Un of Tenn | Math Department

Seminars and Colloquiums
for the week of January 14, 2013

Speakers:

Dr. Amy Szczepanski, EECS - UT, Thursday
Dr. H. Fathallah, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Friday

*** Tea Time this week will be Monday - Wednesday at 3:00 pm. Everyone is welcome! ***

Thursday, January 17

JUNIOR COLLOQUIUM
TIME: 3:35 - 4:30 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres 405
SPEAKER: Dr. Amy Szczepanski
TITLE: Big Data and Big Computers: Quantitative techniques for solving big problems
ABSTRACT: Technology has advanced to the point where data-driven solutions are replacing experts' hunches when it comes to decision making. The coverage of the 2012 presidential election included headlines like, "How Obama's data crunchers helped him win" (CNN, November 8), and Nate Silver is one of the most famous nerds in the country. An article in the New York Times Magazine (February 16, 2012) explains how Target extracts information from its transactions to make business decisions; grocery stores will give you a discount in exchange for tracking your data with a loyalty card. Tech companies, like Facebook and Google, use information about their users to sell ads. In the scientific realm, big data challenges appear in fields ranging from bio-informatics to astrophysics. Solving big data problems requires a clever mix of techniques from statistics, mathematics, and computer science. We will introduce the mathematics behind some of these strategies and talk about directions in the field. This talk should be accessible to any undergraduate with an interest in a quantitative field. (There may also be tangents about interesting mathematical applications to not-so-big data as well.)

Pizza will be served at 3:15 p.m.

Friday, January 18

COLLOQUIUM
TIME: 3:35 - 4:30 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres 405
SPEAKER: Dr. H. Fathallah, University of Alabama, Birmingham
TITLE: A Multilayer Grow-or-Go Model for GBM: Understanding the Effects of Anti-Angiogenic Drugs
ABSTRACT: The recent use of anti-angiogenesis (AA) drugs for the treatment of glioblastoma
multiforme (GBM) has uncovered unusual tumor responses. I will discuss a new mathematical model that takes into account the ability of proliferative cells to become invasive under hypoxic conditions. We show that the model simulations generate the multilayer structure of GBM, namely proliferation, brain invasion, and necrosis. The model is validated and interrogated to derive fundamental insights in
cancer biology and on the clinical and biological effects of AA drugs.

HOSTS: Professors O. Karakashian and S. Wise

Refreshments will be available at 3:15 p.m.

If you are interested in giving or arranging a talk for one of our seminars or colloquiums,
please review our calendar.

If you have questions, or a date you would like to confirm, please contact colloquium AT math DOT utk DOT edu

Past notices: