2019 - Data Science and Image Analysis
Conference of the Pacific Northwest

This conference is in cooperaton with SIAM, WSU, Eastern Washington University, and Gonzaga University. Chair of the organizing committee is Laramie Paxton, of EWU and WSU. Click here for more information.

Pacific Northwest Section
of the MAA - University of Portland

The annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Section of the MAA will take place at the University of Portland from Apr. 12-13, 2019. For more information click here.

Dr. Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta has
received a CAS 2019 award

Professor Nairanjana Dasgupta has received the CAS 2019 faculty teaching award for "Excellence in Graduate Advising and Mentoring."

Dr. Judi Mcdonald has
received a CAS 2019 award

Professor Judi McDonald has received the CAS 2019 faculty service award for "Excellence in Institutional Service."

Porous Media Seminar

Dr. Indranil Chowdhury from the WSU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will give a talk titled, "Fate and Transport of Nanoscale Plastics in Aquatic Environment."
For an abstract please contact Dr. Lynn Schreyer
Time and location: 4:10pm in SPRK 212.

Professors' Judi McDonald and Michael Tsatsomeros, along with K.C Sivakumar of the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras are the recipients of a SPARC grant (Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration) awarded by the government of India. The grant ($100K) will support visits to IIT and WSU by the investigators, the exchange of two graduate students per institution for one semester and the organization of workshops.

Colloquium - Viktoria Taroudaki

Viktoria Taroudaki, an assistant professor from Eastern Washington University will be the colloquium speaker.
Abstract: Images that imaging devices record and sounds that microphones record are corrupted by blur and noise. In this talk, we will see how a filtering method can help eliminate the effects of blur and noise and under what conditions. The results of the filtering method will be compared in both the two- and the one-dimensional cases and we will see one uncertainty quantification measure. Refreshments will be served in the Hacker Lounge (Neill 216) at 3:30pm.
Time and location: SPARK 335 at 4:10pm

WSU Analysis Seminar

Zach Hilliard will give a talk titled, "Generalized Functions and their Derivatives."
Abstract: Standard functions are very nice and conceptually concrete. However, although many functions are integrable, by comparison not many are differentiable this can be limiting (for example when solving differential equations). We will take an introductory look at objects called generalized functions (or distributions, depending on the author) and how we can define derivatives of these objects in a manner so that in this context every function which can be integrated can also be differentiated. Moreover, for functions which are classically differentiable, these notions coincide. This should be accessible for anyone who is comfortable with real analysis.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Webster 11.

Stats Seminar

Ziyi Chen is this weeks speaker.The title of his talk is, "An overview of three gradient boosting methods and their applications."
Time and location: 4:10pm in SPRK 335.

Lets Celebrate Pi Day!

What's the most wonderful day of the year? It's Pi Day! Join us for our annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi). There will be Pi games, themed puzzles, and a Pi digit recitation along with food and PIES! Start memorizing the digits of Pi! There's a sign up sheet in Neill 103.
Time and location: 5:10pm in Neill 216

Celebrating 27 days!

Math instructor Emily Sablan had a baby on February 21st. She and baby are doing well and today baby Charlotte Eloise turns 27 days old!

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Joanna Kelly

Dr. Joanna Kelly from the WSU School of Biological Sciences will give a talk on "Evolutionary genomics in extreme environments".
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 327.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing "Variation, Covariation, and Functions: Foundational Ways of Thinking Mathematically” - Thompson & Carlson (2017). Additionally, because we read a few parts of a related draft of this chapter in fall 2017, and because we have little time before Tuesday’s seminar, please focus mainly on the following sections: pp. 423-5, 438-441, & the example on p. 448. Click here for the website and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:00-5:00pm at ONe World Cafe in Moscow.

CLaN Seminar

Enzo Wendler will be the speaker. Click here for informaton about the CLaN Seminar
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, WEBS 11.

Dr. Judi McDonald has been named
associate dean of the Graduate School

Math professor Judi McDonald has officially accepted a position as associate dean in the Graduate School, which she will begin on March 18. As a professor in the department since 2002, she has served as the committee chair and advisor for more than 20 graduate students, and published more than 40 peer‑reviewed papers as well as co‑authored a very successful textbook on introductory linear algebra. She has served in leadership roles in the Faculty Senate, including Chair of the Faculty Senate in the 2017‑18 academic year, and has served on countless university‑wide committees. Her responsibilities as an associate dean will overlap with those of Lori Carris as she transitions out of her administrative roles, specifically as the liaison to the Faculty Senate’s Graduate Studies Committee and liaison to the Provost’s Office on proposals for new and revised graduate programs. She will also take the lead on evaluation and oversight for Graduate School policies and procedures.

What does Social Media know about YOU?

Aimed at Pullman High School students, a data literacy workshop will be held on Monday, March 11th, where students will learn about data collected on them by their use of social media. If students are interested in attending they should contact Mr. Carlson of the Pullman High School for details. The workshop is sponsored by the American Statistical (ASA) Club.

Part I of a Two-Part Python Workshop

Don't be left out! Join Part I of a two-part Python workshop in Cleveland 130C (MLC classroom) from 4:00pm - 5:00pm. Snacks and drinks will be provided. Hosted by the AMS Graduate Student Chapter.

Math Bio Seminar - Zachary Hilliard

Zachary Hilliard will give a talk on "Numerically Solving a Generalized Cahn-Hilliard Equation".
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 327.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reviewing and giving feedback on a manuscript in progress concerning the impact of students’ understanding the words “definite” and “indefinite” on their conception of definite and indefinite integrals. Click here for the website and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:00-5:00pm at the Daily Grind in Pullman.

CLaN Seminar

Jennifer Johnson-Leung from the University of Idaho will be the speaker.
Abstract: The Fourier coefficients of elliptical modular eigenforms are the Hecke eigenvalues of those forms. For Siegel modular forms, the situation is more complicated. Work of Andrianov from the 1970s gives some relations between these invariants for Siegel modular forms of level 1. I will discuss joint work with Brooks Roberts which gives new relations between Fourier coefficients of Siegel modular forms with paramodular level.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, WEBS 11.

Porous Media Seminar

Dr. Vikram Yadama will give a talk titled, "An exploration of wood’s porous structure and its importance."
Abstract: This presentation will briefly discuss the research interests of the presenter. His interests range from mechanics of wood and wood-based composites; modeling of engineered wood-based composites; structure-process-property relations; processing of wood-based composites, and; industrial extension/outreach in forest products. Presentation will also examine the structure of wood to understand its porous structure and its influence on properties and performance of wood and wood-based composites. If time permits, research findings related to influence of wood-strand preform on production and performance of molded wood strand panels will also be discussed.
Time and location: 4:10pm in SPRK 212.

Colloquium: Rebecca Doerge
from Carnegie Mellon University

Rebecca Doerge Dean, Mellon College of Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, will give a colloquium talk titled, "The Future of Statistical Bioinformatics and Genomics in the Automated World of Agriculture," on February 28th at 4:10pm in SPARK 335. Refreshments will be served in Neill 216 (Hacker Lounge) at 3:30pm, prior to the colloquium. Please join us!
Click here for an abstract.

Aren't babies WONDERFUL?
Instructor Emily Sablan has had a baby!

Emily Sablan an instructor with the department, and her husband Matt, have had a baby girl! Charlotte Eloise arrived on February 21st at 9:51am. She weighs 6 lbs 3 oz.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Lynn Schreyer

Dr. Lynn Schreyer will give a talk on "Developing of a Deterministic Model for Mammal Migration based on Physics of Fluid Flow through Porous Media".
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 327.

CLaN Seminar

Jillian Glassett will be the speaker.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, WEBS 11.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Jakob Streipel will give a talk titled, "Ultrametrics and Weird Calculus."
Abstract: Abstract: Do you have strong feelings on the sequence 1!, 2!, 3!, ... diverging to infinity? How about the sequence 1, 1/2, 1/3, ... converging to 0? Do you think there are triangles that aren't isosceles? What would happen to our usual calculus if we modify the absolute value a bit? What if, say, we do calculus in a space where all balls are clopen (that's not a typo), and balls can't intersect just a bit? This talk will explore these questions and more. This talk is accessible to any and all with even just a bit of background in calculus. Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Webster 11.

Stats Seminar

Dr. Yuan Wang is this weeks speaker.The title of her talk is, "Radiology Image Analysis for Cancer Diagnosis."
Time and location: 4:10pm in SPRK 335.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the paper: "The Impact of Instructor and Institutional Factors on Students’ Attitudes - Sonnert & Sadler (2015)." Click here for the website and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:00-5:00pm at the Daily Grind in Pullman.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. James Brozik

Dr. James Brozik will give a talk on "(Bio)Molecular Machines, Markov Walks, and Single Molecule Tracking: Ion Channels, Enzymes, and Synthetic Polymers".
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 327.

Porous Media Seminar

Dr. Lynn Schreyer will give a talk titled, "Developing of a Deterministic Model for Mammal Migration based on Physics of Fluid Flow through Porous Media."
Abstract: Please contact Dr. Schreyer for an abstract.
Time and location: 4:10pm in SPRK 212.

Stats Seminar

Dr. Krishna Jandhyala is this weeks speaker.The title of his talk is, "Multiple Change-Point Models for Time Series with Applications to Nile River Data."
Time and location: 4:10pm in SPRK 335.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Konstantinos Tsampourakis will give a talk titled, "Information Theory and Randomness."
Abstract: I am going to present basic notions of the theory of computation in order to arrive at the notion of program-size complexity and some of its basic properties. Then I will use it to give intuitive definitions of compressible and random sequences. Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Webster 11.

Math Bio Seminar - Allison Fisher

Allison Fisher will give a talk on "Mathematical Modeling of Gene Networks".
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 327.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the paper: "Understanding the Concepts of Calculus: Frameworks and Roadmaps Emerging From Educational Research - Larsen, Marrongelle, Bressoud, & Graham (2017)." Click here for the website and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:00-5:00pm in the back room of Mikeys in Moscow.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Yunfeng Hu will give a talk titled, "An Introduction to Data Compression."
Abstract: I am going to present some background knowledge in data compression. In addition, I will introduce two to three compression codes: prefix codes, Huffman codes and arithmetic coding. Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Webster 11.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Richard Gomulkiewicz

Dr. Richard Gomulkiewicz will give a talk on "Metapopulation Allee effects, habitat destruction, and extinction in metacommunities".
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 327.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the paper: Better to be frustrated than bored: The incidence, persistence, and impact of learners’ cognitive–affective states during interactions with three different computer-based learning environments - Baker et al. (2010). Click here for the website and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:00-5:00pm at the Daily Grind in Pullman.

CLaN Seminar

Jakob Streipel will be the speaker.
Title: The Congruent Number Problem
Abstract: A positive integer is said to be congruent if it occurs as the area of a right triangle with all three sides being rational. Like many classical problems in number theory, the problem of finding such numbers is easy to state (we just did it!) but very hard to solve. We give an overview of the problem, and along the way demonstrate the deep and far-reaching connections to the wider field of analytic number theory. For more information click on the CLaN Seminar.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Porous Media Seminar

Dr. Tim Ginn will give a talk titled, "Phase Exposure-Dependent Exchange used to derive upscaled models of transport of solutes, suspensions, or twins."
Abstract: Please contact Dr. Schreyer for an abstract.
Time and location: 4:10pm in SPRK 212.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Enrique Alvarado will give a talk titled, "An Introduction to Analysis on Graphs."
Abstract: We will introduce the graph Laplacian along with it’s eigenvalues, and relate them to expansion rates and isoperimetric properties on graphs. Along the way, we will be pointing out the corresponding classical notions in analysis.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Webster 11.

Stats Seminar

Dr. Marc Evans is this weeks speaker.
Time and location: 4:10pm in SPRK 335.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Nick Strigul

Dr. Nick Strigul will give a talk on "Development of nex-generation forest biogeochemistry models".
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 327.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the article: Technology for Learning Mathematics - Roschelle, Noss, Blikstein, & Jackiw (2017). Click here for the website and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:00-5:00pm at One World Cafe in Moscow.

CLaN Seminar

Sheng-Chi Liu will be the speaker. For more information click on the CLaN Seminar.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

International Math Modeling Contest

Read about the 2019 International Math Modeling Contest that took place from January 24-26 with a WSU team of three students.

Dr. Sean D. Lawley, assistant professor from the University of Utah will give a colloquium titled, "Diffusion in a randomly fluctuating environment."
Please click here for an abstract. Refreshments will be served at 3:30pm in the Neill Hall 216 Hacker Lounge prior to the colloquium.
Time and location: 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the following paper: Mathematical Micro-Identities: Moment-to-Moment Positioning and Learning in a Fourth- Grade Classroom - Wood (2013). Website and reading links.
Time and location: 4:00-5:00pm at the Neill Public Library in Pullman.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the following paper: Identity and Mathematics Education - Langer-Osuna & Esmonde (2017)
Time and location: 4:00-5:00pm at One World Cafe in Moscow.

Greetings from Thomas Cameron

Holiday greetings from former graduate student Thomas Cameron, Mathematics Ph.D. '16. Another addition was made to the Cameron family on December 21, 2018. "Emmy Noehr Cameron made her debut right before the holidays. Her big brother is absolutely in love with her and she has been the best gift to us all!" Thomas is currently a visiting assistant professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina.

Department Holiday
Potluck Photos

The department held it's annual Holiday Potluck for students, faculty, staff, and friends. Special thanks to the social committee for making the potluck a huge hit. To see photos please click here.

Update on former graduate student
Dr. Corban (Corby) Harwood

Dr. Corban (Corby) Harwood is an associate professor of mathematics in the department of mathematics and applied science at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. He contributed "Steady and Stable: Numerical Investigations of Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations" in the recently published A Primer for Undergraduate Research: From Groups and Tiles to Frames and Vaccines.
Full citation:
R. Corban Harwood, "Steady and Stable: Numerical Investigations of Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations.” Contributed Chapter in A. Wootton, V. Peterson, C. Lee. (eds.) A Primer for Undergraduate Research: From Groups and Tiles to Frames and Vaccines, Birkh¨auser (2017). SpringerLink to eBook

2018 Fall Commencement Photos

Mathematics graduating senior Kayla Rhodes was chosen to carry the College of Arts and Sciences banner (also known as a gonfalon) at the start of the Washington State University Commencement ceremony in Pullman on 12/8/18. Kayla graduates with a double major in math and computer science. She is president of the Math Club and has completed internships at Disney, HP, and CDK Global. She'll return to Disney in January 2019 to work on another machine learning project. Go Kayla!
The 2018 Fall Commencement Ceremony was held on December 8th at 10:00am. Click here to see photos

WSU Analysis Seminar

Katrina Sabochick will give a talk titled, "Simplicial Complexes and their Applications in Data Analsys."
Abstract: For this presentation, we will be discussing the building of the Vietoris- Rips complex. We will begin with some definitions of simplices and abstract simplicial complexes, including both the purely combinatorial definition and the associated geometric realization, then define the Vietoris-Rips complex and walk through a small example with a finite number of points. We will end with a short discussion of applications of the complex and a comparison to the Čech complex. See the WSU Analysis website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Elizabeth Amona

Elizabeth Amona will give a talk on "Modelling Ponzi Scheme Propagation Dynamics: An Epidemiological Approach".
Location and time: SPRK 233 from 4:10-5:00pm.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the article: Relationships Between Ability, Belief and Achievement in Remedial College Mathematics Classrooms - Stage & Kloosterman (1991).
Please check the Math Ed website for the calendar and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:30-5:30pm at One World Cafe in Moscow.

Dr. Emilie Purvine, a research scientist at PNNL will give a seminar titled, "Applications of topology for information fusion." The seminar will be available via videoconferencing.
Abstract: Please see www.wsu.edu/~kbala/VMathSem.html for an abstract.
Time and location: 4:15-5:05pm in Spark 333 (Pullman), VECS 125 (Vancouver).

Dr. Justin Marks, assistant professor from Gonzaga, will give a colloquium titled, "Manifold Methods for Averaging Subspaces."
Abstract: Please click here for an abstract. The colloquium is sponsored by the WSU American Mathematical Society Student Chapter.
Time and location: 4:00pm in Neill 5W.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Vlad Oles will present on some of the topics covered in the MSRI summer school "Representations of High Dimensional Data", focused on the field of Compressed Sensing (CS). We will cover the basic framework of CS, like sparse signals, encoders, and decoders, and talk about the necessary conditions for successful recovery of a signal in this framework. In particular, we will touch the notions of spark and coherence of a (encoder) matrix, and their interplay with the sparsity of a signal.
Abstract: This will be a brief discussion on Sobolev-type inequalities in metric spaces. We will look at some classical results in Euclidean spaces and then consider a generalization using upper gradients, finishing up with a connection to Riesz potentials and maximal functions.
See the WSU Analysis website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Math Ed Seminar

Silvia Madrid will be presenting on her current dissertation research. Silvia is working on a design research project on fostering students' understanding of solving linear and factorable quadratic equations algebraically and graphically. She will discuss the data analysis and preliminary results for the learning trajectory she created.
Please check the Math Ed website for the calendar and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:30-5:30pm at the Daily Grind in Pullman.

Porous Media Seminar

Dr. Hua Tan will give a talk titled, "Absorption of Inkjet Droplets by Porous Substrates."
Abstract: Please contact Dr. Schreyer for an abstract.
Time and location: 5:10pm in PACCAR 202.

CLaN Seminar

Rachel Perrier will be the speaker.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Dr. Kimberly Vincent has been appointed
as the Associate Director of Region One of
the Washington State Mathematics Council

Dr. Kimberly Vincent has been appointed by the Board of the Washington State Mathematics Council to be the Associate Director of Region 1, which is Northwest Washington State and is comprised of the following counties: Adams, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, Spokane and Whitman. She will be responsible to the membership of her region by: representing them at the meetings of the board of directors', recruiting new members, arranging for the regional high school mathematics contests, and coordinating other activities of the council. The Washington State Mathematics Council is a professional organization that exists to promote and influence mathematics education. The membership is committed to developing, supporting, and encouraging opportunities that lead to quality mathematics curricula and effective instruction. WSMC promotes high professional standards and serves as a communication network for anyone interested in mathematics education.

Dr. Sergey Lapin Receives an Outstanding
Faculty Award from the WSU Greek Community

Dr. Sergey Lapin has received an Arete Outstanding Faculty Award from the WSU Greek community. Each year the Greek community selects three WSU faculty to receive this award. A student from one of the honors classes he teaches said, "I have taken four of his math courses and they are always my favorite for the semester," adding that he helps everyone through classes and wants everyone to understand the material. “The Arête Awards are a great opportunity for our university administration and the Greek councils to recognize outstanding Greek chapters and members within our community,” said 2009 Panhellenic President Ali Scott.

Mathematics Biology Seminar

Dr. Audrey Fu will give a talk titled, "Imputation of single-cell gene expression with an autoencoder neural network". See the Mathematical Biology Seminar website.
Time and Location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 233.

Porous Media Seminar

Dr. Nicholas Engdahl will give a talk titled, "A crash course in modern Lagrangian methods for simulating mass transport and reactions in fluids."
Abstract: Please contact Dr. Schreyer for an abstract.
Time and location: 5:10pm in PACCAR 202.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Adebo Sijuwade will give a talk titled, "Sobolev-type Inequalities: an approach using upper gradients."
Abstract: This will be a brief discussion on Sobolev-type inequalities in metric spaces. We will look at some classical results in Euclidean spaces and then consider a generalization using upper gradients, finishing up with a connection to Riesz potentials and maximal functions.
See the WSU Analysis website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Mathematics Biology Seminar

Dr. Yuan Wang will give a talk titled, "Statistical Learning for Tree-Structured Data". See the Mathematical Biology Seminar website.
Time and Location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 233.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the article: On Painter’s Paradox: Contextual and Mathematical Approaches to Infinity - Wijeratne & Zazkis (2015)
Please check the Math Ed website for the calendar and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:30-5:30pm at the Daily Grind in Pullman.

CLaN Seminar

Jillian Glassett will be the speaker.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Montana Math Modeling Challenge

On the weekend of October 20-21, 2018 Dr. Lynn Schreyer and instructor David Hampson took eight WSU students to Carroll College in Helena, Montana to compete in the Montana Math Modeling Challenge. For more information and photos click here.

Northwest Math Conference
in British Columbia

On a recent weekend in October, Dr. William Hall took a group of future secondary mathematics teachers to the Northwest Mathematics Conference (NWMC) in Whistler, British Columbia. For more information and photos click here.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Zach Hilliard will give a talk titled, "The Cahn-Hilliard equation."
Abstract: I am interested in a generalized version of the Cahn-Hilliard equation, which is a nonlinear parabolic type PDE. As an aid to understanding this generalized version, I use Galerkin approximation to show existence and uniqueness of a weak solution to the standard equation, provided a certain intermediate lemma is true. This method of proof also gives some insight to the finite element method, which is used to numerically approximate solutions to many PDEs.
See the WSU Analysis website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Mathematics Biology Seminar

Dr. Andrew Storfer from the WSU School of Biological Sciences will give a talk titled, "Evolutionary genomics of Tasmanian devils and their facial tumor disease ." See the Mathematical Biology Seminar website.
Time and Location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 233.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the article: Definite Integral Registers Using Infinitesimals - Ely (2017).
Please check the Math Ed website for the calendar and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:30-5:30pm at One World Cafe in Moscow.

CLaN Seminar

Megan Wendler will be the speaker.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

The 4th Annual Calvin and Jean Long
Distinguished Lecture in Mathematics

Dr. Lawrence Craig Evans from University of California, Berkeley is the invited guest speaker for the 4th annual Calvin and Jean Long Distinguished Lecture in Mathematics. The public lecture, titled "Hidden Convexity in Nonlinear Differential Equations" will be held Wednesday evening, October 24th at 7:00pm in SPARK G45. Please join us for a cake reception with Dr. Evans immediately following in Neill 216 (Hacker Lounge). The university and community are cordially invited.
Click here to download a lecture flier.

The 4th Annual Calvin and Jean Long
department colloquium (as part of the
Calvin and Jean Long Distinguished
Lecture in Mathematics)

Dr. Lawrence Craig Evans from the University of California, Berkeley will give a Long Lecture department colloquium on October 23rd the day before the Calvin and Jean Long Distinguished Lecture in Mathematics. This colloquium talk titled, "Riccati Equation Methods for Weak KAM Theory," will be held in Neill 5W at 4:10pm. Please join us at 3:30pm for refreshments with Dr. Evans prior to the colloquium in the Hacker Lounge (Neill 216).
Click here to download a colloquium flier.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the article: The Language of Learning Mathematics: A Multimodal Perspective by O’Halloran (2015).
Please check the Math Ed website for the calendar and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:30-5:30pm in the back room of the Daily Grind in Pullman.

CLaN Seminar

Matthew Jobrack will be the speaker.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Dr. Charles Moore will give a talk titled, "Bachelier's thesis: "Theory of Speculation."
Abstract: I will give a basic introduction to some of the ideas found in Louis Bachelier's thesis from 1900. It was then largely forgotten for 50 years, but is now considered by many to be the birth of modern mathematical finance. I will discuss Bachelier's Brownian motion model of the stock market, as well as implications for options pricing.
See the WSU Analysis website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Mathematics Biology Seminar

Dr. HongMing Yin will give a talk on, "On a reaction-diffusion system modeling the optimal tumor treatment." See the Mathematical Biology Seminar website.
Time and Location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 233.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing a draft of a piece by Dr. Rob Ely from the University of Idaho: The Torpedo's Shock.
Please check the Math Ed website for the calendar and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:30-5:30pm at One World Cafe in Moscow.

Porous Media Seminar

Dr. Lynn Schreyer will give a talk on, "Macroscale and Microscale Analysis of Deforming Saturated Porous Media: Terzaghi Stress Principle and the Significance of Shear and Plasticity in Hydrostatic Compression."
This talk focuses on the current state of deriving the governing equations for deforming saturated porous media. The ultimate goal is to predict deformation given an overburden load (for an external pressure load only, this is referred to as the confining pressure) and a liquid pore pressure.
Abstract: Please contact Dr. Schreyer for an abstract.
Time and location: 5:10pm in PACCAR 202.

CLaN Seminar

Jacob Streipel will be the speaker and the title of his talk is, "Special Relations Between Normalised Eisenstein Series."
Abstract: We give an introduction to modular forms, cusp forms, and in particular (normalised) Eisenstein series $E_k$. We then go on to demonstrate that the well-known relations $E_4^2 = E_8$, $E_4 E_6 = E_{10}$, and $E_6 E_8 = E_4 E_{10} = E_{14}$ are the only relations of the form $E_k = E_l E_{k - l}$.
See the CLaN website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Colloquium: Rhonda Crate, Boeing

Rhonda Crate of Boeing's Analytics and Information Management Orgainzation will give a colloquium talk titled, "Using split modeling and visualizations to show contributing factors and predictions for high risk scheduling activities," on October 11th at 4:00pm in Neill 5W. Refreshments will be served during the presentation. This colloquium is sponsored by the American Statistical Association Chapter of WSU. Please join us!
Click here for an abstract.

Five $2,000 Undergraduate Scholarships
available for Spring 2019!
Apply by November 28, 2018.

The department is offering five $2,000 undergraduate research scholarships to support research and creative activities by undergraduate students who are certified within their mathematics major. Each student will continue or initiate a research or creative project, under the guidance of a regular faculty member or members within the department. The application deadline is November 28, 2018.
Click here to learn more.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Dr. Xiongzhi Chen will give a talk on, "Proportion estimators, Lebesgue-Stieltjes integral equations and concentration of measures."
Abstract: Please contact Enrique Alvarado, Henry Riely, or Dr. Chen for an abstract. You may download this file and and another file to read before the seminar if you would like.
See the WSU Analysis website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the article:
On Relative and Absolute Conviction in Mathematics (2015) - Weber & Majia-Ramos.
Please check the Math Ed website for the calendar and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:30-5:30pm in the back room of the Daily Grind in Pullman.

Colloquium: Jim Brown, Chair of Mathematics
at Occidental College

Jim Brown Chair of Mathematics at Occidental College will give a colloquium talk on, "Applications of number theory to coding theory," on October 8th at 4:10pm - 5:00pm in Neill 5W. Refreshments will be served in the Hacker Lounge (Neill 226) at 3:30pm. Please join us!
Click here for an abstract.

Porous Media Seminar

Dr. Idil Akin of the WSU Civil and Environmental Engineering Department will give a talk on, "Unsaturated geoengineering and bio-geotechnics research at WSU." This talk focuses on the current state of unsaturated geoengineering and bio-geotechnics research at WSU and possible future applications.
Abstract: Please contact Dr. Lynn Schreyer for an abstract.
Time and location: 5:10pm in PACCAR 202.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Yufeng Cao will give a talk on, "Medical image segmentation"
Abstract: This seminar will discuss medical imaging, which is a very hot topics in image analysis. The segmentation of a liver tumor is an interesting and challenging task. Recent research in this field highlights the potential of graph based methods, which have generated a big interest in imaging analysis. Graph theory is the framework for this thesis to do some further study. We focus on both theoretical and practical. On the theoretical side, new models were studied and a lot of new points were generated based on our data. The big point is the $\alpha$ method we developed, which can tell us a lot of information. Images were taken over a period of time during which a medical dye was distributed in the patient's liver via the blood vessels, which caused the intensity of the tissues in the image to change from their normal state, with tumor and vessel tissues changing the most. Finally, we propose our model to new data, which is big challenging recently. And moving mean was studied based on this purpose.
See the WSU Analysis website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Mathematics Biology Seminar

The title of Dr. Mark Schumaker's talk will be Within-host competition can delay evolution of drug resistance in malaria. See the Mathematical Biology Seminar website.
Time and Location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 233.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the article:
Three Interpretations of the Matrix Equation Ax=b - Larson & Zandieh (2013).
Please check the Math Ed website for the calendar and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:30-5:30pm at One World Cafe in Moscow.

