Each fall, the department hosts the annual Sehnert Lecture where a mathematician or statistician is invited to give an engaging talk. You could hear about how the mathematical sciences help optimize a trip to Disneyworld, impact cancer research, or connect with cryptology and cybersecurity.
This event is free and open to the public. Check back later for 2025 event information!
Abstract: Polya (1961) and Wessel (2012) investigated the hypothetical question of “What is the smallest fraction of the popular vote a candidate can receive and still be elected President of the United States?” What’s your best guess of the answer to this question? This talk will give a thorough account of the dynamics behind the question, pursue a sub-optimal approach, identify a more effective approach, and leave the audience with an invitation to explore some unresolved issues within this topic. A resource with historical data will also be offered to the audience for their continued exploration.
Date: Monday, October 7, 2024
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝, , Otto M. Budig Theater
2023: Dr. Ingrid Daubechies, Mathemalchomy: A Wonderland of Mathematics
2022: Dr. Jeffrey Ehme, The Prime Connection
2019: Dr. Kevin Hutson & Dr. Liz Bouzarth, Discovering Math in the Magic in Walt Disney World
Abstract
To make a theme park run efficiently takes a lot of planning and resource management. Data analytics, optimization modeling, and quantifying uncertainty play important roles in helping Disney make the guest experience as memorable as possible. Since 2014, we have run a class called Math and the Mouse where we help students explore the types of mathematics that Disney professionals use in their daily jobs. In this talk, we explore the math that makes the theme parks run! The talk assumes no specific mathematical background and should be accessible to everyone.
2018: Dr. Ami Radunskaya, Using Mathematics to Fight Cancer
Abstract
Dr. Radunskaya lectures on what mathematics can tell us about the treatment of cancer. Mathematical models, or formulas, that describe tumor growth, immune response, and administration of different therapies can suggest treatment strategies that optimize treatment efficacy and minimize negative side effects. Examples of how doctors, immunologists, and mathematicians can work together to understand the development of the disease and to design effective treatments will be discussed. What questions could you answer with the help of mathematics?
About Dr. Radunskaya:
A California native, Professor Radunskaya is a faculty member of the Department of Mathematics at Pomona College in Claremont, California specializing in ergodic theory, dynamical systems, and applications to various "real-world" problems. She has been recognized for both her research and mentoring and is a strong supporter of women in mathematics, currently serving as president of the Association for Women in Mathematics. Dr. Radunskaya believes strongly in the power of collaboration and that everyone can learn to enjoy mathematics.
2017: Dr. Tim Chartier, Mathematical Celebrity Look-Alikes
Abstract
Have you ever wondered what celebrities you look like? Denzel Washington? Jackie Chan? Emma Stone? Would you describe yourself as a cross between Dev Patel and Ryan Gosling? or maybe Natalie Portman and Octavia Spencer? possibly Lucy Liu and Chris Hemsworth? Let’s answer this question with math and learn to model along the way. We’ll learn some math modeling, that is. Let’s find celebrity look-alikes using linear algebra and solving systems of equations.
About Dr. Chartier:
Dr. Tim Chartier is Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Davidson College. He specializes in sports analytics and has consulted with the NBA, NFL and numerous other sports organizations. His accomplishments in both teaching and research have been recognized through such honors as the Henry L. Alder award from the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship. Dr. Chartier also serves in a variety of professional roles, including as current Vice President of the MAA.
2016: Dr. Aparna Higgins, Demonic Graphs and Undergraduate Research
BIO
About Dr. Higgins:
Dr. Aparna Higgins, who earned her PH.D. from the University of Notre Dame, grew up in Bombay, India. She has taught at the University of Dayton for more than 30 years. Although Dr. Higgins enjoys teaching the usual collection of undergraduate courses, her most fulfilling experiences as a teacher have come from directing undergraduates in mathematical research. Dr. Higgins has received many teaching awards, including the Mathematical Association of America's Haimo award - its most prestigious award for teaching. Dr. Higgins has served the MAA in many capacities, including as a founding member of its Committee on Student Chapters. She also served a five-year term as Director of Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching). She and her mathematician husband Bill enjoy taking year-long sabbaticals to teach at other universities and experience new academic communities. In her spare time, Aparna enjoys reading, knitting, cooking Indian food, and creating greeting cards, often with a mathematical design!
