Math Club Events Archive

2024	Spring	Fall
2023	Spring	Fall
2022	Spring	Fall
2021	Spring	Fall
2020	Spring	Fall
2019	Spring	Fall
2018	Spring	Fall
2017	Spring	Fall
2016	Spring	Fall
2015	Spring	Fall
2014	Spring	Fall
2013	Spring	Fall
2012	Spring	Fall
2011	Spring	Fall
2010	Spring	Fall
2009	Spring	Fall
2008		Fall

Spring 2024

Thursday, February 8, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Presentation by Wolfgang Allred

Title: Fantastic Fixed Points and Where to Find Them

Have you ever felt like you are spinning out of control? Have you ever looked out at our ever-changing world and wished for something solid to hold onto? Do you wish that your points would do as they're told and stay put? If this sounds like you, look no further than the wonderful world of fixed-point theorems. In this talk, we'll find learn to find stability amidst the chaos using a variety of theorems from several different areas of math, some familiar, and some not so familiar.

Thursday, February 22, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Presentation by Fares Soufan

Title: On the Parity of Generalized Frobenius Partitions

Mathematicians have been studying numbers for as long as anyone could remember. One way in which they have been doing that is by studying different ways an integer could be "partitioned". An integer partition is loosely a way in which you can write this integer as a sum of other positive integers. This simple idea has created rich subfields of mathematics studying integer partitions and q-series. Many prominent mathematicians including (but not limited to) Ramanujan have produced wonderful results in this field. In this talk, we will look at a specific kind of integer partition, and "almost count" how many each integer could have.

Thursday, March 21, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Pi Mu Epsilon Social Event

Founded at Syracuse University in 1914, Pi Mu Epsilon is dedicated to the promotion of mathematics and the recognition of mathematical scholarship among students in postsecondary institutions. The Nebraska Alpha Chapter at UNL, founded in 1928, was the 15th chapter out of currently over 400 around the country. We would like to invite all our members, former members, and all math majors who would like to join Pi Mu Epsilon this academic year to our social event.

Thursday, March 28, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Presentation by Dakota White

Title: Codeword Cipher

Modern encryption stems from a history that reliant on the histories of secret communications and mathematical knowledge, with one often driving the other. This talk will briefly outline this history, highlighting key tenants of encryption and decryption, the math behind important encryption systems, and get our hands dirty with some light cryptanalysis!

Thursday, April 04, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Course Preview for Fall 2024

Please see the recording in this link

Thursday, April 18, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Presentation by Professor Adam Larios

Title: The mathematics of fluids and flames

Have you ever wondered how the chaotic patterns in a dancing flame or swirling plasma can be captured through mathematics? Join us as we explore the captivating world of the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation, a mathematical model that doesn’t play by the usual rules and sheds light on these complex phenomena. This equation is similar to those that model the behavior of flowing water, providing a unique bridge between the elements of fire and water. During our discussion, we'll dive into how certain modifications can simplify the equation to make it more approachable while preserving its intriguing properties. To bring these abstract concepts to life, we’ll show you colorful animations that demonstrate the dynamic behavior of the solutions. Whether you’re deeply passionate about mathematics or simply curious about how equations can describe natural phenomena, this talk will offer a fresh perspective on the beauty and complexity of math in motion.

Friday, May 3, 4 pm in 115 Avery Hall:

Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture by Professor Richard Hoshino

Title: Mathematical Problem-Solving and Computational Thinking

The core of the talk will be three mathematical puzzles, all of which will be accessible to every person in the audience. In the process of solving these three puzzles, the four principles of Computational Thinking will be uncovered. Together we will discover how this "21st-century mindset" can enable us to tackle complex real-life problems with both confidence and impact.

Please see more detail in the link

Fall 2023

Thursday, November 30, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Panel on internship opportunities for undergraduate students

Panelists: Layla Montemayor (senior), Abby Hanson (junior), and Elizabeth Weber (junior)

Three undergraduate students will talk about their summer internship experiences. This panel is organized by the Association for Women in Math (AWM) student chapter.

Thursday, November 9, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Presentation by Professor Kazuo Yamazaki

Title: Introduction to Math Modeling

Do you enjoy being creative? Do you love applying interesting mathematics? Then math modeling is for you! Modeling is a process that uses math to provide insight into real world phenomena; see this video for a quick introduction. Mathematical modeling not only benefits the subjects being modeled, but also opens the door for more interesting math to be explored. Like most mathematics, problems are open ended and can have many solutions.

Thursday, October 26, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Course Preview

Come to the preview of the upper-level math courses offered in the Spring 2024 semester! Faculty teaching them will describe course content, format, prerequisites, and will answer your questions.

A video recording of the course preview is available.

Thursday, October 5, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Presentation by undergraduate student Kolton O'Neal

Title: Classifying Groups by Orbit Structure: the Results of Undergraduate Research

Every summer, there are Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). We look at the experience of an REU as well as the research topic at the 2023 Texas State REU. The topic was classifying certain mathematical objects called groups according to a notion of their complexity called the rank.

Thursday, September 14, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Meet and greet with faculty undergraduate advisor Professor Alex Zupan

Come meet the new faculty undergraduate advisor, professor Alex Zupan, in an informal setting. Professor Zupan will introduce himself and speak about ways in which he can help students make the most of their math major.

Thursday, August 31, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Presentation by Dr. Morgen Bills

Title: Zero Divisors, Matrices, and Perfect Matchings

Abstract: This will be an introduction to zero divisors particularly in matrices. After that I will describe how to use perfect matchings to represent certain matrices (and multiply like matrices). Finally, I will try to touch on why all of this might answer a question from the last century.

Spring 2023

Thursday, April 13, 5 pm in 348 Avery Hall:

AWM student chapter event: Q & A with a Data Scientist

Meet data scientists Paula Egging (Bryan Health) and Arlene Larios (Speedway Motors, Inc). Students of all genders are welcome to this event.

Thursday, April 20, 5:30 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Introduction to the new Data Science Major

Presentation by Doug Pellatz, Senior Academic Advisor

Staring with the upcoming Fall 2023 semester, the University will launch a new major program in Data Science. The Data Science major is a collaboration between the Department of Mathematics, the Department of Statistics, and the School of Computing, and degrees with the Data Science major will be offered by the three Colleges where these areas reside. This presentation will provide information about the new Data Science major including its core course requirements and eight focus area options. Since this major will be offered in three Colleges, the differences between the three degrees will be highlighted. The overlap with the current Mathematics major will also be discussed.

Wednesday, April 26, 4 pm in 115 Avery Hall:

16th annual Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture by Professor Alex Iosevich of University of Rochester

Title: The beautiful world of Erdős geometry: points, lines and distances

Abstract: Paul Erdős considered his greatest contribution to geometry to be his distance problem, which asks, how many distinct distances are determined by N points in d-dimensional Euclidean space, d≥2. Generically, the number of distances is approximately N², but distance may repeat, so the critical question is, what is the smallest possible number of distinct distances? We are going to discuss some elementary aspects of this problem, related problems in combinatorial geometry, and some unexpected applications. The emphasis will be interconnectivity between the various areas of modern mathematics.

Thursday, April 6, 5 pm via Zoom:

Math Talk by Professor Glenn Ledder

Title: Three Predator-Prey Models and Their Analysis

Abstract: Predator-prey models are among the most fundamental models in mathematical biology. They typically include processes for prey growth, predator death, and predation, but these processes can be modeled using different functions. In this talk, we begin with the most basic predator-prey model and continue with two more sophisticated models. Along the way, we'll look at graphical and analytical methods for finding the long-term behavior of dynamical systems with two components.

Thursday, March 30, 5 pm via Zoom

Course Preview for Fall 2023 ( led by Tefjol Pllaha)

The Math Club will host the Fall 2023 Course Preview on Thursday, March 30th at 5 pm on Zoom (Room: 944 0956 5903, Passcode: MathClub). Come to the preview of the upper-level math courses offered next semester! Faculty teaching them will describe course content, format, prerequisites, and will answer your questions. Here are the Advanced Math courses planned for Fall 2023:

MATH 412: Modern Geometry (no preview planned currently)
MATH 417: Group Theory
MATH 424: Introduction to Partial Differential Equations
MATH 430: Ordinary Differential Equations
MATH 435: Math in the City
MATH 439: Mathematical Biology
MATH 445: Number Theory
MATH 460: History of Mathematics
MATH 487: Probability Theory

Here is link for the recording.

Thursday, March 23, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Math Talk by Maciej Piwowarcyk

Title: One-Cut Origami

Abstract: The noble pursuit of origami has been around for centuries. Throughout that time, there has been one question that’s been burning inside of everyone’s head: Given a straight-edge polygon, can you fold the shape such that all of its lines lie on top of each other? It took a few hundred years to sort out the details, but we’ll go over it by the end of this talk. That is, not before we go over the history of the problem and the many people who have contributed to it. Audience participation is encouraged and appreciated!

Pizza and soda will be provided!

Thursday, January 26, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Info session on research opportunities for undergraduates at UNL - UCARE

Does the idea of applying your math skills outside of the classroom interest you? Did you know that you can earn a stipend to engage in research while you study right here at UNL? If interested, you should highly consider applying for UCARE!

A panel of students will share their experiences, explaining how to bring your math major to a new level with research and allowing you to get a better understanding of what doing math research is like and the UCARE application process.

Thursday, February 9, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Latex workshop

LaTeX is software used around the world, especially in the realm of watches. This program allows users to communicate text and equations in a cleaner, more scientific way. Many jobs, internships, and courses expect applicants to be familiar with such programs as it truly elevates the quality of work. This tool allows users to create customized resumes, professional-looking papers, quality worksheets, and more.

This workshop will cover the basics of LaTeX and demonstrate how to utilize it beyond typing in an equation. Please attend with a free overleaf account created or TeXshop already installed.

Thursday, February 23, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Math talk by Lawrence Seminario-Romero

Title: Modeling plant-herbivore interactions when a type III functional response is present

Abstract: The functional response measures the consumption rate per predator as a function of prey density. The most notable functional response models are those attributed to C.S. Holling who described three types: I, II, and III. The type II and III Holling functional responses are empirically supported, with type I being the least realistic for predators. A lot of previous work on modeling predator-prey interactions utilized a type II functional response. For this talk, we will analyze a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations that models plant-herbivore interactions when a type III functional response is involved. The analysis consists of nondimensionalization, and the existence, uniqueness and stability of equilibria. We also use numerical estimates obtained from MATLAB to determine

Fall 2022

Thursday, December 1, 5 pm, in Avery 351

Shahriyar (Shah) Roshan-Zamir

Title: REUs, what, why, and how.

Abstract: What are REU's and why should you apply? REU stands for Research Experience for Undergraduates and is held in many fields. It started in mathematics around 1982-83 when NSF started funding a limited number of universities for summer research programs. The program stopped for a couple of years due to budget cuts and restarted in 1987 and has been running since. The idea remains the same: exposing undergraduate students to research in mathematics. Whether you are considering graduate school or industry, an REU is an invaluable experience. In this talk, I will provide information about REU's, the application process, and what to consider (or not consider!) when applying.

Pizzas and sodas will be provided!

Thursday, November 10, 5 pm, in Avery 351

Math talk by Zach Norwood

Title: Colourful Graphs and Fermat's Last Theorem.

Abstract: Before his tragic death at the age of 26, Frank Ramsey proved a beautiful and influential theorem about edge-colored graphs, popularly understood to guarantee that any apparently disordered system must contain a large ordered subsystem. We will state and prove Ramsey’s Theorem, explore the relationship between its finite and infinite versions, and conclude with a surprising connection to Fermat’s Last Theorem from number theory

Thursday, October 27, 5 pm, in Avery 351

Course Preview for Spring 2023 Math Courses

Come to the preview of the upper-level math courses offered next semester! Faculty teaching them will describe course content, format, prerequisites, and will answer your questions.

