Invited Speakers

Chad Topaz

Williams College

Diversity Through a Data Science Lens

Friday, May 31, 2019, 3:30 PM in Conlon Fine Arts, Kent Recital Hall

Abstract: From the Me Too movement to affirmative action policies to increasing economic disparities, issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the U.S. are on the rise in the public consciousness. In this talk, through discussion of two projects, I will discuss the importance of diversity, share some of the highs and lows of studying it, explain the mechanics of my research, and present some results. In the first project, concerned by the grievous underrepresentation of women in many scientific fields, computer scientist Shilad Sen and I measured gender representation on mathematics journal editorial boards. We used crowdfunding and crowdsourcing to amass a database of over 13,000 journal editors and deduce the group's gender breakdown. While women are known to comprise approximately 16% of tenure-stream faculty positions in doctoral-granting mathematical sciences departments in the United States, we find that 8.9% of the editorships in our study are held by women. We also describe group variations within the editorships by identifying specific journals, subfields, publishers, and countries that significantly exceed or fall short of this average. Building on this study, along with a team of art scholars, statisticians, and mathematicians, I conducted the first large scale study of gender and ethnic representation amongst artists whose works are held in the collections of major U.S. museums. We estimate that 85% of these artists are white and 87% are men. We find that the relationship between museum collection mission and artist diversity is weak, suggesting that a museum wishing to increase diversity might do so without changing its emphases on specific time periods and regions. Our methodology can be used to broadly and efficiently assess diversity in other fields.

Bio: Professor of Mathematics Chad Topaz (A.B. Harvard, Ph.D. Northwestern) is an applied mathematician at Williams College. His research, funded by the National Science Foundation since 2006, focuses on nonlinear dynamics, complex systems, topological data analysis, and data science. His research honors include a New Directions Research Professorship at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, a Kavli Frontiers Fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences, a Board of Trustees Award from Macalester College, and the 2013 Outstanding Paper Award of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Chad’s teaching career stands on an intense passion for human learning, on scrupulous attention to learners’ needs and challenges, and on the belief that education is both an art and a science. An avid follower of scholarly research in education studies and educational psychology, he has won UCLA’s Robert Sorgenfrey Distinguished Teaching Award in mathematics and Macalester College’s Rossmann Excellence in Teaching Award. One of his greatest fulfillments has been the melding of his teaching and research lives in the sphere of undergraduate research. He has advised over 100 summer research, capstone, independent study, and honors experiences, with over 40% of these for women and members of other underrepresented groups.

Meredith Greer

Bates College

Battles Lecture: Discovering Mathematics Through Epidemiological Models

Friday, May 31, 2019, 8:00 PM in Hammond Main Lounge

Abstract: Modeling draws on and combines many directions of mathematical thought. As a beautiful alternate view, modeling introduces us to areas of math we have not yet explored, compelling us to understand new ideas so that we can answer the questions that captivate us. In this talk, epidemiological questions are the inspiration for showcasing the tremendous range of concepts used in modeling.

Bio: Meredith joined the Bates College mathematics department in 2002. Her research applies mathematics, most often to epidemiology or ecology. Her latest project is developing widely accessible teaching materials for an undergraduate course in mathematical epidemiology.

Shelly M. Jones

Central Connecticut State University

Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice:

Using Culturally Relevant Pedagogy as The First Step

Saturday, June 1, 2019, 9:00 AM in Conlon Fine Arts, Kent Recital Hall

Abstract: Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and teaching mathematics for social justice (TMfSJ) can motivate traditionally underserved students to learn mathematics and develop a positive mathematics identity (Leonard et al., 2010). This presentation will address equity-based instructional practices that promote positive mathematical identities. A definition of CRP (Ladson-Billings, 2009) and TMfSJ (Gutstein, 2003) will be provided followed by classroom examples of each. Participants will consider social justice in the mathematics classroom through 3 lenses – "about", "with" and "for" social justice (Benjamin Banneker Association, Inc., Social Justice Position Paper). Participants will discuss and share their classroom experiences, both successes and challenges, with using CR and SJ instructional approaches.

Bio: Dr. Shelly M. Jones is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at Central Connecticut State University. She received degrees from Spelman College, the University of Bridgeport, and Illinois State University. Dr. Jones teaches undergraduate mathematics content and methods courses as well as graduate level mathematics content, curriculum and STEM courses. Before joining the CCSU faculty, Dr. Jones was a Middle School Mathematics Teacher and a Mathematics Supervisor in various Connecticut school districts. She was also the Assistant Director for Mathematics at The Project to Increase Mastery of Mathematics and Science (PIMMS) at Wesleyan University. Dr. Jones has held talks in Brazil, Ecuador, Bermuda, and the United States most recently at the Joint Mathematics Meetings. She is a board member of The Benjamin Banneker Association, Inc. and The National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM). Dr. Jones is a contributing author of the book entitled, The Brilliance of Black Children in Mathematics: Beyond the Numbers and Toward a New Discourse. She has written an upcoming children’s activity book, Women Who Count: Honoring African American Women Mathematicians. Dr. Jones has two daughters, Brelynn and Brooklynn.

Carol Shumacher

Kenyon College

Art forgery, differential equations, and swindling Herman Göring

Saturday, June 1, 2019, 2:15 PM in Conlon Fine Arts, Kent Recital Hall

Abstract: In this talk I will tell the tale of the Dutch art forger Han van Meegeren. Though van Meegeren was active as a forger in the 1930s and 40s, one of his forgeries Supper at Emmaus was not conclusively shown to be a fake until the 1960s, when a team of scientists at Carnegie Mellon University proved that it was a modern forgery. I will discuss the science and the mathematics that they used to demonstrate this. It uses (fairly simple) differential equations in a clever way.

Bio: Carol Schumacher is Professor of Mathematics at Kenyon College and has served three terms as department chair. She received her Ph.D. in mathematics from The University of Texas at Austin. Schumacher is the recipient of Kenyon’s Trustee Teaching Award and of the Ohio Section MAA’s Distinguished Teaching Award. She is the author of Closer and Closer: Introducing Real Analysis and Chapter Zero: Fundamental Notions of Abstract Mathematics, 2E. She loves teaching pretty much anything, but especially loves Calculus I and Calculus III, the transitions to proof course, the real analysis sequence. And she has recently gotten into teaching applied differential equations and dynamics.

Schumacher is active in the Mathematical Association of America. She was co-chair of the 2015 CUPM Curriculum Guide to Majors in the Mathematical Sciences and is MAA VP. She has addressed Project NExT fellows at their summer workshop and has been involved with workshops that help faculty incorporate inquiry into their classrooms.