CLaN Seminar

Jemin Shim will be the speaker and the title of his talk is, "Primes in arithmetic progression."
Abstract: While it is easy to see there are infinitely many prime numbers, determining the number of primes in an arithmetic progression a, a+q, a+2q,… with (a,q)=1 is challenging. We will investigate such arithmetic progressions to determine how many prime numbers it contains.
See the CLaN website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Dr. Bala Krishnamoorthy is using
math to avert U.S. power grid failure

Dr. Bala Krishnamoorthy, WSU Vancouver, is developing efficient algorithms to help eliminate future power grid and other energy system failures. Read more about Dr. Krishnamoorthy's work.

Joint Analysis and Colloquium Talk
with Professor Song-Ping Zhu from the
University of Wollonggong, Australia

Professor Song-Ping Zhu from the University of Wollongong, Australia, will give a joint Analysis and Colloquium talk titled, "A new integral equation formulation for American put options," on September 26th from 4:10-5:00pm in Neill Hall 5W. Refreshments will be served in the Hacker Lounge (Neill 226) at 3:30pm. Please join us!
Click here for an abstract.

Mathematics Biology Seminar

Chris Kang will discuss Emergence of diversity in homogeneous coupled Boolean networks. See the Mathematical Biology Seminar website.
Time and Location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 233.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the article:
Personal, Expository, Critical, and Creative: Using Writing in Mathematics Courses - Braun (2014). If you are interested in using writing in the mathematics classroom, please check out the article and join us! If you have assignment sheets and/or rubrics you’d like to share, please bring them along. Megan Hall, an experienced instructor of critical reading and writing across the disciplines, will join us to chat about how to help students write and revise.
Please check the Math Ed website for the calendar and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:30-5:30pm in the back room of the Daily Grind in Pullman.

CLaN Seminar

Matthew Jobrack will be the speaker.
See the CLaN website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Graduate student Jillian Morrison
remembers her country of Belize

Jillian Morrison brought cupcakes today to remember and commemorate Belize's 37th anniversary of Independence (September 21st, 1981- Independence Day). The theme for this year’s independence celebration in ‘Kriol’ is “Belize da fi wi - now and forever, 8867”. In English, this translates to “Belize is ours - now and forever, all 8867 square miles.”

WSU Analysis Seminar

Jakob Streipel will give a talk on, "Filters and topology"
Abstract: We give a (very) brief history of the notion of filters and then spend some time developing some of the theory and demonstrating why it is an interesting and powerful tool for topology. The goal is to build up to a very simple proof of Tychonoff's theorem in the language of filters. The talk is intended to be quite accessible, and hopefully interesting to people currently taking the General Topology class.
See the WSU Analysis website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading and discussing the article, "Creating a Proof Error Evaluation Tool for Use in the Grading of Student-Generated 'Proofs'” - Lane (2009). Please check the Math Ed website for the calendar and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:30-5:30pm at the One World Cafe in Moscow.

Mathematics Biology Seminar

Damiloa Olabode will discuss Introduction to stochastic epidemic models. See the Mathematical Biology Seminar website.
Time and Location: 4:10-5:00pm in SPRK 233.

Porous Media Seminar - Dr. Qizhen Li
WSU School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Title: "Porous magnesium composites: Promising materials for diverse applications"
Abstract: Please contact Dr. Lynn Schreyer for an abstract.
Time and location: 4:10pm in Neill 5W (note this is a change from PACCAR 202 for this week).

CLaN Seminar

Matthew Jobrack will be the speaker.
See the CLaN website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Dr. Matt Duez will give a talk on, "Space without points: the fuzzy sphere for physics students."
Abstract: for over half a century, physicists have speculated that the manifold structure of spacetime breaks down at very small scales, that on these scales spatial coordinates do not commute, and that this noncommutivity may be a key to regularizing field theories, resolving spacetime singularities, quantizing gravity, and other wondrous things. The "fuzzy sphere" is a simple example of how one can build up differential geometry without the usual manifold substructure. Alas, most introductions to noncommutative geometry are written at a level of abstraction that is taxing to the average physicist. Okay, I should say "taxing to this physicist", but I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'd like to give a more "nuts and bolts" account of how to build a description of a world without points.
See the WSU Analysis website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 106W.

Semi-monthly AMS Graduate Student
Chapter Tea Party! You're Invited!

The WSU AMS Graduate Student Chapter Club will be hosting a Tea Party every second and fourth Wednesday of the month, while WSU is in session. The tea is open to everyone and will include tea, coffee and snacks. This is a great time to chill and talk with others. If you have questions please contact club officer Ryan Lattanzi at ryan.lattanzi@wsu.edu. Click here to download a flier.
Time and location: 2:30-3:30pm in the Hacker Lounge (Neill 216).

Math Ed Seminar

We will be reading the article, "Examining early algebraic thinking: Insights from empirical data” by Chimoni, Pitta-Pantazi, & Christou (2018). Please check the Math Ed website for the calendar and links to readings.
Time and location: 4:30-5:30pm in the back room of the Daily Grind.

CLaN Seminar

Jordan Miller will discuss Intersections and Faces of Line Segment Graphs.
Abstract: We can derive sharp upper and lower bounds on the number of intersection points and closed regions that can occur in sets of line segments with certain structure, in terms of the number of segments. We will consider sets of segments whose underlying planar graphs are Halin graphs, cactus graphs, maximal planar graphs, and triangle-free planar graphs.
See the CLaN website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

WSU Analysis Seminar

Enrique Alvarado will give a talk on, "Analyst's Traveling Salesman Problem and Jones' Beta Numbers."
Abstract: The original traveling salesman problem asks us to compute the shortest path that goes through a finite number of points in the plane. If instead of a finite number of points, we have a continuum, when can we cover such a continuum with a connected curve of finite length? To solve this problem, Peter Jones introduced the Beta numbers; they are used to quantitatively answer geometric analogues to some classical questions coming from Littlewood-Paley theory.
See the WSU Analysis website.
Time and location: 4:10-5:00pm, Neill 5W.

Mathematics Biology Seminar

Dr. Xiongzhi Chen will discuss False discovery rate control for multiple testing with disrete data. See the Mathematical Biology Seminar website.
Location: SPRK 233, 4:10-5:00pm.

Mathematics Education Seminar

Ralph Chikhany, a mathematics education graduate student, will be discussing some preliminary data he has collected concerning how students from business calculus worked through a task on marginal cost, revenue, and profit. He will also share aspects of a task he is developing and ask for feedback on its continued development. The meeting will be in the backroom of the Daily Grind from 4:30-5:30pm. See the Mathematics Education Seminar website.

Greetings from Osama Fakron!

Osama Fakron, PhD graduate student in mathematics, has accepted an instructor position with Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Osama will be teaching mathematics for engineering students. If you would like to drop him a line his email is fakron@vt.edu.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Come see a lecture!

This week the WSU Analysis Seminar will be showing a lecture by Walter Ruden titled, "Set Theory: An Offspring of Analysis."
Join the seminar in Neill 5W from 4:10 - 5:00pm.

CLaN Seminar - David Watkins

David Watkins is the speaker at the CLaN Seminar.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Robert Dillon

Dr. Robert Dillon will give a talk on "Immersed interface-immersed boundary methods for AC and DC dielectrophoretic particle interaction in a micro channel.".
Location and time: SPRK 233 from 4:10-5:00pm.

Dr. Nikolaos Voulgarakis has promoted
to Associate Professor

Dr. Voulgarakis is a member of the WSU Pullman faculty. His research deals with stochastic processes, nonlinear dynamics, computational fluid dynamics and multiscale modeling. Read more about Dr. Voulgarakis and his research.

Dr. Nikolay Strigul has promoted
to Associate Professor

Dr. Strigul is a member of the WSU Vancouver faculty. He conducts interdisciplinary research across traditional disciplinary boundaries at the interface of applied mathematics, statistics and biology. Read more about Dr. Strigul and his research.

Dr. Bala Krishnamoorthy awarded
$200,000 NSF Grant

Dr. Bala Krishnamoorthy is the sole PI on a new $200,000 NSF grant. RUI: Robust Feasibility and Robust Optimization using Algebraic Topology and Convex Analysis.
NSF. 8/1/18 - 7/31/21.

Professor Emeritus David Watkins has
published a new book

Core-Chasing Algorithms for the Eigenvalue Problem
- by Jared L. Aurentz, Leonardo Robol, Raf Vanebril and David S. Watkins

Xiongzhi Chen receives WSU Seed grant

Xiongzhi Chen is one of 14 new faculty to receive a WSU seed grant to help with research. His grant will be used to develop testing procedures that adapt to the overall level signals in data, classifying the type of dependence under with a statistical procedure is accurate and stable. Read more about the new seed grant program.

Professor Emeritus David Wollkind has
published a new book

Comprehensive Applied Mathematical Modeling in the Natural and Engineering Sciences
- by David J. Wollkind and Bonni J. Dichone

Dr. Sergey Lapin Receives Honors College Award

"For outstanding commitment to the students of the Honors College," Dr. Sergey Lapin has received a 2018 Honors Faculty Award from the Honors College.

2018 Spring Commencement Photos

Congratulations to all graduating mathematics and statistics seniors! Commencement was held at the Beasley Coliseum on May 5th at 8:00am. Click here to see informal commencement photos.

Graduate Student Ralph Chikhany Receives Awards

Mathematics graduate student Ralph Chikhany has received the 2018 GPSA Graduate Student Instructor Excellence Award and a GPSA Senator of the Year Award.

Andrew Stevens, 2009 MS Mathematics - update

Andrews Stevens, 2009 MS Mathematics, is the owner and Chief Scientist at OptimalSensing LLC (www.optimalsensing.com). From 2009 to 2017 he was a staff scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). While working at PNNL, he completed his PhD in electrical and computer engineering at Duke University (May 2018). Andrew works on compressive sensing and machine learning problems, especially in scientific imaging and electron microscopy. He has developed several new algorithms and imaging approaches (5 patents pending) that allow scientists to analyze materials and chemical processes at the atomic level. Many of the most important processes in materials engineering and biology/medicine occur by the movement of atoms—such as the storing of charge in Li-ion batteries and drug interactions with cells to cure disease. Understanding and controlling the way that atoms move will lead to new technologies that address the major global challenges of energy, defense, and human health. Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-_ADUHwAAAAJ. His graduate advisor was Dr. Sergey Lapin.

Math Senior James Whitbread has received the
WSU 2018 Top Ten Senior Award for Academics

Mathematics senior James Whitbread is the recipient of a WSU 2018 Top Ten Senior Award for Academics. He will attend Johns Hopkins University Medical School in the fall of 2018 to become a cardiac-thoracic surgeon. James will be recognized at an April 26th ceremony in CUE 518 at 3:30pm. James has also been selected as the 2018 Outstanding Senior in Mathematics and will be honored in the CAS Outstanding Senior Recognition Ceremony on Friday, May 4th, 2018 from 2:00-4:00pm in the Jones Theatre of Daggy Hall. Read more about mathematics major James Whitbread.

Dr. Dean Johnson

Associate Clinical Professor Dean Johnson has been elected to serve on the Statistical Consulting Council of Sections for 2019-2021 to advance the interests of the association and its members. The Statistical Consulting Council of Sections is part of the American Statistical Association (ASA).

2018 End-of-Year Barbecue Photos

Each spring the department hosts an end-of-the-year barbecue for undergraduates, graduates, staff, and faculty to enjoy time together and celebrate graduating students and the completion of another academic year. The barbecue is held outside of Neill Hall. Click here to see photos of the barbecue.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. V.S. Manoranjan

Dr. Manoranjan will discuss, "Population Models - Nonlinearity & Diffusion."
Location and time: CUE 316 from 4:10-5:00pm.

Dr. Alan Genz Retirement Party

Please join us in honoring professor, and former department chairman, Alan Genz for his many years of service to the department. Dr. Genz began working at the university in 1983, so he retires from WSU with close to 35 years of service. A small celebration will be held in the Hacker Lounge, Neill Hall room 216, at 3:00pm on April 27, 2018. Click here for more information and for photos.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Kevin Vixie and Enrique Alvarado

Title: An Invitation to Varifolds + An Announcement
Abstract: Dr. Vixie will give a widely accessible introduction to Varifolds, which are a powerful generalization of manifolds, and Enrique will announce the Summer school we are organizing (Enrique is the Chair, Laramie Paxton is the co-Chair of the organizing committee.)
Varifolds generalize currents which themselves generalize unions of oriented manifolds. As a result the idea of a boundary of a varifold is more challenging (and interesting).
The summer school which Enrique will tell you about will be held in Portland, Oregon, July 9-12.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. V.S. Manoranjan

Dr. Manoranjan will discuss, "Population Models - Nonlinearity & Diffusion."
Location and time: CUE 316 from 4:10-5:00pm.

