Bard Hosts First Mid-Hudson Math Conference for Undergraduates on October 20
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Bard College will host the first Mid-Hudson Mathematics Conference for Undergraduates (MHMC) on Saturday, October 20, in the new Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation (RKC).
“This is the first program of a new conference series whose purpose is to create an environment that encourages students to engage in mathematical research and to connect with other mathematics students in the Mid-Hudson region of New York State,” according to conference organizer Lauren Rose, associate professor of mathematics and chair of the Science Division at Bard. The conference will consist of 20-25 presentations by undergraduate mathematics students; a plenary presentation, “The abc Conjecture: An Introduction,” by Rob Benedetto of Amherst College; and a panel on graduate schools in mathematics (detailed schedule follows).
The students presenting papers are from Bard, Elmira, Hobart and William Smith, St. Francis, and Vassar Colleges; CUNY’s City College and College of Technology; New York University; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; SUNY Purchase; University of Guelph; United States Military Academy at West Point; and University of Washington.
Keynote speaker Rob Benedetto received a Ph.D. from Brown University, where he studied number theory under Joe Silverman. He spent two years as a visiting professor at the University of Rochester, followed by two years as an NSF-sponsored research postdoc at Boston University. Since 2002, he has held the position of assistant professor at Amherst College.
The members of the MHMC 2007 steering committee are Lauren Rose, Bard College; Samuel Hsiao, Bard College; Robert McGrail, Bard College; Tracey McGrail, Marist College; Natalie Priebe Frank, Vassar College; and Bard College students Shelley Stahl, Mona Merling, Peter Golbus, Ezra Winston.
The program is presented jointly by Bard, Marist, and Vassar Colleges and is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF); Mathematical Association of America (MAA); Bard College Math and Computer Science Programs; and Office of the Dean of the College, Bard College. For additional information or to register, visit http://math.bard.edu/mhmc2007 or e-mail [email protected].
Conference Schedule:
9:00–10:00 a.m.
Registration and Continental Breakfast
Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation (RKC) Lobby
10:00–11:10
Student Presentation Session A (3 talks, 20 minutes each)
RKC 101: Session A1—Chair, Mona Merling
• 10:00 “Critical Curves of Knot Energy,” Matthew Wise, Vassar College
• 10:25 “Finite Instances of Knot Quandles and the Constraint Satisfaction Problem,” Peter Golbus, Bard College
• 10:50 “Toward Quandle Dichotomy*,” Mona Merling, Bard College
RKC 102: Session A2—Chair: Dexin Zhou
• 10:00 “Data Mining Algorithms,” Dexin Zhou, Bard College
• 10:25 “Solving LaPlace’s Equation with Complex Polynomials Using Mathematica,” Cadets Addison Bohannon and Andrew Poler, USMA
• 10:50 “Dirichlet’s Integral*,” Stela Mihneva, St. Francis College
RKC 103: Session A3—Chair: Shelley Stahl
• 10:00 “Enumerating Chains in Partially Ordered Sets,” Shelley Stahl and Ezra Winston, Bard College
• 10:25 “Complexers on Stars,” Lindsay Erickson, NYU/University of Washington
• 10:50 “Properties of Exponential Matrices,” Lerone Bleasdille, College of Technology of CUNY
11:30 a.m. –12:30 p.m.
Keynote Address: Rob Benedetto, Amherst College.
“The abc Conjecture: An Introduction,”
Weis Cinema, Bertelsmann Campus Center
12:30–1:30 p.m.
Lunch
Multipurpose room, Bertelsmann Campus Center
1:15–1:50 p.m.
Special screening of Flatland, RKC 103
2:00–3:10 p.m.
Student Presentation Session B (3 talks, 20 minutes each)
RKC 101: Session B1—Chair: Morgon Kanter
• 2:00 “Generation of Megagraphs,” Morgon Kanter, Bard College
• 2:25 “Self Contact in Fractal Trees,” Bailey Meeker, Hobart and William Smith
• 2:50 “Subcubes of the Hypercube,” Qn, Anthony Delgado, Purchase College
RKC 102: Session B2—Chair: Natalie Frank
• 2:00 “A Generalization of Recursive Integer Sequences of Order 2,” Stephen Parry, Elmira College
• 2:25 “Iterating a Voronoi Diagram,” Sean Hart, Vassar College
• 2:50 “Voronoi Inverses,” Richard Langford, Vassar College
RKC 103: Session B3—Chair: Tracey McGrail
• 2:00 “Mathematical Models of Reptiles,” Michael Zawoiski, City College
• 2:25 “The Lion and Man Game in the P,” David Cerna, RPI
• 2:50 “Evolved Art – Planetary Motion,” Jeffrey Tsang, University of Guelph
3:15–3:45 p.m.
Afternoon Break, RKC Lobby
3:45–4:50 p.m.
Presentation Session C
RKC 101
• 3:45-4:10 REU Information Session (Drop-in session)
RKC 102
• 3:45-4:10 Bard Masters in Teaching Program: Slideshow and info session (Drop-in session)
RKC 103
• 3:45-4:20 Screening of Flatland
• 4:20-4:50 Graduate School Panel and Information Session
*Indicates an advanced level talk.
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(10/17/07)