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Math Department News in Brief: 2017-18

June 12, 2018

This article appeared in the Fall 2017-Spring 2018 Bryn Mawr Math Alumnae Newsletter.

Math graduate students Hannah Schwartz and Isaac Craig gave “Lightning Talks” at the 12th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium at Bryn Mawr on April 3, 2018.

Math Ph.D. students Samantha Pezzimenti and Danielle Smiley presented posters at the 12th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium. Sam’s poster was on “Lagrangian Fillings of Legendrian Knots,” while Danielle’s poster was on “A Historical Survey of Oscillatory Singular Integral Operators”.

Graduate student Isaac Craig successfully defended his master’s thesis On Fibering 3-Manifolds on April 26, 2018.

This spring’s Math Appreciation Week included a keynote address titled “Should You Believe It? Critical Minds in the Information Age.” It was delivered by Rebecca Goldin of George Mason University and STATS/Sense about Science USA. The week also featured an alumnae panel, pi(e) party, and a game of SET tournament.

In July 2017, Assistant  Prof. Djordje Milićević was a visiting mathematician in the USA/Canada Mathcamp at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA.

In November 2017,  Prof. Lisa Traynor and Samantha Pezzimenti traveled to Lyon, France, to give research talks.

Djordje Milićević received tenure and has been promoted to Associate  Professor of Mathematics effective Fall 2018.

Peter Kasius has been promoted to Senior Lecturer in Mathematics effective Fall 2018.

Math graduate student Samantha Pezzimenti gave the 2018 Convocation address for the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

Hannah Schwartz Math
Hannah Schwartz talks about "How to Draw a 4-Dimensional Space."

Math major Jill Li ’18 won the Hoop Race at May Day 2018.

On September 28, 2017 the Math Department hosted a Summer Math Experiences Panel. Panelists included Emily Barry ’19, who was an Education for Sustainability Philly Intern; Dina Benedetto ’18, who was a technology summer analyst at Morgan Stanley in the Greater New York City Area; Hezel Gadzikwa ’18, who was a research assistant investigating “Covered Interest Rate Parity Post Great Financial Crisis” at The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania; Jill Li ’18, who was a business development intern at OpenWater, Inc. in the Washington D.C. Metro Area; Bisma Naqvi ’18, who was a summer analyst at Melinae Inc. in the Greater New York City Area; and Boyang Su ’18. Boyang participated in an undergraduate research program at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. Her project dealt with “Research Challenges Identifying Integer Sequences Using the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS).”

The Math Department hosted its first ever Study Abroad Panel this academic year. Elena Broderick ’18, Greta Koch (HC ’18), Hunter Rendleman ’18, and Rachel Terry ’18 were the panelists. Elena studied at Tsuda College in Japan, and she took a measure theory course in Japanese. Greta participated in the Liberal Arts and Business Program in Barcelona, Spain through IES Abroad. Hunter studied at the London School of Economics, while Rachel studied abroad in Paris, France.

Math graduate student Lindsay Dever participated in the Women and Mathematics program on “Mathematics of Modern Cryptography” at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, in May 2018.

The Math Department conducted a tenure-track search for an algebraist this academic year. John Bergdall was hired and will begin his tenure-track position in August 2018. He is scheduled to teach a new elective on elliptic curves in the Spring 2019 semester.

Two new graduate students will join the Math Department this summer. Elsa Magness is from La Habra, Calif., and has an undergraduate degree from Seattle University. Alfredo (AJ) Vargas is from Bronx, NY, and has an undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester.

Victor Donnay is Bryn Mawr’s representative on a $1.4 million multi-institutional grant from the NSF to provide scholarships and other supports to math and science majors who want to teach in a high-needs district, specifically Philadelphia.

Djordje Milićević is co-organizing and giving a lecture series in the summer school on “L-Functions: Open Problems and Current Methods” at the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics in Bonn, Germany, in June 2018; math graduate student Daniel White will be attending.

Profs. Elizabeth Milićević (Haverford College) and Djordje Milićević will serve as Director Mathematicians in Residence at the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program in their 2018 summer session.

The 2017 Putnam Exam was taken by three Bryn Mawr students. One of these students scored 12, which is impressive given the difficulty of the exam (the median score is 0). During the fall semester about three students, on average, attended the weekly problem-solving seminar run by instructor Peter Kasius for practice in preparation for this exam.

Math Ph.D. student Danielle Smiley will start a continuing non-tenure track position in mathematics at Villanova University in Fall 2018.

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