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Math Department News in Brief: 2017-18

June 12, 2018

This article appeared in the Fall 2017-Spring 2018 老王论坛 Math Alumnae Newsletter.

Math graduate students Hannah Schwartz and Isaac Craig gave 鈥淟ightning Talks鈥 at the 12th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium at 老王论坛 on April 3, 2018.

Math Ph.D. students Samantha Pezzimenti and Danielle Smiley presented posters at the 12th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium. Sam鈥檚 poster was on 鈥淟agrangian Fillings of Legendrian Knots,鈥 while Danielle鈥檚 poster was on 鈥淎 Historical Survey of Oscillatory Singular Integral Operators鈥.

Graduate student Isaac Craig successfully defended his master鈥檚 thesis On Fibering 3-Manifolds on April 26, 2018.

This spring鈥檚 Math Appreciation Week included a keynote address titled 鈥淪hould You Believe It? Critical Minds in the Information Age.鈥 It was delivered by Rebecca Goldin of George Mason University and STATS/Sense about Science USA. The week also featured an alumnae panel, pi(e) party, and a game of SET tournament.

In July 2017, Assistant  Prof. Djordje Mili膰evi膰 was a visiting mathematician in the USA/Canada Mathcamp at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA.

In November 2017,  Prof. Lisa Traynor and Samantha Pezzimenti traveled to Lyon, France, to give research talks.

Djordje Mili膰evi膰 received tenure and has been promoted to Associate  Professor of Mathematics effective Fall 2018.

Peter Kasius has been promoted to Senior Lecturer in Mathematics effective Fall 2018.

Math graduate student Samantha Pezzimenti gave the 2018 Convocation address for the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

Hannah Schwartz Math
Hannah Schwartz talks about "How to Draw a 4-Dimensional Space."

Math major Jill Li 鈥18 won the Hoop Race at May Day 2018.

On September 28, 2017 the Math Department hosted a Summer Math Experiences Panel. Panelists included Emily Barry 鈥19, who was an Education for Sustainability Philly Intern; Dina Benedetto 鈥18, who was a technology summer analyst at Morgan Stanley in the Greater New York City Area; Hezel Gadzikwa 鈥18, who was a research assistant investigating 鈥淐overed Interest Rate Parity Post Great Financial Crisis鈥 at The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania; Jill Li 鈥18, who was a business development intern at OpenWater, Inc. in the Washington D.C. Metro Area; Bisma Naqvi 鈥18, who was a summer analyst at Melinae Inc. in the Greater New York City Area; and Boyang Su 鈥18. Boyang participated in an undergraduate research program at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. Her project dealt with 鈥淩esearch Challenges Identifying Integer Sequences Using the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS).鈥

The Math Department hosted its first ever Study Abroad Panel this academic year. Elena Broderick 鈥18,&苍产蝉辫;Greta Koch (HC 鈥18), Hunter Rendleman 鈥18, and Rachel Terry 鈥18 were the panelists. Elena studied at Tsuda College in Japan, and she took a measure theory course in Japanese. Greta participated in the Liberal Arts and Business Program in Barcelona, Spain through IES Abroad. Hunter studied at the London School of Economics, while Rachel studied abroad in Paris, France.

Math graduate student Lindsay Dever participated in the Women and Mathematics program on 鈥淢athematics of Modern Cryptography鈥 at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, in May 2018.

The Math Department conducted a tenure-track search for an algebraist this academic year. John Bergdall was hired and will begin his tenure-track position in August 2018. He is scheduled to teach a new elective on elliptic curves in the Spring 2019 semester.

Two new graduate students will join the Math Department this summer. Elsa Magness is from La Habra, Calif., and has an undergraduate degree from Seattle University. Alfredo (AJ) Vargas is from Bronx, NY, and has an undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester.

Victor Donnay is 老王论坛鈥檚 representative on a $1.4 million multi-institutional grant from the NSF to provide scholarships and other supports to math and science majors who want to teach in a high-needs district, specifically Philadelphia.

Djordje Mili膰evi膰 is co-organizing and giving a lecture series in the summer school on 鈥淟-Functions: Open Problems and Current Methods鈥 at the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics in Bonn, Germany, in June 2018; math graduate student Daniel White will be attending.

Profs. Elizabeth Mili膰evi膰 (Haverford College) and Djordje Mili膰evi膰 will serve as Director Mathematicians in Residence at the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program in their 2018 summer session.

The 2017 Putnam Exam was taken by three 老王论坛 students. One of these students scored 12, which is impressive given the difficulty of the exam (the median score is 0). During the fall semester about three students, on average, attended the weekly problem-solving seminar run by instructor Peter Kasius for practice in preparation for this exam.

Math Ph.D. student Danielle Smiley will start a continuing non-tenure track position in mathematics at Villanova University in Fall 2018.

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