CLaN Seminar - Shenhui Liu

Shenhui Liu (University of Toronto) will give a colloquium style talk to the CLaN Seminar titled, "Nonvanishing of L-functions."
Abstract: L-functions are important and interesting analytic objects in number theory. The special values of L-functions and their derivatives at the central point of the critical strip are connected with several branches of mathematics. In this talk, we will focus the nonvanishing of such values and will explain how to use the method of moments and the mollification method to obtain strong nonvanishing results for L-functions in various families of automorphic forms. If time permits, we will mention some applications of the nonvanishing results.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Scholarship and Awards Ceremony

Join us for the annual Scholarship and Awards Ceremony when we recognize outstanding academic student performance. Meet outstanding scholars and enjoy refreshments with department members! 3:00pm in Neill Hall 5W. Click here to learn more about the 2018 scholarship recipients.

PNW MAA Section Meeting

The Pacific Northwest section meeting of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) will be hosted by Seattle University on April 20-21, 2018. Click here for more information.

Porous Media Seminar - Dr. Babak Abbasi
Civil and Environmental Engineering, WSU Tri-Cities

Title: "Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Crystalline Swelling and Failure Properties of Montmorillonite Clay"
Abstract: Please contact Dr. Lynn Schreyer for an abstract.
The seminar will take place at 4:10pm in PACCAR 202.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Dave Field

Title: Stereological Characterization of Grain Boundaries and Triple Junctions in Polycrystals
Abstract: Given the increasing awareness of their influence on material properties, grain boundaries and triple junctions in polycrystalline materials have become a focal point of substantial research. Despite increasing interest, there is a deficiency in experimental methods for fully characterizing these junctions on a large scale. This work provides the necessary foundation for experimentally generating fully characterized grain boundary and triple junction distributions from a single section plane, or from a series of planes. Experimental difficulty lies in collecting sufficient information by conventional techniques to enable determination of statistically reliable distributions. Various analytical and experimental approaches are described and various measurements are shown.

Statistics Poster Competition

Elementary School Statistics Poster Competition Three elementary schools participated in a statistics poster competition that was held on Thursday, March 22, 2018 at Jefferson Elementary School in Pullman, WA. The other two participating schools were Franklin Elementary of Pullman, WA, and Marie Curie STEM Elementary from Pasco, WA. The event was organized by Dean Johnson, WSU Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Click here to see posters.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Svetlana Lockwood

Dr. Svetlana Lockwood from the Allen School, will discuss "Deep Learning and Bioinformatics."
Abstract: Deep Learning is taking industry and science by the storm. From the time of its humble descent from Neural Nets, today it has been successfully applied to a variety of applications such as natural language processing, speech recognition, computer vision, online recommendation systems, and, of course, bioinformatics. Unlike traditional machine learning algorithms with “shallow” architectures, Deep Learning can capture lower-level concepts are progressively combined into more abstract and higher-level representations. This seminar will review the basics of Deep Learning, some of it types and applications in bioinformatics.
Location and time: CUE 316 from 4:10-5:00pm.

Math-Ed Seminar: Teaching Calculus with
Active Learning, Rigor, and Depth - The Mean
Value Theorem as an Example

Dr. Vicki Sealey from West Virginia University will give a Math-Ed Seminar on, "Teaching Calculus with Active Learning, Rigor, and Depth - The Mean Value Theorem as an Example." The seminar will take place on Tuesday, April 17th at 4:10pm in SPARK, room 323. Refreshments will be served at 3:30pm in SPARK, room 323. Click here for a colloquium flier.

Two Math Seniors'
successfully defend Honors Theses

Seniors Eleanor Grace Jones and Brittney Martin have successfully defended their honors theses. Learn more about Eleanor Jones and Brittney Martin.

CANCELLED-CLaN Seminar

CANCELLED - due to severe Toronto weather the speaker was unable to attend. Shenui Liu (University of Toronto). He was scheduled to give a colloquium style talk to the CLaN Seminar titled, "Nonvanishing of L-functions."
Abstract: L-functions are important and interesting analytic objects in number theory. The special values of L-functions and their derivatives at the central point of the critical strip are connected with several branches of mathematics. In this talk, we will focus the nonvanishing of such values and will explain how to use the method of moments and the mollification method to obtain strong nonvanishing results for L-functions in various families of automorphic forms. If time permits, we will mention some applications of the nonvanishing results.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Faculty Receive ASWSU Faculty Appreciation Awards

The Associated Students of Washington State University (ASWSU) held their fifth annual Faculty & Staff Awards Banquet on Tuesday, April 10th. The ceremony was conducted in the Elson S. Floyd Multicultural Center. Candidates for awards were nominated by students, and the award recipients were then chosen from those candidates by a student committee.


Professor Marc Evans received an award for Outstanding Open Educational Resources (OER) Usage. This award is given to faculty who have made substantial efforts to utilize Open Educational Resources in their courses. Dr. Evans received the award for the materials he uses in Stat 512.


Instructor Mark Lesperance received an Exceptional Professor Award for the College of Arts and Sciences. He was one of four Arts and Sciences faculty recognized for their commitment to teaching and student success.

Dr. Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta - elected as a
fellow to the American Statistical Association

Dr. Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta has been elected as a fellow to the American Statistical Association. To be selected for this prestigious award, nominees must have an established reputation and have made outstanding contributions to statistical science. Only one-third of one percent of the total association membership may be elected each year.

The Thirty-Seventh Annual T.G. Ostrom Lecture

"The Art (and Science) of Biomedical Data
Integration"

Presented by invited speaker, Dr. Veerabhadran Baladandayuthapani, at 7:00pm in Wegner G50, on Wednesday April 11th, 2018. Dr. Baladandayuthanpani is a data scientist working at the intersection of statistics, biology and medicine in the Department of Biostatistics at the UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Please join us for refreshments afterwards at a reception with Dr. Baladandayuthapani in the Hacker Lounge in Neill Hall 216.
Click here for a pdf flier.

The Thirty-Seventh Annual T.G. Ostrom Colloquium

"Pathway-and-Network-based Integrative Bayesian
Modeling of Multiplatform Genomics Data"

Presented by invited speaker, Dr. Veerabhadran Baladandayuthapani, at 4:00pm in Neill 5W, on Tuesday April 10th, 2018. Dr. Baladandayuthanpani is a data scientist working at the intersection of statistics, biology and medicine in the Department of Biostatistics at the UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Please join us for refreshments before the colloquium in Neill 216 and visit with Dr. Baladandayauthapani.
Click here for a pdf flier.

CLaN Seminar - Jillian Glassett

Come enjoy the CLaN seminar today with speaker Jillian Glassett.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Pacific Inland Mathematics Undergraduate
Conference at Gonzaga

Here is an exciting opportunity for undergraduates to present a research talk or poster at Gonzaga University on Saturday, April 7th! Tentative start time is 1:00pm. There is no registration fee. This is an opportunity to meet and collaborate with other undergraduate students. If you have questions, please contact WSU math alumna, Dr. Bonni Dichone, at dichone@gonzaga.edu. Click here for a flyer.

Porous Media Seminar - Milena Rangelov

Doctoral candidate, Milena Rangelov, from Civil and Environment Engineering, will speak on "Optimization of Water Vapor Diffusivity Models of Mortar". Abstract: Cementitious composites exhibit shrinkage due to the loss of moisture through cement hydration (autogenous shrinkage) and drying (drying shrinkage). When restrained, shrinkage may cause cracking, which creates a premature failure and loss of serviceability of cement-based infrastructure. Reliable characterization of shrinkage demands the appropriate establishment of water vapor diffusivity, since drying of cementitious composites is typically described as a diffusion process. This talk presents a combined experimental and modeling study focused on characterization of water vapor diffusivity of 7 mortar mixtures using the inverse modeling technique. Implemented novel calibration methodology provided an enhanced understanding of the existing vapor diffusivity models for cementitious composites.
The seminar will take place at 4:10pm in PACCAR 202.

Whitworth Undergraduate Visit

A math panel for undergraduate students visiting from Whitworth University will be held on Thursday, April 5th, from 12-12:30pm in Neill 216 (the Hacker Lounge). Approximately 15-20 students will visit to learn about graduate programs, job opportunities, college costs, financial aid, campus life, etc. Lunch will be provided and everyone is welcome to attend. Stop by and join this informative session!

WSU Analysis Seminar: Steve Tomsovic

Title: The unusual nature of the baker’s map: a paradigm of chaos
Abstract: We start the discussion with a reminder of the hierarchy of dynamical features found in chaotic dynamical systems, then introduce the perhaps the simplest chaotic dynamical system, the bakers map. Rare for a fully chaotic dynamical system, it is completely solvable. We will construct its symbolic dynamics and many unusual properties. The seminar takes place at 4:10-5:00pm in Neill Hall 5W.

CLaN Seminar - Matthew Jobrack

Come enjoy the CLaN seminar today with speaker Matthew Jobrack.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Jakob Streipel

Title: An Introduction to Discrete Dynamical Systems
Abstract: We will introduce the audience to the the study of discrete dynamical systems, from various basic notions to some interesting tools and results.

CLaN Seminar - Matthew Jobrack

Come enjoy the CLaN seminar today with speaker Matthew Jobrack.
Title: L-Functions Associated to Modular Forms and the Non-Vanishing of their Derivatives at the Central Point
Abstract: Arithmetic objects over the rationals, such as number fields or elliptic curves, often have an associated complex-valued function called an L-function. These functions can be studied analytically to derive useful information about the object. In this talk I will introduce L-functions, and give examples of different types as well as how they are used. Then we will concentrate on families of L-functions associated to modular forms, and an outline of the proof that a positive proportion of these functions are non-vanishing at the central point of s=1/2. The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Porous Media Seminar - Dr. Markus Flury

Dr. Markus Flury, from the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, will give a seminar on, "The Role of Air-Water Interfaces in Colloid Transport in Porous Media."
Abstract: Colloids can enhance the transport of otherwise immobile contaminants in soils and sediments. Colloids can themselves be contaminants, such as bacteria or viruses. In the vadose zone, colloid transport is usually less pronounced than in groundwater, mainly because the flow pathways are more restrictive and colloids get strained by water films or attach to air-water interfaces. However, air-water interfaces can also lead to colloid mobilization and enhanced transport. This talk will discuss the importance of the air-water interface in colloid transport and highlight how colloids interact with the air-water interface.
The seminar will take place at 4:10pm in PACCAR 202.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Hong-Ming Yin

Title: Inverse Problems in Partial Differential Equations
Abstract: In this talk I will give an overview about inverse problems in partial differential equations. I will start with a model problem and then extend it to a general class of inverse problems. Several methods will be discussed.
The seminar meets 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Damiloa Olabode

Damilola Olabode will speak on, "Optimal control in HIV chemotherapy with termination viral loads." Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in CUE 316.

CLaN Seminar - Matthew Jobrack

Come enjoy the CLaN seminar today with speaker Matthew Jobrack.
Title: An Introduction to Modular Forms
Modular forms are special functions defined on the complex upper half-plane. Along with their generalizations, they have important applications in physics as well as several branches of pure mathematics, including algebraic geometry and modern number theory. This talk will provide a basic introduction to these functions and their properties, including an arithmetic application involving sums of squares. The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Pi Day Photos

Click here to see Pi Day photos.

AMS Workshop Event for Middle School Students

An AMS Workshop Event for middle school students will be held on Monday, March 13th, 2018, from 9am to 2pm, with a lunch break from noon to 1pm. To peak student interest in mathematics and statistics, several projects, activities, and give-away prizes are planned. Please contact Ralph Chikhany, President of the AMS Student Chapter for more information.

It's a Pi Day Celebration!

Please join us for a Pi Day Celebration Friday, March 9th from 11am - 1pm in the Hacker Lounge (Neill 216). It's potluck style! If you feel so inclined you may bring a pie or desser, but you are not required to bring anything but yourself! There is a sign-up sheet in Neill 103 if you do wish to bring something.

We will have Pi games:
1) Pin the Pi in the formula (similar to Pin the Tail on the donkey)
2) Guess the Circumference!
3) How well do you know your digits of Pi?
(compete in the digits of Pi recital at 12:15pm if you think you know more than anyone else..) start practicing now!

The highlight of the celebration will take place at 12:30pm when someone gets to throw a pie in a professor's face! All of the game winners will be entered into a raffle to *"Pi a Prof"* where they'll get to throw a pie! You certainly don't want to miss out on this opportunity!

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Bob Dillon

Dr. Robert Dillon will speak on, "Effects of dynein activation and viscosity on the emergent waveform of an elastic, internally-actuated, model flagellum" Click here for seminar information, or here for an abstract.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in CUE 316.

CLaN Seminar - Jakob Streipel

Come enjoy the CLaN seminar today with speaker Jakob Streipel.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

CLaN Seminar - Enzo Wendler

Come enjoy the CLaN seminar today with speaker Enzo Wendler.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

International Math Modeling Contest - Go Cougs!

Two teams of three WSU students competed in a recent international math modeling contest on February 8 -12, 2018. They accomplished their challenge and had a great time. For more information about math modeling please click here. Want to join the next competition? Contact Dr. Lynn Schreyer at lynn.schreyer@wsu.edu or David Hampson at dhampson@wsu.edu.

Colloquium - Dr. Dominic Klyve

Dr. Dominic Klyve from Central Washington University will give a colloquium talk on Friday, February 23rd at 11:00am in Neill Hall 5W. In 2014, his teaching was recognized by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), which selected him as a winner of the Alder Award, given to a young faculty member whose teaching has been shown to be influential both within and beyond the classroom. He has lectured across the country and around the world, and has held visiting positions in Canada and New Zealand. Refreshments will be provided. Click here for an abstract.

Porous Media Seminar - Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi

Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi from the Nonwovens Institute of NC State University will be the speaker. Dr. Pourdeyhimi is this year’s InterPore (a 10-year old professional organization, see InterPore.org) Kimberly-Clark lecturer. Click here for an abstract. The seminar will be held at 4:10pm in PACCAR 202. If you have questions please contact Dr. Lynn Schreyer.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Vlad Oles

Title: Gromov-Hausdorff metric application to temporal networks
Abstract: Gromov-Hausdorff distance measures how far two compact metric spaces are from being isometric. We will review this distance and address the computational aspects. We will propose its application in cyber-security by representing computer networks as compact metric spaces and heuristically estimating Gromov-Hausdorff distances between them. Moderately convincing proof-of-concept plots will be provided.
The seminar meets 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Mark Schumaker

Dr. Mark Schumaker will speak on, "Prelimary results on a model of viral infection with both free-virus and cell-to-cell infectivity." Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in CUE 316.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Dr. Kevin Vixie

Title: Median Shapes: a guided tour
Abstract: I will give a guided tour through a paper we just put on the arXiv. The tour will start with a fast picture driven, intuitive introduction to needed ideas in geometric measure theory and then move through existence (and why that is interesting), regularity (and why that doesn't always exist), books, tangent cones, cozy and comfortable graphs (really), and computational experiments. This is joint work with Yunfeng Hu, Matt Hudelson, Bala Krishnamoorthy and Altaa Tumurbaatar.
The seminar meets 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

James Whitbread - accepted to the Johns
Hopkins University Medical School

Math senior James Whitbread has been accepted into the Johns Hopkins University Medical School for Fall 2018.
Read more about graduating senior James Whitbread.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Elissa Schwartz

Dr. Elissa Schwartz will speak on, "Dynamics of Lentiviral Infection In Vivo in the Absence of Adaptive Immune Responses" Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in CUE 316.

CLaN Seminar - Come enjoy a film!

Come watch the film, "Counting from infinity - Yitang Zhang and the twin prime conjecture."
In April 2013, a lecturer at the University of New Hampshire submitted a paper to the Annals of Mathematics. Within weeks word spread-- a little-known mathematician, with no permanent job, working in complete isolation had made an important breakthrough towards solving the Twin Prime Conjecture. Yitang Zhang's techniques for bounding the gaps between primes soon led to rapid progress by the Polymath Group, and a further innovation by James Maynard. The film is a study of Zhang's rise from obscurity and a disadvantaged youth to mathematical celebrity. The story of quiet perseverance amidst adversity, and Zhang's preference for thinking and working in solitude, is interwoven with a history of the Twin Prime Conjecture as told by several mathematicians, many of whom have wrestled with this enormously challenging problem in Number Theory-- Daniel Goldston, Kannan Soundararajan, Andrew Granville, Peter Sarnak, Enrico Bombieri, James Maynard, Nicholas Katz, David Eisenbud, Ken Ribet, and Terry Tao.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Porous Media Seminar - Dr. Marc Weber

Dr. Marc Weber will speak on, "Using Anti-Something to Learn about Nothing; Positrons as a Tool to Investigate Porosity." Dr. Weber was formerly with the WSU Materials Research Department but is now with the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in ETRL 101.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Dr. Kevin Vixie

Title: Approximation, Cones, and The Implicit Function Theorem
Abstract: In this talk I will use geometric/geometric-analytic explanations to illuminate the use and understanding of linear approximations, tangent cones, differentiability and the implicit function theorem. This is another talk in the series of talks aimed at illuminating known ideas in a way that can sometimes be new even for those that know the facts in analysis. You don't need to be an analyst to get something useful from this talk -- see you there!
The seminar meets 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. James Bull

Dr. James Bull from the Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, will speak on, "Genetic engineering and suppression of pests." Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in CUE 316.

CLaN Seminar - Jakob Streipel

Come enjoy the CLaN seminar today with speaker Jakob Streipel.
Title: Quadratic Dynamical Systems over Finite Fields.
Abstract: We will discuss quadratic dynamical systems over finite fields, which have wide-ranging applications in primality checking, integer factorisation, and pseudo-random number generation. In particular we will explore why $f(x) = x^2$ and $g(x) = x^2 - 2$ are special amongst the quadratic dynamical systems.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Laramie Paxton,
Henry Riely & Enrique Alvarado

Title: Three Short Pieces in Analysis
Abstract: In these vignettes, Laramie will illuminate some ideas in measure theory and discuss why they are useful, Henry will explore Lusin's Theorem including the historical context of the theorem, and Enrique will discuss intrinsic distances between spaces.
The seminar meets 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Xueying Wang

Dr. Xueying Wang will speak on, "Epidemic dynamics of cholera in non-homogeneous environments" Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in CUE 316.

CLaN Seminar - Dr. Sheng-Chi Liu

Come enjoy the CLaN seminar today with speaker Dr. Shen-Chi Liu.
Title: A Kronecker limit formula for totally real fields and arithmetic applications.
Abstract: We will establish a Kronecker limit formula for totally real fields. We then give several applications of this formula to algebraic number theory.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Colloquium - Lyudmyla Barannyk

Dr. Lyudmyla Barannyk of the University of Idaho will be giving a colloquium on Thursday, January 25th in Neill 5W. Please join us for refreshments in the Hacker Lounge (Neill 216) with Dr. Barannyk at 3:30pm. Abstract. Everyone is welcome.

Mathematics and Statistics Tea

Let's have tea! Join us every Wednesday from 3 - 4pm in Neill 216 (the Hacker Lounge) for tea, snacks and conversation! Come socialize with students and faculty of the department!

WSU Analysis Seminar: Henry Riely and Yunfeng Hu

Title:: Analysis Question and a short report on the JMM2018
Abstract In this very informal seminar, Henry will present a question he is thinking about and Yunfeng will give a few, very short summaries of talks he found interesting at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego.
The seminar meets 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Richard Gomulkiewiz

Dr. Richard Gomulkiewicz from the WSU Department of Biology, will speak on, "How much does evolution delay extinction when it cannot be avoided?"
Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in CUE 316.

CLaN Seminar - Dr. David Watkins

Come enjoy the CLaN seminar today with speaker emeritus professor Dr. David Watkins. The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Spring Math Modeling Competition

January 20th is the deadline to join the 2018 Spring Math Modeling Competition that will be held on the WSU Pullman campus February 8-12. Read more about the spring modeling competition.

Holiday Celebration

AMS Graduate Student Chapter
Holiday party at Dr. Moore's home

The AMS Graduate Student Chapter and Dr. Moore are holding a holiday potluck at Dr. Moore's home (210 NW Olsen Street) on December 2nd at 6:00pm. This is a potluck event and everyone coming is asked to bring one food or drink item of your choice. A sign-up sheet may be found at https://googl/Qgr1zf. If you have any questions please email Jillian Glassett at jillian.glassett@wsu.edu.

AMS Graduate Student Chapter
Organizational Meeting

The student AMS Chapter will be hosting its second annual workshop for Lincoln Middle School students during spring break 2018. Last year they offered cryptology and statistics workshops to 7th grade students from LMS. Please attend an organizational meeting on Friday, December 1st at 3pm in Neill 5W. The goal of the meeting is to come up with possible ideas for workshop topics and content that are appealing to students and faculty, and also to middle school students.

Time to start looking for an Internship!

Are you a sophomore or junior? Now is the time to begin looking for an internship! An internship provides professional experience and can often lead to a permanent job. Click here for internship help.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Yufeng Cao

Title:: Maximum flow algorithm for total variation minimization
Abstract: This topic studies the global minimization of total variation energies with an $L^1$ fidelity term using maximum flow algorithm to minimize $s-t$ cut representation of these energies. I will present why the total variation functional can be decomposed into a series of decoupled of problem in binary variables. And how to construct network whose $s-t$ cuts correspond one-to-one to the binary variables for these decoupled problems. Finally how to apply the push flow relabel algorithm to solve the minimize problem.
The seminar meets 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

New! Five Hacker Undergraduate Research
Scholarships Available

November 29th is the last day for an undergraduate student to apply for a Hacker Undergraduate Research Scholarship. The department is awarding five $2,000 undergraduate research scholarships that will go toward spring 2018 tuition. Don't miss out! Click here for more information.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Nikos Voulgarakis

Dr. Nikos Voulgarakis will speak on, "Mathematical modeling of DNA allostery." Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Rachel Perrier

The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Using pure and applied mathematics
to make sense of big data

Need a mathematician to make sense of your research data? Dr. Bala Krishnamoorthy is doing just that - he's solving problems using pure and applied mathematics. Read about his work in the Research Now research communication portal of WSU Vancouver.

Join the Spring 2018 Math Modeling Competition!

Math Modeling Competition
January 20th is the last day to join the spring 2018 Math Modeling Competition, which will be held February 8-12 on the WSU Pullman campus.
Read more about the spring 2018 competition.

Mathematics Education Seminar
- organizational meeting

The Math Education Seminar will have a short organizational meeting today in the back room of the Pullman Daily Grind. The spring semester seminar will be held on Tuesdays from 3:30-4:30 alternating between Pullman (Daily Grind back room) and Moscow (probably One World Café back room). If you have questions please contact Dr. Sandy Cooper.

Math Bio Seminar - organizational meeting

The Math Bio Seminar will have a short organizational meeting today in CUE 316. If you have questions plese contact Dr. Robert Dillon.

Former instructor, Carolyn Smith has passed away

Former instructor, Carolyn Smith, passed away on Thursday, December 7, 2017, surrounded by her children at the Spokane Sacred Heart Medical Center. Carolyn Smith obituary.

Department Holiday
Potluck Photos

The department held it's annual Holiday Potluck for students, faculty, staff, and friends. Special thanks to the social committee for making the potluck a huge hit. To see photos please click here.

Valorie Cheathon - The Calculus of Grace

Graduate student Valorie Cheathon talks about math, life, her aspirations, children, and single parenting in this news article titled, "The Calculus of Grace." Valorie can often be seen in the department or around Pullman with her beautiful children, and her beautiful approach to life. Read more about this amazing mother of two.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Short Courses

Thursday, December 14th
Location: Spark 335
10:00 - 11:30 am "Concentration of Measure I"-Yunfeng Hu
11:30 - 12:30 pm (Lunch Break)
12:30 - 2:00 pm "Concentration of Measure II"-Yunfeng Hu
2:15 - 4:15 pm "Functions of Bounded Variation II"-Enrique Alvarado
4:30 - 5:30 pm "Singular Integrals IV"-Laramie Paxton

WSU Analysis Seminar: Short Courses

Tuesday, December 13th
Location: CUE 316
1:00 - 2:00 pm "Functions of Bounded Variation I"-Enrique Alvarado
2:15 - 3:15 pm "Singular Integrals III"-Laramie Paxton
3:45 - 5:45 pm "Methods of Image Analysis"-Yufeng Cao

WSU Analysis Seminar: Short Courses

Tuesday, December 12th
Location: Spark 339
1:00 - 2:00 pm "Singular Integrals II"-Laramie Paxton
2:15 - 4:15 pm "A Rough Path Approach to Stochastic Differential Equations"-Kellan Toman
4:45 - 5:45 pm "Analysis on Graphs II"-Altansuren Tumurbaatar

WSU Analysis Seminar: Short Courses

Monday, December 11th
Location: Spark 339
1:00 - 3:00 pm "Poincare Inequality on Varifolds"-Adebo Sijuwade
3:30 - 4:30 pm "Singular Integrals I"-Laramie Paxton
4:45 - 5:45 pm "Analysis on Graphs I"-Altansuren Tumurbaatar

Fall Commencement Photos

Fall commencement took place on Saturday, December 9th at 10:00am. Congratulations to all graduating seniors. To see commencement photos please click here. Michael Kasigwa, pictured above with mathematics professor and chair of the WSU Faculty Senate, Dr. Judi McDonald. Michael received his PhD in Mathematics.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Fred Gittes

Title:: Falling Cats, Curvature and Gauge Theory
Abstract: Curvature and connections, or gauge fields, have become central to physics. I will talk about some cases where these concepts have been used to think about relatively accessible and fun physics problems, such as the ability of falling cats to turn over.
The seminar meets 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Anders Omsland

Dr. Anders Omsland from the Allen School will speak on his recent work on *Coxiella burnetii and Chlamydia trachomatis, C. burnetii (zoonotic pathogen). The title of his talk is "Nutritional and physicochemical requirements for Chlamydia and Coxiella infectivity and replication." Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8.

CLaN Seminar - Come watch a film!

Come enjoy the film, "Taking the Long View: The life of Shiing-Shen Chern." This is a biographical documentary that examines the life of Shiing-Shen Chern, a remarkable mathematician whose formidable mathematical contributions were matched by an approach and vision that helped build bridges between China and the West. The documentary follows Shiing-Shen Chern through many of the most dramatic events of the 20th century, portraying a man who dedicated his life to pure mathematics with the style of a classical Chinese sage. The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

AMS Graduate Student Chapter

Holiday Potluck at Dr. Moore's home

The AMS Graduate Student Chapter and Dr. Moore are holding a holiday potluck at Dr. Moore's home (210 NW Olsen Street) on December 2nd at 6:00pm. This is a potluck event and everyone coming is asked to bring one food or drink item of your choice. A sign-up sheet may be found at https://googl/Qgr1zf. If you have any questions please email Jillian Glassett at jillian.glassett@wsu.edu.

AMS Graduate Student Chapter
Organizational Meeting

The student AMS Chapter will be hosting its second annual workshop for Lincoln Middle School students during spring break 2018. Last year they offered cryptology and statistics workshops to 7th grade students from LMS. Please attend an organizational meeting on Friday, December 1st at 3pm in Neill 5W. The goal of the meeting is to come up with possible ideas for workshop topics and content that are appealing to students and faculty, and also to middle school students.

Time to start looking for an Internship!

