithms and assess their performance on high frequency data for US treasury bonds and notes sold at auction. It is seen that during regimes of instability drawdown based algorithms result in a profit while in periods of stability, they do not. We finally draw the connection of drawdown algorithms and cumulative sum (CUSUM) on line detection statistics.

Speaker: Kishore Marathe (Brooklyn College)
Date: Thursdays September 13 and 20, 2012
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1127N

Title: The monster exists
Abstract: The proof of the existence of the Monster, the largest finite simple group finished the proof of the classification theorem for finite simple groups. The proof of this theorem is arguably the greatest achievement of the 20th century mathematics. Hundreds of mathematicians contributed to this proof which extends over 5,000 pages, makes essential use of results in algebra, arithmetic, geometry and theoretical physics (conformal field theory and string theory). We will give a survey of the history of this theorem and a brief sketch of the various ingredients that go into its proof. The main prerequisite is intellectual curiosity, although some knowledge of mathematics and physics would make it more interesting.

Speaker: Mark Brittenham (University of Nebraska - Lincoln)
Date: Thursday October 4, 2012
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1127N

Title: The many ways to untie a knot
Abstract: Knot theory, the mathematical study of 'knotted' objects, had its beginnings in the 1880s with a now discredited theory of the structure of the atom. It has grown in both its power and usefulness, especially in recent years, and has made unexpected connections with a wide variety of disciplines. This talk will present a 'picture history' of some of these developments, mostly centered on the fundamental question: "how do you unknot a knot?".

Speaker: Kellen Petersen (Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences)
Date: Thursday October 18, 2012
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1127N

Title: Finding Minimum Energy Paths of Droplets on Superhydrophobic Surfaces: A Phase Field Approach
Abstract: Interest in superhydrophobic surfaces has increased due to a number of interesting advances in science and engineering. A classical approach will be given as motivation for using a phase field model. After explaining our phase field model, I will discuss different methods for finding saddle points between minima with emphasis on the String Method. Resulting minimum energy paths will then be shown for different topographical and chemical surface characterizations.

Speaker: Nancy Griffeth (Lehman College)
Date: Tuesday November 13, 2012
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1127N

Title: A Quantitative Biology Workshop at Lehman College
Abstract: Every January since 2010, we have held an undergraduate workshop on a quantitative biology topic at Lehman College. Fifteen students are selected from the applicants to attend the workshop each year, and they receive a stipend of $1000. Several students from Brooklyn have attended and have been valued participants. In addition, many of them have gone on to internships or doctoral programs at prestigious institutions. The next workshop will be on the subject of atrial fibrillation. Students will see wet lab demonstrations of the type of electrical activity that causes atrial fibrillation in the heart and will help collect data for the better understanding of atrial fibrillation. (http://www.lehman.edu/academics/cmacs/)

Speaker: Sandra Kingan (Brooklyn College)
Date: Tuesday Nov 20, 2012
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1127N

Title: Graphs and Matroids
Abstract: Abstract: Matroids are a modern type of synthetic geometry where the behavior of points, lines, planes, and higher dimensional surfaces are governed by combinatorial axioms. Hassler Whitney coined the term matroid in his 1935 paper "On the abstract properties of linear dependence". In defining a matroid Whitney captured the fundamental properties of independence that are common to graphs and matrices. In this talk I will define and give examples of matroids and a flavor of some of the major structural results.

Speaker: Mark Ebersole (NVIDIA)
Date: Tuesday November 27, 2012
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1127N

This talk is organized jointly with the CIS club

Title: Introduction to GPU Computing
Abstract: Modern GPUs have grown past their graphics heritage and evolved into the world's most successful parallel computing architecture. The introduction of this talk will briefly cover where the GPU came from and how it turned into this processing powerhouse. Next we will quickly cover the various methods used for programming for acceleration on GPUs. Finally, we will take a deeper dive into the model used to directly access this computational power using the CUDA C programming language (https://www.facebook.com/events/458211760889213/)

Speaker: David Finston (Brooklyn College)
Date: Tuesday February 5, 2013
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1127N

Title: Elementary Problems about Polynomial Rings
Abstract: The polynomial ring in finitely many variables over a field is an object of fundamental importance in algebra and algebraic geometry. For example, every commutative associative ring R containing the field k that can be generated over k by n elements is a homomorphic image of the polynomial ring k[x1,…,xn]. In geometry, k[x1,…,xn] is the ring of polynomial functions defined at all points of the n-dimensional space over k. Nevertheless, k[x1,…,xn] for n>1 remains mysterious in some respects. For example

• It’s easy to see that x and y+x^5 are “variables” in the sense that the pair (x,y) can be recovered algebraically from them. But given arbitrary polynomials f,g how can one tell whether or not they are “variables”?