The upper-level math courses offered in Spring 2023 are

Math 415 – Linear Transformations
Math 423 – Complex Analysis
Math 428 – Operations Research
Math 435 – Math in the City
Math 447 – Numerical Linear Algebra
Math 471 – Topology

Thursday, October 6, 5 pm, in Avery 351

Graduate School Information Session

Whether you are graduating this academic year or a few years from now, come learn about graduate programs available in pure and applied mathematics as well as financial mathematics and data science. Our faculty and graduate students Molly Creagar and Kirsten Morris will talk about what graduate school is like and how to choose and apply for graduate programs and fellowships. We will also look at sample application materials from former UNL students. Pizza and soda will be provided.

Thursday, September 15, 5 pm, in Avery 351

Pi Mu Epsilon Social Event

Founded at Syracuse University in 1914, Pi Mu Epsilon is dedicated to the promotion of mathematics and the recognition of mathematical scholarship among university students. The Nebraska Alpha Chapter at UNL, founded in 1928, was the 15th chapter out of currently over 403 around the country. All Pi Mu Epsilon members and students interested in joining Pi Mu Epsilon are invited to come socialize together informally. Pizzas and sodas are provided .

Thursday, September 1, 6 pm, in Avery 348 (3rd floor lounge)

Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) student chapter game night

All undergraduate students are invited to our AWM game night (with pizza!). This will be a fun, casual event to help you meet other math students and learn about opportunities to get involved. We will have a variety of games (party, collaborative, strategy, etc.) but feel free to bring your favorites! We also have open leadership positions for those interested in participating in future events. Did we mention that there will be pizza?!?

All students, regardless of gender identity, are welcome to attend. Please email Amy Bennett (abennett14@unl.edu) if you have any questions!

Spring 2022

Wednesday, April 27, 4 pm, in Avery 19 (lower level)

with Isabel Safarik (UNL Mathematics)

Title: Exploring the Navier Stokes Equations and their consequences

Abstract: As an undergraduate, I wondered how people went from being a calculus student to doing research in mathematics. I've learned that sometimes, all it takes is a problem to inspire you. In this talk, we will explore the (problematic) set of equations that inspired me--the Navier Stokes Equations. Additionally, I will discuss some of my current interests and projects involving non-local (peridynamic) operators and computations in Matlab.

Wednesday, April 20, 4 pm, in Avery 19 (lower level)

with Professor Grover (UNL Engineering)

Title: Chaos is a friend of mine: Dynamical systems theory enables design of deep space missions and fluid robots

Abstract: The geometrical framework of dynamical systems theory was originally developed by Poincare to study the complicated (chaotic) dynamics of the three bodies moving under mutual gravitational forces. In this talk, we will first discuss the application of this theory to explain the (sometimes puzzling) motion of celestial bodies, as well as to design non-intuitive fuel-efficient space missions to moon and beyond. A typical particle meanders through the phase space of an N-body problem by travelling on invariant manifolds that connect different equilibria and periodic orbits. These invariant manifolds, created by the competing gravitational forces, act as `interplanetary superhighways'. Next, we will discuss the far reaching generalizations of this framework in the context of fluid mechanics, where we extend this theory to infinite dimensions and explain the complex dynamics of a new class of robotic fluid systems known as `active nematics’.

Wednesday, April 13, 4 pm via Zoom (ID: 947 8772 9456; Password: MATH-CLUB), and broadcasting in Avery 115

Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture by Professor Ken Ono (Thomas Jefferson Professor and chair of Math Department, University of Virginia)

Title: What is the Riemann hypothesis, and why does it matter?

Abstract: The Riemann hypothesis provides insights into the distribution of prime numbers, stating that the nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function have a “real part” of one-half. A proof of the hypothesis would be world news and fetch a $1 million Millennium Prize. In this lecture, the speaker will discuss the mathematical meaning of the Riemann hypothesis and why it matters. Along the way, he will tell tales of mysteries about prime numbers and highlight some recent advances.

Thursday, April 7, 4 pm

Fall 2022 Course Preview (via Zoom link https://unl.zoom.us/j/96126104539)

Did you miss the course preview on Thursday, April 7th? Click here to watch a recording of the Zoom meeting.

Come learn more about the 400-level Advanced Math courses planned for the Fall 2022 semester:

MATH 412: Modern Geometry
MATH 417: Group Theory
MATH 424: Introduction to Partial Differential Equations
MATH 425: Mathematical Analysis
MATH 435: Math in the City
MATH 452: Graph Theory
MATH 460: History of Mathematics
MATH 489: Stochastic Processes - Professor Du wasn't able to attend.

Wednesday, March 23, 4 pm in Avery 19 (lower level)

with Professor Bobaru (UNL Engineering).

Title: “Surprising connections between tornadoes and … fracture?!? and How peridynamic (nonlocal) models can help improve safety”

Abstract: Materials can fail from static or dynamic (impact) loading. The collapse of the Champlain Towers South, a 12-story beachfront condominium in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida, in 2021 happened from corrosion-induced fracture under static loading. Windows of spacecraft or in buildings in the tornado alley, can fail because of impact with debris. If we could simulate these types of phenomena and predict what would happen under various loading scenarios, we could improve the design of materials and structures to increase the safety and avoid catastrophic failures. The problems mentioned above tend to be difficult to predict using computational modeling and simulation: fracture in glass appears, at first, to be unpredictable, with various types of cracks intermingled; corrosion attack on the reinforcing bars in concrete leads to expansion of the bar (from lower-density corrosion products) which induces tensile loads and cracks growing in concrete in unexpected places. For the past 50-60 years, the approach for predicting this behavior was via mathematical models based on Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) and computational models (e.g. the Finite Element Method) that approximate solutions of such PDE-based problems. These descriptions, however, have severe limitations and lead to solutions with mathematical singularities that do not exist in reality. These models also require ad-hoc rules for how damage should form in a material and how it should evolve (turn left, right, go straight, spread diffusely?), which rarely match the experimental observations. In this talk, I will explain how our novel peridynamic (nonlocal) mathematical models have been able to predict, for the first time ever, physical behavior which, up to that point, was considered “unpredictable”. I will also discuss some recent computational methods that allow us to speed-up the computation of these nonlocal models.

Wednesday, February 2, 4 pm online via Zoom (ID: 947 8772 9456; Password: MATH-CLUB)

with Sonya Irons (Director of Undergraduate Research) and Professor Petronela Radu (Undergraduate Chair and Advisor)

Title: Undergraduate Research Opportunities in Math

Abstract: Come learn about undergraduate research in math! Undergraduate research is a great way to

Build your resume
Develop concrete skills
Prepare for grad school
Foster relationships with faculty and enrich your education
Get paid!

Join us to learn more about getting involved in research at UNL, participating in the McNair Scholars Program, and finding REUs or other math research opportunities. This is also a great time to get advice on UCARE applications before the February 15th deadline.

Fall 2021

Wednesday, November 17, 4 pm online via Zoom

Presentation by Kristen Aldrich, College of Arts and Sciences Career Coach

Title: Internships and Careers in Mathematics

Abstract: Are you interested in how the seven different options for the Mathematics major connect to internship and career opportunities? Are you just getting starting with searching for internship and career opportunities and need some help? The College of Arts and Sciences Career Coaches are available to help with both of those questions. Kristen Aldrich, Career Coach, is going to give a presentation about connecting the different options of the Mathematics major to various career and internship opportunities. Kristen will also be introducing Handshake, the website used by UNL to help connect you with internship, career, and volunteer opportunities.

We want to apologize as there was a technical issue with getting the Zoom meeting started for this event. A recording of the Math Club's Internships and Careers in Mathematics Event can be accessed here.

Wednesday, November 3, 4 pm in a hybrid format: in-person and online via Zoom

Talk by Ana Wright, UNL Mathematics

Title: Flexagons: Mathematics and Paper Folding

Abstract: In 1939 Arthur Stone folded a strip of paper into a flat hexagon with nice symmetry. He discovered that he could pinch his hexagonal creation and turn to three different faces. He and his classmates formed a flexagon committee to study different folded paper objects that can "flex" between a set of states. In this talk, we will explore what kind of flexagons and state graphs are possible and how to make your own flexagons. We will have lots of ready-made flexagons to play with and paper for you to make your own. We will also discuss the known results about these playful objects.

Wednesday, October 27, 4 pm online via Zoom

Advanced Math Course Preview

Come to the preview of the upper-level math courses offered next semester! Faculty teaching them will describe course content, format, prerequisites, and will answer your questions. Courses covered:

Math 415 – Theory of Linear Transformations (Prof. Pitts)
Math 423 – Complex Analysis (Prof. Brittenham)
Math 428 – Principles of Operations Research (Prof. Cohn)
Math 435 – Math in the City (Prof. Rebarber)
Math 433 – Nonlinear Optimization (Prof. Du)
Math 445 – Number Theory (Prof. Wakefield)

A recording of the Math Club's Spring 2022 Course Preview Event can be accessed here.

Wednesday, October 20, 4 pm in a hybrid format: in-person and online via Zoom

Panel: "Getting ready for Grad SchoolApplications" with

Dr. Jamie Radcliffe, Graduate Admissions Coordinator
Jordan Crawford, Graduate Teaching Assistant
Abbey D’Ovidio, Graduate Research Assistant
Kirsten Morris, Graduate Fellow of STEM Diversity

Would you like to know more about the application process and how one can prepare for it? No matter what year you are in, you are warmly welcomed to a panel discussion with the Coordinator of the Graduate Admissions and fellow graduate students.

Wednesday, October 6, 4 pm in a hybrid format: in-person and online via Zoom

Led by Michael Pieper, UNL Mathematics

Title: LaTeX Workshop

Abstract: There is a chance that mathematicians are biased, put simply put, documents produced using LaTeX just look better. The caveat is that it requires an initial investment in order to learn how it works and how to use it. In this workshop, we will cover various topics starting with a beginners guide to get started and then continuing to creating a slideshow presentation and CVs. We will also dedicate some to a Q&A session to answer personalized questions that you may have.

Spring 2021

Friday, April 23, 4 pm via Zoom.

Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture by Professor Ben Brubaker, Head of School of Mathematics, University of Minnesota

Title: Setting your undergraduate research on fire: A parable through ice.

Abstract: We'll talk about recent research in representation theory and combinatorics done by and in collaboration with undergraduates in various formats (including REUs and other summer programs). On the research side, it is a chance to explain how special functions in representation theory arise as generating functions on "ice-type" lattice models and how methods from statistical mechanics allow us to draw conclusions about them. We'll also use each example as an opportunity to talk about the various research formats and programs for undergraduates, and what the benefits, goals, and future possibilities of such formats might be as we are all acquiring new skills and new modes of delivery. For the mathematics, no prior familiarity with combinatorial representation theory is required and terms and concepts will be introduced from scratch.

If you missed this interesting talk, here is the link for the video.

Thursday, April 1, 4 pm via Zoom.

Fall 2021 Course Preview

Description: Come learn more about MATH 417: Group Theory, MATH 424: Introduction to Partial Differential Equations, MATH 430: Ordinary Differential Equations, MATH 435: Math in the City, MATH 439: Mathematical Biology, MATH 450: Combinatorics, and MATH 487: Probability Theory from the course instructors for the Fall 2021 semester.

If you missed the Course Preview event, here is the link for the video.

Thursday, March 18, 4 pm via Zoom.

