Invited Speakers

  • Friday evening:

    M. Zuhair Nashed,
    Professor of Mathematics,
    University of Central Florida     personal website

    Inverse Problems across the Undergraduate Curriculum
    Abstract

    The subject of inverse problems and ill-posed problems is an important research area in contemporary applied mathematics, engineering and the applied sciences. The purpose of this talk is to inspire undergraduate students to conduct research in this subject.
    After providing some perspectives and important examples of inverse problems, we discuss examples of inverse and ill-posed problems across the undergraduate curriculum, including trigonometry, calculus, differential and integral equations, linear algebra, vector analysis, signal processing, calculus of variations and control theory.

  • Saturday morning:

    Niall Ives Gaffney,
    Director of Data Intensive Computing,
    Texas Advanced Computing Center,
    The University of Texas at Austin     personal website

    Data is the New Black:
    The Future of Data Driven Insight
    Abstract

    It takes little analysis to detect the current buzz around "Big Data", but what does it all mean? What of the many promises to come out of the current hype will lead to useful results and meaningful outcomes? How will advances in computational hardware, software, and algorithms improve how we work with data? And how will the changes that come from current and future data scientists change the way we ask questions of the world around us? These are the questions that will be answered in the coming years as the impact of advances in data research are fully understood.
    In this talk, I will talk about the past and current state of Data Science and Data Systems, where the field is and is going, and why, as the current hype surrounding “Big Data” goes away, it will be replaced with real impactful results that will act as the foundation for working and understanding with the large complex systems that make up our world.
    At the heart of this new method of research will be the data scientists that understand how to combine data, algorithms, statistics, and field-specific knowledge in ways to help people make sense of the massive quantities of data now available in fields ranging including cosmology, finance, healthcare, and history.

  • Saturday evening:

    Benedict H. Gross,
    Leverett Professor of Mathematics,
    Harvard University     personal website

    The function n → n!
    Abstract

    One of the early applications of integral calculus was an estimate for the growth of the function n! = 1·2·3·4…·(n-1)·n , first by de Moivre and then by Stirling. Euler refined their estimates by introducing the Gamma function on the positive real line, which took these values on the positive integers. I will discuss some of this material, and end with the definition of a p-adic Gamma function, which enjoys many similar properties.

  • Sunday morning:

    Bruce T. Myers,
    Director of Hiring, Mathematics and Statistics,
    National Security Agency     NSA Math careers website

    Mathematics Today at the National Security Agency
    Abstract

    An overview of how the role of mathematicians at NSA is continually evolving in response to the ever changing world of communications technology.