Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics at Lawrence University

Better late than never -- we have one last senior profile for 2021. Join us in celebrating recent graduate Travis Dillon!

Major: Math

Favorite LU memories: I try to avoid "favorite" questions because for most topics of opinion, I don't have a linear order of preference. I think of my favorite points at Lawrence more as a series of vignettes: Learning to sight sing in Waterman House. Staying up late playing Settlers of Catan. Math picnics. Late nights tutoring in Math Lab. Volunteering at Kimberly Middle School. Sitting by the river in Peabody Park. And living and studying in Budapest, all of it.

Senior Experience: Most mathematics books for a general audience try to make math interesting by exhibiting some collection of mathematical facts like baubles—aren't these pretty?—but don't provide a clear path to doing or learning more mathematics. I wrote a book whose goal is to guide people down one such path through in-depth explorations of three different topics: graphs, infinity, and groups.

Plans for next year: I'll be going to MIT for a PhD in math!

Congrats, Travis!

We’re still celebrating our seniors who graduated this past weekend! We’d like to give a shout out to Dylan Senderling.

Major: Computer Science

Favorite LU memory: the variety of new ideas and types of people that I met during my time here really opened my mind

Senior Experience: I built out a web application that allows a company to manage user data for a social media type site.

Plans after graduation: I have been interning with a company called SocialMama for the past ~ 2 years now. SocialMama is a great company that is trying to combat loneliness and isolation during motherhood. I have plans to start work with them full time when I graduate where I will help them build out their mobile application further in order to help mothers everywhere feel secure and fulfilled.

Congrats, Dylan!

Please join us on Friday at 4:30pm on Zoom for our last math colloquium of the year! Junior math major Gui Martins will be talking to us about Irrational and Transcendental Numbers -- you don't want to miss it! (Ask a prof or see Zulip for link.)

Abstract: Rational numbers are those that satisfy a strict condition: they are the roots of degree 1 polynomials with integer coefficients. Loosening this condition leads to the definition of an algebraic number. Numbers that fail these properties are called irrational and transcendental, respectively. In this talk, we will first discuss the irrationality of some well-known numbers. We then investigate a specific class of numbers and show that they must be transcendental. To conclude the presentation, we will talk about more recent results regarding transcendental numbers.
Prerequisites: Calculus I

We hope you will join us for a few math/stats/cs events this week:
Wednesday, 4:30pm: in-person department gathering outside Ormsby. This is a chance to mingle with your fellow classmates and meet your profs in person! (This will take the place of our usual end-of-year picnic)
Friday, 4:30pm (on Zoom): last math colloquium of the year -- more details coming soon

Join us in celebrating our next featured senior, Johanna Kopecky!

Majors: Math and English

Favorite LU memories: The math picnic when I made that horrible cake. There was only a cupcake tin in Sabin House, so I had to squish it all together to make it cake, and I iced it with vanilla pudding and topped it with orange slices, banana slices, and dried pineapple. It was a cornerstore disaster. I also enjoyed, at that same picnic, drawing my math buddies in chalk (see photo).
Other favourite memories include cutting the cake with Travis after Alissa Crans' cake talk and Lawrence's Team Euler winning the Face Off competition at St. Norbert. So many great math department memories!

Senior experience: My senior experience was a study of text mining, which is statistical modelling and inferencing using words instead of numbers. I used text mining to analyse William Shakespeare's Hamlet and draw interesting literary implications from the statistical findings.

Congrats, Johanna! We will surely miss the Shakespeare quotes on the Briggs whiteboard next year.

Please join us for another Math Colloquium tomorrow (Friday) at 4:30pm (central time)! Check out the details below (and ask a prof for a Zoom link if you need it):

Title: Bivectors Make Everything Better
Speaker: Ada Stelzer (senior math major)
Abstract: If there's one thing I hate, it's cross products. Fortunately, there are other, better ways to think about vector multiplication! We'll start by discussing the history behind different mathematical models of rotation and problems they raised before diving into the theory of bivectors, which elegantly connect these representations via the field of "geometric algebra." In the end, we'll also touch upon higher-dimensional extensions of these ideas as well as applications to other areas like physics.
Prerequisites: Some idea of what vectors and imaginary/complex numbers would be nice, but not strictly necessary.