Math talk by Dr. Beemer, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Title: Coding theory: shielding data from corruption

Abstract: Whenever data is transmitted or stored, the information is vulnerable to errors that can be either random or adversarial in nature. The field of mathematical coding theory addresses this by introducing redundancy into information, resulting in encoded data. In this talk, we will introduce some fundamental concepts in coding theory, including measures of reliability and efficiency, as well as an important class of codes called linear codes. Linear codes are widely used in practice, and their symmetry allows us to more easily understand and compute measures of their performance. However, we will see that this same symmetry makes linear codes a poor choice when a powerful adversary can tamper with transmissions. We will discuss the advantages of introducing a small amount of non-linearity in this setting, resulting in codes that can both correct random errors and detect adversarial tampering.

If you missed this interesting talk, here is the link for the video.

Thursday, March 4, 4 pm via Zoom.

Math talk by George Nasr, UNL Mathematics

Title: From Dice to Polynomials, and Back to Dice

Abstract: Popular board games like Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, and Backgammon rely on a common mechanic—rolling two 6-sided dice and adding the resulting values. But is the labeling on these dice unique? That is, can we change the numbers on the dice so that the probability of getting 2 through 12 remain unchanged? If so, how many labelings are there? In this talk, we'll discuss how polynomials (and more broadly, power series tricks from Calculus) can help us find the answer!

Thursday, February 25, 4 pm via Zoom.

Math talk by Dr. Sangjin Ryu (a.k.a. Professor Otaku), UNL Engineering

Title: The Navier-Stokes Equation for Fluid Dynamics and Its Application in the Movie Industry

Abstract: My Professor Otaku lecture series employs visual pop cultures to explain STEM in informal and casual ways. This Professor Otaku lecture for UNL Math Club is about fluid dynamics, a branch of physics to study motions of fluids, and mathematics, a crucial part of fluid dynamics. In this talk, I will introduce the Navier-Stokes equation for incompressible flow of Newtonian fluids, which is one of the Millennium Problems, and explain how analytic solutions of the simplified N-S equation are related to real flows. Then, I will introduce how solving the N-S equation computationally is used in the movie industry.

If you missed this interesting talk, no problem! Here is the link for the video.

Fall 2020

Thursday, November 5, 4 pm on Zoom at this link, Meeting ID: 977 8593 8251 Passcode: 387117

Math talk by Shahriyar Roshan Zamir

Title: Subgroups of Groups of Units Modulo n

Abstract: The group U(n) of units modulo n is useful in algebra, number theory and computer science. Inspired by Gallian and Rusin’s 1980 paper, we investigate some subgroups of U(n). In particular, we give a complete classification of these subgroups and their factor groups for several special cases.

Thursday, October 22, 4 pm on Zoom this link, password: 542218

Course Preview for Spring 2021

The Math Club's most popular event each semester. The course instructors for the 400-level Math courses scheduled for the Spring 2021 semester will present information about their upcoming courses. The 400-level Advanced Math courses current scheduled for Spring 2021 include MATH 415, MATH 423, MATH 428, MATH 435, MATH 447, and MATH 471.

If you missed the course preview, no problem! Here is the link for the video.

Monday, October 5, 4 pm on Zoom at this link, password: 569393

What is math research and how do I get involved?

AWM Student Chapter Event

The UNL chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics invites you to a panel on Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) on Monday, October 5th from 4 – 5 pm. We will provide a summary of what these types of programs involve, the benefits of participating in undergraduate research, and tips on applying to REUs. There will be plenty of time to address any specific questions you may have. Everyone is welcome at our AWM events regardless of their major; we especially encourage students of all under-represented genders to attend. No membership is required.

Thursday, October 1, 4 pm on Zoom at this link, password: Avery351

Math talk by Jack Jeffries

Title: Sharing a square pizza

Abstract: We might not have had this problem recently, but here's a problem from more normal times. Pizza, as we all know, should be eaten in triangular slices. Given a square pizza, is there a way to cut it into triangular slices of equal size? If we want two, four, or six slices, you'll succeed. If we want three, five, or seven slices, we'll at least struggle. In fact, it's impossible to cut a square into an odd number of triangles of equal area. Even more fun than this fact is the surprising set of tools we'll use to see it. Only a basic familiarity with pizza is assumed as background.

Thursday, September 24, 4:30 pm on Zoom at this link, password Avery351

Math talk by Juliana Bukoski

Title: Symmetry and [Inverse Semi]Groups

Abstract: A group is an important mathematical object that captures the idea of symmetry. For example, rotations and reflections of an equilateral triangle can be expressed as a group. But what about the symmetries of something like the Sierpinski Triangle, which is made up of three smaller Sierpinski Triangles? In this talk, I will define what a group is and give some examples of groups. Then we will look at how we can tweak the definition in order to capture these "partial symmetries".

Tuesday, August 18, 6 pm on Zoom at this link, password UNLAWM

Social gathering hosted by the Association for Women in Mathematics student chapter

Welcome to another semester at UNL!

This semester presents some unique challenges, and a strong social network seems more important than ever. The UNL AWM (Association for Women in Mathematics) chapter invites you to kick off the semester with a friendly online gathering. This will be an opportunity for you to meet fellow math majors, learn about what classes you might be taking together this semester, or discuss common interest within or outside of mathematics. We especially encourage students of all under-represented genders to attend.

Spring 2020

Cancelled: Sunday, April 19, 2 pm in 110 Avery Hall: Undergraduate Math Day

Participate in a quiz bowl-style competition with questions from popular undergraduate mathematics courses for a chance to have fun and earn prizes.

Students of all majors are welcome. Participation prizes will be awarded to all. The winning team will also earn Amazon gift certificates.

Cancelled: Thursday, April 2, 4-5 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Course Preview for Fall 2020

Come find out about the upper level mathematics courses for fall 2020 from the instructors teaching them.

Cancelled: Thursday, March 19, 4-5 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Career Perspectives in Mathematics

Talk by Michael Bieterman from the Boeing Company

The Life and Times of a Mathematical Kid - UNL Math Major and Beyond

Michael Bieterman grew up in Omaha, NE and was an undergraduate math major at UNL, receiving his B.A. degree in 1975. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Maryland at College Park. During most of graduate school and for several years after, Michael held applied math research positions at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He also did a bit of consulting and teaching following his doctorate and spent a very brief time as a visiting scientist at Yale University. For thirty-six years, Michael has had five or six careers within Boeing’s Applied Math group in the Seattle area, where he continues to work as a Technical Fellow.

Michael will tell a story describing his career trajectory, including time at UNL, a simple model for career decision making, and factors governing his choices along the way. His presentation will include descriptions of some math applications, his applied math passions, and what it feels like to do industrial math.

Thursday, February 20, 4-5 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Classifying polytopes in dimensions 4 and beyond Talk by graduate student Brittany Johnson

It is well known that there exists infinitely many regular convex polygons, and that there exists exactly five regular convex polyhedra, more commonly known as the Platonic solids. We will seek to prove these facts and to extend our findings to higher dimension polytopes so that we can gain a better understanding of what happens in dimension 4 and beyond.

February 13-17 : Mathematical Contest in Modeling

The Mathematical Contest in Modeling is a contest where teams of undergraduates use mathematical modeling to present their solutions to real world problems. The 2020 UNL team competing in the MCM consists of Izzat Adly, Alexander Fetzner and Zhuojia (Zoe) Fu.

Thursday, January 30, 4-5 pm in 351 Avery Hall: How to land the perfect job

Kristen Aldrich and Megan Savage, two career coaches from the UNL career services center, will offer tips and answer questions on searching for employment, navigating career fairs and job interviews.

Thursday, January 16 4-5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Info session on research programs for undergraduates: REUs and UCARE

Does the idea of applying your math skills outside of the classroom interest you? Did you know that you can earn a stipend to engage in research while you study right here at UNL? Have you considered traveling to other locations around the country to meet like-minded students and do research together? If so, you should highly consider applying for a UCARE or REU project!

A panel of students will share their research experiences, explaining how to bring your math major to a new level with research and allowing you to get a better understanding of the UCARE and REU application process.

Fall 2019

Thursday, August 29, 4-5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

An Overview of the new Math Major Options

Dr. Petronela Radu and Doug Pellatz will present information about the new math major options for the Fall 2019 semester. Come hear information about the new Mathematics of Physical Phenomena, Mathematical Biology, Mathematical Finance, and Discrete Mathematics and Cryptography options along with updates about the Standard, Education, and Statistics options. More information about how MATH 309 works into the Math major will also be available.

Click here to view a copy of the presentation slides. Questions? Please contact Doug Pellatz.

Thursday, September 12, 4:30-5:30 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

GRE Math information and study session

The GRE Math Subject test is relevant to those who wish to pursue graduate programs in mathematics. Graduate students Karina Uhing and Eric Hopkins will discuss how to prepare for the GRE Math Subject test and will go over some practice problems.

Thursday, September 19, 4-5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Math Modeling: a Collaborative Exploration of Real-World Problems

Presentation by graduate student Nikki Buczkowski.

This talk will present the benefits of participating in math modeling competitions for you (and your future academic or non-academic career). A group of undergraduate students who were involved in math modeling competitions last year will share their insights and experiences.

Wednesday, October 9, 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

Pathways to take in math as an undergraduate

Hosted by the UNL chapter of the Association for Women in Math.

So you're a math major - what do you do with it? This panel will help you figure out the many possibilities. We will have undergraduate and graduate students who have taken the research route as well as some who have taken a more applied approach. Not only will you walk away with different paths you can take throughout college and post-college, you'll also walk away with a free pizza dinner!

Friday, October 11 4-5 pm in 115 Avery Hall: 13-th annual Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture

Using Mathematics to Create Symmetry Patterns

Presented by professor Joseph Gallian - the Morse Alumni Distinguished University Professor of Teaching in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

We explain how to create symmetry patterns using Hamiltonian paths, spanning trees, exponential functions, logarithms, and modular arithmetic. These methods were used to create the image for the 2003 Mathematics Awareness Month poster.

The lecture will be preceded by inductions of new members in the Pi Mu Epsilon honors society.

Thursday, October 17, 12-1:30 pm in 348 Avery Hall: Lunch with Dr. Joyce Yen

Hosted by the UNL chapter of the Association for Women in Math.

The undergraduate chapter of the AWM is pleased to host a lunch with Dr. Joyce Yen for the UNL mathematical community. Food will be provided, and faculty and students at all levels are encouraged to attend! The lunch will be an informal opportunity to get to know Dr. Yen, who is an accomplished UNL alum and the Director of the University of Washington's ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change. In particular, Dr. Yen offers an experienced perspective on promoting diversity and inclusion in STEM fields.

Thursday, October 17, 2-3 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

What do I want to be when I grow up? Tales from a UNL math student

In this talk Dr. Joyce Yen, a 1995 graduate of the UNL math department, will share stories about how her interests in mathematics took her from Nebraska to Michigan to Washington, with stops along the way around the world from Ireland to Greece to New Zealand and beyond. Along the way she found her professional identity expanding from being a mathematician to an engineer to a change agent in science and engineering.

Thursday, October 24, 4-5 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Course preview for Spring 2020

Come find out about the upper level math courses offered in the spring semester from the instructors teaching them!

Friday - Saturday, November 1-9: Student Competition Using Differential Equation Modeling SCUDEM IV 2019

The Student Competition Using Differential Equation Modeling (SCUDEM) is open for three member teams of students at the undergraduate or lower level. SCUDEM takes place over a week-long period that begins on a Friday at each team’s individual home campus and culminates on Competition Saturday at a regional host site in the United States and beyond. Creighton University in Omaha will be hosting competition Saturday for SCUDEM IV on November 9, 2019.

Math Club will organize training sessions for these contests for interested students.

Thursday, November 14, 4-5 pm in 351 Avery Hall:

This Title is False: Hilbert, Gödel, Turing and the Beautiful Futility of Mathematics

Presentation by graduate student J.D. Nir.

