MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2005

DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS, APPLIED MATH/COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE SEMINAR
TIME: 3:35 p.m.
ROOM: 104 Ayres Hall
SPEAKER: Carrie Eaton
TITLE: Fast-spiking cell and networked cell models
ABSTRACT: Fast-spiking (FS) interneurons are rapidly firing inhibitory neurons found in the somatosensory neocortex that exhibit highly rhythmic activity. The synchronous firing of cortical neurons is known to correlate with the encoding of information, and so the FS cell network is directly important in the processing of sensory information, a major function of the neocortex (Galarreta and Hestrin, 1999). We will investigate a FS cell ion channel model inspired by Erisir, et al. (1999) by examining the underlying mathematical structure of the model. Our analysis of the underlying structure of the model and the behavior of networked models demonstrates the role of various coupling mechanisms in the production of the oscillations seen in physiological experiments.


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2005

THE DOCTORAL DEFENSE OF MR. MARK SHATTUCK
TIME: 1:30 p.m.
ROOM: 209A Ayres Hall
TITLE: “Parity Theorems for Combinatorial Statistics”
COMMITTEE: Professors: Wagner (chair), Rosinski, Tzermias and Nolt (Philosophy)


WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005

ANALYSIS SEMINAR
TIME: 3:35 – 4:25 p.m.
ROOM: 309B Ayres Hall
SPEAKER: Professor Ken Stephenson
TITLE: Don Marshall’s zipper
ABSTRACT: I'll discuss conformal welding and the implementation of a numerical conformal
welding scheme based on Don Marshall’s zipper algorithms.

TOPOLOGY SEMINAR
TIME: 3:35 – 4:25 p.m.
ROOM: 102 Ayres Hall
SPEAKER: Professor Ales Vavpetic (University of Ljubljana)
TITLE: p-compact groups

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2005

PROBABILITY SEMINAR
TIME: 1:10 – 2:00 p.m.
ROOM: 209A Ayres Hall
SPEAKER: Assistant Professor Xia Chen
TITLE: Moment inequalities for the local times of multi-parameter processes.

JUNIOR COLLOQUIUM
TIME: 3:30 – 4:25 p.m.
ROOM: 215 Ayres Hall
SPEAKER: Professor Conrad Plaut
TITLE: A pair of geometric inequalities
ABSTRACT: We will consider two questions: (1) What is the maximum area that can be bounded by a curve of length 1 in the plane, and which curves, if any, realize this maximum? (2) What is the maximum area of a convex surface in 3-space having diameter 1, and which surfaces, if any, realize that maximum? (I will explain what a convex surface is­the concept is very simple and intuitive). The answer to the first question was known to the Greeks (¼ pi, realized only by a perfect circle), although it wasn’t until the latter half of the 19th century that the statement was really proved, by Weierstrass. The answer to the second question is still unknown. In 1955 A.D. Alexandrov conjectured that the area is bounded above by pi/2, and he exhibited a very simple surface that realizes this area. But this surface, unlike the circle, is not smooth, and not even really a convex surface. At the present time it is not even known whether there is a maximum area, or, if there is one, if it is realized by a smooth surface. After 50 years this very interesting question is still waiting to be solved.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2005

TOPOLOGY SEMINAR
TIME: 12:20 – 1:10 p.m.
ROOM: 209B Ayres Hall
SPEAKER: Mr. Atish Mitra
TITLE: Asymptotic Dimension of Metric Spaces – V
ABSTRACT: We look at the asymptotic dimension of Euclidean spaces (R^n), trees and hyperbolic groups.