Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Hobart and William Smith Colleges Colloquium and Seminar Schedule Spring 2010

The Department is sponsoring or co-sponsoring several colloquia and seminars this term as listed below. Click here for information about the next scheduled talk. Check this page regularly for the latest schedule as more talks are added.

February 2010

Student Summer Research in Mathematics Speakers: Christine Luongo '10 and Katelyn Tyson '10 Thursday, February 4th at 4:45pm Room: Napier 201 (Refreshments will be served starting at 4:30pm) Abstract: Christine and Katelyn spent the summer of 2009 at Hobart and William Smith researching under the direction of Professor Jonathan Forde on a project called "Mathematics and Dengue Fever". The goal of the project was to create a mathematical model focused on the interaction of the various viral strains with the human immune system. During the talk, they will discuss the process and result of their work and what it was like to do research at HWS. Between Complexity and Real-life Mathematics Speakers: Desislava Byanova '10, Nanzi Jiang '13, Christine Luongo '10, Lisa Maticic '10, and Katelyna Tyson '10 Thursday, February 18th at 4:45pm Room: Napier 201 (Refreshments will be served beforehand.) Abstract: After a trip that took them to Syracuse, Chicago and Denver, Katelyn, Lisa, Christine, Desi and Fiona finally arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska to attend the Twelfth Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics. There, they were able to learn about some of the mathematics research conducted at the undergraduate level by women in other institutions, how the Mathematics major could be put to use beyond the college level, in both professional and academic plan, and also what one should expect from graduate programs in the field of Mathematics. In this talk they will share how attending the Conference has influenced their understanding of mathematics research, or maybe changed/reinforced their future plans, and also what the benefits of attending such an event are.

March 2010

Graphs and Symmetry Speaker: Prof. Debra Boutin from Hamilton College Monday, March 22nd at 4:45pm Room: Sanford Room in the Library (Refreshments will be served at 4:30pm.) Abstract: My goal in this talk is to provide intuition about graphs, their symmetries, and a few of the questions that have been studied recently. No background in graph theory will be assumed. A graph is a collection of objects (called vertices) with a relationship (called an edge) between some pairs of objects. For instance, the objects could be committees and the relationship be sharing a committee member. The resulting graph could be used to design a schedule in which no committees that share a member also share a meeting time. We often "draw" graphs in the Euclidean plane to help our intuition about their structure. However, the drawing is not a required part of the graph and a given graph can have many different drawings. We can talk about the symmetries of a given graph. A symmetry is a permutation of the objects that preserves the relationships. If we have a "nice" graph drawing, we may be able to "see" some of the symmetries in the same way we can see the symmetries of a square or a pentagon. However, many of the symmetries may not be visible in this way. Some of the questions that have been asked about graphs and their symmetries in recent years are: Can a given graph be embedded in Euclidean space (of some dimension) so that its Euclidean symmetries are precisely its graph symmetries? If so, how many dimensions are required? What is a smallest set of vertices with the property that every symmetry is uniquely determined by its action on this set of vertices? In this talk, I will introduce these concepts, give examples to build intuition, and show a few of the current results. Bantam Java Compiler Project: Experiences and Extensions Speaker: Prof. Marc Corliss Wednesday, March 31st at 4:15pm Room: Napier 101 (Refreshments will be served beforehand.) Abstract: A compiler course is a critical component in an undergraduate computer science education. In this talk, I will discuss the experiences of several instructors (including myself) in teaching a compiler course using the Bantam Java compiler project. The Bantam Java project enables students to write a Java-like compiler over several course assignments. Both instructors and students have found the Bantam Java project enhanced learning in the classroom. I will also describe several significant extensions to the Bantam Java toolset, which give instructors more flexibility and also lowers their overhead when using it in a course. These improvements include an extended source language, a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) target, an Ant-based build process, and optimization and interpreter assignments.

