Thursday, January 5th
Speaker : Anne Greenbaum and others
Title : Open House

Thursday, January 12th
Speaker : William Stein, UW MATH
Title : Sage: Creating a Viable Free Open Source Alternative to Magma, Maple, Mathematica, and Matlab.
Abstract: Sage is a mathematical software project I started in 2005. Come to this talk to learn about where Sage comes from and see a demo.

Thursday, January 26th
Speaker : John Carter, Seattle University
Title : Modeling surface waves in the ocean
Abstract: Ocean waves play an important role in the weather. Waves created by ferries cause beach erosion. Waves will undoubtedly have an effect on the ''base-sized'' floating platform being developed by the Navy. A better understanding of how wave patterns evolve over large times will lead to more accurate weather prediction, will help reduce waterfront erosion and may help the Navy build a floating island. In this talk, I will present results from current experimental and mathematical research examining the evolution of three-dimensional surface water waves.

Thursday, February 2nd
Speaker : Bob Odom, APL
Title : Research at the Applied Physics Lab
Abstract: The Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is an independent unit at the University of Washington, which carries out a broad program of basic and applied research. The research is concentrated in the areas of ocean physics, polar science, acoustics, signal processing and algorithm development, medical and industrial ultrasound, and ocean engineering. I will give an introduction to some of the projects being worked on at APL, and also describe, along with a short demonstration, a problem related to a volcanic seismic signal called "harmonic tremor" that I have worked on with UW undergrads from Applied Math and Physics.

Thursday, February 9th
Speaker : Gail E. Potter, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Title : Estimating social contact networks to understand influenza transmission
Abstract: When a new strain of influenza virus or other pathogen emerges, epidemic simulation models are used to estimate transmission parameters, predict disease spread, and compare intervention strategies. Most epidemic models assume "random mixing": that people contact each other with equal probability within mixing groups (e.g. homes, schools, and workplaces). The effect of more realistic social network structure on parameter estimates is an open area of exploration. We use social network data and a survey of contact behavior to develop a detailed model of social contact behavior within a high school. We perform disease simulations over this contact network, with and without interventions, and compare epidemic outcomes to simulations over a random mixing model. We find important differences in predictions from the two models. We also explore the relevance of various network structures to the transmission process. We recommend further exploration of the impact of network structure on disease transmission in order to improve models used to make policy recommendations.

Thursday, February 16th
Speaker : Guang Lin, PNNL: FCSD
Title : Uncertainty Quantification and Its Application in Energy and Environmental related Complex Systems
Abstract : Uncertainty plays an important role in quantifying the performance of complex systems with application to energy and environment modeling and needs to be treated as a core element in modeling,simulation and optimization of complex systems. In this talk, some uncertainty quantification application in energy and environment modeling at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will be presented first. A new formulation for uncertainty quantification will be discussed with extensions to different fields of complex systems. An integrated simulation framework will be presented that quantifies the uncertainties across scales and establishes "error bars" in numerical simulations. In particular, stochastic formulations based on Galerkin and collocation versions of the generalized Polynomial Chaos (gPC) will be discussed.

Thursday, February 23rd
Speaker : Neal Koblitz, UW MATH
Title : Mathematical "proofs" of security
Abstract: Sometimes the most important contribution a mathematician can make is to explain the limitations of mathematics and present a skeptical viewpoint on attempts to use mathematics to accomplish what is probably outside the range of what mathematics can do. In this talk I discuss attempts to put data security on a rigorous mathematical foundation. For example, a theorem in cryptography might say that a certain method for digital signatures is rock-hard secure provided that no one finds an efficient integer-factorization algorithm. I'll explain how that type of theorem is different from a traditional mathematical theorem, and I'll give examples that show why this type of application of theoretical mathematics might make mathematicians (and perhaps also people who are relying on digital signatures) very uneasy.

Thursday, March 1st
Speaker : Katie Oliveras, Seattle University
Title : Measuring Waves
Abstract: As evident from the recent events in Japan, Chile, and Sumatra, tsunamis are destructive waves that can devastate coastal communities. The best defense is an early warning system that gives people time to reach higher ground. But how exactly does one predict a tsunami?

This talk will focus on some of the challenging mathematical aspects of the water-wave problem and how we can use ideas ranging from high-school algebra to differential equations to measure water waves and possibly help predict tsunamis thus saving lives.

Thursday, March 8th
Speaker : Eric Shea-Brown, UW AMATH
Title : "What's math telling us about the brain these days?"
Abstract: In the form of dynamical systems, random processes, and information theory, mathematics has become central to our study of the brain. We'll explore several recent efforts that use these tools to link dynamics and function in neural circuits.