2025

Arthur Benjamin PosterClick To Zoom

Speaker: Arthur Benjamin
When: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 4:00 p.m.
Where: William E. Kirwan Hall Room 3206
Abstract: Solving the Race in Backgammon

Backgammon is perhaps the oldest game that is still played today. It is a game that combines luck with skill, where two players take turns rolling dice and decide how to move their checkers in the best possible way. It is the ultimate math game, where players who possess a little bit of mathematical knowledge can have a big advantage over their opponents. Players also have the opportunity to double the stakes of a game using something called the doubling cube, which—when used optimally—leads to players winning more in the long run. Optimal use of the doubling cube relies on a player's ability to estimate their winning chances at any stage of the game.

When played to completion, every game of backgammon eventually becomes a race, where each player attempts to remove all of their checkers before their opponent does. The goal of our research is to be able to determine the optimal doubling cube action for any racing position, and approximate the game winning chances for both sides. By calculating the Effective Pip Count for both players and identifying the positions' Variance Types, we arrive at a reasonably simple method for achieving this which is demonstrably superior to other popular methods.

 

2024

Ravi Vakil PoaterClick To Zoom

Speaker: Ravi Vakil
When: Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at 4:00 p.m.
Where: William E. Kirwan Hall Room 3206
Abstract: The Mathematics of Doodling

Doodling is a creative and fundamentally human activity, resulting in doodles with intricate and often hidden implicit structure. We will treat doodles as an example for how mathematics is done — by starting with some doodles, we will ask ourselves some natural questions and see where they take us. They will lead us to some unexpected places, and to some sophisticated mathematics.

 

2023

Miller KirwanUndergradLecture WEB 3Speaker: Steven J Miller
When: Wednesday, March 29, 2023 at 4:30 p.m.
Where: William E. Kirwan Hall Room 3206
Abstract: Why I love Monovariants: From Zombies and Conway's Soldiers to Fibonacci Games

A monovariant is a quantity which is either non-increasing or non-decreasing, such as the number of primes up to x, but not the number of factors of n. Many challenging problems can be solved by associating the right monovariant to it; unfortunately it is often challenging to find the right quantity to study. After describing classic problems such as the Zombie Apocalypse and Conway's Soldiers we turn to recent applications.

Zeckendorf proved every positive integer can be written as a sum of non-adjacent Fibonacci numbers (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, ...); using mono-variants we can show no decomposition as a sum of Fibonacci numbers has fewer summands, and discuss generalizations to other sequences. These are key ingredients in analyzing a game involving Fibonacci numbers, where we can prove Player 2 has a winning strategy but it is not known what it is. This work only requires elementary mathematics and is joint with many students (I will mention research opportunities, such as the Polymath Jr REU, for students this summer); there is a $500 reward for a constructive proof of Player 2's winning strategy!

2022

Barry Cipra PosterClick To Zoom

Speaker: Barry Cipra
When: Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at 4:30 p.m.
Where: William E. Kirwan Hall Room 3206
Abstract: In Praise of Not Paying Attention

 The speaker will describe some mathematical puzzles, problems, and games he has dreamt up over the years while letting his mind wander during math lectures and other occasions.  If all goes well, the audience will find it a stimulating presentation…

 

2019

MattinglyIMAGeClick To Zoom

Speaker: Jonathan Christopher Mattingly (Duke)
When: Thursday, April 11, 2019 at 4:00 p.m.
Where: Toll Physics, Lecture Room 1412
Abstract: Quantifying Gerrymandering: A Mathematician Goes to Court

In October 2017, I found myself testifying for hours in a Federal In October 2017, I found myself testifying for hours in a Federal court. I had not been arrested. Rather---I was attempting to quantify gerrymandering using mathematical analysis. I was intrigued by the surprising results of the 2012 election, wondering if these results were really surprising. It hinged on probing the geopolitical structure of North Carolina using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm. In this talk, I will describe the mathematical ideas involved in our analysis. The talk will be accessible and, hopefully, interesting to all, including undergraduates. In fact, this project began as a sequence of undergraduate research projects, which undergraduates continue to be involved with to this day.

 

2018

Ellenburg11x17IMAGEClick To Zoom

Speaker: Jordan Ellenberg (Wisconsin-Madison)
When: Friday, April 27, 2018 at 3:30 p.m.
Where: William E. Kirwan Hall Room 3206
Abstract:  One of the most closely watched Supreme Court cases this year is also one of the most mathematical — Gill v. One of the most closely watched Supreme Court cases this year is also one of the most mathematical — Gill v. Whitford, a case about whether the state legislative districts in Wisconsin were drawn to favor Republicans so greatly that the right of Wisconsin Democrats to representation in the legislature was unconstitutionally diminished. The court will also hear a companion case, Benisek v. Lamone, concerning congressional districts in Maryland, which are drawn to favor Democrats.

As a native of Maryland, a current resident of Wisconsin, and a mathematician, I’m naturally following this closely. How can we use mathematics to test whether district boundaries are drawn to favor one party or the other? How much unfairness is too much? And how can people with mathematical, statistical, and computational training participate in the process and help us get to a point where the legal status quo has good mathematical grounding?

2017

KUL Poster 2017 copyClick To Zoom

Speaker: Ingrid Daubechies (Duke)
When: Thursday, April 27 at 4pm
Where: William E. Kirwan Hall Room 3206
Abstract: Mathematics for Art Investigation: Mathematical tools for image analysis increasingly play a role in helping art historians and art conservators assess the state of conversation of paintings, and probe into the secrets of their history.  the talk will review several case studies, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Van Eyck among others.

