Un of Tenn | Math Department

Seminars and Colloquiums
for 2010-2011

Week of February 21, 2011

Speaker:
Mr. Matt Turner, Monday
Dr. Mike Gilchrist, Tuesday
Professor James Conant, Tuesday
Professor Ohannes Karakashiann, Wednesday
Professor Andrew Miller of Beaumont University, Thursday

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 Dr. Fernando Schwartz.

Monday, February 21

PROBABILITY SEMINAR
TIME: 3:35 – 4:25 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres 114
SPEAKER: Matt Turner
TITLE: "The Kalman filter for heavy-tailed data."
ABSTRACT: In this talk we will use results presented last semester on moments of infinitely divisible random variables to solve for the optimal linear filter in the discrete time signal-observation model, where the signal and observation noise is assumed to follow an alpha-stable distribution.

Tuesday, February 22

Math Biology Seminar
TIME: 9:45 – 10:35 a.m.
ROOM: NIMBioS Classroom
SPEAKER: Dr. Mike Gilchrist, EEB
TOPIC: Continuous Markov processes, part II

TOPOLOGY SEMINAR
TIME: 3:40 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres Hall 406
SPEAKER: James Conant
TITLE: Concordance of Links, an Introduction 2

Wednesday, February 23

APPLIED/COMPUTATIONAL MATH SEMINAR
TIME: 3:35 - 4:30 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres 111
SPEAKER: Professor Ohannes Karakashian
TITLE: "Adaptive Methods for Elliptic PDEs", Part III

Thursday, February 24

JUNIOR COLLOQUIUM
TIME: 3:35 – 4:25 p.m.
ROOM: Ayres 405
SPEAKER: Professor Andrew Miller of Beaumont University
TITLE: The Trouble with Tribbles (for Hairdressers)
ABSTRACT: In a classic episode of the original Star Trek TV series, the Enterprise is overrun by adorable, spherical, fur-covered creatures called tribbles. Suppose you are a Federation stylist and are tasked with taming a tribble's tresses. Could you comb all of its fur flat? A cylindrical or donut-shaped tribble would provide no trouble (can you imagine how it could be done?), but spherical tribbles present more of a challenge. We will tackle the mathematical version of this question, encountering such
ideas as vector fields, singularities, and the Euler characteristic. The answer to the tribble challenge provides an example of the many fascinating interactions between global and local behavior on surfaces.

Please stop by prior to the talk for pizza in Ayres 401.

Past notices:

winter break