JAMS Student Seminar Archives for Fall 2025 to Spring 2026
Organizational Meeting
When: Thu, August 29, 2024 - 4:00pmWhere: Kirwan Hall 0103
Speaker: Organizers () -
What is ... abstract independence?
When: Thu, September 5, 2024 - 4:30pmWhere: TBD
Speaker: Connor Lockhart (UMD) -
What is ... a cycle basis?
When: Thu, September 12, 2024 - 4:30pmWhere: Toll Physics Building 2208
Speaker: Perrin Ruth (UMD) -
Abstract: The graph theoretic notion of cycle bases are useful for many fields such as for electrical and chemical networks. The structure of the cycle space is a binary vector space that is readily studied using abelian groups, computational algorithms, and optimization. We will discuss key definitions of cycle spaces, their history, and a method for computing cycle bases. Time permitting, we will also discuss minimum cycle bases which are useful for the study of chemical networks.
What is ... a prime graph?
When: Thu, September 19, 2024 - 4:30pmWhere: Toll Physics Building 2208
Speaker: Lixin Zheng (UMD) -
Abstract: For a finite group G, the vertices of the prime graph Γ(G) are the primes that divide |G|, and two vertices p and q are connected by an edge if and only if there is an element of order pq in G. Though this notion was used in the 1970s to study cohomological questions of group rings, prime graphs have been studied for their own sake ever since. In studying prime graphs of a specific class of groups, we encounter interesting number-theoretic questions, overcome computational obstacles, and devise heavy group-theoretic machinery that streamlines further work on the subject.
What is ... CSIDH?
When: Thu, September 26, 2024 - 4:30pmWhere: Toll Physics Building 2208
Speaker: Ziyi Huang (UMD) -
Abstract: Public key cryptography is essential to keeping our data secure. It appears, for example, in emails, our daily transactions, or signature schemes to ensure you always get the correct software updates. Classical public key cryptography relies on the hardness of factoring large primes and the discrete logarithm. However, these can easily be broken by quantum computers. So, the study of post-quantum cryptography is necessary. This talk will focus on isogeny cryptography. In particular, we will discuss the CSIDH relation, which is based on the action of the ideal class group of the order O = Z [√−p] ⊂ Q [√−p] on a family of supersingular elliptic curves over F_p.
What is ... a Wavelet?
When: Thu, October 10, 2024 - 4:30pmWhere: Toll Physics Building 2208
Speaker: Brandon Kolstoe (UMD) -
Abstract: While Fourier series and the Fourier Transform are the key tools in harmonic analysis for analyzing the features of functions, they are not well-suited for local analysis or for representing sudden bumps. This has led to the study of wavelets, where functions are represented by the translation and dilations of a single, fixed function called a mother wavelet. In this talk, we shall discuss both the continuous wavelet transform and wavelet series, conditions that the mother wavelet must satisfy to have a admissible wavelet system, and how wavelet bases are constructed.
TBD
When: Thu, October 17, 2024 - 4:30pmWhere: Toll Physics Building 2208
Speaker: TBD (UMD) -
What is ... a Fractional Sobolev Space?
When: Thu, October 31, 2024 - 4:30pmWhere: Toll Physics Building 2208
Speaker: Ethan Dudley (UMD) -
What is…Reservoir Computing?
When: Thu, November 7, 2024 - 4:30pmWhere: Toll Physics Building 2208
Speaker: Frank McBride (UMD) -
Abstract: Reservoir Computing is a recurrent machine learning technique for which most of the components are randomly generated instead of trained. This approach has had success forecasting time series from chaotic systems, and making predictions that preserve the ergodic features of these systems. In other words, Reservoir Computing can both make accurate short- to medium- term predictions—the “weather” of a system—and replicate long-term global patterns—the “climate”. In this talk, I will discuss the basics of how reservoir computing works, important analogies to continuous-time dynamical systems, theoretical results that suggest why it is able to work with so few trained components, and useful applications.
What is … metric distortion?
When: Thu, November 14, 2024 - 4:30pmWhere: Toll Physics Building 2208
Speaker: Max Springer (UMD) -
Abstract: Suppose we have an election with n voters and m candidates, all positioned within an unknown metric space. Our goal is to design a voting rule that selects a candidate who minimizes the average distance to all voters—without direct knowledge of the metric space itself, relying solely on voters' ranked preferences. This challenge, especially relevant in today's political climate, is known as the “metric distortion” problem in algorithmic game theory. In this talk, I’ll introduce the problem, survey major algorithmic results, and highlight open questions that continue to drive research in this field.
What is ... Delzant’s Construction?
When: Thu, November 21, 2024 - 4:30pmWhere: Toll Physics Building 2208
Speaker: Abdullah Ahmed (UMD) -
Organizational Meeting
When: Wed, January 29, 2025 - 4:00pmWhere: Physics Building 2122
Speaker: Organizational Meeting () -
What is ... a Frame?
When: Wed, February 19, 2025 - 5:00pmWhere: Physics Building 2122
Speaker: Revati Jadhav (UMD) -
What is ... the Lotka-Volterra model?
When: Wed, March 5, 2025 - 5:00pmWhere: Physics Building 2122
Speaker: Dmitrii Gudin (UMD) -
What is ... the Lotka-Volterra Model?
When: Wed, March 12, 2025 - 5:00pmWhere: Physics Building 2122
Speaker: Dmitrii Gudin (UMD) -
Abstract: What would happen if we were to reintroduce wolves to the DMV area? How would it affect the local deer population? The Lotka-Volterra model of population dynamics provides a framework for answering such questions. A system of seemingly simple differential equations leads to complex behaviors, featuring bifurcations, numerical instabilities, and counterintuitive results. Let us explore these fascinating properties by considering a variety of modeling scenarios and the model predictions - and how aligned they are with observations in the real world.
What is ... the price of fairness?
When: Wed, March 26, 2025 - 5:00pmWhere: Physics Building 2122
Speaker: Max Springer (UMD) -
What is ... Bezout's Theorem?
When: Wed, April 2, 2025 - 5:00pmWhere: Physics Building 2122
Speaker: Sam Bachhuber (UMD) -
What is ... a nimber?
When: Wed, April 9, 2025 - 5:00pmWhere: Physics Building 2122
Speaker: Lixin Zheng (UMD) -
What are ... Stable and Chaotic Motions in Celestial Mechanics?
When: Wed, April 23, 2025 - 5:00pmWhere: Physics Building 2122
Speaker: Vaughn Osterman (UMD) -