• If A is a finitely generated ring over k and t is a variable for which A[t] is isomorphic to k[x1,…,xn], is A isomorphic to a polynomial ring in n-1 variables?

• What is the structure of the group of automorphisms of k[x1,…,xn]?

• If f is a polynomial in n variables and k[x1,…,xn] /(f) is isomorphic to a polynomial ring in n-1 variables is f a variable?

These questions are versions of unsolved problems in affine algebraic geometry which will be discussed in the talk.

Speaker: Noson Yanofsky (Brooklyn College)
Date: Tuesday February 26, 2013
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1141N

Title: An Invitation to Category Theory
Abstract: Category theory is a general study of structures. We will describe many many basic examples of categories and their related structures. This will help us see why category theory is a unifying language in mathematics, theoretical computer science, and theoretical physics. This talk is open to anyone.

Speaker: Olympia Hadjiliadis (Brooklyn College)
Date: Tuesday March 5, 2013
Time: 12:15 pm - 1:05 pm
Location: 0105N
Joint event with Stock Trading Club

Title: Quickest Detection and Algorithmic Trading
Abstract: My presentation is on the topic of statistical surveillance and quickest detection. We begin by providing an example of statistical quality control in an industrial production process. We define the out-of-control and in-control states of the process and describe how we attempt to distinguish them by using statistics based on the observations of the process. We also discuss further applications of the problem of statistical surveillance and quickest detection in finance, detection of enemy activity, the internet surveillance problem and signal processing. We draw attention to a specific statistic called the CUSUM. We construct CUSUM-based trend following trading algorithms and assess their performance on high frequency data for US treasury bonds and notes sold at auction. It is seen that during regimes of instability drawdown based algorithms result in a profit while in periods of stability, they do not. We finally draw the connection of drawdown algorithms and cumulative sum (CUSUM) on line detection statistics. This talk is open to anyone.

Event: Math Clinic: The Math Club's tutoring event for lower division math courses
Date: Tuesday May 14, 2013
Time: 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Location: 1127N

Speaker: Julio César Urenda Castañeda (New Mexico State University)
Date: Tuesday March 19, 2013
Time: 1:00 pm - 1:50 pm
Location: 0105N

Title: Perspectives on Graduate School
Abstract: I am a Mexican citizen residing in Juarez, Mexico, engaged in full time doctoral study at New Mexico State University. My thesis advisor is working in Brooklyn. I will discuss my educational background and the exigencies of doing doctoral research under these most unusual circumstances. If there is time and interest I will make some remarks about the nature of my thesis work on the embedding problem in affine algebraic geometry.

Speaker: Olympia Hadjiliadis (Brooklyn College)
Date: Tuesday April 9, 2013
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 0105N

Title: Speed of Reaction of the CUSUM
Abstract: In this event we will introduce a statistic known as the speed of reaction of the CUSUM. We will examine the information it conveys and how we may make use of this information in order to describe the trend of a time series. In the context of high-frequency data, we will also discuss its distributional properties and in particular its mean. We will then compare the speed of reaction statistic to a simple moving average statistic in making an inference about the mean of high-frequency observations.

Speaker: Christian Benes (Brooklyn College)
Date: Tuesday April 23, 2013
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1127N

Title: Random Walk and Related Lattice Models
Abstract: Many natural random phenomena are modeled on discrete lattice structures. One such model is random walk, which has been used for over a century as a model in biology, physics, and economics. In this talk, I will discuss gambling strategies for the game of roulette, explain why a drunken individual lost in Manhattan will always find a way home, and why butterflies have no such luck. If there is enough time, I will discuss other (surprisingly) related lattice models such as percolation and the Ising model.

Speaker: Jeff Suzuki (Brooklyn College)
Date: Tuesday May 2, 2013
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1127N

Title: Every Vote Counts, As Long As It's In the Right Zip Code: The Theory and Practice of Gerrymandering
Abstract: In the US and other democracies, voters in geographically defined districts choose a representative to serve in the legislature. But a sufficiently clever mapmaker could draw up a set of legislative districts to give one party a substantial advantage in the next election: this is a partisan gerrymander, and has been called the "pathology of democracy" by political scientists and social activists. The Supreme Court, claiming there is no "manageable standard" for measuring the extent of partisan gerrymandering, has given a green light to unlimited partisan gerrymandering. But to a mathematician, everything is measurable. We'll take a look at some of the proposals for measuring the extent of partisan gerrymandering; analyze the claim that partisan gerrymandering is a "self-limiting enterprise", and outline some areas of current research on the topic.

Event: End of Semester Party & Math Club 2013-2014 Academic Year Election
Date: Tuesday May 7, 2013
Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: 1127N

Event: Undergraduate Student Conference on Data Science
Date: Tuesday May 14, 2013
Time: 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Location: 1127N