We're happy to feature Ada Stelzer in our next senior profile! (You can also see her speak this week at colloquium!)

Majors: Math and Anthropology
Favorite LU memory: The highlight of my time at Lawrence has been the Great Midwest Trivia Contest, in which teams compete for 50 straight hours to answer meaningless questions. It's an absolute blast!
Senior Experience: On the math side I spent a term studying category theory, which is kind of like an abstract language describing the common structures across various branches of mathematics. For my anthropology major, I analyzed the cultural construction of "rigor" as a mathematical concept and proposed a study of math classrooms in order to better understand how this concept is applied in practice.
Plans for next year: I will be entering a math PhD program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign! Hopefully I'll be able to engage in some combination of math and math education research there :)

Congrats, Ada!

Please join us in celebrating one of our graduating seniors, Gabrielle Claus!

Majors: Math, Physics, Piano Performance

Senior Experience: My senior experience is focused on understanding concepts from dynamical systems theory, such as manifolds, Poincare maps, and normal forms.

Plans for next year: Starting a PhD program in Applied Math at University of New Hampshire. I’ve received the SMART scholarship, so after I finish my PhD, I’ll be working at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH, where my research will focus on turbulence.

Congrats, Gabrielle!

Please join us tomorrow at 4:30pm for another math colloquium! Travis Dillion will be talking about big intersections -- you don't want to miss it! (Check Zulip for the Zoom link or email a prof.)

Title: Big intersections
Abstract: Have you ever wondered whether there was something more? Something . . . higher? I have good news! Convex sets are here to liberate you from your drab, three-dimensional lives, to lift you up to view the joy and awe of higher dimensions. Come listen to their story, which winds its way through countless dimensions and a century of time, beginning before sliced bread and continuing even this very moment.
Prerequisites: Understanding of coordinates and Euclidean distance in R2

Congrats to senior math major Travis Dillon on receiving an NSF fellowship! Read more about Travis' outstanding accomplishment here: https://blogs.lawrence.edu/news/2021/04/lawrences-dillon-receives-prestigious-nsf-fellowship-to-pursue-math-research.html

Also: you can hear from Travis this Friday at 4:30pm for our first spring term math colloquium! More details will be posted soon -- we hope to see you there!

Lawrence’s Dillon receives prestigious NSF Fellowship to pursue math research Travis Dillon '21 (Photo by Danny Damiani) Story by Ed Berthiaume / Communications Travis Dillon ’21 has received a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) award that will assist the mathematics major as he heads to graduate school and pursues a doctorate. The NSF’s Graduate Research Fello...

Math Colloquium is back! Join us tomorrow at 4:30 for a fun talk from senior Johanna Kopecky! (Contact a prof or check Zulip for the Zoom link.)

Title: Can Money Buy Safety? Predicting Titanic Survival With Ticket Prices

Abstract: After striking an iceberg during its oceanic voyage in 1912, the RMS Titanic sank and killed many passengers. Which circumstances influenced the probability of survival among passengers? In this talk, we will explore several variables related to passengers to see which qualities and attributes correlate with higher chances of survival -- including how much money was paid for their boarding pass. Audience members will have the chance to "play along" and see if they can correctly guess, using statistical inferencing, whether a given passenger would have survived the disaster!

Please join us this Friday at 4:30pm (CT) for Andrew Stelzer's senior independent study talk on category theory! The talk is most appropriate for those with knowledge of group theory (like those who have completed Math 300) -- but all are welcome to attend and support Andrew! (Please check Zulip or email Liz Sattler for the zoom link)

Title: "Category Theory: A Brief Introduction"
Abstract: Category theory arose in the mid-20th century as a new, highly abstract language for mathematics. The subject has since permeated and revolutionized many other subfields of math, but the level of abstraction involved keeps it from being taught as a standard undergraduate course. In this talk, we will introduce the basic concepts of category theory and build up to a fundamental result called the Yoneda Lemma, which is a massive generalization of Cayley's Theorem from group theory. Some knowledge of introductory group theory and general familiarity with abstract mathematical structures will be assumed (i.e. this talk is designed for students who have completed MATH 300 or equivalent), but anyone is welcome.

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, confer...