Introduction
The Vanderbilt University Undergraduate Seminar in Mathematics is designed to show the undergraduate community at Vanderbilt some fascinating and exciting sides of mathematics. During the course of each semester, we'll feature talks by graduate students and professors on a variety of topics in mathematics, from set theory and abstract algebra to analysis and applied mathematics. Each talk will be interesting and accessible to undergraduates, whether they're math majors or not.
Our goal is to show students the beauty and power of mathematical ideas they might not see in their regular coursework. Our hope is that those same students will develop a better idea of, and a keener interest in, what mathematics is and what mathematics can do.
For more information, e-mail mathnpizza@gmail.com.
Read the Vanderbilt Register story about the Undergraduate Seminar in Mathematics!
Spring 2007 Schedule
The talks for Spring 2007 will begin in February. Any date without a speaker listed is still available for a volunteer to present on that day.
The talks will usually be from 7:00-8:00 PM, Tuesday evenings in Stevenson Center 1206.
FREE PIZZA will be provided!
Speaker: Alex Popkin
Have you ever looked at a painted map and wondered whether it could be colored with fewer colors? This may seem like an unusual problem, but in fact many mathematicians have worked on the four color problem: can any map be painted with four colors such that no two adjacent regions have the same color? Several different solutions were offered before the final proof was found using computers in the 1970's.
Speaker: Tara Davis
Did you ever wonder exactly what the real numbers are? Where do they come from and what interesting properties do they have? We will show how the real numbers are built up from the rationals, and explain that this was necessary because the rationals are "incomplete." We will also speak about other ways to "complete" them, leading to a different version of the real numbers.
Speaker: Justin Fitzpatrick
The question of how many ways there are to form a group of k things from a group of n things is a very natural question that arises frequently in various real-life situations. In this talk, I'll define permutations and combinations, show how they are calculated and related to one another, and demonstrate several interesting applications.
Speaker: Adam Dailey-McIlrath
This talk will present some fundamental examples from mathematical biology. We will explore some simple biological systems by constructing and analyzing differential equations.
Speaker: Hannah Callender
The field of mathematical biology is a relatively new yet rapidly growing area of research. Opportunities are endless, and employers across the board (from industry to academia) are looking to hire people in such interdisciplinary fields. This talk will be somewhat of a review and a continuation of last week's seminar in mathematical modeling. I will discuss several different applications (including population dynamics, spread of infectious diseases, and complex cellular signaling networks) as well as introduce the power of computer simulations in helping us understand the complex interactions within the system we have set out to model.
Speaker: Casey Leonetti
Contrary to popular belief, most mathematicians don't spend their days using calculators and computers to compute answers to really hard word problems. In fact, most mathematicians rarely deal with numbers other than 0, 1, e, i, and pi. Unfortunately, students usually don't get a glimpse of real mathematics until late in their college careers - long past the point at which most students stop taking math courses. In this talk, we'll attempt to uncover what it is that mathematicians really do.
Past Talks
2006 Fall Schedule
2006 Spring Schedule
2005 Fall Schedule
2005 Spring Schedule
2004 Fall Schedule
2003 Spring Schedule
2002 Spring Schedule
2001 Fall Schedule
2001 Spring Schedule
Site Maintained by Hannah Callender
hannah.l.callender@vanderbilt.edu
Last Updated
April 1, 2007