Colloquium Schedule

Fall 2012 - Spring 2013

Dr. Shari Moskow, Drexel University

Friday, April 12, 2013

Mendel Hall, Room 115, 2:30pm

Title: Inverse Problems: Determining the Equation from the Solution

Mathematicians and scientists are often looking for the solution to an equation. However, sometimes rather than solving the equation, scientists are working backwards from data to define the equation itself. This kind of inverse thinking shows up in areas like medical imaging, remote sensing, nondestructive testing, and many other areas of science. Specialists may be using this logic to find a tumor in a breast or to locate oil in a geological reserve. However, the smallest miscalculations in the acquired data can lead to large errors in defining the equation's parameters. Dr. Moskow will discuss the challenges facing scientists and mathematicians in solving these "inverse problems."

colloquium_moskow_2013.doc

Scott Patterson, Ph.D Senior Director of Statistical Science | Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research

Friday, February 1, 2013
Mendel Hall, Room 115; 2:30 pm

Title: Modeling and Interpretation of Vaccine Cross-over Clinical Trials Data
In a cross-over study, subjects are randomized to a sequence of treatments over time with repeated measurements being taken after each treatment. For vaccines, such studies may be done to identify the potential for `boosting' immune response, identifying opportune time of re-vaccination, and/or for the identification of potential alternative dosing regimens (when multiple vaccines of differing mechanism are available) amongst other reasons. Carry-over in such designs is obviously not only assumed but is also desired (unlike most drug cross-over trials where it is regarded as a nuisance parameter). We consider the application of cross-over and carry-over modeling to vaccine cross-over designs in the context of a Balaam's design (data are disguised to actual vaccine and endpoint) based on the approaches of Jones and Kenward (2003, 2ed.). We will show that the cross-over and carry-over methods are readily applicable to vaccine studies and aid/simplify the analysis and interpretation of data arising from such studies.

colloqfeb2013.pdf

Friday, September 28, 2012
Title: The Turn of the Screw: The History and Optimal Design of an Archimedes Screw The Archimedes Screw is one of the oldest machines still in use today. It is now enjoying renewed popularity because of its proven trouble-free design, its ability to lift wastewater and debris-laden water effectively, and its gentle treatment of aquatic life. Within the last decade it has also found a new application in the generation of electricity by being run in reverse. In this presentation I will give a history of this device from Archimedes' time (3rd century BC) to the present day and also discuss my past and proposed research on the design of the Screw that maximizes the amount of water lifted or lowered in each turn of the screw.
Mendel Hall, Room 154; 2:30 pm
Chris Rorres, University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University

Friday, November 9, 2012
Title: Stories of Probabilities - some (perhaps) non-intuitive results in probability and geometry
Mendel Hall, Room 154; 2:30 pm
Dr. Charles Grinstead, Swarthmore College

Abstract: We present several results from the areas of probability theory and geometry that may (or may not) seem non-intuitive. The first few results involve a high-sum wins game with dice: Given two dice, each with a perhaps different set of faces, we roll each one m times and keep track of the sums. Which one wins more often? The last result is concerned with surface distances on a box. The surface distance between two points on a given surface is the length of the shortest path, lying on the surface, between the points. Using this distance function, which two points on a box are the furthest apart?

11-9-2012.pdf

Friday, November 16, 2012
Title: Unirational Parameterizations of Cubic Surfaces
Mendel Hall, Room 154; 2:30 pm
Professor Amanda Knecht, Villanova University

Abstract: A cubic surface is the solution set to a degree three homogeneous polynomial in four variables. These surfaces have been a popular topic of study in Algebraic Geometry since the nineteenth century. Over algebraically closed fields, the points on a cubic surface can be parameterized by a degree one rational function in three variables. Over non-closed fields this does not hold. In 2002 Kollar proved that there always exists a finite degree parameterization of the points on the surface when the surface is defined over a finite field. This talk presents recent results bounding the degree of such functions.