In a well known <a, href="https://xkcd.com/435/"> XKCD comic, scientific fields are arranged by purity with mathematics all the way at the end labeled "more pure." We love math because it is rigorous and clear cut; there's a right answer and we know how to find it. We deal with truth and certainty, right?

In this talk, we examine the foundation of these claims. Does math rest on a solid bedrock of truth, or is it turtles all the way down? What does it mean to be "true" anyway? We will investigate the very heart of mathematics and find it is not the well-oiled machine we pretend it is. After pulling back the curtain and seeing math for what it really is, will you still find it beautiful?

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Spring 2019

Thursday-Monday, January 24-28: The COMAP Mathematical Contest in Modeling

Math Club will organize training sessions for these contests for interested students.

Friday - Sunday, January 25-27: The 21st annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics

Participate in this conference for an opportunity to meet outstanding women undergraduates who share your interest in the mathematical sciences. Many of the undergraduate participants, who have already done research, will present their results.

Thursday, January 31, 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: How to land the perfect job

Kristen Aldrich and Megan Savage, two career coaches from the UNL career services center, will offer tips and answer questions on searching for employment, navigating career fairs and job interviews.

Thursday, February 21 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Career Perspectives in Math Lecture

Using Math to Save Lives

Presentation by Lucas Sabalka, senior research officer at Ocuvera.

I think of mathematicians as problem solvers. I’ve been lucky enough in my career to be able to think about plenty of interesting problems. I’ll talk about a few of them, including predicting algal blooms in lakes, modeling the efficiency of next-generation solar cells, and creating 3-D scans of people for form-fitted braces. My current job is with a company called Ocuvera, where the math I do is used to prevent people from falling in the hospital, literally saving lives. My job is to create and train the algorithms we use to find and monitor each patient and teach the computer what behavior increases a patient’s risk of falling. If the algorithms think that a patient is doing something dangerous, our system sends a live streaming video to nurses so they can see what’s happening and respond appropriately: see that the alert is a false alarm, communicate to the patient that they’re on their way, or get to the patient as fast as possible.

Thursday, March 14, 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Countering Gerrymandering with Math

Presentation by professor Steven Dunbar

Gerrymandering is the age-old practice of manipulating voting districts for partisan gain. Recently there has been a surge of interest in using mathematics to detect and study gerrymandering. In fact, this topic is currently a combination of law, political science, politics and mathematics.

This talk will focus on a particular aspect of the mathematics behind the study of gerrymandering, namely the efficiency gap. This is an algebraic formula which appeared in arguments before the Supreme Court last October. Prerequisites for this talk are at the level of calculus and elementary algebra.

Thursday, March 28, 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Course Preview for Fall 2019

Come find out about upper level math classes for the Fall 2019 semester from the instructors teaching these classes.

Saturday, March 30, 1-5 pm in 106 Avery Hall: 1st UNL Undergraduate Math Day

Come participate in a quiz bowl-style event to have fun and earn prizes. All majors are welcome. Students who have taken any of the following classes: MATH 106, 107, 208, 221, and 314 are especially encouraged to participate.

Thursday, April 18, 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: A Preview of the new Math Major Options

Dr. Petronela Radu and Doug Pellatz will present information about the new Math major options coming for the Fall 2019 semester. Come hear information about the new Mathematics of Physical Phenomena, Mathematical Biology, Mathematical Finance, and Discrete Mathematics and Cryptography options along with updates about the Standard, Education, and Statistics options. More information about how MATH 309 works into the Math major will also be available.

Thursday, April 25, 5-6 pm in 18 Avery Hall: AWM Undergraduate Chapter ice cream social

Come celebrate the end of the semester with the Association for Women in Mathematics undergraduate chapter. Drop in any time for some free ice cream and a break from preparing for finals week. We'll also start off with a grad student panel, so you can ask questions about graduation and beyond.

Event Archive

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Fall 2018

Thursday, August 30, 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Math Modeling: a Collaborative Exploration of Real-World Problems

Presentation by graduate student Elizabeth Carlson.

Modeling is a process that uses math to provide insight into real world phenomena; see this video for a quick introduction. Come see how you can apply the math that you know and get involved in math modeling activities right here at UNL.

Thursday, September 13, 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Building spheres using puzzle pieces

Presentation by professor Alex Zupan.

Topologists like to break up complicated objects into small, manageable pieces. As a simple example, a natural way to split the surface of the earth is to divide it into two pieces, the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Of course, the earth's surface can also be cut into many more components, and a natural question is to determine how each of these decompositions is related to any other. We consider the problem of cutting up a sphere into topological puzzle pieces in dimension two, three, and four, describing some recent progress (joint with Jeffrey Meier) on a big, unsolved problem in this area.

Friday, October 19 4-5 pm in 115 Avery Hall: 12-th annual Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture

A New Look at an Old Calculus

Presented by professor Robert Ghrist - Andrea Mitchell professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Calculus has been around for centuries and has a long tradition of applications spanning the modern history of science. However, the current age is characterized by a sweeping array of new potential applications—to machine learning, AI, robotics, neuroscience, genetics, and much more. In addition, both our curricula and our default modes of instruction (chalk, paper, 4-color texts) are not keeping pace with innovation. This talk will be an argument for updating both the content and the mode of visualization of calculus. There will be lots of pictures, new applications, and even a little bit of the mathematics that lies beyond calculus.

Friday - Saturday, October 19-27: Student Competition Using Differential Equation Modeling SCUDEM III 2018

Math Club will organize training sessions for these contests for interested students.

Thursday, October 25 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Course Preview for Spring 2019

Come find out about upper level math classes for the Spring 2019 semester from the instructors teaching these classes.

Thursday, November 8 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Info session on research programs for undergraduates: REUs and UCARE

Does the idea of applying your math skills outside of the classroom interest you? Have you considered doing math research before, whether at UNL or other cool locations around the country? If so, you should highly consider applying for a UCARE or REU project!

If there is interest we will also touch on the application process for graduate programs in mathematics.

Thursday, November 15: 29th annual UNL Math Day

Saturday, December 1st: The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition

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Spring 2018

Thursday, January 18 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Info Session on Mathematical Modeling, MCM and SCUDEM

Did you know you can learn about modeling everyday situations using math and take part in prestigious international math events right here at UNL?

The Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) is an international contest where teams of undergraduates use mathematical modeling to present their solutions to real world problems. A team may consist of up to three students from the same school and is open to all undergraduate and high school students.

The Student Competition Using Differential Equation Modeling (SCUDEM) is open for three member teams of students at the undergraduate or lower level. SCUDEM takes place over a week-long period that begins on a Monday at each team’s individual home campus and culminates on Competition Saturday at a regional host site in the United States and beyond. UNL will be hosting SCUDEM in April 2018.

The Math Club will organize training sessions for these contests for interested students.

Thursday, January 25, 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Graphs on a Train !

Presentation by professor Ranjan Rohatgi from St. Mary's College, IN

In this talk we will characterize and count graphs that have two properties: each vertex is incident to three edges and the graph must arise from a permutation. It turns out that essentially every graph of this type can is made up of subgraphs we call boxcars, which, when combined appropriately, means that all of these graphs look like trains! This is joint work with Aysel Erey, Zachary Gershkoff, and Amanda Lohss.

Friday - Sunday, January 26-28: The 20th annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics

Tuesday February 6, 3:30 pm in 18 Avery Hall: Social event Human Graph Theory and Human Knot Theory

Join the Math Club for interactive games and refreshments in the undergraduate lounge.

Thursday February 22, 5 pm in 351 Avery Hall: A hands-on introduction to LaTeX workshop

A hands-on introduction to the professional mathematics typesetting system LaTeX. See also our resources page for how to get started with LaTeX.

Thursday, March 8 5-7 pm in 351 Avery Hall: 5-th Career Perspectives in Math Lecture

From UNL Math major to Silicon Desert Engineer

Presentation by Christina Sposato staff engineer at Intel Corporation.

Tina will discuss her transition as a math major at Nebraska to a staff engineer at one of the leading semiconductor companies - Intel. She always knew she wanted a career that used math, and those math skills helped her find her way to a staff engineer at Intel. She will discuss how she used mathematics within the semiconductor industry to improve Intel’s yields for the latest generation of microprocessors.

Thursday, March 15 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Fall 2018 Course Preview

Come find out about upper level math classes for the Fall 2018 semester from the instructors teaching these classes.

Friday and Saturday, April 20-21: The 4th Central States Mathematics Undergraduate Reseach Conference: The Central States Mathematics Undergraduate Research conferences is a celebration of research in mathematics performed by undergraduate students. The 2018 conference marks the fourth installment in this series and the first one which will take place at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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Fall 2017

Sunday, August 20 at 6:30pm on Memorial Stadium Loop: BIG RED WELCOME: The Math Club and Pi Mu Epsilon will have a table at the Big Red Welcome event. Stop by to meet some of the Math Club members and learn about the upcoming events, competitions and opportunities for undergraduates in mathematics.

Thursday, August 31st 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: Using Difference Equations and Linear Algebra to Develop Rating Systems for National Football League Teams Presentation by professor Eric Eager (U. Wisconsin La Crosse)

This talk will discuss various ways to measure the strength of teams in the National Football League. Prof. Eager will compare these rankings, highlighting where and why discrepancies arise, and show how they can be used to predict who will win and/or cover the Vegas spread in various matchups week-to-week during the course of a season.

Tuesday, September 12 5-7 pm in 345 Avery Hall: GRE Prep Workshop

Come study for the Math Subject GRE together with other students taking this exam this year. Graduate students will offer advice on study and exam taking strategies.

Friday, October 6 3-5 pm in 18 Avery Hall: Meet, greet and play games!

The Math Club will be holding a meet and greet event for math majors and other students interested in math in the undergraduate lounge located in Avery Hall room 18. Professors and staff in the Math Department are also invited to stop by so you can meet them and network with them in a relaxed setting. There will be games for all to play as well as light refreshments.

Thursday, October 19 5-6 pm in 351 Avery Hall: 1-distance and almost-1-distance sets in Rⁿ Presentation by professor David Galvin (Notre Dame U.)

A 1-distance set is a set of points any two of which are the same distance apart (so the vertices of an equilateral triangle form a 1-distance set in the plane, and the vertices of the regular tetrahedron form one in space). It's well known that the largest 1-distance set in n-dimensional space has size n+1. While this is a geometric fact, it admits a lovely linear algebra proof.

In 1962 Danzer and Grünbaum asked how large a set can be if it is almost 1-distance - pairs of points are close to the same distance apart. They made the reasonable conjecture that the largest almost-1-distance set is never much larger than the largest 1-distance set. Twenty years later, Erdős and Füredi spectacularly disproved this using a probability argument.

Erdős and Füredi's work was highly non-constructive. Nicely illustrating that one can never predict where a mathematical problem is going to go next, recently Zakharov, a high-school student in Moscow, revisited the linear algebra approach, and improved on Erdős and Füredi's result --- this time in a completely constructive way.

I'll talk about some of this work, and mention a few nice open questions.

Tuesday, October 24 5-6 pm in 119 Avery Hall: Course Preview for Spring 2018

Come find out about upper level math classes for the Spring 2018 semester from the instructors teaching these classes.

Wednesday, November 1st 4-5 pm in 115 Avery Hall: 11th annual Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture Maxwell's Problem, 150 years later: from bridges to nano-mechanics Presented by professor Ileana Streinu (Smith College).

Finding a combinatorial characterization for rigid bar-and-joint frameworks in dimensions higher than 3 is an easy-to-state yet elusive, long standing open problem in rigidity theory, originating in two geometry papers from the 19th century of the renowned physicist James Clerk Maxwell. I will summarize our current state of knowledge on Maxwell's problem, and present recent developments leading to a surprising range of applications, from folding robot arms and origami to anayzing the flexibility of molecules and designing materials with unusual mechanical properties.

No advanced prerequisites are necessary. To help build the geometric and kinematic intuitions, the relevant mathematical concepts and techniques will be introduced primarily through physical models and animated graphics.

Thursday, November 9 4-5 pm in 351 Avery Hall: CV Workshop

A staff member from UNL's Career Services will offer tips on how to write a great CV for employment or graduate school applications.

Thursday, November 16: UNL Math Day - 28th edition Friday, December 1st 3:30-4:30 pm in 345 Avery Hall: Info session on research programs for undergraduates: REUs and UCARE

Saturday, December 2nd: The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition

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Spring 2017

Thursday, January 12, 5:00-6:00 pm, in Avery 351: Research opportunities for undergraduates: REUs and UCARE

January 19-23 The COMAP Mathematical Contest in Modeling

Thursday, January 26, 5:00-6:00 pm, in Avery 351 The Mathematics of Tilings - a presentation by professor Tri LaiTilings are everywhere around us. Tilings can be found on sidewalks, on brick walls, on floors, on carpets, in gardens, and even in crystal structures. Intuitively, a tiling is just a way of decomposing an object into small pieces that fit together without gaps or overlaps. In this talk we will explore many hidden mathematical properties of tilings. Our talk covers from simple puzzles to very hard open problems in mathematics.

February 3-5 The 19th annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics

Thursday, February 23 at 5pm in 351 Avery HallThe fourth Career Perspectives in Math lecture by Lisa Amen (Stanford Health Care)

Math in Health Care and Technology

In this talk, Lisa will elucidate the career advantages and opportunities she has secured by leveraging her bachelor's degree in math. While still a student at UNL, majoring in math opened several doors for math-related part-time jobs; after graduation, a degree in math introduced her to a career in health care technology - first at Epic (a health care software company), and now with Stanford Health Care. Lisa will explain the core functions of the work she does and how she get to apply her background in math on a daily basis. She will also provide the resources and processes she has used to find and secure positions with Epic and Stanford Health Care.

March 30 - Course Preview Come find out about upper level math classes for the Fall 2017 semester from the instructors teaching these classes.

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Fall 2016

Thursday, September 1, 5:00-6:00 pm, in Avery 109: Talk by graduate student Jessalyn Bolkema: Errors, Eavesdroppers, and Enormous Matrices
Abstract. Join us for a tour of the mathematics of information security! Cryptography aims to protect information from malicious eavesdroppers. Coding theory aims to protect information from inadvertent errors - consequences of a noisy environment. These are two very different problems - but amazingly enough, solutions to one problem can be used to build solutions to the other. We'll talk through some fundamental principles and key ideas in both coding theory and cryptography, with an end goal of appreciating their intersection: the future of post-quantum security.

And, of course, PIZZA!

Thursday, September 8, 5:00-6:00 pm, in Avery 109: Info session on Graduate Schools in MathematicsHave you considered graduate programs in math? We will be happy to share information on where to begin your search, what schools to look into depending on your interests (applied, finance, pure, education), how to prepare your applications, and whether or not a grad school in math is right for you.
As always, there'll be pizza and refreshments!

Visit our grad school info page for more information.

Thursday, September 15, at 5:00 pm, in Avery 109: Introduction to typesetting mathematics with LaTeX

Interested in learning about (La)TeX - the most flexible and efficient tool for typesetting scientific litcerature? Come to our introductory workshop!
Michael Pieper and John Chrostek will guide you through the basics, while you enjoy pizza and refreshments!

Bring your laptop and, if you do not have LaTeX software installed, then please open a ShareLaTeX account (personal accounts are free) before the workshop.

You can also visit our LaTeX resource page for links to various useful programs and references.

Friday, October 7, 4:00 - 5:00 pm, in Avery 115: 10th Annual Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture by David Saltman

Thursday, October 20, 5:00 - 6:00 pm, in Avery 109: 1^stMath Modeling WorkshopThis will be the first in a series of lectures and mini-workshops, led by Professor Yu Jin, on the basics of mathematical modeling. All interested students are welcome! As always, there will be Pizza and refreshments!

If you wish, you can also later consider joining the UNL team for the next Mathematical Contest in Modeling that will take place in January 2017.

Monday, October 24: Priority registration for Spring 2017 semester.

Tuesday, October 25, 5:00 - 6:00 pm, in Avery 119: Math Course PreviewCome to learn about Spring 2017 math courses from their instructors. Pizza and soda on tap!

Thursday, October 27, 5:00 - 6:00 pm, in Avery 109: Curriculum Vitae/Resume Review Session

Whenever you apply for graduate schools or summer research programs, your Curriculum Vitae or Resume is often the first document that gets closely read by the prospective hosts.
Join us for this review session and we will try to offer advice on how to best summarize your academic achievements. Pizza included!

Wednesday, November 2, 5:00 - 6:00 pm, in Avery 351: 2^ndMath Modeling WorkshopThe second in the series of lectures on mathematical modeling by Professor Yu Jin. All interested students are welcome! As always, there will be pizza and refreshments!
While at it, also take a look at the Mathematical Contest in Modeling that will take place in January 2017.

Thursday, November 10: 3rd Career Perspectives in Mathematics Lecture by Mary Hegemann

Wednesday, November 16, 5:00 - 6:00 pm, in Avery 351: 3^rdMath Modeling Workshop

November 24-27: Thanksgiving vacation.

Saturday, December 3: Putnam Mathematical Competition

Thursday, December 8, 5:00 pm, in Avery 351: 4^thMath Modeling Workshop

Saturday, December 10: Last day of classes.

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Spring 2016

Thursday, January 14, 5:00-6:00pm in Avery 108: Math Modeling Workshop: This month, Math Club will hold several short lectures/workshops on rudiments of mathematical modeling. If you are interested in the topic and, maybe, in the annual Mathematical Contest in Modeling, please feel free to join us for this first meeting.

January 29-31 (Friday-Sunday): 18th Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics (NCUWM)

Thursday, Feb 18: Career Perspectives in Mathematics lecture by Kamara Wright

In Pursuit of Logic and Happiness

5:00 - 6:00 pm in Avery 347

Preceded by Reception in Avery 348 at 4:15 pm (quality cookies and refreshments!)

Kamara Wright graduated from UNL in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and English. Since then, her career has taken her to Maryland where she is an Operations Research Analyst in the Cost Department at the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). As a participant in the Engineer and Scientist Development Program, Kamara also received training in leadership and communication.

Join us to hear Kamara's story and her career advice!

Thursday, March 10, at 5 pm, in Avery 108. Bioinformatics internship at USMARC

Our math Ph.D. alumna Brittney Keel now works as a research geneticist at the US Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) within the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). She will be visiting to tell you about a new internship opportunity. Participating students will use mathematical methods and computer programming to study genome sequences under the supervision of world renowned animal research scientists. If you are interested in bioinformatics and careers in this field, come to learn more. Pizza on tap!

Monday, 3/14... Pi Day Celebration! Avery 348, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.To celebrate the day of the famous mathematical constant we invite you to a lunch social.
There will be fruit and pizza pies, board games, and fun math challenges to win prizes!

Feel free to come and leave as fits your schedule.

March 20-27: Spring semester break

Monday, March 28: Priority registration begins

Thursday, March 31, at 5 pm, in Avery 108: Course PreviewCome to our preview of the upper-level math courses to be offered in Fall 2016. The faculty teaching them will describe the course contents, format, prerequisites, and answer questions. Pizza served!

Saturday, April 30: Last day of classes.

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Fall 2015

Sunday, Aug 23 at 6:30pm on Memorial Stadium Loop: BIG RED WELCOME: The Math Club and Pi Mu Epsilon will have a table at Location 342. Stop by to learn about the upcoming events, competitions and opportunities for undergraduates in mathematics.
Free candy!

Thursday, Sep 3, 5:00-6:00 pm in Avery 110: Talk by Professor Adam LariosCan mathematicians compute our way out of doing math?

As computers gain a stronger hold in mathematics, should mathematicians start to worry? Computers obviously depend on mathematics, but more and more areas of mathematics are starting to depend on computers. Does this mixture violate the purity of mathematics? Will the beauty of mathematics be forgotten, reduced to cold hard computation? Fortunately, the situation may be not so scary. We will see many examples of mathematics and computers living happily together. Moreover, pairing these disciplines can be beneficial to both sides. I will argue that computers do not spell doom for mathematics; indeed, they make mathematics more exciting than ever.
And, of course, PIZZA!

Thursday, Sep 24 at 5:00-6:00 pm in Avery 110: Careers for Mathematicians - by Professor Michael Dorff What's out there–beyond academia–for a mathematical mind? Want to learn of more opportunities? Have questions? Come along!

Friday, Sep 25 at 4:00 pm in Avery 115: 9th Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture by Michael DorffHow Mathematics is Making Hollywood Movies Better

Thursday, Oct 2

Thursday, Oct 8

Thursday, Oct 15

Oct 19-20: Fall semester break.

Friday, Oct 23 at 4:00 pm in Avery 115: Inaugural Career Perspectives in Math lecture by Brian Bares, CFA of Bares Capital Management

Monday, Oct 26: Priority registration begins.

Tuesday, Oct 27 at 5:00 pm in Avery 347: Math Course PreviewLearn about Spring 2016 math courses from their instructors. Pizza and soda on tap!

Thursday, Oct 29

Thursday, Nov 5, 4:30--5:30pm in Avery 348: Tea Time Social with Kim AustenHave you heard of Allied Insurance? Allied is a part of a Fortune 100 Best 2015 company (Nationwide Insurance) and is among world's leading independent insurance-rating agencies!

The former President of Allied, Mr. Kim Austen received his Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from UNL in 1977. The Mathematics Department is pleased to host Mr. Austen next week and we invite you to a tea time social! Come have some tea, coffee and cookies, say "Hello", ask questions, or just relax and hear a story of how a background in mathematics influenced Mr. Austen's career in many ways. Bring friends!

Thursday, Nov 12, 5:00-6:00pm in Avery 110: Info Session on Research and Internships for Undergraduates.It is about time to think of summer 2016 if you are interested in extracurricular research or internship opportunities.

Come to hear presentations by your peers about their recent REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) summer sites, UCARE, or internship work. Ask questions about the application and selection process, the research projects and overall impressions.

All spiced up with PIZZA and pop!

Thursday, Nov 19: UNL Math Day!

Nov 25-29: Thanksgiving vacation.

Thursday, Dec 3

Saturday, Dec 5: Putnam Exam

Monday, Dec 7, 6:00 - 8:30 pm, in Avery 348: Game night!Take a break before the finals! Join us for PIZZA and Games: Settlers of Catan, Citadels, Carcassone, Ergo, Set, Chess - all of these and more will be available! Feel free to bring friends and your own board/card games.

Saturday, Dec 12: Last day of classes.

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Spring 2015

Thursday, Jan 22, 5:00-6:00pm in Avery 108: Info Session on Summer Research Opportunities

It is time to start thinking about internships and research programs for summer 2015! Most Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs have their application deadlines around mid-February (which means you need to start preparing the applications now).

This information session will feature short presentations by your peers about their internships at NASA, Sandia Laboratories, and REU sites, followed by a discussion panel about the application and selection process, research projects, and students' overall impressions.

PIZZA and pop on the house!

January 23- February 25Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics.

February 5-9Mathematical Contest in Modeling

Thursday, Feb 12, 5:00-6:00 pm in Avery 108: Talk by graduate student Kat ShultisEqui-decomposability of Polygons
Abstract. There are many ways of comparing polygons. For instance, we could compare their areas or perimeters. We could also ask if they are similar or congruent. In this talk we will explore a notion of comparing polygons, called equi-decomposability, that involves breaking them into pieces and comparing the pieces. We'll look at some examples and then sketch a proof showing that equi-decomposability is equivalent to having the same area.

And, of course, PIZZA!

Friday, March 13, 1:30pm-3:00pm in Avery 348. It's only one day till the π-Day of the Century!

Come to the pre-Pi-Day (π-0.01) luncheon in Avery 348. There will be fruit pies, cookies, soda, coffee and board games in abundance (Ergo, Set, Flux, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Citadels and more). Try the Pi-digit challenge, Pi-sudoku and Pi-trivia quiz to win prizes!
You can sign up to ride with us to the Pi Fun Run Marathon at NE Wesleyan University (see the next event below).

Feel free to come and leave as your schedule permits.

3/14/15 : Pi Day!

A date to match the first 5 digits of the famous ratio. That happens once in a 100 years! Nebraska Wesleyan University is hosting 5th annual Pi Run Fun. Run or walk the approximately 3.141592653...miles to celebrate the fundamental mathematical constant. Check-in will begin at 8:45 a.m. in front of Olin Hall at Nebraska Wesleyan University (at the corner of St. Paul Ave. and 50th Street). The course will remain entirely on NWU's campus. If you need a ride, UNL Math Club can provide transportation! Departing from Avery Hall at UNL around 8:30am. You can sign up during lunch on Friday (see above), or just email Daniel Toundykov by Friday evening.

Happy Pi Day!

Thursday, March 19 at 5:00 pm in Avery 108: Math Course PreviewCome to learn about advanced mathematics courses scheduled for Fall 2015. PIZZA and soda on tap!

March 22-29: Spring Break

March 30: Priority registration begins

Thursday, April 16, 5:00 pm - close, in Avery 348: Game Night!Join us for PIZZA and Games: Chess, Go, Settlers of Catan, Citadels, Carcassone, Forbidden Island, Set, Fluxx - all of these and more will be available! Feel free to bring friends and your own board/card games.

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Fall 2014

Sunday, Aug 24 at 6:30pm on Memorial Stadium Loop: BIG RED WELCOME: The Math Club and Pi Mu Epsilon will have a table at Location 341 to welcome new students and let them know about the upcoming events, competitions, and opportunities for undergraduates in mathematics.
Free candy!

Tuesday, Sep 9 at 5pm in Burnett 118: Careers at HUDL

Sports, Math and Technology

HUDL is a software company headquartered in the Haymarket District of Lincoln. It specializes in design and implementation of digital tools that aid coaches in analysis of sports matches (and football games in particular).
Company representatives will tell you about job and internship opportunities at HUDL, as well as how their developers incorporate math and technology.
Pizza and soda provided!

Thursday, Sep 25 at 5:00 pm in Avery 110: A journey into Mathematical Biology by Dr. Yu Jin.

This lecture will provide an expository overview of interesting applications of mathematics in various subfields of biology, such as, epidemiology, ecology, and population dynamics.
Pizza and soda on tap!

Friday, Oct 10 at 4:00 pm in Avery 115: 8th Annual Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture

Oct 21-22: Fall semester break.

Thursday, Oct 23 at 5:00pm in Avery 110: Panel on graduate school in mathematicsThinking about graduate school in mathematics? A panel of faculty and grad students will address questions about the application process, life as a grad student, and whether or not grad school in math is right for you. As always there'll be pizza and refreshments!

Oct 27: Priority registration for Spring 2015 begins.

Thursday, Oct 30 at 5:00 pm in Avery 110: Math Course PreviewWondering which classes to register for? Come to learn about Spring 2015 math courses from their instructors. Pizza and soda on tap!

Thursday, Nov 13, 5:00-5:30 pm in Avery 110: Come to learn about The Mathematical Contest in ModelingThe Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) is an annual competition organized by COMAP. Every year, thousands of teams from universities across the globe propose their solutions to fascinating modeling tasks prompted by real-world problems.UNL teams have always been successful participants and over the past few years have twice earned an Honorable Mention for their solutions!

Come to learn about the format of the contest, the types of problems, future training sessions (open to everyone), how to join the team if you are interested, and why this is awesome! And have some pizza while at it!

Tuesday, Nov 18th, 5:00pm - close, in Avery 348: Game night!Take a break after the midterms! Join us for PIZZA and Games: Chess, Go, Settlers of Catan, Citadels, Carcassone, Set, Fluxx - all of these and more will be available! Feel free to bring friends and your own board/card games.

Thursday, Nov 20: UNL Math Day!

Nov 26-30: Thanksgiving vacation.

Saturday, December 6: Putnam Exam

Dec 13. Fall semester ends.

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Spring 2014

Thursday, Jan 16, 5:00-6:00pm in Avery 106: Information Session on Research Experiences for Undergraduates.

It is time to think about how you'd like to spend summer 2014 if you are interested in extracurricular research. Most Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs have their application deadlines around mid-February (which means you need to start preparing the applications now).

This info-session will feature short research presentations by your peers about their recent REU's, followed by a discussion panel about the application and selection process, research projects, and students' overall impressions.

All spiced up with PIZZA and pop!

January 31- February 215th Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics.

February 6-10Mathematical Contest in Modeling

Thursday, February 27, 5:00-5:40 pm in Avery 106: UCARE program info sessionDid you know every year hundreds of UNL undergraduates engage in research projects with UNL faculty and get paid?

Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experiences

This program generously supports opportunities for students to participate in research or creative activities under direction of UNL faculty. Here's the list of 2013-2014 UCARE projects.

The application deadline for the next academic year is March 20, 2014. Come to our meeting to learn how to apply, get advice on finding a faculty mentor, hear what UCARE projects your peers have been involved in, and to grab a slice of PIZZA!

Thursday, March 13, 5:00-6:00pm in Avery 106: Talk by Professor Abdul-Aziz Yakubu:

Mathematical Ecology: Modeling Fish Harvesting Strategies

Abstract. Overfishing, pollution and other environmental factors have greatly reduced commercially valuable stocks of fish. In a 2006 Science article, a group of ecologists and economists warned that the world may run out of seafood from natural stocks if overfishing continues at current rates. We will use simple models to explore the interaction between constant proportion and periodic proportion harvest policies. We will analyze how they might be applied to the Gulf of Alaska Pacific halibut fishery and the Georges Bank Atlantic cod fishery, based on harvesting data from 1975 to 2007.

This event is sponsored by the Nebraska Math Scholars program, funded by the National Science foundation.

Thursday, March 14, 11:30-2:00pm in Avery 348. Let's celebrate Pi Day!

Come to the Pi-Day pi(e)-luncheon in Avery 348. There will be fruit and pizza pies, soda, coffee and board games in abundance (Ergo, Set, Flux, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and many others). Try our Pi-digit challenge and Pi-trivia quiz to win a prize!

Feel free to come and leave as your schedule permits.

Thursday, March 20, 5:00-6:00pm in Avery 12 (Hi-tech classroom). Professor Eric Eager from University of Wisconsin - La Crosse will present:Computational Experiments in Biology: Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Disturbance Specialist Plants

We will use probability theory and computer simulations to explore how populations respond to uncertain environmental conditions. We'll consider a "disturbance specialist" plant, which is a plant that will die off unless a disturbance, such as a burrowing animal, shakes loose the seeds in its seed bank. We will illustrate this with a wild sunflower, a disturbance specialist plant that is native to Nebraska and Kansas.

This talk will be held in the high-tech classroom Avery 12, so you can run simulations in R.
If you prefer to use your own computer, feel free to bring it. We'll help you install the program and run the code.

You can optionally pre-download R for free here.

Simulation program code can be downloaded here.

Thursday, April 1 in Nebraska Union Auditorium at 4:30 pm. 2014 Rowlee Lecture by Tony DeRose - Research Group Lead at Pixar Animation StudiosMath in the Movies

Film making has undergone a revolution brought on by advances in areas such as computer technology, geometry, and applied mathematics. Using numerous examples drawn from Pixar's feature films, this talk will provide a behind the scenes look at the role that math has played in the revolution.

Tuesday, April 8 at 5:00 pm in Avery 119: Math Course PreviewWondering which classes to register for? Come to learn about Fall 2014 advanced math courses from the instructors. PIZZA and soda on tap!

Thursday, May 1: Game night in Avery 348, 5 pm - close!Take a break before the finals! Join us for PIZZA and Games: Chess, Go, Settlers of Catan, Citadels, Carcassone, Set, Fluxx - all of these and more will be available! Feel free to bring friends and your own board/card games.

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Fall 2013

Sunday, August 25 at 6:30pm: BIG RED WELCOME Festival: The Math Club and Pi Mu Epsilon will have a table at Location 183 to welcome new students and let them know about the upcoming events, competitions, and opportunities for undergraduates in mathematics.
Free candy!

Thursday, August 29 at 5:00pm in Avery 106: talk by Daniel Toundykov

Vector Graphics 101

Abstract. I will introduce the basics of displaying and manipulating 3D vector objects, and explain what it has to do with matrix algebra (no prior knowledge required). We will also look at some implementation examples.
There will be Pizza, refreshments, stick-3D and even breakdancing spiders!

Thursday, September 12, at 5:00 pm in Avery 106: Presentation by Marc Warburton - Director of The Great Plains National Security Education Consortium and Defense Research Initiatives

Careers in Defense and National Security

Mr. Warburton will present various internship and future career opportunities with government agencies and companies in the Intelligence and Defense sectors. Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcome! Note, however, that such positions are open to US citizens only.

Thursday, September 26, at 5:00 pm in Avery 106: Presentation by Doug Durham, Lucas Sabalka, and Josh Brown-Kramer

Internships with Nebraska Global

Nebraska Global is a parent company for software-based startups. It is actively seeking Mathematics and CS students for internship positions. The Chief Technology Officer Doug Durham, and Applied Mathematicians Lucas Sabalka and Josh Brown-Kramer will discuss the job opportunities, talk about the values and objectives of the company, and share their experience.

Thursday October 10 at 5:00 pm in Avery 112: Panel on graduate school in mathematicsThinking about graduate school in mathematics? A panel of faculty and grad students will address questions about the application process, life as a grad student, and whether or not grad school in math is right for you. As always there'll be pizza and refreshments!

Thursday October 24 at 5:00 pm in Avery 110: Math Course PreviewWondering which class to register for? Come hear about Spring 2014 math courses from their instructors. Pizza and soda on tap!

Friday November 1 at 4:00 pm in Avery 115: 7th Annual Pi Mu Epsilon LectureThe power of optimal control: from confining rabies to improving CPR
By Suzanne Lenhart from the University of Tennessee. The lecture will be preceded by the Pi Mu Epsilon induction ceremony.

Thursday November 21: UNL Math Day!

Saturday, December 1: Putnam Exam

Friday, Dec 6, 12:00-1:30pm in Avery 348: Free lunch with Dr. Joe Bulher.

Dr. Buhler is the Director of the Center for Communications Research, a federally-funded research center in La Jolla, CA. He also is an emeritus professor of Reed College, well-known for his work in number theory and other areas, and so has a lot of perspective on the differences between academic and nonacademic positions.

Joe Buhler will talk about career opportunities outside academia and answer your questions. This will be a free discussion so feel free to come and go as your schedule permits. There will be sandwiches and refreshments.

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Spring 2013

January 25-27: Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Math.

January 31- February 4Mathematical Contest in Modeling

Thursday, February 14 at 4:30pm in Avery 108: Talk by Professor Keri Kornelson:

Loosen up! An Introduction to Frames.

Abstract. An orthonormal basis (ONB) in a finite-dimensional space like Rⁿ has a lot of useful and efficient properties, which is why a great deal of what you learn in linear algebra makes use of ONBs. There are a wide range of applications to other areas of math and science as well where ONBs play a crucial role. But in this talk, we will discuss some of the drawbacks of ONBs. We find that a somehow looser set of vectors (called a frame) might maintain the positive attributes of the ONB while overcoming some of the flaws.

Thursday, March 7 at 5 pm in Avery 106: Course PreviewWant to know what course to take in the fall? Come to the preview of upper-level math courses offered in Fall 2013. Faculty teaching these courses will describe the course contents, format, and prerequisites, and answer questions. Pizza served!

Thursday, March 14 at 5 pm in Avery 348! Come any time 5 - 10 pm: Pi Day / Game Night!Come celebrate the Pi Day with us and play some games! Chess, Go, Settlers of Catan, Carcassone, Khet, Set, Zombie Flux, Gloom -- all of these and more will be available. Bring your friends, and if there's a particular board game you have and enjoy do feel free to take it along. Pies (pizza-shaped) and refreshments will be provided. There'll also be mini-competitions (with prizes!) held between 6 and 7 pm (hint: learn π-facts and π-digits).

March 16-24: Spring break.

Thursday, April 11 at 5 pm in Avery 106: Talk by graduate student Kathryn Haymaker:

Counting techniques and the game SET

Abstract. SET is a multi-person card game in which the goal is to collect particular sets of three cards from a group of 12 (or more). The person with the most SETs by the end of the game wins. We will use different counting techniques to answer some interesting questions about the game, including: what is the size of the largest group of cards that does not contain a SET?, and, what is the most common type of SET? It turns out, one of the questions above was actually answered 11 years before the game was invented! In this talk we will relate this proof back to the game SET and discuss some generalizations.

And, as always, Pizza!Saturday, April 20 2013: 2nd Missouri River Valley Undergraduate Math Conference

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Fall 2012

Sunday, August 19 at 6:30pm: BIG RED WELCOME Festival

The Math Club and Pi Mu Epsilon will have a table at Location 142 to welcome new students and let them know about the upcoming events, competitions, and opportunities for undergraduates in mathematics.
Free candy!

Thursday, August 23 at 5:00pm in Avery 106: Talk by Dr. Allan Donsig

Penrose Tilings: "Impossible" Symmetries in Math, Crystals, and Art

Tiling a floor with a few standard tiles has been a practical problem for a long time. It is also a mathematical problem and, in spite of its long history, there have been surprising recent discoveries. There are two tiles, discovered in the 1970's, that tile the whole plane, but only in a non-repetitive way, something that had been thought to be impossible. We'll talk about what a non-repetitive tiling is, what we know about them, and a bit about how they appear in both physics (as quasicrystals) and art (as Islamic building decorations of the 13th Century).

And of course there'll be Pizza!

Thursday, September 6, at 5:00 pm in Avery 12: Introduction to typesetting mathematics with LaTeX: Interested in learning about (La)TeX - the most flexible and efficient tool for typesetting scientific literature? Come to our introductory workshop! Ryan Gunderson and Evan Nash will guide you through the basics, while you enjoy pizza and refreshments!
Visit our LaTeX resource page for links to various useful programs and references.

Tuesday, September 18, at 6:00 pm, Avery 348 (then 351 or 347): Pizza Social and presentation on careers by Dr. William Velez: Join us for an abundance of pizza and refreshments, chat with fellow math majors, and meet our visitor Professor William Velez from the University of Arizona! Dr. Velez is a distinguished educator, researcher and a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.

The pizza party will subsequently move from Avery 348 to Avery 351 (possibly to 347 depending on number of attendees) where Dr. Velez will give a presentation on Research and Career Opportunities for Math Majors

Thursday, September 27, at 5:00 pm in Avery 106: Talk by Dr. Pablo Seleson (University of Texas at Austin)

Scientific Research from a Computational Science Perspective

What do computational scientists do and how do they approach scientific problems? Are computational models predictive? This talk will provide an overview of the computational science discipline along with different concepts involved in the design of mathematical models and computational algorithms, with illustrating examples.

Pizza and pop on tap!

Thursday, October 4, at 5:00 pm in Avery 110: Talk by Dr. Pedro Jordan (Naval Research Laboratory)

Selected Topics in Fluid Mechanics and Wave Phenomena: An Introduction

Dr. Jordan is affiliated with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory at NASA's Stennis Space Center. He is an established researcher and the recipient of a number of awards including the Top Scientists/Engineers Award from the U.S. Navy for his work in nonlinear acoustics. In this presentation he will give an introduction to some topics in fluid mechanics, treated at a basic level and with many examples.

Pizza and refreshments served!

This event is sponsored by the Nebraska Math Scholars program.

Thursday October 18 at 5:00 pm in Avery 110: Math Course Preview: Wondering which class to register for? Come hear about Spring 2013 math courses from their instructors. Pizza and soda on tap!

Thursday November 1 at 5:00pm in Avery 111: Panel on graduate school in mathematics: Thinking about graduate school in mathematics? A panel of faculty and grad students will address questions about the application process, life as a grad student, and whether or not grad school in math is right for you. As always there'll be pizza and refreshments!

Friday November 9 at 4:00 pm in Avery 115: 6th Annual Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture: will be given by Dr. Michael Parks from Sandia National Laboratories. The lecture will be preceded by the Pi Mu Epsilon induction ceremony.

Thursday November 15: UNL Math Day!

Saturday, December 1: Putnam Exam

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Spring 2012

Thursday, January 12, at 5:00 pm Avery 347: Talk by Dr. Marta Lewicka (U. Pittsburg): Title: How to understand shapes of leaves and flowers through Mathematical Analysis and Geometry

Abstract. In certain circumstances, growing tissues such as leaves, flowers or some small marine invertebrate organism develop curious wavy-like patterns, resembling curves and ruffles at the edge of a thorn plastic sheet. It turns out that 'morphogenesis by growth' can be rigorously studied through a mathematical model, in which the distances between points (e.g. cells) are measured in a non-standard way. In this elementary talk, I will try to explain what Mathematical Analysis, Algebra and Geometry have to do with this business.

Preceded by a Brown Bag Lunch with the speaker in Avery 348, 12:30 - 2 pm.
Everyone is welcome! Come to socialize and enjoy the refreshments and sandwiches (first-come, first-served)!

This event is sponsored by the Nebraska Math Scholars program.

January 27-29, 201214th Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics.

Thursday, February 2, at 5 pm in Avery 108: Talk by Charles Larrieu (UNL senior math major) Title: A Friendly Discussion of Light, Space, the Universe, and Everything...And Groups!

Abstract. This talk is mostly meant to be a justification for the statement, "REU's and other Undergraduate Research Experiences are awesome." To this effect, I will speak very generally about some of the mathematical ideas that I studied in the REU on Geometry through Lie Groups last summer at the University of Utah. These ideas include group actions, smashing shapes with textbooks, Cayley Graphs, living in non-Euclidean universes, and light in Einstein's universe.

February 9-13, 2012Mathematical Contest in Modeling

Thursday, March 1 at 5:00 pm in Avery 106: Talk by graduate student Ashley Weatherwax Johnson Title: Math in the Future(ama)

Abstract. If you look closely, mathematics appears often in popular culture. In this talk we will look into some appearances of mathematics (and related fields) in the television show Futurama. Knowledge of the show is not a prerequisite for this talk.

Thursday, March 15 at 5:00pm in Avery 19: Course Preview for Fall 2012Want to know what course to take in the Fall? Come to the preview of upper-level math courses offered in Fall 2012. Faculty teaching these courses will describe the course contents, format, and prerequisites, and answer questions. Pizza served!

Thursday, April 5 at 5 pm in Avery 106: Talk by graduate student Derrick Stolee Title: Symmetry, Groups, and Graphs

Abstract. Symmetry is something that everyone understands intuitively, since we see it so frequently in art, nature, and ourselves. We will explore a mathematical version of symmetry called group actions. In particular, we will investigate symmetries of combinatorial objects called graphs. Graphs have many practical purposes, but mostly we find that every type of symmetry imaginable can be encoded into a graph.

Thursday, April 12 at 5 pm in Avery 106: Talk by senior math undergraduate Adam AzzamTitle: Sperner's Lemma and its Continuous Corollaries

Abstract. In this talk I will present a celebrated mathematical result known as Sperner's Lemma. While it originated in the context of combinatorics and graph colorings, it also has surprisingly powerful applications to analysis and topology. In particular, I'll use Sperner's Lemma to prove the Intermediate Value Theorem, the Brouwer and Kakutani Fixed Point Theorems (with applications to nonlinear equations), and establish the existence of Nash Equilibria for n-person games with mixed strategies.

Saturday, April 21 2012: Missouri River Valley Undergraduate Math Conference

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Fall 2011

Sunday August 21 at 6:00pm: Big Red Welcome Street Fair: The Math Club and Pi Mu Epsilon will have a table (# 424) setup to welcome new students and let them know about opportunities for undergraduates in mathematics. Free candy!

Thursday August 25 at 5:00pm, Avery 106: First meeting

Interested in the Math Club? Come meet its members and faculty advisors---pizza and pop provided! Dr. Susan Hermiller will give a talk:

Reflections on a planar landscape.

Abstract. We will make a foray into a beautiful interplay between geometry and computer science. For reflections a, b, and c about three lines the plane, a composition of these three functions (for example abaccbcbabcaba) may end up not moving any of the points in the plane. We'll talk about deciding when this happens, and what sort of computer - if any - can determine the answer.

Thursday September 8 at 5:00pm, Avery 108: Panel on graduate school in mathematics: Thinking about graduate school in mathematics? A panel of faculty and grad students will address questions about the application process, life as a grad student, and whether or not grad school in math is right for you. As always there'll be pizza and refreshments!

Friday September 23 at 4:00 pm in Avery 115: Fifth Annual Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture: will be given by Professor Paul Zorn of Saint Olaf College College. The lecture will be preceded by Pi Mu Epsilon induction ceremony.

Thursday October 6 at 5:00pm in Avery 106: Student presentations on summer research activities

Join us for some pizza, refreshments, and listen to Adam Azzam speak about his exciting research work at an REU site this summer:

Embroidering in Hilbert Space.

Abstract. If you ask a first-year calculus student how class is going, they might beg you to "make the derivatives stop!" Underlying this futile request lies a subtle question: how many functions can you "get" by taking the derivative of a given function? Start with a polynomial? The derivative eventually smashes it to zero. Start with sine or cosine? It eventually repeats. Start with an exponential? You can't expect much change. How chaotic can this predictable process of taking derivatives be? Wild. In this talk, I'll present some basic theorems and some new results demonstrating how chaotic these linear functions can be.

Friday October 14: AMS Conference Poster Session: All undergraduate students are encouraged to participate in the Poster session to be held 8:30-9:30pm, Friday, October 14, at the Downtown Holiday Inn. This event will be a part of the Central Section Meeting of the American Mathematical Society. We expect a large crowd so this is a great chance to publicize your work and get to know people! To present a poster submit the abstract the registration page by September 30.

Thursday October 20 at 5:00pm in Avery 106: Math course preview: Wondering which class to register for? Come hear about Spring 2012 math courses from their instructors. Pizza and soda on tap!

November 3: Game night in Avery 348! Come any time between 5 and 10 pm.: Passionate about table games? How about some Chess, Go, Settlers of Catan, Carcassone, Khet, Set? -- All of these and more will be available. Bring your friends, and if there's a particular board game you have and enjoy do feel free to take it along. Pizza and refreshments will be provided, and while you are pondering the next move or savoring a slice of pizza, there will be a short presentation about the Theory of Corresponding Squares in Chess Endgames (no prior chess knowledge required).

Thursday November 10 at 5pm in 110 Avery: Panel on undergraduate research opportunities: This week the Math Club will be holding a panel on undergraduate research opportunities and related mathematical programs. Our panelists will be faculty: Richard Rebarber, who has directed a number of REU sites at UNL, and the chief undergraduate adviser Gordon Woodward; as well as students: Adam Azzam, Amy Been, and Daniel Miller all of whom have participated in various research programs. We'll be discussing both summer research sites (REUs, NSA, SMP, etc.) and programs available during academic year (such as UCARE and Honor's Thesis). And, of course, there'll be PIZZA and refreshments available for consumption!