Are you a sophomore or junior? Now is the time to begin looking for an internship! An internship provides professional experience and can often lead to a permanent job. Click here for internship help.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Yufeng Cao

Title:: Maximum flow algorithm for total variation minimization
Abstract: This topic studies the global minimization of total variation energies with an $L^1$ fidelity term using maximum flow algorithm to minimize $s-t$ cut representation of these energies. I will present why the total variation functional can be decomposed into a series of decoupled of problem in binary variables. And how to construct network whose $s-t$ cuts correspond one-to-one to the binary variables for these decoupled problems. Finally how to apply the push flow relabel algorithm to solve the minimize problem.
The seminar meets 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

New! Five Hacker Undergraduate Research
Scholarships Available

November 29th is the last day for an undergraduate student to apply for a Hacker Undergraduate Research Scholarship. The department is awarding five $2,000 undergraduate research scholarships that will go toward spring 2018 tuition. Don't miss out! Click here for more information.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Nikos Voulgarakis

Dr. Nikos Voulgarakis will speak on, "Mathematical modeling of DNA allostery." Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Rachel Perrier

The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Using pure and applied mathematics
to make sense of big data

Need a mathematician to make sense of your research data? Dr. Bala Krishnamoorthy is doing just that - he's solving problems using pure and applied mathematics. Read about his work in the Research Now research communication portal of WSU Vancouver.

WSU Analysis Seminar: Dr. Matt Duez

Title:: The Leibniz-Clarke debate revisited
Abstract: It turns out that the tools of differential geometry are being heavily used by philosophers investigating the ontological status of spacetime, i.e. whether spacetime is a real thing or just a useful abstraction and which quantities of motion have absolute significance. I will review some interesting milestones in this ongoing discussion, such as dynamics in Machian space, Cartan's nonrelativistic curved-spacetime theory of Newtonian gravity, and Einstein's hole argument (that almost convinced him that general covariance is a bad thing).
The seminar will meet from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Andreas Vasdekis

Dr. Andreas Vasdekis from the Department of Physics at the University of Idaho will talk about his recent work on lipid metabolism. The title of the talk will be, "A Random Walk Through Metabolism, as a Matter of Fat." Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Megan Wendler

The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Colloquium:Dr. Matthew Hudelson

Abstract: We examine some results that center around prime divisors of binomial coefficients, leading off with Lucas’ theorem—a result that greatly facilitates computing (𝑛/k) modulo p. This result has a striking visual connection with the Sierpinski triangle when p=2. As a follow up from Lucas’ theorem, we will examine various quick results concerning what prime powers pk divide binomial coefficients. The second result we will examine is Bertrand’s postulate: For any integer n ≥ 1, there is always a prime number in [n, 2n]. We will present a version of Erdős’ proof of Bertrand’s postulate that uses remarkably crude estimates concerning primes that divide the central binomial coefficient (2𝑛/𝑛). Refreshments served during the event!
The colloqium will meet from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W, and refreshments will be served during the event. See you there!

WSU Analysis Seminar:Joseph H. Nakao

Abstract: Water-wave equations are highly nonlinear in nature and often require methods that produce approximate solutions, such as asymptotic expansions. Given a non-constant bathymetry, I attempt to reconstruct the surface elevation and pressure. I aim to numerically solve for an exact solution to a new nonlocal formulation of the water-wave equation derived by way of Ablowitz, Fokas and Musslimani. Then, I will compare the exact solution to other approximate solutions, both classical and modern.
The seminar will meet from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Adnan Morshed

Adnan Morshed from the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering will talk about his recent work on tumor microenvironment. The title of the talk will be, "Numerical Study of TGFβ-Smad Dependent Activation of Tumor Microenvironment using Interface Resolved Hybrid Technique." Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Enzo Wendler

The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Inland Northwest
Mathematics Experience
(INME)

The 15th annual Inland Northwest Mathematics Experience (INME) was held on the Pullman campus on November 2nd and 3rd. Middle school and high school students from the Inland Northwest came to participate in hands-on mathematical exercises. For photos from the event please click here.

WSU Analysis Seminar:Adebowale Sijuwade

Abstract: We will motivate the idea of a fractional integral operator by studying its interaction with the Laplacian and an application to PDEs. By studying its boundedness, we will establish a Trudinger-type inequality.
The seminar will meet from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Jordan Miller

The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

WSU Analysis Seminar:Enrique Alvarado

Abstract: If we are trying to move a pile of sand to a hole, what are some optimal ways in which we can do this? This question leads us to the study of optimal transportation, and in this talk, will take us to some of the Riemannian Geometric structures of Wasserstein Spaces.
The seminar will meet from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Matthew Mietchen

The title of the talk will be, "Ending the Epidemic: HIV Surveillance Data-to-Care Methods & Other Interesting Tools." Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Jillian Glassett

The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

WSU Analysis Seminar:Laramie Paxton

Title: Rademacher Functions and L^p Norms
Abstract: Building on the previous discussions of Rademacher Functions (RF), we will explore a fundamental result in analysis known as Khintchine's Inequality, which states that for a function f: R^n-->R that can be expanded with RF, all its L^p norms (p is less than infinity) are comparable. The proof will demonstrate many key techniques used in analysis; for example, *creative* use of Holder's Inequality; proving a finite result and then passing to the limit; and a normalizing assumption, which then uses a scaling argument for the general case. We will also make use of orthonormality, mutual independence, and a distributional inequality, with some closing remarks on the best possible constants in Khintchine's Inequality.
The seminar will meet from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Hongbo Dong

The title of the talk will be, "Adaptive Clinical Trial Design, Huge-scale Linear Programs and Non-smooth Optimization" Click here for seminar information.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Dr. Bill Webb

The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

The Calvin and Jean Long Distinguished
Lecture in Mathematics

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Elissa Schwartz

This week’s Mathematical Biology seminar will be presented by Dr. Elissa Schwartz and the title of her talk will be, "The Leaky Pipeline for Women in STEM: Global Challenges."
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8. Click here for more information.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Matthew Jobrack

"Topics From the MSRI Summer School on Automorphic Forms and the Langlands Program."
Abstract: This series of several seminar talks will cover material I learned during my time at the MSRI summer school on automorphic forms and the Langlands program. This will include subject matter taught at the summer school, as well as interesting tangential topics I learned about independently during my time there. By request, I will spend at least the first meeting introducing p-adic numbers, and basic analytic and algebraic results concerning them. I later plan to discuss topics with an aim toward providing an understanding of the broad goals of the Langlands program, where progress currently stands, and how some results are proven.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Colloquium: Alina Bucur (UC San Diego)

WSU Analysis Seminar: Dr. Hong-Ming Yin

The seminar title is, "Optimal Control Problems in Partial Differential Equations."
Abstract: In this talk I will first discuss the general framework for optimal control problems in partial differential equations. Then I will give several examples to show how the PDE techniques are used to solve these problems.
The seminar will meet from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Mark Schumaker

This week’s Mathematical Biology seminar will be presented by Dr. Mark Schumaker.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8. Click here for more information.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Matthew Jobrack

"Topics From the MSRI Summer School on Automorphic Forms and the Langlands Program."
Abstract: This series of several seminar talks will cover material I learned during my time at the MSRI summer school on automorphic forms and the Langlands program. This will include subject matter taught at the summer school, as well as interesting tangential topics I learned about independently during my time there. By request, I will spend at least the first meeting introducing p-adic numbers, and basic analytic and algebraic results concerning them. I later plan to discuss topics with an aim toward providing an understanding of the broad goals of the Langlands program, where progress currently stands, and how some results are proven.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Colloquium: Steven L. Tomsovic

Please join us for a colloquium with guest speaker Dr. Steven L. Tomsovic of the WSU Department of Physics and Astronomy. The title of the colloquium is, "Origins and Contemporary Research Avenues."
The colloquium will meet at 4:10pm in Neill 5W. Please join us for refreshments prior to the colloquium in Neill 216, the Hacker Lounge, at 3:30pm.

Math Bio Seminar - Dr. Svetlana Lockweed

This week’s Mathematical Biology seminar will be presented by Dr. Svetlana Lockwood. She will discuss, "Diffusion of Antimicrobial Resistance."
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8. Click here for more information.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Matthew Jobrack

"Topics From the MSRI Summer School on Automorphic Forms and the Langlands Program."
Abstract: This series of several seminar talks will cover material I learned during my time at the MSRI summer school on automorphic forms and the Langlands program. This will include subject matter taught at the summer school, as well as interesting tangential topics I learned about independently during my time there. By request, I will spend at least the first meeting introducing p-adic numbers, and basic analytic and algebraic results concerning them. I later plan to discuss topics with an aim toward providing an understanding of the broad goals of the Langlands program, where progress currently stands, and how some results are proven.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Having a heart for others, math senior
James Whitbread has been a tireless advocate
for mental health education and awareness

Mathematics senior James Whitbread has a deep care for individuals struggling with mental health issues. Read the WSU Health and Wellness student story, and a 2016 WSU News article.

Introducing a new book by Dr. Alex Khapalov

Mobile point sensors and actuators in the controllability theory of partial differential equations, published by Springer.
This book presents a concise study of controllability theory of partial differential equations when they are equipped with actuators and/or sensors that are finite dimensional at every moment of time. Based on the author’s extensive research in the area of controllability theory, this monograph specifically focuses on the issues of controllability, observability, and stabilizability for parabolic and hyperbolic partial differential equations. The topics in this book also cover related applied questions such as the problem of localization of unknown pollution sources based on information obtained from point sensors that arise in environmental monitoring. Researchers and graduate students interested in controllability theory of partial differential equations and its applications will find this book to be an invaluable resource to their studies.

WSU Analysis Seminar - Speakers: Dr. Kevin Vixie
and Enrique Alvarado

"Why learn analysis?" & "Seven Short Courses: an invitation"
Abstract: "Today's seminar will consist of two segments. First there will be a guide to how analysis is used in other areas of mathematics and in STEM fields. This is aimed squarely at students, though should be interesting to a wider audience.
The last segment today will be an invitation to a workshop to be held during the last week of classes and finals week, in which there will be 7 short courses. Part of the mission of this part of the talk is to choose a schedule so that the interested students in the Analysis seminar can attend the short courses they are interested in."

Math Bio Seminar - Elissa Schwartz

This week’s Mathematical Biology seminar will be presented by Dr. Elissa Schwartz. She will discuss her recent work on the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) infection.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8. Click here for more information.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Matthew Jobrack

"Topics From the MSRI Summer School on Automorphic Forms and the Langlands Program."
Abstract: This series of several seminar talks will cover material I learned during my time at the MSRI summer school on automorphic forms and the Langlands program. This will include subject matter taught at the summer school, as well as interesting tangential topics I learned about independently during my time there. By request, I will spend at least the first meeting introducing p-adic numbers, and basic analytic and algebraic results concerning them. I later plan to discuss topics with an aim toward providing an understanding of the broad goals of the Langlands program, where progress currently stands, and how some results are proven.
The CLaN seminar meets at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Xiongzhi Chen

This week’s Mathematical Biology seminar will be presented by Dr. Xiongzhi Chen. The title of his talk will be, "The Functional False Discovery Rate with Applications in Genomics."
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8. Click here for more information.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: David Watkins

The title of David Watkins talk is, "Core-chasing algorithms for the eigenvalue problem." The CLaN seminar will meet at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

WSU Analysis Seminar - Speaker: Yunfeng Hu

Yunfeng Hu will speak on, "Concentration of Measure"
Abstract: "in probability theory, the mean is an important value for a random variable. Chebshev's inequality says that with "high chance", the values for a random variable will be "very close" to its mean. In this talk, I will generalize this idea to R^n when the probability measure is Gaussian. I will prove R^n is more or less like a sphere with radius sqrt{n} and its k dimensional subspace will be like a sphere with radius sqrt{k}. Then I will show that for any Lipschitz function $f$ defined on Boolean cube, $f$ is very close to its mean. And in the end, I will present an "isoperimetric inequality" result in Boolean cube". The WSU Analysis Seminar will meet at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Allison Fisher and Jordan Culp

This week’s Mathematical Biology seminar will be presented by Allison Fisher and Jordan Culp. Allison and Jordan will give us a mathematical introduction to neuroscience. You really don’t want to miss it if you are interested in computational neuroscience.
The seminar meets from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8. Click here for more information.

Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta - Boeing Distinguished Professor

Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta, has been selected as a College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Boeing Science/Math Education Distinguished Professor for scholarly, creative and instructional activity. CAS Faculty of Distinction.

Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta - CoPI on new NIH Grant

Nairanjana (Jan) Dasgupta, is CoPI on a new NIH multidisciplinary team grant with members from the WSU School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and Veterinary Medicine. The $703,103 grant is titled, "3D Printed Surface Modified Porous Metal Coatings for Load-bearing Implants," and will be funded for three years. Read more about this new NIH grant.

WSU Analysis Seminar - Speaker: Henry Riely

Henry Riely will speak on, "The Bellman function technique for proving sharp martingale inequalities" Abstract: "We will introduce the so-called Bellman function, which can be used to establish sharp martingale inequalities. To illustrate, we will sketch a proof due to Donald Burkholder which uses this function to show that the ±1 transform of a martingale is L^p bounded. Don't worry if you are unfamiliar with probability theory. I will begin with a 10 minute crash course on probability ending with the definition of a martingale. Also, there will be pictures, intuition, examples, and all that good stuff." The WSU Analysis Seminar will meet at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

Math Bio Seminar - Speaker: Dr. Sergey Lapin

Dr. Sergey Lapin will speak on the "Mathematical Modeling of the Human Eye." The Math Bio Seminar will meet at 4:10pm in Webster B8.

Math Ed Seminar

The Mathematics Education Seminar will meet on Tuesdays from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Cleveland 247 beginning August 29, 2017. The first meeting will be organizational.

