Colloquium Series 2025-2026

This colloquium is sponsored by the Department of Mathematics & Statistics
For more information, contact the colloquium chair, Dr. Michael Kerckhove.

Upcoming:

This colloquium is sponsored by the Department of Mathematics & Statistics
For more information, contact the colloquium chair, Dr. Michael Kerckhove.

Wednesday, September 17, at noon in Jepson Faculty Lounge

Student Summer Research Presentations 

Speaker(s): Andrew Guo, Tianhao Jiang, Zijie Mu, Steve Xu, Ziyao Yu—Jeremy LeCrone, Mentor

Title: How Interest Rates Affect Wealth and Consumption: A Control-Theory Perspective

Abstract: This project investigates how the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy can be used to influence household wealth and consumption within a dynamic system. The economy is modeled as a control system, where household behavior is described by a set of differential equations. The Fed acts as a controller, using the interest rate to guide the system toward a "target zone" where both wealth and consumption are sustainable. 

Speaker(s): Sally Brouhard, Jacob Martin, Beckett Rebele-Henry, Sammie Ritchie, Dan Schwartz, and Pepe Sanchez-Menchen—Jim Davis, Mentor

Title: Construction of Generalized Denniston Partial Difference Sets

Abstract: Partial difference sets are used to construct error correcting codes with efficient encoding and decoding algorithms. Our team worked on constructing new partial difference sets in groups that are not elementary abelian. We will describe what we mean by a partial difference set, and we will outline how we were able to construct some new examples.

Speaker(s): Gabby Singer, Chen Peng, Rachel Tan, Marelin Lopez Gregorio, Jonathan Zhang, Yudong Liang--Marcella Torres, Mentor

Title: Developing a Virtual Tissue Model of Airway Remodeling in Response to Inhaled Toxicants 

Abstract: Airway remodeling caused by inhaled toxicants like wood smoke involves complex interactions between immune cells, epithelial damage, and tissue restructuring that leads to fibrosis and respiratory disease. Our team began the development of a hybrid computational model combining ordinary differential equations with spatial cellular automata to simulate these biological processes. We will describe how biological hypotheses can be translated to network models and represented with spatial cell behavior modeling in CompuCell3D, and we will present some of our experimental validation.

Wednesday, October 1, at noon in Weinsten Brown Alley Room

Speaker: Michael Marsh-Soloway, PhD., Teaching Faculty of Literatures, Languages, and Cultures and Director, Global Studio, University of Richmond

Title: The Mathematical Mind of F. M. Dostoevsky, Imaginary Numbers, Non-Euclidean Geometry, and Infinity

Abstract: The Mathematical Mind of F.M. Dostoevsky: Imaginary Numbers, Non-Euclidean Geometry, and Infinity by Michael Marsh-Soloway (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2024) unearths subtexts in works by Dostoevsky that connect to his years as a student at the Main Engineering School in St. Petersburg from 1838 to 1843. When Dostoevsky was arrested in 1848 for his role in the radicalized Petrashevsky Circle and sentenced to compulsory military service in Siberia, most materials from the period of his education were confiscated and destroyed by the Russian Secret Police. To address the gap in primary source material from the period of Dostoevsky’s education, Marsh-Soloway conducted archival research in Russia throughout 2014 to reconstruct the curriculum that the author engaged at the Main Engineering School and that helped to shape his artistic imagination. Tracing back to his education and private readings across the sciences, there are elements in his literary works that communicate acute awareness of advanced mathematical principles and debates. Albert Einstein even reported that he was inspired by Dostoevsky after winning the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics. The book explores the significance of embedded mathematical concepts relative to the formulation of his metaphysical arguments and creative process.

Wednesday, October 22, at noon in Jepson Hall 120

Speaker: Alison Marr, Professor and Garey Chair of Mathematics, Southwestern University

Title: TBA

Abstract:

Monday, October 27 at noon in Jepson Hall 120

Speaker: Shuxing Li, PhD., Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Delaware

Title: TBA

Abstract: