Professor Iosif Pinelis published a paper, “On a Multidimensional Spherically Invariant Extension of the Rademacher-Gaussian Comparison“, in the Electronic Communications in Probability 2016.
The Second Annual Kliakhandler Lectures will be held Sept. 29-30 at Michigan Tech. Richard Stanley of MIT will deliver the lectures which are sponsored by the Mathematical Sciences and funded by a generous gift from former faculty member Igor Kliakhandler.
The Kliakhandler lecture series brings a top mathematician to campus each year to give a pair of lectures.Stanley is a prolific mathematician who has won numerous honors, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has won the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics’ George Pólya Prize in Applied Combinatorics, the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition from the American Mathematical Society and the Rolf Schock Prize for Mathematics.
His first lecture is from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29 in Dow 641. Stanley’s lecture will be “Plane Tilings,” in which he will discuss the challenges of filling a planar region with a given collection of shapes (tiles). A jigsaw puzzle is a familiar type of tiling, though it is not very mathematical; decorative tile floors often use plane tiling to create an aesthetic effect. The physicist Roger Penrose created a family of tilings that are known as Penrose tilings.
Stanley will survey some interesting mathematics associated with plane tilings and discuss questions such as the following: Is there a tiling? If so, how many are there? If no tiling exists, how can we prove this? What special properties, such as symmetry, can a tiling possess? These questions involve such subjects as combinatorics, group theory, probability theory, number theory and computer science.
From 1 to 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30 in Fisher 138, Stanley will deliver a colloquium entitled “A Survey of Alternating Permutations.” Permutations are fundamental transformations in mathematics, and alternating permutations comprise one of the most important families of permutations. Stanley will discuss several aspects of the theory of alternating permutations and describe applications to topics such as group theory and geometry.
Graduate student Amanda Stenzelbarton is a recipient of the Spring 2016 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, as announced by the department.
Mustafa Gezek and Samuel Judge are Fall 2015 recipients.
Graduate student Joseph Reath is a recipient of the Spring 2016 Graduate Student Service Award, as announced by the Graduate School.
A member of the Graduate Student Government and is nominated and voted on by that body of students and approved by the Dean. Nominated students have exhibited an outstanding contribution to graduate education at Michigan Tech.
Graduate students Chao (Chad) Liang and Adrian Pastine are recipients of the Spring 2016 Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship, as announced by the Graduate School.
This award goes to graduating graduate students nominated by their academic school or department for their academic achievements.
Jarret R. Dunn is a Fall 2015 recipient.
The College of Sciences and Arts is pleased to announce the David House Endowed Professorship in Statistics, Data Mining, and Data Analytics for Kui Zhang. Professor Zhang, a new faculty member in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, is pursuing methodological developments and seeking collaborations in statistical genetics and genomics, bioinformatics, and biostatistics.
David House is one of Michigan Tech’s leading strategic supporters. As department chair Mark Gockenbach has noted, “It is gratifying that Mr. House recognizes the importance of statistics and data science in today’s world. His support has been critical in helping Michigan Tech to move forward, and I am very grateful for his latest contribution to the university.”
The Graduate School and Graduate Student Government proudly announce the 2014-2015 academic year winners (see Tech Today for all winners).
Shuaimin Kang (MS candidate, Applied Mathematics) and Rachel Rupnow (MS candidate, Pure Mathematics) received the Outstanding Scholarship Award recognizing academic performance in areas such as excellent GPA, originality in research, leadership and teamwork. Bryan Freyberg (PhD candidate, Discrete Mathematics) and Ethan Novak (PhD candidate, Discrete Mathematics) received the Outstanding Teaching Award recognizing graduate students who have exhibited exceptional ability as a teacher, have received excellent evaluations from students, as well as gaining the respect of faculty in their departments.
The William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning seeks input for its annual Distinguished Teaching Awards, which recognize outstanding contribution to the instructional mission of the University.
Based on more than 50,000 student rating of instruction responses, ten finalists have been identified for the 2015 awards. The selection committee is soliciting comments from students, staff, faculty and alumni to aid in its deliberation process.
Senior Lecturer Beth Reed is one of the finalists in the Assistant Professor/Lecturer/Professor of Practice category.
Comments on the nominees are due by Friday, April 3, and can be completed online.
The process for determining the Distinguished Teaching Award recipients from this list of finalists also involves the additional surveying of their classes. The selection committee makes the final determination of the award recipients. The recipients of the 2015 Distinguished Teaching Award will be formally announced in May 2015.
Fisher Hall has reached a milestone this fall: the big 5-0.
Anyone attending Tech within the last fifty years knows this campus landmark, which has been many things for many people—home for mathematics and physics majors, headquarters for gen ed courses, terror for first-years in chemistry, budget entertainment, and even a venue for true love (more on that later). Fisher has a character all its own—an identity that is as much tied to the Huskies who walked its halls as it is seated in the building’s physical attributes.
The campus community is invited to a retirement reception for Bob Kolkka, associate professor of mathematical sciences, from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 4, in the Memorial Union Alumni Lounge. Refreshments will be served.