CLaN Seminar - Speaker: Jakob Streipel

Jakob Streipel will speak on, "On Numbers... A Brief Exploration of the Surreal Numbers." Abstract: "In this talk we will present a way to construct numbers using nothing but the empty set. This construction, due to Conway in 1976, gives rise to the so-called surreal numbers, which we will see is a totally ordered field containing not only the real numbers, but also numbers infinitely large and infinitesimally small!" The CLaN seminar will meet at 4:10pm in Neill 5W.

WSU Analysis Seminar

The WSU Analysis Seminar will meet on Wednesdays from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W beginning August 23, 2017. The first meeting will be organizational.

Mathematical Biology Seminar

The The Mathematical Biology Seminar will meet on Tuesdays from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Webster B8 beginning August 22, 2017. The first meeting will be organizational.

CLaN Seminar

The The CLaN Seminar will meet on Mondays from 4:10pm to 5:00pm in Neill 5W. An organizational meeting will be held today in Neill 5W at 4:10pm for all interested individuals. Contact scliu@math.wsu.edu if you have questions.

Bala Krishnamoorthy - CoPI on new NSF Grant

Bala Krishnamoorthy, WSU Vancouver, is a CoPI on a new NSF multidisciplinary team grant that will focus on improving the understanding of the interaction between genes and the environment to produce improved corn crops.
Read more about the grant in this WSU News article.

Mark Lesperance receives
WSU Access Center Award

At its Recognition Banquet on April 26th, 2017, the WSU Access Center awarded Mark Lesperance a certificate "In appreciation of your dedication to equal access and opportunity". He was recognized for his work with Statistics 212, and the efforts he has made to ensure that all students have the opportunity and access to succeed in the course.

Mark is an instructor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. He has been teaching for 27 years and enjoys teaching introductory mathematics and statistics courses, and courses related to actuarial mathematics. He is also the advisor of the Actuarial Science Club at WSU and serves as a faculty mentor for the mathematics majors in the actuarial science option. Mark strives to inspire his students to achieve academic success.

2017 Spring Commencement Photos

Spring Commencement for the College of Arts and Sciences, took place at 11:30am on May 6, 2017. For commencement photos please click here.

Annalise Miller - 2017 Outstanding Senior

Annalise Miller has been selected as the 2017 Outstanding Senior in Mathematics and Statistics. She will be recognized during the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Seniors ceremony on May 5, 2017 at 2:00pm in the Jones Theater of Daggy Hall. Read more about Annalise Miller.

Eric Foley - Tutor of the Semester

Eric Foley has been selected as "Tutor of the Semester" by the MLC staff. He has worked at the MLC for 4 semester, both as a tutor and at the front desk. He is patient with students, has a positive attitude, has helped cover shifts for others, has never been late and has never missed a shift without first notifying the MLC staff. Students leave excellent feedback about Eric and one student said, "he saved my life!" Eric has been accepted into the department's graduate program for fall.

2017 End-of-year barbecue photos

The 2017 end-of-year barbecue for students, faculty and staff, was held on May 3rd during the lunch hour outside of Neill Hall. During the barbecue David Watkins was recognized for his many years of service to WSU, as he begins his retirement. Click here for photos.

2017 Scholarship and Awards Ceremony

American Mathematical Society (AMS)
Sectional Meeting #1128

Analysis+Data Events

PreToM Math Fair in the MLC

2017 Data Science Day

The Thirty-Sixth Annual T.G. Ostrom Lecture

"Everything you always wanted
to know about soap bubbles"

Presented by invited speaker, Dr. Jean Taylor, at 7:00pm in Webster 16. Dr. Taylor is Professor Emerita of Mathematics at Rutgers University, and a visiting faculty member at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University. Please join us for refreshments afterwards in a reception with Dr. Taylor in the Hacker Lounge in Neill Hall 216.
Click here for a pdf flier.

HURRY! Nominate a MS Student for a New
Graduate Student Award - by April 14th

Due to the growth of the department, its graduate program, and with some additional funding from CISER, the department has established two new graduate student awards. These awards will be presented during the 4/27 Scholarship and Awards Ceremony for best MS projects this year; one for a Statistics MS and one for a Mathematics MS.

We are now soliciting nominations for these awards. Nominations may come from a graduate student or advisor and should include basic information about the nominee's graduate work at WSU, along with a brief supporting statement from the advisor describing the MS project, and provide justification for the award. Nominations should be submitted to genz@math.wsu.edu by 5PM Friday, April 14, 2017.

Texas Instrument Workshop

Analysis Seminar: "From
Hyperbolic to Algebraic Geometry via
Character Varieties"

Math Bio Seminar: "Developing
Computational Models with Biological Images

Dr. Kyle Harrington, an Assistant Professor at the University of Idaho will discuss his research focus on the interface between artificial/virtual systems and the physical world. The seminar will take place from 4:10pm - 5:00pm in Webster B8.

CLaN Seminar: Jillian Glassett

4th Annual Cascade RAIN Meeting

The 4th RAIN meeting will be held in Vancouver, Canada (see https://sites.google.com/site/cascaderain2017/). RAIN stands for Regional Applied Interdisciplinary and Numerical (math). It's a welcoming and low-stress one day meeting. Every speaker (who volunteers to present their work) will have 8-10 minutes to present, so famous senior researchers and first years students have the same amount of time! Graduate students may apply for limited travel funding (provided by SIAM and PIMS). You should be a SIAM member to be considered and if you aren't, it's easy and free to join. If you are a graduate student interested in applying for funding, send your resume to Prof. Nilima Nigam (nilima.nigam@gmail.com), and also ask your advisor to send a brief letter of recommendation.

Securing the Internet through Cryptography -
how the Generalized Knapsack Code can
Protect from Quantum Computing Attack

It's a dark and scarey thought. How soon until quantum computing will have the power to crack encryption codes safeguarding the internet? Nathan Hamlin, Director of the Math Learning Center (MLC) believes the future safety of the internet can be protected through cryptography. The Generalized Knapsack Code may well be the answer to the threat of a quantum computing hack. Read more about Nathan Hamlin.

Analysis Seminar: "Medical
Image Segmentation"

Math Bio Seminar: "A Comparison of
Novel and Common Statistical Methods
to Detect Out-of-Trend Stability Results"

Dr. Todd Coffey, Associate Director of CISER and Clinical Assistant Professor in Mathematics and Statistics will speak on, "A Comparison of Novel and Common Statistical Methods to Detect Out-of-Trend Stability Results."
The seminar will take place from 4:10-5:00pm in Webser B8.

CLaN Seminar: Jordan Miller

SURCA and Showcase 2017

Analysis Seminar: "Riesz Potentials and
an alternate proof of the fundamental
GNS inequality"

Math Bio Seminar: "Wildlife Disease
Management Outcomes May Depend
on the Mechanism of Host Immune Response"

Dr. Nina Fefferman, an Associate Professor in the Departments of Math and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, as well as an Affiliate Faculty member of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), will be the speaker at the Math Biology Seminar in the ADBF (Animal Disease Biotechnology Building) room 1002, at 12:10pm. Dr. Fefferman has a broad range of research interests including Epidemiology, Evolutionary and Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Biology. http://www-rci.rutgers.edu/~feffermn/

Undergraduate Summer Mini-grant
Opportunity - deadline is Mar 27

Colloquium: "Bailey's Lemma"

Analysis Seminar: "Fourier expansion of
Boolean functions f: F_2^n \to F_2"

Math Bio Seminar: "Studying Hypoxia
in Mirofluidic Environment"

CLaN Seminar: Matthew Jobrack

Pi Day Celebration!

Don't miss this!
Dr. Nick Trefethen will give
"An Introductory talk on Chebfun"

Colloquium: "Cubature, Approximation,
and Isotrophy in the Hypercube"

Analysis Seminar: "Constant Mean Curvature
for Volume-constrained Perimeter Minimizer"

Math Bio Seminar: "Modeling the
Movement of Mucus in Lungs"

A mathematician, a biologist, and
a grad student go to a party in a forest...

CLaN Seminar: Yueqiao Zhang

Analysis Seminar: "Different Notions of Summability
- Regular, Cesaro, Abel: an exercise and discussion"

Mathematics and Securing the Internet

Math Bio Seminar:
"Mathematical modeling
of DNA allostery"

Dr. Nikolaos Voulgarakis will speak on, "Mathematical modeling of DNA allostery." Click here for an abstract.
The seminar takes place at 4:10pm in Webster B8.

CLaN Seminar: David Watkins

Elissa Schwartz receives an International
Research Travel Award (IRTA) from WSU

Register now for the Poster Competition!

(registration is due by 2/28/17)

Analysis Seminar: Introduction to
Numerical Relativity

Analysis Seminar: Bring an interesting
problem!

Math Ed Seminar: Spencer Payton
Dissertation Defense

Graduate student Spencer Payton will defend his dissertation. You are invited to attend the public portion of his defense at 3:00pm today in EDAD 116. Click on the title above to view the defense abstract.

Math Bio Seminar:
"The Patient-Patch: Hospital
Epidemiology as an Ecology Problem"

Professor Eric Lofgren frm the Paul G. Allen School of Global Animal Health is the speaker. He will discuss the idea of examining the problem of healthcare associated infections from the perspective of urban disease ecology. The seminar takes place at 4:10pm in Webster B8.

CLaN Seminar: Sheng-Chi Liu, speaker

Analysis Seminar: "When linear
approximations work"

Colloquium: "Nonparametric Cross-Dimensional
Inference for High-Dimensional Dependent
Data"

Colloquium: "Distributed Inference
for Massive Data"

CLaN Seminar: Matt Hudelson, speaker

Colloquium: "Promoting Similarity of
Sparsity Structures in Integrative Analysis"

Graduate student Yunfeng Hu will discuss the following problem and show an example of why the result fails for n=1. Let T be a fixed set in R^n. And let S and B he two subsets in R^n such that for any x in S, there exists an r such that x+ r T is a subset of B. How small can be B be if we know the size of S?
Stein proved that for n is greater than or equal to 3 and T is a sphere centered at origin, then S has positive measure implies B has positive measure using spherical maximal operator. Later, Bourgain and Marstrand proved the similar result for n =2. From 4:10 - 5:00pm in Neill Hall 5W.

Colloquium: "Copula Regression
with Discrete Outcomes"

Colloquium: "Estimation and Inference
in High Dimensional Error-in-Variables
Models and an Application to Microbiome
Data"

Presented by graduate student, Laramie Paxton, who will introduce an alternative to the well known Lebesque and Riemann integrals and explore some of its propertices.
From 4:10 - 5:00pm in Neill Hall 5W.

Presented by Daniel Farber from the WSU Department of Plant Pathology. Wheat strip rust (WSR) is a foliar disease and it causes a major loss to wheat yield. In this talk, Daniel will discuss the spread of WSR and provide analyses that have direct applicability to the disease management, at 4:10pm in Webster B8.

Two teams of three students each, recently competed in a 100-hour world-wide international math modeling competition. Advocate and coach, Dr. Lynn Schreyer said, "It's exciting to see what the students do and a wonderful experience for them, as well as for me."
Read more about the 2017 competition.

Colloquium: "Stochastic Second Order
Optimization Methods: Theory and
Applications"

Allison Dorko - Research Talk

Math Bio Seminar-Organizational Meeting

Analysis Seminar-Organizational Meeting

William Hall - Research Talk

Department Holiday Party Photos

Congratulations Graduates!

APPLY NOW!

The CAS Scholarship Application is Now Open

Sean Kallaher - MLC Tutor of the Month

Inland Northwest Mathematics Experience
(INME) Photos

Visit from Linda Bentley

Dad's Weekend Bake Sale

PreToM Cake Pop Sale!

Register for INME by October 21st!

Farewell Reception for
Joseph Adesuyi

Colloquium: "Monotone numerical methods
for nonlinear parabolic and integro-parabolic
problems

Seminar: "Using Mapping Diagrams to
Make Sense of Equations and Functions"

Colloquium: "The Role of Philosophy in
Proof: Euclid's Proof of Proposition One"

Colloquium: "A Corporative Bond Model
with Credit Rating Migration Risk"

AMS Student Chapter - Social

Welcome back Cougs!

Graduate student Mohammed Kaabar

Students - sign up now for Calculated Success!

Graduate Student Cameron
Sweet has defended his MS in Statistics

Professor Emeritus, David Wollkind, presents
a seminar to the Lefschetz Center for Dynamical
Systems at Brown University

American Mathematical
Society (AMS) Graduate Student Chapter

Graduate student Peter Klosterman

Spring Commencement Photos

Graduate student Thomas Cameron

End-of-the-year Barbecue Photos

WSU alumna and former instructor
Jenny Hughes visits with graduate
students

Dr. David Wollkind's Retirement Party Photos

Colloquium: "Fixed Points and Integral Equations"

2016 Scholarship Recipients

WSU Vancouver offering summer math courses

Greetings from Rachael Lund in East Lansing, MI!

Grace (Eleanor) Jones receives summer minigrant

Seminar: "A Rectifiable Reifenberg Theorem"

Seminar: "SEM-based electron tomography
of turfs comprised of lineal structures."

PreToM presented with charter

Dr. Sergey Lapin has received the 2016
"Exceptional Professor Award for the
College of Arts and Sciences" from the
Associated Students of WSU (ASWSU)

Dr. David Wollkind retires after 45 years at WSU

Scholarship Awards Ceremony

Congratulations to Wendy Skulpakdee

MLC Tutor of the Month - Huong Doan

The second individual to receive a Math Learning Center (MLC) "Tutor of the Month" award is Huong Doan, who has worked in the MLC for 4 semesters. MLC Director Nathan Hamlin says, "Huong works very patiently with the students she tutors and has never been late or missed a shift. Once, she was the only tutor working during a late shift when other graduate student tutors left to proctor exams and she did an excellent job. Students have come to the MLC to look for help specifically from Huong."