April 2010

Compilers and Games: Two Experiences of Student Research in Computer Science Speakers: Rob Hendry '10 and Austin Murray '10 Monday, April 5th at 7:15pm Room: Eaton 110 (Refreshments will be served starting at 7:00pm) Abstracts: In academic and research environments, new programming languages often need to be developed. However, developing a new programming language requires software which converts programs written in the desired language into executable machine code. These pieces of software are called compilers, and can be very large and complex. As a result, there are many existing tools that assist in compiler development by generating pieces of compilers from abstract specifications. Hendry's honors project offers a tool that combines different generation techniques to facilitate compiler development as much as possible, without sacrificing too much flexibility. In his talk, he will give an overview of compiler structure, present the functions of various compiler generation tools, and then explain the contributions of his project. Hendry's research is under the direction of Prof. Marc Corliss. You are eaten by a Grue. Your last thoughts are "in what kind of a world do these creatures exists?" In a world of computers and technology, the applications of the skills learned at HWS can be varied and interesting. Over the last year, Murray has been working on designing and programing a game from square one, applying all that he has learned in his four years of computer science classes. He will talk about his work on this project and also why he developed an independent major and how they can be used for a vast array of ideas and interests. His research has been under the direction of Prof. Stina Bridgeman. Cryptography: The Art of Secrecy Speaker: Kyle Whitaker '11 Thursday, April 15th at 4:45pm Room: Napier 201 (Refreshments will be served beforehand) Abstract: Kyle will be presenting the work he has completed this semester with Professor Vaughn in Cryptography. His presentation will include everything from Caesar shift ciphers to the Enigma machine to public key cryptography. In addition, Kyle will teach everyone in the audience how to quickly and efficiently decipher a secret message using frequency analysis. Come learn how World War II was fought off the battlefield and why you are able to make secure credit card purchases on eBay. Student Research in Mathematics and Computer Science Speakers: Joshua Davis '10 and Sarah Hoy '10 Tuesday, April 20th at 4:45pm Room: Napier 201 (Refreshments will be served beforehand) Abstract 1 - MathOML: An XML Language for Visualization of Mathematical Objects (Joshua Davis): Understanding of abstract mathematical objects can be greatly enhanced by visualizations of those objects. For example, the graph of a mathematical function makes visible properties of the function that are not obvious just from looking at its definition. Computers have made it possible to create visual representations of complex mathematical objects. However, existing computer visualization programs are tied to particular programming languages, and much of the meaningful mathematical content is lost in the code. The MathOML project aims to create a language that can be used to describe mathematical objects and their visualizations in a way that is human-readable and is independent of any particular programming language. Descriptions written in MathOML can be processed in many ways by many different programs. Part of the project is a sample program, written in Java, that can read a MathOML file and display the visualization that it describes. Joshua Davis has been working on this project this year under the direction of Prof. David Eck. Abstract 2 - Hawks and Doves: Evokutionary Stable Strategies and Replicator Dynamics (Sarah Hoy): The hawk dove game is a well-known, biological, application of game theory. It uses fundamentals in game theory, such as the Nash equilibrium, to discern an ESS, or an evolutionary stable strategy. This semester Sarah Hoy has been studying game theory under the direction of Prof. David Belding. In this talk, she will share some of what she has learned. Opportunities at Lockheed Martin Speaker: Lori Pietraszek '08 Friday, April 23rd at 4:30pm Room: Napier 101 (Refreshments will be served starting at 4:15pm) Abstract: There are many different opportunities at Lockheed Martin in engineering and a variety of other fields. As a former William Smith student who joined Lockheed Martin right out of college, I will discuss the various directions you can go in within the company upon graduating. I was hired into the Information Systems Leadership Development Program in 2008 which is a 2 year rotational program that gives you the opportunity to try out a variety of fields in engineering and information systems, as well as earn a Master's Degree from Penn State University. There are other leadership programs, including Engineering, Finance, Operations, HR, and Communications that follow the same outline of rotational positions while earning a higher degree or certificate, which I will also go over. I will then talk about specifically what my experiences have been and what I have worked on thus far at the company; including working on websites and servers, writing software for army radars, and testing software for a navy ship. I hope to open your eyes about the breadth of opportunities at Lockheed Martin and assist in answering any questions for those that may be interested in pursuing this company! Mathematics Colloquium Speaker: Zhiyou Cao '12 Thursday, April 29th at 4:45pm Room: Napier 201 (Refreshments will be served beforehand) Abstract: This talk will introduce Fuzzy Logic, which uses the whole interval between 0 (False) and 1 (True) to deal with reasoning that is approximate rather than precise. The speaker will provide an example of a fuzzy controller requiring rule base, inference engine, defuzzification, and data pre- and post processing. The speaker has been studying the topic this semester with Prof. John Vaughn.

Past Colloquia Series Fall 2009  Spring 2008  Fall 2008

If you have interest in giving a talk or know of someone who does, please contact Erika King at eking@hws.edu or at (315) 781-3355