Fall 2009

September
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Labor Day 1 2 3 4
7 8 9 10 11
14 15 16
Hilary Allen
Math for America
3:30 pm
details
17 18
No Classes
21 22
Linda Ness
Telcordia
3:30 pm
details
23
Reading Critically
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Academic Center for Excellence
details
24
Reading Critically
11:00 - 1:00
Academic Center for Excellence
details
25
28
No Classes
29
Monday Schedule
30    
October
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
      1 2
5 6 7
David Saltman
Center for Communications Research, Princeton (IDA)
3:30 pm
details
8
12
No Classes
13
Carol Wood
Wesleyan
3:30 pm
details
14
Monday Schedule
15 16
19 20
Dan Klein
Senior Manager, International Benefits
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
3:30 pm
details
21 22 23
26 27
Laura deMarco
Univ of Ill at Chicago
Finding Stability in Chaos
3:30 pm
details
28 29 30




November
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
2 3 4 5 6
9 10 11
Edith Schoenberg
IBM
3:30 pm
Semantic Web Research at IBM
details
13 13
16 17 18 19 20
23 24 25 26
Thanksgiving
27
Thanksgiving
30        




December
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
  1
3:30 pm
Film: Julia Robinson and Hilbert's Tenth Problem
details
2 3 4
7 8 9 10 11

Workshops


September 16    3:30

Hilary Allen
Math for America



September 22    3:30

Linda Ness
Telcordia

Title:Mathematical Problems Relevant to Networked Computing Systems

Abstract: This talk will first summarize the speakers background. The remainder of the talk will describe, via examples, some networked computing systems in telecommunications, identify 3 types of relevant mathematical problems, summarize a current research effort addressing one of the problems, and end with a high level description of a new class of research problems in networked systems.

Bio: Linda Ness is a Chief Scientist and IR&D Program Manager in Telcordia's Applied Research Organization. She holds a Ph.D. in mathematics and a Master's in Computer Science. Prior to her applied research career at Telcordia, she was an academic mathematician for 10 years doing research in differential and algebraic geometry.



September 23     6:00 - 8:00 pm    OR    September 24    11:00 - 1:00

Reading Critically

Learn techniques for strategically and critically reading many types of texts.

Register in the ACE (Old Gym, Room 205) or call (718) 960-8175.



October 7    3:30

David Saltman
Center for Communications Research, Princeton (IDA)



October 13    3:30

Carol Wood
Wesleyan University

Title : A model-theoretical view of the rationals

Abstract: We describe work of Higman and others classifying all ways in which the ordering on the rational numbers can be weakened while retain some interesting structure. The resulting examples can be described in elementary terms, and we emphasize these descriptions in our talk, with hints about the group theory content of the proofs. As time permits we will indicate similar classification results which hold for other structures, such as random graphs.

Bio: Carol Saunders Wood is the Edward Burr Van Vleck Professor of Mathematics at Wesleyan University. She received an A.B.degree from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in 1966 and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1971. Her research area is model theory and its applications. She has been on the Wesleyan faculty throughout her career, with temporary appointments as program officer at NSF and as Deputy Director at MSRI (Berkeley). and research visits at Yale, Rutgers, IAS (Princeton), Paris VII, Newton, Fields, and UCBerkeley. She has supervised four PhD theses. Carol served as President of the Association for Women in Mathematics and is presently a mathematics judge for the Intel Science Talent Search, a Trustee of the American Mathematical Society, and a member of the US National Committee on Mathematics.



October 20    3:30

Daniel Klein, E.A. M.A.A.A
Senior Manager, International Benefits
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

Dan is an Economics major who began his career as a pension actuary. He has worked as a domestic and an international pension and employee benefits consultant for over twenty years with such consulting firms as Mercer, Watson Wyatt, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Ernst & Young. He is currently working at Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. a global professional services firm providing advice and solutions in risk, strategy and human capital.

Dan is responsible for overseeing Marsh & McLennan's non-US benefit and pension arrangements for over 25,000 employees in 88 countries. This includes plan design and approvals, multinational pooling, financial benefits due diligence, and vendor negotiations for various insured benefit plans.



October 27    3:30

Laura deMarco
Univ of Illinois at Chicago

Title : Finding Stability in Chaos

Abstract: I will explain the concept of a dynamical system, with examples from nature and simple mathematical models. The mathematical challenge is to find and describe the "stable structures" inside these systems. Stability means that the long-term behavior is unchanged by small-scale disturbances. The examples produce beautiful fractal pictures which are often easy to generate with a computer.

Bio: Laura DeMarco is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She studied math and physics as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia and received her PhD from Harvard in 2002. She has been living in Chicago since then, working at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is delighted to be in New York for this lecture and to meet the students. Half of her family is from here: her father grew up in Brooklyn and went to CCNY for college, and her aunt currently works on staff at Brooklyn College.



November 11    3:30

Edith Schoenberg
IBM

Title : Semantic Web Research at IBM

Abstract: The concept of the Semantic Web was introduced by Tim Bernes-Lee, the inventor of the internet, around 2000. The Semantic Web is really a gigantic data web, a big mesh of linked information that programs can use to answer questions and provide services. This is not possible with the internet today, since internet documents are human-readable text, not designed for computing. I will describe some of the research that we have been doing related to the Semantic Web, including reasoning, creating Semantic Web content, and integrating Semantic Web data.



December 1    3:30

Film: Julia Robinson and Hilbert's Tenth Problem

A film biography of Julia Robinson who was one of the first women to achieve international renown in the 20th century. She was the first woman mathematician to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the first to be elected President of the American Mathematical Society.