Friday, November 30, 2012
Title: Search Algorithms. On their recent participation in the search for Air France 447, the plane that was lost over the mid-Atlantic in June 2009. The story has a little of everything: math, politics, French nationalism, and good fortune. Pictures and video, too.
Mendel Hall, Room 154; 2:30 pm
Tom Corwin, class of '69, founder and CEO of Metron Inc.

Fall 2011-Spring 2012

Friday, February 11, 2012
Title: A Two-Parameter Pareto Model for Income Distributions
Mendel Hall, Room 115 2:30pm
Dr. Klaus Volpert, Villanova University

colloqfeb112011.pdf

Friday, April 13, 2012
Title: Mathematical modeling, transmission dynamics and control of antibiotic-resistant infections
Mendel Hall, Room 154 2:35
Dr. Mo Yahdi, Ursinus University

colloqapr2012.pdf

Friday, February 3, 2012
Title: Are you sure that's an ellipse? Poncelet ellipses, Blaschke products, and other mathematical short stories
Mendel Hall, Room 154 2:35
Dr. Pam Gorkin, Bucknell University

colloquium_gorkin_2012.pdf

Friday, December 9, 2011
Title: Complexity and Chaos In Medieval Cartography
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:30 pm
John Hessler, Geography & Map Division, Library of Congress

colloquium_hessler_dec2011.pdf

Friday, November 11, 2011
Title: Divergence of infinite series on Hecke groups of large width (with a side of Fibonacci)
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:30 pm
Dr. Paul Pasles, Villanova University

colloqpaslesnov2011.pdf

Friday, October 28, 2011
Title: Rational Points on Logical Varieties over Sensible Fields
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:30 pm
Dr. Amanda Knecht, Villanova UniversityFall 2010 - Spring 2011

colloquium_knecht_oct2011.pdf

Fall 2010 - Spring 2011

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Title: Pi Mu Epsilon Talk
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:30pm
Dr. Tony Rothman, Princeton University

Friday, April 15, 2011
Title: A invitation to MAGMA
Mendel Hall, Room 115, 2:30 - 3:30pm
Jennifer Paulus $ Amanda Knecht, Villanova University

Friday, April 1, 2011
Title: Scaled Average Bioequivalence
Mendel Hall, Room 115, 2:30 - 3:30pm
Scott Patterson, Pfizer University

Friday, March 25, 2011
Title: A Tale of Two Theorems: Calibrating Mathematical Complexity
Mendel Hall, Room 115, 2:30 - 3:30pm
Joseph Mileti, Grinnell College

Friday, March 18, 2011
Title: TBA
Mendel Hall, Room 115, 2:30 - 3:30pm

Matt Devos, Simon Fraser University

Friday, February 11, 2011
A Two-Parameter Pareto Model for Income Distributions
Mendel Hall, Room 115, 2:30 - 3:30pm
Klaus Volpert, Ph.D Villanova University

Tuesday, December 7, 2010
ll-posed Evolution Problems
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:30 - 3:30pm
Matthew Fury, Ph. Penn State University

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The Mathematics of Knots and Tangles
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:30 - 3:30pm
Philipp Yasskin, Ph.D.

Friday, October 22, 2010
Mathematics In Service Of Puzzle-Solving
Mendel Hall, Room 101, 2:30 - 3:30pm
Andrew Woldar, Ph.D. Villanvoa University

Friday, September 24, 2010
How Math Made Modern Music Mad Irrational
Bartley Hall, Room 1001, 9:30 am
David Kung, Ph.D.

Friday, March 26, 2010
Water, water, everywhere, but is it safe to drink?
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:35pm- 4:00pm
Ben Galluzzo, Ph.D.

Friday, January 29, 2010
A Thorough QTc Testing in Bio-Pharmaceutical Development
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:35pm- 4:00pm
Scott Patterson, Ph.D.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009
A Class of Partially Replicated Two-Level Fractional Factorial Designs
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:30pm- 4:00pm
Paul Lupinacci, Ph.D.