Ingrid Daubechies earned her Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Vrije Universiteit Brussel.  In addition to seminal advances in time-frequency analysis, she is best known for her breakthroughs in wavelet research and contributions to digital signal processing.  Some of the wavelet bases and other computational techniques she developed were incorporated into the JPEG2000 standard for image compression.

Ingrid's career has seen many impressive firsts: the first female full professor of mathematics at Princeton; the first woman the National Academy of Sciences Award in Mathematics in 2000; the first woman president of the International Mathematics Union in 2010; and she is very likely the first and only mathematician to have been granted the title of Baroness by Belgium's King albert II.

Ingrid continues to break new ground in mathematics research, focusing on signal analysis and inverse problems, with applications ranging from fMRI and geophysics to paleontology and fine art painting.

2016

Oliveiro posterv3 thumbClick To ZoomSpeaker: Dr. Tomaso Poggio (MIT)
When: Thursday, April 28 at 4pm
Where: John S. Toll Physics Building Room 1412
Abstract: The birth of artificial-intelligence research as an autonomous discipline is generally thought to have been the month long Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence in 1956, which convened 10 leading electrical engineers — including MIT’s Marvin Minsky and Claude Shannon — to discuss “how to make machines use language” and “form abstractions and concepts.” A decade later, impressed by rapid advances in the design of digital computers, Minsky was emboldened to declare that “within a generation ... the problem of creating ‘artificial intelligence’ will substantially be solved.”

The problem, of course, turned out to be much more difficult than AI’s pioneers had imagined. In recent years, by exploiting machine learning — in which computers learn to perform tasks from sets of training examples — artificial-intelligence researchers have built special-purpose systems that can do things like interpret spoken language or play professional-level Go games or drive cars using vision. Some of the present excitement is due to realistic expectations for further progress.

There is also a substantial amount of hype. However, systems that are intelligent in narrow domains are being developed.

I will briefly review today’s engineering of intelligence and some of the mathematics underlying it, the mathematics of learning from data. I will also sketch the vision of the MIT Center for Brains, Minds and Machines which strives to make progress on the science of intelligence.

Watch the Kirwan Undergraduate Lecture >>

2015

The Inaugural William E. Kirwan Distinguished Undergraduate Lecture

hofstadterClick To ZoomFeuerbach’s Theorem: A Beautiful Theorem Deserves a Beautiful Proof" by Professor Douglas Hofstadter* on April 23rd, 2015 4:00-5:00pm in Physics 1412. 

Douglas Hofstadter is a College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science at Indiana University, Director of  the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition, and the author of the Pulitzer Prizewinning book, Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid.

Watch the Kirwan Undergraduate Lecture >>
Watch the Colloquium Lecture >>

$\sum_{i=0}^n i^2 = \frac{(n^2+n)(2n+1)}{6}$

Tenure/Tenure-Track Positions

The Mathematics Department at the University of Maryland invites applications for one or more positions of tenure-track Assistant Professor, with an appointment beginning summer 2025. All areas of pure and applied Mathematics, as well as computational, theoretical, and applied Statistics will be considered. Applicants must present evidence of excellent accomplishments and promise in both research and teaching. Exceptional candidates will be considered for an appointment at a higher rank.

Qualified individuals are invited to submit a letter of application and a CV to http://www.mathjobs.org/jobs/UMD. Applicants for Assistant Professor positions should arrange for four letters of recommendation, one of which should address teaching. Candidates for Associate or Full Professor positions should only submit a cover letter and a CV. Such candidates may specify in their cover letter names of three references to be contacted at the appropriate time by the Department. For best consideration the application should be received by October 27, 2024. The University of Maryland Mathematics Department is committed to building a diverse faculty preeminent in our missions of research, teaching, and engagement in the community. Candidates who have experience working with a diverse range of faculty, staff, and students and who can contribute to a climate of inclusiveness are encouraged to identify their experiences in this area.

The University of Maryland, College Park, an equal opportunity employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, age, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, creed, marital status, political affiliation, personal appearance, or on the basis of rights secured by the First Amendment, in all aspects of employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

Post Doc

The Mathematics Department seeks to hire two or more postdoctoral fellows: 1) Michael Brin postdoctoral fellows; and 2) Sergei Novikov postdoctoral fellows. The teaching load is 1+1 for the Brin postdocs and 1+2 for the Novikov postdocs but with a teaching reduction of one course in the first year. The salary is the same for both the Brin and Novikov postdocs. The University of Maryland offers significant resources for career and professional development.

The appointments will preferably begin in August 2025. The initial appointments are for two years, with a possible renewal for a third year. The department seeks outstanding candidates working in any field of mathematics or statistics. The successful applicant will have received a Ph.D. in mathematics or statistics by August 1, 2025, and not earlier than 2023. Strong preference is given to new PhDs. Accomplished credentials are required in both research and teaching. Letter references for the applicants must include one letter that addresses teaching. For best consideration, all application materials should be received by November 1, 2024.

The University of Maryland, College Park, an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, age, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, creed, marital status, political affiliation, personal appearance, or on the basis of rights secured by the First Amendment, in all aspects of employment, educational programs, and activities, and admissions.  Applications should be submitted on https://www.mathjobs.org/jobs/UMD.

  1. Photographs of the 2009 Math Department Awardees
  2. Photographs of the 2008 Math Department Awardees
  3. Photographs of the 2007 Math Department Awardees
  4. Photographs of the 2006 Math Department Awardees
  5. Photographs of the 2005 Math Department Awardees