Thursday November 17: UNL Math Day

Saturday December 3: Putnam Exam

Thursday December 8 at 5 pm in 347 Avery: Talk by Dorea Vierling-Claassen

My path from Math 221 to Neuroscience

Abstract. Since graduating from the UNL math department as an undergrad in 2001, I have been forging a career at the interface of dynamical systems mathematics and cutting-edge experimental neuroscience.
I did my graduate work at Boston University, using differential equations to study brain rhythms in schizophrenia. Since then, I've been doing research in both experimental and computational neuroscience at MIT and Brown University.
In this talk and discussion I'll take you on a whirlwind tour of the biological topics I've researched, via the gateway of my mathematics education, and talk about the career steps that got me from differential equations class my sophomore year to my current work in electrophysiology and computational neuroscience. I'll be looking forward to your questions about mathematics, neuroscience, and how I've balanced family and career.

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Spring 2011

Thursday January 20 at 5:00pm in 106 Avery: Come learn about summer research opportunities. Pizza and pop provided! Chief Undergraduate Advisor Gordon Woodward will discuss summer research programs.

January 28-30, 201113th Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Math.

February 10-14, 2011Mathematical Contest in Modeling

Thursday, February 17 at 5:00pm in Avery 348 Explore the strategies and math behind common games and play some fun games as well. Learn to play Set, Philosopher's Football, and many other games; or bring your own game and teach others! As always, pizza and pop will be provided! This event will also double as an organizational meeting to hear what events you, the member of math club, would like to have for the remainder of the semester!

Thursday, March 10 at 5:00pm in Avery 12 Interested in learning about (La)TeX, the standard tool for typesetting mathematics? Come to a workshop for beginners and TeXperts alike.

Thursday March 17 at 5:00pm in 108 AveryWant to know what course to take in the fall? Come to the preview of upper-level math courses offered in Fall 2011. Faculty teaching these courses will briefly describe the course contents, format, and prerequisites, and answer questions. Pizza served!

Thursday, April 7 at 5:00pm in 106 AveryUNL Math Professor Daniel Toundykov will speak on "Efficient multiplication with the Fast Fourier Transform":

Abstract: Fast arithmetic for large numbers, hundreds or thousands of digits in length, has become increasingly important in number theory research, combinatorics problems, cryptography, and arbitrary-precision computing. However, even specialized computer processors are limited to about 19 significant digits per operation, and must be supplemented by software algorithms to handle higher-precision arithmetic. The standard long division and multiplication procedures are too inefficient for this purpose. I will describe the ideas behind the fastest known multiplication algorithms based on the discrete Fourier transform, and discuss connections of integer multiplication with algebra and complex analysis.

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Fall 2010

Sunday August 22 at 6:00pm: Big Red Welcome Street Fair: The Math Club, Pi Mu Epsilon, and the Women's Undergraduate Math Network will have a table setup to welcome new students and let them know about opportunities for undergraduates in mathematics. Free candy!

Thursday August 26 at 5:00pm in 119 Avery: First meetingInterested in the Math Club? Come meet its members and faculty advisors---pizza and pop provided! Dr. Carina Curto will also speak on "How math helps us listen to neurons in the brain."

Thursday September 16 at 5:00pm in 108 Avery: Panel on graduate school in mathematicsThinking about graduate school in mathematics? A panel of faculty and grad students will address questions about the application process, life as a grad student, and whether or not grad school in math is right for you. Pizza and pop provided!

Thursday October 14 at 5:00pm in 110 Avery: Student Talks on Summer Mathematics ExperiencesCome and hear UNL students Adam Azzam and Ryan Hotovy talk about their mathematical activities this past summer. Pizza and pop served!

Wednesday October 20 at 5:00pm in 111 Avery (sponsored by WUMN)Dr. David Taylor from Roanoke College will speak on "Monty Hall's Sudoku Puzzles". Pizza and pop provided!

Thursday October 21 at 5:00pm in 110 Avery: Math course previewCome hear about spring 2011 math courses from their instructors. Pizza and pop provided!

Tuesday October 26 at 5:00pm in 110 AveryDr. Josh Laison from Willamette University will speak on "Prime Distance Graphs: Making Difficult Problems Seem Easier Using Pretty Diagrams".
Abstract. A graph is a prime distance graph if its vertices can be labeled with distinct integers such that for any two adjacent vertices, the difference of their labels is prime. Surprisingly, some well-known theorems and longstanding conjectures in number theory are closely connected to questions about prime distance graphs. In this talk we'll investigate some of these connections and fail to prove any of the longstanding conjectures. No previous knowledge of graph theory or number theory will be assumed.
Pizza and pop provided!

Monday November 1 at 4:00pm in 115 Avery: Fourth Annual Pi Mu Epsilon LectureProf. James Sellers of Penn State will speak on "Revisiting What Euler and the Bernoullis Knew About Convergent Infinite Series".

Tuesday November 9UNL Math Day.

Thursday November 11 at 5:00pm in 348 Avery (lounge): Masters WeekTherese McGuire will be at UNL as the College of Arts and Sciences Master for masters' week. She is an alumna of UNL, with dual majors in math and economics. She went on to receive a PhD in economics at Princeton and to have a distinguished career at Northwestern.

Saturday December 4Putnam Exam.

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Spring 2010

Thursday January 21 at 5:00pm in 110 Avery

Come learn about summer research opportunities. Pizza and pop provided! Chief Undergraduate Advisor Gordon Woodward will discuss summer research opportunities, and Tyler Lemburg will give a talk entitled

Baseball Cards and Matrices

Suppose a collector wants to collect a complete set of n unique baseball cards, and he can collect p unique cards in a pack at one time, with replacement. What is the probability he will have his complete set after buying t packs? This ``Baseball Card Collector's Problem", also known as the ``Coupon Collector's Problem", has been thoroughly studied for p=1. However, say the collector wants to have c complete sets instead of just 1. To answer the above question in this case, basic inclusion/exclusion combinatorics will not suffice. Instead, transition matrices representing the probability of going between certain states in the problem give us the tools to formulate probabilities for c=2 and p=1. Tools for higher c and p are demonstrated, but the solutions become very complex. This research was carried out at the Clemson University summer REU, which will be highlighted in the talk.

January 29-31, 201012th Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Math.

Thursday February 11 at 5:00pm in 348 AveryGames night! Come join us as we explore the tricks behind common games and learn some new ones. Pizza and pop will be provided!

February 18-22, 2010Mathematical Contest in Modeling

Thursday February 25 at 5:00pm in 112 AveryHow high can you jump? Ira Papick will speak about an interesting checker jumping problem discovered by John Conway of Princeton University. If there is time, Ira will also discuss a three dimension generalization of this problem that a colleague and he published in the late seventies.

Thursday March 25 at 5:00pm in 110 AveryWant to know what course to take in the fall? Come to the preview of upper-level math courses offered in Fall 2010. Faculty teaching these courses will briefly describe the course contents, format, and prerequisites, and answer questions. Pizza served!

Thursday April 22 at 5:00pm in 109 AveryInduction of new members into Pi Mu Epsilon. All members of Pi Mu Epsilon are invited to join us for dinner afterwards.

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Fall 2009

Sunday August 23 at 6:00pmBig Red Welcome Festival! The Math Club, Pi Mu Epsilon, and the Women's Undergraduate Math Network will have two tables setup to welcome new students and let them know about opportunities for undergraduates in mathematics. Free candy!

Thursday August 27 at 5:00pm in 106 AveryFirst meeting of the semester! We'll introduce the officers and faculty advisors and describe upcoming events. Prof. Steve Dunbar will also talk about Mathematics in the Markets: Probability, Rationality, and a little History. Pizza and pop served!

Thursday September 17 at 5:00pm in 111 AveryInformational meeting on graduate programs in mathematics: Thinking about graduate school in mathematics? A panel of faculty and grad students will address questions about the application process, life as a grad student, and whether or not grad school in math is right for you. Pizza and pop served!

Thursday October 1 at 5:00pm in 119 Avery (cosponsored by WUMN)Come and hear from two UNL students about the research they did this past summer! Pizza and pop served!

Tuesday October 13 from 4:00pm to 7:00pm in Nebraska UnionRSO Fair! The Math Club, Pi Mu Epsilon, and the Women's Undergraduate Math Network will have a table setup to advertise our organizations and to let them know about opportunities for undergraduates in mathematics. Free candy!

Thursday October 15 at 5:00pm in 119 AveryWant to know what course to take in the spring? Come to the preview of upper-level math courses offered in Spring 2010. Faculty teaching these courses will briefly describe the course contents, format, and prerequisites, and answer questions. Pizza served!

Friday November 6 at 4:00pm in 115 AveryThird Annual Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture: Prof Andrew Rich of Manchester College, Indiana.

Thursday November 12UNL Math Day.

Thursday November 19 at 5:00pm in 110 Avery (cosponsored by WUMN)Come and hear from UNL students about their mathematical activities this past summer! Pizza and pop served!

Saturday December 5Putnam Exam.

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Spring 2009

Thursday January 15 at 5:00pm in 106 AveryLearn about how to apply for research experiences such as REU, UCARE, and Honor Thesis. Listen to several presentations of research done by undergraduates. National Science Foundation REU website

January 30-February 1, 200911th Annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Math.

February 5-9, 2009Mathematical Contest in Modeling

Wednesday February 25 at 5:00pm in 351 AveryCollin Bleak will speak about measuring symmetry with groups and defining groups by actions. Pizza served!

Thursday March 5 at 5:00 pm in 111 AveryLorena Bociu, UNL, "Why should I study math?": Find out about careers in math! Sponsored by WUMN.

Thursday March 12 at 5:00pm in 348 AveryWant to know what course to take in the fall? Come to the preview of upper-level math courses offered in Fall 2009. Faculty teaching these courses will briefly describe the course contents, format, and prerequisites, and answer questions. Pizza served!

Thursday April 9 at 5:00pm in 115 AveryAnnual Pi Mu Epsilon Lecture: Dr. Gwen Fisher will speak about Visualizing Symmetry: How I Use Symmetry Groups in My Art.

Thursday April 23 at 5:00pm in 118 AveryPresentation on this year's Math Contest in Modeling and our team's solution; and Pi Mu Epsilon inductions. Members of Pi Mu Epsilon are invited to join us for dinner afterwards.

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Fall 2008

Thursday August 28 at 5:00pm in 108 AveryWelcome Meeting: Come and meet current and new members of the Math Club, see fun math, hear about events for the semester, and eat pizza!

Thursday September 4 at 5:00pm in 106 AveryJamie Radcliffe will give an exciting lecture about the game of SET. Pizza served!

Thursday October 2 at 5:00pm in 112 AveryLibby Beer, a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, will be speaking. Sponsored by WUMN.

Thursday October 30 at 5:00pm in 348 Avery (lounge)Want to know what course to take next semester? Come to the preview of upper-level math courses offered in Spring 2009. Faculty teaching these courses will briefly describe the course contents, format, and prerequisites, and answer questions. Pizza served!

Thursday November 20 at 5:00pm in 106 AveryLearn everything you want to know about how to apply to graduate school. Come and listen to a panel of faculty and graduate students talk about the grad school experience. Pizza served!

Friday November 21 at 3:30pm in 115 AveryThe film Julia Robinson and Hilbert's Tenth Problem will be shown. Julia Robinson was a famous American mathematician, and the first woman president of the American Mathematical Society.

Saturday December 6Putnam Exam

Thursday December 11 at 5:00pm at East Campus UnionBowling! Meet at East Campus Union for pizza and bowling.

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