Colloquia

Department Colloquia

In a typical semester, four or more colloquium talks are given on mathematical topics that are accessible, interesting and new to students. The speakers, usually visitors from other institutions, aim their talks at an undergraduate audience. Students can broaden their knowledge and awareness of mathematics at these venues. Both before and after the talk, there are opportunities to chat with the speaker as well as with faculty members and other students. If you have questions about the colloquia, contact the department chair to find out who is the acting coordinator.

Below are the scheduled colloquia for 2021/2022.  Unless otherwise noted, all talks are hour-long.  

Date Speaker Title
11/30/21 Jingchen (Monika) Hu Ph.D.

Data privacy protection and utility preservation through Bayesian data synthesis: a case study on Airbnb listings

     
3/3/21 Brittney Bailey Ph.D Clinical Trials and the Problem of Missing Data
3/10/21 Nianqiao (Phyllis) Ju '16 Bernoulli, Sum of Bernoullis, and Markov Chains
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martha Davenport Heard Lecture

The annual Martha Davenport Heard Lecture takes place each fall.  Our past Heard lecturers have been:

  • 2002-2003: Robin Lock, St. Lawrence College (Random Behavior: An essential tool in the statistician's toolbox)
  • 2003-2004: Peter Winkler, Dartmouth College (Probability and Intuition)
  • 2004-2005: Art Benjamin, Harvey Mudd College (Mathemagics)
  • 2005-2006: Sir Randolph Bacon III, sponsored by his cousin-in-law, Colin Adams, Williams College (Blown Away: what Knot to Do When Sailing)
  • 2006-2007: Jennifer Quinn, Executive Director of the Association for Women in Mathematics (Determinants via Determined Ants)
  • 2007-2008: Jill Pipher, Brown University (Public key cryptography, lattices and NTRU)
  • 2008-2009: Karen Parshall, University of Virginia (Internationalization of Mathematics in a World of Nations: 1800-1960)
  • 2009-2010: Francis Su, Harvey Mudd College (Voting in Agreeable Soceties)
  • 2010-2011: Carolyn Gordan, Dartmouth College (You can't hear the shape of a drum)
  • 2011-2012: Tara Holm, Cornell University (Dance of the Astonished Topologist (or How I Left Squares and Hexes for Math))
  • 2012-2013: Setyan Davados, Williams College (The World of Particle Collisions)
  • 2013-2014: Ruth Charney, Brandeis University (From Robotics to Geometry)
  • 2014-2015: Dan Rockmore, Dartmouth College (Reading, writing, and 'rithmetic - the mathematics of text analysis)
  • 2015-2016: Garth Isaac, Lehigh University (What's your order?)
  • 2016-2017: Margaret Robinson, Mount Holyoke College (The wonderful world of p-adic numbers where the discrete meets the continuous)
  • 2017-2018: Tom Garrity, Williams College (On Some Wonders of Factoring and Its Many Choices)
  • 2018-2019: Diana Thomas, West Point (Who should take 10,000 steps per day?)
  • 2019-20: Karen Saxe, AMS (Mathematics and social justice)