2015: Dr. Colm Mulcahy, Celebration of Mind: Connecting Mathematics, Magic & Mystery
Abstract
Martin Gardner, The Best Friend Mathematics Ever Had, was best known for his 300 "Mathematical Games" columns in Scientific American, in which he introduced thousands of budding mathematicians to elegant problems and magical items which still lead to "aha!" moments today.
"Celebration of Mind" is an international initiative each October to continue what Gardner did best - connecting mathematics, magic and mystery. Gardner also asked simple questions that inspired serious research, and some of those questions remain unanswered today. To mark the end of his centennial year, we'll survey what he achieved and the legacy he leaves behind, and throw in some mathematical card tricks too.
About Dr. Mulcahy:
Dr. Mulcahy visited from Spelman College and is the author of Mathematical Card Magic: Fifty-Two New Effects.
2014: Prof. Michael Dorff, Movies & Math: Past, Present, and Future
Abstract
What’s your favorite recent movie? Frozen? The Avengers? Avatar? Transformers? What do these and all the highest earning Hollywood movies since 2000 have in common? Mathematics! You probably didn’t think about it while watching these movies, but math was used to help make them. In this presentation, we will discuss how math is being used to create better and more realistic movies. Along the way we will discuss some specific movies and the mathematics behind them. We will include examples from Disney’s 2013 movie Frozen (how to use math to create realistic looking snow) to Pixar’s 2004 movie, The Incredibles (how to use math to make an animated character move faster).
About Dr. Dorff:
Michael Dorff is a professor of mathematics at Brigham Young University. He earned his Ph.D in 1997 from the Univ. of Kentucky in complex analysis, has published about 35 refereed papers, and has given about 250 talks on mathematics. He is interested in undergraduate research, in non-academic careers in mathematics, and in promoting mathematics to the general public. Currently, he directs or co-directs three NSF funded programs: CURM (the Center of Undergraduate Research in Mathematics), MAA’s RUMC (Regional Undergraduate Mathematics Conferences), and PIC Math (Preparation for Industrial Careers in the Mathematical Sciences). He was a Fulbright Scholar in Poland, a Fellow of the AMS, and received a Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award from the MAA. He is married with 5 daughters. In any free time he has, he enjoys reading, running, and traveling.
2013: Dr. Rachel Hall, Math for Poets and Drummers
Abstract
Dr. Hall's talk, "Math for Poets and Drummers," is about numerical patterns that have fascinated us for millennia: numbers that are multiples or powers of other numbers, squares that are sums of squares, sequences of numbers that have some special relationship to each other. Certain patterns have been discovered and re-discovered in different contexts throughout history.
This is the story of one of the earliest investigations of rhythm in poetry, an investigation that led scholars in ancient India to discover the mathematical structures that Westerners know as the Fibonacci numbers, Pascal's triangle, and the binary counting system. All of these discoveries were made prior to Western ones. Although our story initially concerns poetry, we will see that the Indians' interest in exploring rhythmic patterns not only led to further mathematical discoveries, but also had a profound influence on their music.
About Dr. Hall:
Dr. Hall is an associate professor of mathematics at Saint Joseph’s University, where she researches and teaches both mathematics and music. She is writing a book entitled The Sound of Numbers: A Tour of Mathematical Music Theory. She plays English concertina, piano, and tabla with the folk trio Simple Gifts and has recorded three albums. In addition, Dr. Hall is an avid shape note singer and co-author of The Shenandoah Harmony.
2012: Dr. Gilbert Strang, Random Triangles and Mathematical Videos
Abstract
"These are two separate topics within one lecture," according to Dr. Strang. "The first part aims to answer a crazy question: Is a random triangle acute or obtuse? We discovered that Lewis Carroll / Charles Dodgson asked the same question. I don't know if this makes it more scientific, but some surprising mathematics comes into the answer. And the answer depends on the meaning of 'random.' Not to be revealed in this abstract."
About mathematical videos and the future of online teaching, Dr. Strang explains: "Those are surely coming. I would like to describe my experience with linear algebra videos for MIT's OpenCourseWare. The number and the variety of viewers is amazing. I plan to show three minutes of a typical video and ask how to improve. New and more complete courses, with homework and exams, are coming from MIT and Stanford and many more universities. Will the certificates count for credit everywhere? Do you learn more online (or much less)? I hope the audience has some experience to share."
About Dr. Strang:
was an undergraduate at MIT and a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford. His Ph.D. was from UCLA and since then he has taught at MIT. He has been a Sloan Fellow and a Fairchild Scholar and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Professor of Mathematics at MIT and an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College.
Professor Strang has published eight textbooks:
He was the president of SIAM during 1999 and 2000, and chair of the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics. He received the von Neumann Medal of the US Association for Computational Mechanics, and the Henrici Prize for applied analysis.
The first Su Buchin Prize from the International Congress of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and the Haimo Prize from the Mathematical Association of America, were awarded for his contributions to teaching around the world.
2011: Prof. Jim Albert, Measuring Athletic Performance: The Role of Luck in Sports
Abstract
A general problem in sports is the measurement of performance. In baseball, one wishes to measure the abilities of batters, pitchers, and fielders to determine salaries, to make predictions of future performance, and to give awards. The problem is that any measurement of performance is only an estimate of a player's ability and this estimate can be poor when chance variability is present. We describe good and poor measurements of baseball performance for learning players' abilities.
About Prof. Albert:
Jim Albert is Professor of Statistics at Bowling Green State University. His academic interests are in Bayesian modeling, statistics education, and the statistical analysis of sports data. He is the coauthor (with Jay Bennett) of Curve Ball: Baseball, Statistics, and the author of the Role of Chance in the Game and Teaching Statistics Using Baseball. Jim is the new editor of the Journal of Quantitative Analysis of Sports. In sports, as a spectator, Jim is a big fan of the Phillies and, as a participant, is an active tennis player.
2010: Dr. Navah Langmeyer, An Introduction to Cryptography and Public Key Encryption
Abstract
Cryptology is the science of both hiding information, and overcoming methods for doing so. Modern cryptography plays an integral, if largely unseen, role in current culture and is hugely dependent on mathematics for strength and speed. In particular, mathematics is what makes implementation of public key cryptography possible.
We will introduce the basics of cryptography using illustrative historical examples. We will then examine more recent developments focusing on the mathematics behind RSA and the Diffie-Hellman key exchange, the two most common public key algorithms.
About Dr. Langmeyer:
Navah Langmeyer is a senior cryptologic mathematician at the National Security Agency in Maryland. She grew up in the Greater Cincinnati area, including several years spent in Northern Kentucky. While her doctoral thesis at the University of Michigan was in geometric function theory, a subfield of complex analysis, personal and professional considerations steered Navah to employment at the NSA. There, she has enjoyed applying her analytic skills to wide variety of problems ranging from theoretical mathematics to complex communication protocols, and taken advantage of opportunities to live and work in California and England. She regularly visits schools and summer programs to discuss cryptology and mathematics at NSA, and to encourage students to pursue studies in mathematics. Outside of work, Navah has interests in travel, cooking and baking, quilting, yoga, swimming, and when location permits, surfing, rock climbing, triathlon, and hiking, often with her husband but never with her cat.
2009: Dr. Frank Morgan, Soap Bubbles and Mathematics
Abstract
Soap bubbles continue to fascinate and confound mathematicians. The show will include demonstrations, explanations, and prizes. Public welcome, fifth graders and above. Dr. Frank Morgan studies optimal shapes and minimal surfaces. He has published 150 articles and six books, including "Calculus Lite" and "The Math Chat Book," based on his live, call-in TV show and column. He is the founder of the NSF "SMALL" Undergraduate Research Project, the inaugural winner of the Haimo National Teaching Award of the Mathematical Association of America, and current Vice-President of the American Mathematical Society.
About Dr. Morgan:
Professor Morgan went to MIT and Princeton, where his thesis advisor, Fred Almgren, introduced him to minimal surfaces. He then taught for ten years at MIT, where he served for three years as Undergraduate Mathematics Chairman, received the Everett Moore Baker Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching, and held the Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Chair.
He spent leave years at Rice, Stanford, and the Institute for Advanced Study, served on the NSF Math Advisory Committee from 1994-97, and as chair of the Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference in 1997.
In January, 1993, he received one of the first MAA national awards for distinguished teaching. In 1995 he represented mathematics research at the exhibition for Congress by the Coalition for National Science Funding. He received the Allen High School Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary doctorate from Cedar Crest College. For 1997-98 he held the first Visiting Professorship for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University. From 2000-2002 he served as Second Vice-President of the Mathematical Association of America.
2008: Prof. J.M. Cushing, Chaos from Simplicity
Abstract
Scholars have remarked that the chaos theory ranks in the top ten scientific discoveries of the 20th century. Some have said it lies in the top three. What is chaos theory and why is it considered so important? Why did it disturb and reshape the thinking of many scientists from virtually all disciplines? One fundamental reason is that mathematical chaos is an example of how complexity - indeed extreme complexity - can result from quite simple rules and mechanisms.
We will have a quick look at the history of chaos theory and at some of the basic concepts and mathematics involved. Using a decade long, inter-disciplinary biomathematics/experimental research project (involving the dynamics of cannibalistic beetles!) as a context, we'll explore some of the mysteries and surprises of chaos. We will ponder whether chaos is a good thing or a bad thing; whether it is a troublesome problem or can be put to good use.
About Prof. Cushing:
Professor Jim Cushing, University of Arizona, is a world-renowned expert on mathematical ecology and population dynamics. One of his favorite species of study is the cannibalistic flour beetle Tribolium, which he and his colleagues characterize as "an effective tool of discovery". They use mathematics, statistics, and experiments with Tribolium to guide their investigations into how populations change and grow.
Jim is an author of Chaos in Ecology: Experimental Nonlinear Dynamics, which has been characterized as "the definitive source on chaos in ecology". He has authored other books as well, such as An Introduction to Structured Population Dynamics.
His outside interests include traveling the world (especially on foot, with a backpack slung over his shoulders), trail running, piano playing, and an annual game of billiards with members of the ľ¨Óă´«Ă˝ math faculty - followed by a good rest at his cabin on the Wyoming/Colorado border.
2007: Dr. Rose Mary Zbiek, Making Essential Ideas a Focal Point of Our Mathematics
Abstract
A number of professional organizations and respected individuals have made recommendations about what should happen in school mathematics. Moving beyond these recommendations and their classroom implications, this talk uses broadly accessible and engaging mathematical problems to underscore how students and others can think about mathematics in powerful ways.
About Rose Mary Zbiek:
Associate Professor of Mathematics Education Pennsylvania State University A former Pennsylvania mathematics and computer science teacher, Rose Mary Zbiek is an associate professor of mathematics education at The Pennsylvania State University. She joined the Penn State faculty in 2002 after a decade of teaching mathematics and mathematics education at the University of Iowa.
In addition to work in mathematical modeling, her current research blends a focus on the mathematical understandings of secondary mathematics teachers with a concentration in classroom use of mathematics technology. She served on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics writing team for the Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics and currently is Chair of the International Committee for Computer Algebra in Mathematics Education.
Serving as a senior faculty associate for the Mid-Atlantic Center for Mathematics Teaching and Learning, she is series editor of Essential Understandings, a 16-book series on the mathematical content for teachers in Grades PreK-12 to be published by NCTM beginning in 2008.
2006: Dr. Brian Winkel, Cipher Busting by Edgar Allen Poe, Jules Verne, William F. Friedman - and Beyond
Abstract
This talk will present some strategies for busting cryptograms and then move on to discuss several methods of busting ciphers from literary sources using counting and statistical approaches. Cryptology, the study of making and breaking ciphers, offers rich historical and mathematical material for study, and we shall touch on both.
About Dr. Winkel:
Professor Brian Winkel is the Editor in Chief and a Founding Editor of Cryptologia, a journal devoted to all aspects of cryptology. He is also Editor in Chief and Founding Editor of PRIMUS Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, a journal devoted to all aspects of teaching undergraduate mathematics. He is senior faculty member in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY. He has taught in a liberal arts setting (Albion College), an engineering setting (RoseHul man Institute of Technology), and now a military setting (West Point). Originally schooled in Noetherian rings (PhD Indiana University, 1971) his real passion is mathematics applied. He enjoys teaching a modeling and technology approach to learning mathematics.