Friday, November 13, 2009
The Possibility of Detailed Medical Imaging of Soft tissue with Long Wavelength Radiation, Diagnosis and Therapy Concepts.
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:30pm-3:30pm
David Cohoon, Ph.D.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Self-organization and power-law clustering in seafloor animals: the spatial ecology of mussel beds in Maine
Mendel Hall, Room 101, 5:00pm
John Commito, Ph.D.

Tuesday, Sept 22, 2009
The existence of elliptic periodic orbits in the smoothed Bunimovich Stadium
Mendel Hall, Room G86, 4:00pm- 5:00pm
Sherry Teti, Ph.D.

Fall 2008 - Spring 2009

Friday, May 1, 2009
Diophantine geometry of Appollomian packings
Mendel Hall, Room 154 2:30pm- 3:30pm
Peter Sarnak, Ph.D.

Friday, April 28, 2009
Complex Functions with Cantor or connected Julia Sets
Mendel Hall, Room 154 2:30pm- 3:30pm
Lorelei Koss, Ph.D.

Friday, April 24, 2009
Non-Unique Factorization
Mendel Hall, Room 154 2:30pm- 3:30
Patrick Cesarz '09

Friday, February 27th, 2009
Making Valid Inferences in Observational Studies using Propensity Score Analysis
Mendel Hall, Room 154 2:30pm- 3:30pm
Michael Posner, Ph.D.

Friday, February 13th, 2009
Starlike Univalent Functions
Mendel Hall, Room 154 2:30pm- 3:30pm
Frederick Hartmann, Ph.D.

Friday, February 6th, 2009
Quality, Time, And Cost Relationships in Project Scheduling
Mendel Hall, Room 154 2:30pm- 3:30pm
Bruce Pollack-Johnson, Ph.D

Friday, January 30th, 2009
Geometric and Graph Issues in Wireless Networks
Mendel Hall, Room 154 2:30pm- 3:30pm
Mirela Damian, Ph.D.

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
Letting the Cat out of the bag
Mendel Hall, Room 154 2:35pm- 3:30pm
Timothy Feeman, Ph.D

Friday, October 31st, 2008
New Nonparametric Tests for Equivalence
Mendel Hall, Room 154 2:35pm- 3:30pm
Jesse Frey, Ph.D

Fall 2007 - Spring 2008

Friday, April 4th, 2008
Generalizing Polyhedra: Beyond Convexity
Mendel Hall, Room G92 2:35pm- 3:30pm
Gordon Williams, Ph.D.

Friday, March 14, 2008
Fundamentals of Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Mendel Hall, Room 102 2:30pm-3:30pm
Joseph McGowan, Ph.D.

Friday, February 8, 2008
What Caused the Permian Extinction
Mendel Hall, Room G92 2:35pm-3:30pm
Steve C. Wang, Ph.D.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Benjamin Franklin's Numbers
Mendel Hall, Room 154 3:35pm - 4:30pm
Paul Pasles, Ph.D.

Friday, November 30, 2007
Pricing Methods for Financial Derivatives
Mendel Hall, Room G92 2:30 PM
Klaus Volpert, Ph.D.

Friday, November 16, 2007
TBA

Friday, October 26, 2007
Natural Generalizations of Bernoulli Numbers
2:30 PM
Abdul Hassen, Rowan University

Monday, October 1, 2007
DNA Nano Structures
Mendel Hall, Room G86, 3:00 PM
Jo Ellis-Monaghan, St. Michael's College

Fall 2011 - Spring 2012

Friday, December 9, 2011
Title: Complexity and Chaos In Medieval Cartography
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:30 pm
John Hessler, Geography & Map Division, Library of Congress

Friday, November 11, 2011
Title: Divergence of infinite series on Hecke groups of large width (with a side of Fibonacci)
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:30 pm
Dr. PauL Pasles, Villanova University

Friday, October 28, 2011
Title: Rational Points on Logical Varieties over Sensible Fields
Mendel Hall, Room 154, 2:30 pm
Dr. Amanda Knecht, Villanova University