April 27-29, 2023
In May 1998, the UNL Department of Mathematics and Statistics welcomed back alumni and donors to our Centennial Celebration as we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first Ph.D. awarded by our department. Now, 25 years later, the UNL Department of Mathematics (Statistics became a separate department in 2003) will host another celebration to commemorate achievements over the past 25 years.
Conference Materials
The conference includes six featured speakers:
Friday Morning Speaker
John Meakin, Ph.D.
Milton Mohr Emeritus Professor
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Mathematics
Friday Morning Speaker
Gopi Shah Goda, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow
Stanford University, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Friday Afternoon Speaker
Michael Parks, Ph.D.
Director
Computer Science and Mathematics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Friday Afternoon Speaker
Jane Meza, Ph.D.
Associate Vice Chancellor and Professor
Office of Global Engagement and Department of Biostatistics, University of Nebraska Medical Center
Friday Banquet Speaker
Judy Walker
Aaron Douglas Professor of Mathematics and Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty and Academic Affairs
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Saturday Speaker
Graham Leuschke, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Mathematics, Syrcause University
Schedule
Thursday, April 27 | Courtyard Marriott
6 - 8 p.m.
Reception
Bob Wilhelm, Vice Chancellor, Research and Economic Development
Friday, April 28 | NIC Conference Center
8:15 a.m.
Registration Opens
8:45 a.m.
Welcome
Petronela Radu, Leland J. and Dorothy H. Olson Professor and Chair, Department of Mathematics
Mark Button, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Amy Goodburn, Sr. Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean, Undergraduate Education
9:00 am
Keynote | Research and graduate education in mathematics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln: A pocket history
John Meakin, Milton Mohr Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
9:55 am
Keynote | Lessons Learned from Math 107H to the White House
Gopi Shah Goda, Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford University
10:45 am
Break
11:15 am
Special Session Talks
11:15 am
Mathematical modeling and analysis in population dynamics
Yu Jin, Associate Professor, UNL Department of Mathematics
Inverse Problems and Pulmonary Imaging
Jennifer Mueller, Professor, Colorado State University
The Day in the Life of a NASA Mathematician
Laura White, aerospace engineer, NASA Langley Research Center
Student Success in First Year Courses
Allan Donsig, Professor and Vice Chair, UNL Department of Mathematics
11:45 am
Some of Us Have Gone Nonlocal
Mikil Foss, Professor, UNL Department of Mathematics
Graphs, neural networks, and emergent dynamics in the brain
Katie Morrison, Associate Professor, University of Northern Colorado
Becoming the Spreadsheet Lady
Amy Bouska, former managing director, Tillinghast
Reach Back and Go Forward
Raegan Higgins, Associate Professor & Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Success, Texas Tech University
12:15 - 1:15 pm
Lunch
1:15 pm
Keynote | Real-World Impacts of Mathematics
Michael Parks, Director, Computer Science and Mathematics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
2:15 pm
Panel | My graduate school experience.
Reflections from women who earned PhDs at UNL.
Raegan Higgins (2008), Katie Morrison (2012), Jennifer Mueller (1997), Kristin Pfabe (1995), and Karina Uhing (2020)
Moderators: Isabel Safarik and Austin Eide, Graduate Students, Department of Mathematics
3:05 pm
Break
3:30 pm
Keynote | What I learned from the question I asked as an undergraduate: What can I do with a math degree?
Jane Meza, UNMC Associate Vice Chancellor, Office of Global Engagement and Professor, Department of Biostatistics
4:30 pm
Special Session Talks #2
4:30 p.m.
Finding spanning structures in random graphs – a brief survey
Xavier Pérez Giménez, Associate Professor, UNL Department of Mathematics
Innovations in First-Year Mathematics Courses: Using Research to Inform Practice
Karina Uhing, Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska at Omaha
A Glimpse of Mathematics Research at the National Labs
Derek DeSantis, staff scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory
The Transformative Experience of Teaching Math in Prison
Kristie Pfabe, Professor and Chair, Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Nebraska Wesleyan University
5:00 p.m.
Approximate finite-dimensional representations of groups
Chris Schafhauser, Assistant Professor, UNL Department of Mathematics
Structural results in commutative algebra
Josh Pollitz, NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Utah
Math in the City: Comparing Neural Network and Regression Models in Predicting Lancaster County Housing Prices
Levi Heath, UNL postdoctoral associate and Gabe Payson, Math in the City student
Serving the Needs of K-12 Mathematics Teachers in the Post-Covid Era
Matt Larson, Associate Superintendent for Instruction, Lincoln Public Schools and former President, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
5:30 pm
Reception
Cash Bar Available
6:00 pm
Banquet
Keynote | Women in Math at Nebraska
Judy Walker, Aaron Douglas Professor of Mathematics and UNL Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty and Academic Affairs
Saturday, April 29 | Avery Hall
8:00 a.m.
Registration Open
8:30 am
Panel | Using Mathematics Outside of Academia
Panelists: Josh Brown-Kramer (Ocuvera), Paula Egging (Bryan Health), Jesse Moeller (SpaceX), Michael Parks (Oak Ridge), Laura White (NASA)
9:30 am
Keynote | Climbing the Chimney
Graham Leuschke, Professor and Chair, Department of Mathematics, Syracuse University
10:30 am
Break
10:45 am
Special Session Talks #3
10:45 am
Topological conjecture-busting
Mark Brittenham, Professor, UNL Department of Mathematics
One Mathematician’s Experience of Data Science in Healthcare
Paula Egging, Data Scientist, Bryan Health Systems
Fall Prevention with AI at Ocuvera
Josh Brown Kramer, senior data scientist, Ocuvera and Lucas Sabalka, chief data and analytics officer, Ocuvera
NebraskaMATH goes to Africa
Michelle Homp, Associate Professor of Practice and NMSSI Director, UNL
11:15 am
From Prüfer rings to geproci sets: a history of commutative algebra and algebraic geometry at Nebraska
Tom Marley, Professor, UNL Department of Mathematics
My Mathematical Journey (So Far)
Anisah Nu’Man, Assistant Professor, Spelman College
Development of online systems for monitoring behaviors of individual animals in livestock production
Brittney Keel-Mercer, research animal geneticist, USDA
My Mathematics Learning Journey: The Power of Sense-Making
Delise Andrews, Grades 3-5 mathematics coordinator, Lincoln Public Schools
11:40 am
115 years since Felix Klein’s naming of the double discontinuity
Yvonne Lai, Milton Mohr Associate Professor, UNL Department of Mathematics
After grad school: from low-dimensional topology to network topology
Jesse Moeller, Software Engineer, SpaceX
Oh, the places you can go!
Lisa Davis, adjunct operations researcher, RAND corporation
From Student to Educator: A Mathematical Journey
Katie Soto, Professional Development Specialist, Educational Service Unit 9
12:10 pm
Closing Session
Petronela Radu, Leland J. and Dorothy H. Olson Professor and Chair, Department of Mathematics