Seminar: "Random Walks and Martingales"

Presented by Jie Zhao at 4:10pm in Webster B8.

Jillian Morrison - recipient of a 2016
President's Award for Leadership

Elissa Schwartz receives research travel award

Congratulations to Lewa Alzaleq

Paper Tigers

Congratulations graduate students

Seminar: "L^ TV for Image Decomposition"

Stan Swierczek
receives the 2016 College of Arts and Sciences
"Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student"
Award

Regional Applied
Interdisciplinary and Numerical
(RAIN) Conference

Seminar: "Boolean Gene Expression Networks"

Seminar: "On Memory Capacity of
Discrete Hopfield Networks"

Presented by Dr. Predrag Tosic, School of EECS at 4:10pm in Webster B8.

Greetings from former grad student Casey Bylund

Former graduate student Casey Bylund (advisor Dr. Alex Panchenko) sends her greetings from Ukiah, California. Casey is a full-time tenure-track faculty member at Mendocino College where she has taught calculus, algebra, and precalculus, and is faculty advisor to the Capoeira Club. In June she will marry her fiance Hayden, who is going back to school in engineering, and they are getting ready to purchase their first home. She says she misses the entire department and hopes everyone is doing well!

Congratulations Peter Klosterman

Graduate student Peter Klosterman has successfully defended his PhD dissertation titled, “Identification and establishment of social and sociomathematical norms associated with mathematically productive discourse”. His committee members are: Libby Knott - chair, Kimberly Vincent, Rob Ely and Shiv Karunakaran.

Seminar: "BMO, commutators and weights"

Seminar: "Mathematical Modeling for
Transmission of Poliovirus with
the Role of Vaccination"

Presented by James Kehinde at 4:10pm in Webster B8.

Krispie Kreme Donuts Today!

Don't miss out! PreToM Club will be selling Krispie Kreme donuts from 10-2 in the CUB today to raise money for an educational film; Paper Tigers.

2016 Faculty Promotions

Four faculty members have received promotions in 2016. Read more about these faculty member promotions.

New York Times article features work of
WSU Vancouver mathematicians

Assistant professor Nikolay Strigul and post-doc Jean Liénard's computer simulation to grow realistic forests has been featured in the New York Times article, "Imagining a Forest of the Future."

Sergey Lapin appointed as an
Honors Faculty Fellow

Thirty-Fifth Annual T.G. Ostrom Colloquium

"Mathematical understanding for secondary
teaching: A classroom-based approach"

Presented by Dr. Kathleen Heid, invited speaker, 4:10pm in Neill 5W. Please join us for refreshments with Dr. Heid at 3:30pm in Neill 216.
Click here for a pdf flier.

Thirty-Fifth Annual T.G. Ostrom Lecture

"What does it really mean to understand
(or not understand) mathematics"

Please join us for the annual T.G. Ostrom Lecture which will be presented by Kathleen Heid, professor of Mathematics Education at Penn State University. The lecture will be held at 7:00pm in CUE 203. A reception will immediately follow in CUE 518.

Abstract: Everybody has opinions about mathematics and how it is learned. What are some of the myths about how mathematics is learned? How do people understand-and misunderstand mathematics? What are some of the theories that explain how mathematics is learned? This session will discuss some of the research in mathematics education that has uncovered ways that people understand and misunderstand mathematics. Click here for a pdf flier.

Seminar: "On Digraphs, Formal Transition
Systems and Agent-based Modeling"

WSU mathematicians design lottery
for marijuana retail licenses

Former Ph.D. student, Sharif Ibrahim with his co-advisor, Dr. Kevin Vixie, used mathematics to allow the State of Washington a fair and random way to assign a limited number of retail licenses to several thousand marijuana retail applicants. Sharif Ibrahim is now an engineer at Intel and recently explained how this was done during a January 2016 Joint Mathematics Meeting. Read The New Yorker article.

Seminar: "Coarse-grained simulations of
conformational changes in multidrug
resistance transporter proteins"

Presented by S.M. Yead M. Jewel of the WSU School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at 4:10pm in Webster B8.

Amy Streifel and Sharif Ibrahim marry

Former Ph.D. student, Sharif Ibrahim, and Amy Streifel (Ph.D. in progress) were married on March 20, 2016. Sharif is an engineer with Intel. Congratulations!

"Why is Pi 3.1415...? What if it was just 3?"

Distinguished Speakers Series:

Invited speaker: Dr. Tina Eliassi-Rad
7:00pm
Goertzen Communication Addition 21

Seminar: "Of Mites and Models"

Gabriela Sabalsa - MLC Tutor of the Month

Pi(e) a Professor Week!

It's that time of year again! Math Club is hosting the "Pi(e) a Professor" event in honor of Pi Day (and also to raise club funds) the week of March 7-11. Dean Johnson, Mindy Morgan and Kim Vincent will be pied. See our Facebook page for photos.

Mathematicians grow cyberforest
to predict climate change

Assistant professor Nick Strigul and Jean Lienard, a mathematics postdoctoral researcher, have created the first computer simulation that grows realistic forests down to the branches, leaves and roots of individual trees. They are using the simulation, detailed in a new paper in Royal Society Open Science, to determine how drought, warmer weather, more frequent wildfires and other climate-related changes will affect forests across North America.

Seminar: "A probalistic characterization
of negative definite functions"

Seminar: "Metric Entropy and
Approximate Convexity"

Seminar: "Mathematical Modeling and
Computational Methods for
the Tumor Microenvironment"

Welcome Sotiris Xantheas

Welcome Jingyang Zhang

Welcome Dr. Lynn Schreyer

Seminar: "Approximation of integrals,
empirical measures, and optimal transport"

CISER update

Colloquium: "Adventures in
Modeling for Policy"

Seminar: "Regular sets, Cubical Covers
and Set Approximation"

Seminar: "Antibody kinetics of
equine infectious anemia
virus infection of horses"

Math Club Meeting

Distinguished Speakers Series

Invited speaker: Dr. John R. Gilbert
12:00pm-1:00pm
ETRL, Room 101 (map)

Seminar: "Large Deviation Principle (LDP)
for the Stochastic PDE in
Fluid Mechanics"

Seminar: "Introduction to modeling of
porous media via hybrid mixture
theory and results on flow potentials"

Math Circles Game Night - 5-7pm

"Undergrad summer research
opportunity - MSRI"

Seminar: "Inverse Fractorization
in Complexity Science"

Math Club Meeting

Seminar: "On the Eigenvalues of
Matrix Polynomials"

Seminar: "Morphogenetic functions
of microtubules in plants"

Cryptography, coding, cyber attacks
discussed

Memorial Service for Dr. Ed Pate
7pm at the Kimball Funeral Home

Graduate student Thomas Cameron
has a new addition to his family

Holiday Party Photos

Fall 2015 Commencement Photos

Colloquium: "Big Data and The World
of Statistics"

Seminar: "Gap Distributions &
Homogenous Dynamics"

Seminar: "Application of Topology
to Data Analysis"

Visiting Professor Returns
to Hungary

Colloquium: "Control of Certain
Classes of Degenerate
Diffusive Systems"

Colloquium: "Splittings of Matrices
& Nonnegative Moore-Penrose Inverses"

Seminar: "Differential Geometry
of Curves and Surfaces in Lorentz-Minowski space, Part II"

Seminar: "Using Compartmental and Agent-based Modeling to Understand the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Outbreak in Pullman"

Math Circles Game Night - 5-7pm in the MLC

Who doesn't love a new baby?!

Seminar: "Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces in Lorentz-Minowski space, Part I"

Seminar: "Statistical Analysis of Complex Data Objects"

Seminar: "Convex Hulls of Matrices and Stability"

Seminar: "Inferring the Cell Differentiation Trajectory from Single-Cell Gene Expression Data"

CLaN Seminar

Math Circles Game Night - 5-7pm in the MLC

2015 Inland Northwest Math Experience (INME) Photos

Colloquium: "A New Covariance Function
for Spatio-Temporal Data Analysis with Applications"

PreToM has become a Student Affiliate of
the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

In October this year, the WSU Pre-service Teachers of Mathematics (PreToM) became an official Student Affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). PreToM was nominated for this by the Washington State Math Council. PreToM is now eligible for all services available to NCTM Student Affiliates, which includes opportunities for grants, math tasks for use in MathCircles, connections with other service teachers, and the ability to gain experience as teacher leaders.

WSU student ambassador to the NCTM, Victoria Bay, and advisor Dr. Kimberly Vincent completed the application. A presentation of the charter will be made during the NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Francisco in April 2016.

Seminar: "The Probability that Two Samples on a Convex Curve have Disjoint Convex Hulls"

Seminar: "Introduction to differential
equations perturbed by random noise"

CLaN Seminar

Linda Bentley Retires after 25 Years of Service

Seminar: "The Behavior of a Population
Interaction-Diffusion Equation in its
Subcritical Regime"

Seminar: "Three Classical Problems on
Configuration of Points in the Real Plane"

The Calvin and Jean Long Colloquium

The Calvin and Jean Long Distinguished Lecture in Mathematics

Seminar: "Local Set Approximation"

Greetings from Rachael Lund in East Lansing, MI!

Seminar: "Mathematical Modeling of sperm
and cilia motility"

Colloquium: "From the Manhattan Project
to Elliptic Curves"

Talk: "Extending Pythagoras"

Lorenz (Larry) T. Biegler
Distinguished Speaker Series in Data Science

Colloquium: "Evaluating the Effectiveness in HIV Prevention Clinical Trials"

Seminar: "A Problem of Kolmogorov"

Seminar: "Improved Models of Equine Infectious Anemia"

Seminar: "Eventually Cone Positive Semigroups of Linear Operators"

Seminar: "Poincare's Inequality and Its
Application for Vector Fields"

Seminar: "An empirically based mathematical
model for the potential role of masting by
introduced bamboos in North American deer
mice population irruptions"

Seminar: "Constructive Proof of Hessenberg Form"

Math Circle Pre-Launch Meeting

Seminar: "Ergodicity for the stochastic partial differential equations of fluid mechanics"

Seminar: "Directed evolution of phage lysins:
using mathematical models to explore feasibility/design of new antibacterial drugs"

Seminar: "Core-Chasing Algorithms for
Eigenvalue Computation"

Seminar: "Mathematical Methods in
Metagenomics"

Colloquium: "Nearshore Sticky Waters"

Michael B. Wakin
Distinguished Speaker Series in Data Science

Seminar: "Laminar Development
of the Primary Visual Cortex"

Kelly and Casey Stratton have a baby boy

CLaN Seminar speaker: Nathan Hamlin

Seminar: "The Coarea Formula"

Aren't babies wonderful?

Seminar: "Finding the Best Classification Rates for Arabic Sign Language Data using Data Analysis Methods"

Colloquium: "The Modeling of Refugee Movement"

Seminar: "Introducing the method of characteristics with the 1-D traffic equation"

Register for INME

$1.8M to improve hip, knee replacements

Study predicts bird fatalities
at wind facilities

Elissa Schwartz receives first annual award
from the Society for Mathematical Biology

Department of Mathematics and Statistics

WSU Vancouver instructor Tom Gazzola
has passed away

Assistant professor Elissa Schwartz,

Emeritus professor Duane DeTemple's daughter, Dr. Jill DeTemple, has received the Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor Award from Southern Methodist University

Welcome new baby Andrew Liu!

Spring Commencement 2015 - photos

End-of-Year Barbecue 2015 - photos

Mathematics major Chris Marshall has received a $3,000 summer mini-grant from the College of Arts and Sciences

David Wollkind has received the 2015 ASWSU Cougar Award.

Seminar: "Generalized Gradients in Nonsmooth Analysis"

Seminar: "The Role of VIX in the Stock Market"

Seminar: "Combinatorics of clans and geometry of B orbits on G/K,"

Seminar: "Mathematical Modeling of Integrin Dynamics in Cell Motility: From Stochasticity to Sensitivity"

Jeanette Martin has received the 2015 Richard G. Law Excellence Award for Undergraduate Teaching

2015 Scholarship and Awards Ceremony

Seminar: "What About Median of Shapes?"

Seminar: "Identifying the Conditions under which Antibodies Protect Against Infection by Equine Infectious Anemia Virus,"

Seminar: "Modularity of Abelian Surfaces,"

Colloquium: "Three ways to study number-theoretic sums,"

Sergey Lapin served as an external examiner on an Honors thesis defense at Bates College in Lewiston, Main. He is shown here with the Honors student and other committee members.

Seminar: "Microlocal analysis and x-ray computed tomography,"

WSU Tri-Cities professor Nikolaos Voulgarakis' students win the "Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics and Information Sciences" category of SURCA 2015

WSU Vancouver WHETS Seminar: "Finite element methods using discontinuous functions,"

75th Annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition Results

Sergey Lapin met with a delegation from the Shanghai Environmental Bureau and Shanghai Geotechnical Investigations & Design Institute

An analysis seminar given in a colloquium style titled, "Coalescence in branching processes."

Using mathematics to predict future cholera outbreaks

Mathematicians build code to take on the toughest cyber attacks

Thirty-Fourth Annual T.G. Ostrom Colloquium

Thirty-Fourth Annual T.G. Ostrom Lecture

Pi Day Celebration!

Pi(e) Eating Contest

Taking statistical methods to young children: Jefferson Elementary Statistics Poster Competition

Statistics professors Jan Dasgupta and Marc Evans have taken the lead to form CISER,

Look closely - is baby Sophia counting?

Will Claire be a future mathematician?