Thursday, April 1
Speaker : Anne Greenbaum and others
Title : ACMS Organizational Meeting
Thursday, April 8
Speaker :
Steve Klee, UW Math
Title : Planar Graphs and the Four Color Theorem
Abstract : Loosely speaking, a graph is a collection of dots
connected by lines. Despite this seemingly innocent definition,
questions about graphs can be deceptively difficult to solve. In 1852,
Francis Guthrie noticed that he could always color the counties in a map
of England using only four colors. He then asked if this was true of any
map -- if we want to color a map in a way that neighboring countries
receive different colors, is it always enough to use at most four
colors? Surprisingly, Guthrie's question was not answered until the
1970's by Appel and Haken. In this talk, I will define graphs and pose
Guthrie's problem in the language of graph theory. I will discuss the
complexity of Appel and Haken's proof of the celebrated Four Color
Theorem. To conclude the talk, I will give some counterintuitive results
about graphs and discuss the applications of graph theory in other
branches of science.
Thursday, April 15
Speaker :
David Lovit,
UW Applied Math
Title :
Actuarial Science
Abstract : A career as an actuary is one of the many opportunities
for the mathematically inclined to apply their technical skills in a
business setting. An actuary manages risk and uncertainty, usually in the
insurance industry. In a recent study by JobsRated.com, it was ranked
the best career of 2010. I'll talk about what actuaries do, how our exam
system works, and how you too can become an actuary!
Thursday, April 22
Speaker :
Randy LeVeque,
UW Applied Math
Title :
Shock Waves
Abstract: Wave motion arises in many applications: acoustics,
earthquakes, water waves, ultrasound, etc. Often the waves can be
described by smooth functions, for example the pressure varies
sinusoidally in a pure tone acoustic wave. However, large amplitude
motions are typically modeled by nonlinear equations, and the solutions
to these equations can be discontinuous, for example the sudden change
in pressure in a sonic boom or the blast wave from an explosion. I will
give an elementary introduction to the the mathematics of such
equations.
Note: By coincidence at 4pm on the same day I will be giving a talk in
the Applied Mathematics Seminar in GUG 220 on numerical methods and
applications of such equations.
See
http://www.amath.washington.edu/~rjl/seminars/22apr2010.html
Thursday, April 29
Speaker :
Bob Odom , UW Earth and Space Sciences
Title : Research and Mathematical Applications at the UW Applied
Physics Laboratory
Abstract : The Applied Physics Lab (APL) at the University of
Washington carries out a broad program of research ranging from the very
applied to the very basic. The projects include the design,
construction, and operation of autonomous underwater vehicles for
oceanographic research, use of high intensity focused ultrasound for
control of internal bleeding and surgery, remote sensing of ocean
surface properties, signal processing and algorithm design, arctic
researchm and much more. The mathematics used by these projects range
from fairly straightforward discrete mathematics to the solution
(analytical and/or numerical) of nonlinear differential equations for
large amplitude internal wave propagation modeling and acoustic shock
wave formation. This talk will give an introduction to the research
carried out at APL and a survey of the variety of mathematics employed
on an everyday basis.
Thursday, May 6
Speaker :
Gunther Uhlman,
UW Math Dept
Title : Cloaking, Invisibility and Inverse Problems
Abstract : In the first part of the talk I will describe several
inverse problems arising in different applications including medical
imaging, oil exploration, remote sensing, and seismology. In the second
part I will describe recent progress in making objects invisible to
electromagnetic waves and sound waves.
Thursday, May 13
Speaker : Karthik Mohan, UW EE Dept
Title :
Compressed Sensing and its Applications
Abstract : Compressed sensing deals with a fundamental question in
linear algebra: When is the set of solutions to an under-determined system
of equations(Ax = b) with cardinality atmost k (where k < no of rows) unique
and when can one recover such a solution. It turns out that this problem is
NP-hard but under certain conditions on the matrix A, the unique solution
with k non-zero entries can be recovered through a linear program.
Compressed sensing has many applications in signal processing, network
tomography, face recognition, etc. Motivated by these applications, many
different algorithms have been proposed that borrow ideas from statistics,
optimization and graph theory. In this talk, I will summarize some theory,
algorithms and applications of compressed sensing.
Thursday, May 20
Speaker : Nathaniel Derby,
Stakana Analytics
Title : Succeeding in the Corporate World as an Applied
Statistician (or other mathematician)
Abstract : No matter what the state of your transcript is, the
corporate world is a far different animal from academia: Brevity is better
than detail, no one reads your reports, and the big picture is key. Bad
ideas don't always die, and good ideas sometimes do. Your pay depends on
how much you fight for it. Your boss might hate or love you for the
stupidest reasons. If these ideas seem confusing or intimidating, the good
news is that the corporate world simply uses a different value system than
academia. If you understand and heed this value system, you can succeed.
While the author's experience is in statistics, most of the talk can be
applied to any corporate job doing mathematics.
Thursday, May 27
Speaker :
Erika Harnett, UW Earth and Space Sciences
Title : Simulating Space Weather on a Desktop
Abstract: The Sun's magnetic field reverses every 11-12 years.
During each reversal the activity on the Sun (such as sun spots and solar
flares) increases. While this has gone on for millions and billions of
years, our increased presence in space means that humans are becoming
more susceptible to the effects of this space weather. I will discuss my
research group's efforts in creating computer models that can simulate the
effects of solar disturbances on the Earth and other planets in the solar
system.