2005: Dr. V. Frederick Rickey, Isaac Newton: Man Myth, and Mathematics
Abstract
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) did important work in mathematics and physics, but did you know he also worked in alchemy and church history? He wrote two of the greatest scientific works ever published, Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematics (1687) and Optics (1704), neither of which was primarily a mathematical work. We will describe his life, his education, and his work, especially his discovery of the calculus.
About Dr. Rickey:
V. Frederick Rickey, a logician turned historian, has been a Professor of Mathematics at the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, since 1998. After earning three degrees from the University of Notre Dame (Ph.D. 1968) he went to Bowling Green State University where he rose through the professorial ranks to the rank of Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus. He has broad interests in the history of mathematics and is especially interested in the development of the calculus. He loves teaching and enjoys giving lectures to mathematicians about the history of their field.
2004: Dr. Robert V. Hogg, The Importance of Understanding Variation
Abstract
The popular and successful "six sigma" program and Robert Hogg's hero W. Edwards Deming share something important in common: they both depend a great deal on a solid appreciation of variation.
Dr. Hogg will discuss Deming's life, tell a few stories about him, and then devote attention to important and varied examples illustrating the importance of variation: choosing movies; the "sophomore jinx"; workers' (or students') pattern of variation; ranking students; assigning grades; comparing teams; determination of salaries; number of suppliers in industry; personal choices like barber, clothier, banker, lawyer; game of "telephone"; final inspection; quotas; prizes; making "the doors fit better"; and building trust.
Dr. Hogg will end with a nod to Motorola's Bob Galvin: "quality improvement is a daily, personal, priority obligation."
About Dr. Hogg:
Among the many awards he has received for distinction in teaching, Bob has been honored at the national level (the Mathematical Association of America Award for Distinguished Teaching), the state level (Iowa's Governor's Science Medal for Teaching), and the university level (Collegiate Teaching Award). His important contributions to statistical research have been acknowledged by his election to fellowship standing in the ASA and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.
In 2001, Bob received the American Statistical Association's 2001 Gottried F. Noether Senior Scholar Award for a lifetime of outstanding achievements and contributions in the field of Nonparametric Statistics both in research and teaching.
2003: Dr. Edward B. Burger, Magic with Mathematics: Is the formula faster than the eye?
Abstract
Is mind reading possible? Can you make your dorm room bigger without throwing out your roommate? Can you break the bank at Vegas with dice? Are you ready for the 2004 presidental election? And perhaps the most compelling question: Do math professors know how to dress? These questions and others will be answered in this entertaining and lively presentation. No mathematical background is necessary and no mathematics will explicitly be discussed. If you hate mathematics, this talk is for you. If the sight of an equation makes you ill, this talk is for you. If you never thought you would ever go to a math lecture, this presentation is for you!
About Dr. Burger:
2002: Ivars Peterson, Moebius Madness and Chaos in Newton's Clock
Abstract
Since its discovery in the 19th century as a mathematical object of interest, the astonishing ones ided, oneedged Mo ebius strip has confounded and fascinated generations of people, inspiring magic tricks, stories, patents, logos, artworks, cartoons, movies, fashion statements, playground equipment, and much else. Learn more than you ever thought possible about this intriguing twist of mathematical imagination.
The Tilt A Whirl amusement park ride serves as wonderful, contemporary example of chaotic dynamics in a physical system. Historically, nonlinear dynamics and chaos first surfaced in the disturbingly irregular movements of the "wandering" stars and particularly the moon. The remarkable insights of Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, and Henri Poincare led the way to celestial mechanics and modern notions of chaotic dynamics.
About Ivars Peterson:
2001: Dr. Underwood Dudley, Why Mathematics? and Mathematical Cranks
Abstract
Why learn mathematics? Why do we make more and more high school students - all of them, in California - learn algebra? Why teach trigonometry, geometry, and calculus? I will give six reasons, four of which are wrong, one of which is half right, and I will end with the right reason.
When people think of mathematical cranks (if they think of them at all), it's usually along the lines of, "Oh, those nuts who trisect the angle and square the circle." This is inaccurate. Cranks are not usually insane and the range of problems that they attack and fail to solve is vast. This talk gives a brief survey of an immense field.
About Dr. Dudley:
