Mathematics at Florida State University

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

MAY 2020 • WWW.MATH.FSU.EDU

FSU Alumna Named AMS Fellow A Message from Former FSU Biomathematics student members who have made outstanding the Chair Mariel Vazquez has been selected to contributions to the creation, exposi- Washington Mio the 2020 Class of Fellows of the American tion, advancement, communication, and Mathematical Society (AMS). She re- utilization of mathematics. The AMS se- Greetings! As we near the end of the aca- ceived her Ph.D. in 2000 under Prof. De lected Prof. Vazquez “For contributions demic year, it is very rewarding to see how Witt Sumners and is now a Professor in in research and outreach at the interface much the Department of Mathematics the departments of Mathematics and of of topology and molecular biology, and has accomplished in all spheres of aca- Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at for service to the mathematical commu- demic activity as a result of the hard work the University of California, Davis. The nity in particular to underrepresented and dedication of our faculty, students, Fellows of the AMS program recognizes groups”. Vazquez’s research lies at the in- and staff members, and the support from terface of mathematics, polymer physics, our donors, alumni and the larger com- and molecular biology and she special- munity. Over the last few years, we have izes in the application of topological tools welcomed many new faculty members to study DNA. to a vibrant and collegial environment, where groundbreaking research in math- After graduating from FSU, Vazquez was ematics – both pure and applied – goes a postdoctoral fellow at the University of hand in hand with undergraduate and California, Berkeley from 2000 to 2005, graduate education. then a faculty member in the mathematics department at San Francisco The cutting-edge research of our faculty State University from 2005 to 2014, be- and students cover a vast mathematical fore joining the faculty at the University of landscape, frequently transcending dis- California, Davis. Prior to being selected ciplinary boundaries, with many projects as an AMS fellow, Vazquez received sev- funded by external contracts and grants. eral awards, including the prestigious NSF The teaching and scholarly accomplish- Early Career Award in 2011 and, in 2012, ments of our faculty and students have the Presidential Early Career Award for been recognized by many awards, Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the and the recently implemented Dean’s nation’s highest honor for researchers in Postdoctoral Program enriches the at- the early stages of their career. mosphere of the department with the

Mariel Vazquez CHAIR Continued on page 2

FACULTY AWARDS FACULTY NEWS STUDENT DEPARTMENT NEWS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS OUTREACH Mariel Vazquez pg. 1 Faculty Promotions pg. 4 Society of Undergraduate Alumni, Graduate, and Quant Symposium pg. 15 Brennan Professorship pg. 2 New Faculty pg. 5 Math Students pg. 13 Faculty News pg. 18 Math Fun Day pg. 16 Hunter Professorship pg. 3 Faculty Retirements pg. 9 Association for Women in PhD Recipients pg. 19 High School Math Mathematics pg. 14 Math Honors Day pg. 23 Competition pg. 7 Chair, from pg. 1

contributions, energy and vigor of many Nick Cogan Becomes the Fourth junior scholars and educators. Our students graduate to successful careers in Brennan Professor of Mathematics academia and diverse sectors of industry or government, attesting to the quality Bertram, who held the position from of our programs. It also has been very 2015 until 2018. The most recent recip- refreshing to see a renewed commitment ient, Nick Cogan, was selected to hold the from our faculty to offering richer aca- endowed chair position until 2021. demic experiences to our undergradu- ates to enhance learning outcomes, Dr. Cogan is a biomathematician who especially in basic mathematics that in- builds and analyzes models describing fluences the academic trajectories of so fluid/solid interactions, chemical trans- many students, campus wide. Through port, and bacterial physiology. He has our outreach activities, the Department published roughly 50 papers in journals engages with the local community, cata- such as Biophysical Journal, the SIAM lyzing interest and inspiring K-12 students Journal on Applied Mathematics, the to learn mathematics. All of our activities Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, the are supported by a wonderful, dedicated Journal of Theoretical Biology, and the staff that ensure that our operations Journal of Membrane Science. His publi- run smoothly, always ready for the next cations typically are aimed at answering challenge. biological questions, and often employ sophisticated mathematical tools and As I sketched this message, reflecting Nick Cogan computational analysis. This work is on the collective achievements of the often done in collaboration with experi- Mathematics Department over the years The Marion Bradley Brennan mental scientists. His research has been was very inspiring. Over three quarters Professorship in Mathematics was estab- supported over a number of years by of a century, our research and graduate lished through a generous gift from Ms. the National Science Foundation, and programs have come a long way and at- Carol Brennan, in honor of her mother. one of his publications was awarded tained national prominence. Our under- Carol completed her Bachelor’s degree a Best Paper Prize from the journal graduate and graduate programs are in in 1976 and Master’s degree in 1978, Mathematical Medicine and Biology. The a healthy state and are responsive to the both in applied mathematics at FSU. lead author on this prize-winning paper needs of our students, supporting many Upon graduation, she took a position at was Angela Jarrett, a former biomathe- career paths. I have every reason to be- Bell Laboratories, and later at Telcordia matics graduate student who is now a lieve that we are on a strong, positive tra- Technologies where she became the postdoctoral fellow at the University of jectory and the future is bright. Looking Corporate Vice President of Quality Texas, Austin. forward, we will continue to build on our Operations before retiring. She regularly strengths and expand in new directions. returns to the math department to attend Angela is not the only student fortunate One of the current plans is to unveil a the Brennan Professor talks given by new enough to work with Dr. Cogan. In fact, new master’s program in data science in recipients. he has mentored eight doctoral stu- the fall of 2021. dents who, after receiving their PhD de- The Brennan endowed professorship is grees, went on to postdoctoral work at I invite you to continue to read this awarded every three years or so to an the University of Michigan, University of Newsletter to learn more about the de- FSU mathematics professor who is an “in- Texas, University of Cincinnati, and North partment and the people making things ternationally known scholar in the field of Carolina State University, as well as to in- happen. I wholeheartedly thank all mem- mathematics, with a proven track record dustry. Dr. Cogan regularly teaches the bers of the Mathematics Department in research, teaching, and mentoring of graduate-level class Spatial and Temporal for all of their contributions, our alumni undergraduate and graduate students”. Methods in Biology, as well as special for continuing to project a great image The first recipient of the award was Paolo topics classes such as Sensitivity Analysis. of the department, and our donors for Aluffi, who held the chair from 2012 His extensive work with students has endowing professorships, funding schol- until 2014. This was followed by Eriko been recognized with an FSU Graduate arships, supporting the professional de- Hironaka, who held the position from Mentor Award in 2016 and an Honors velopment of our students, and making a 2014 until 2015, when she left the de- Thesis Mentor Award in 2018. It is only real difference in so many ways. partment to become a senior editor at fitting, then, that Dr. Cogan should be- the American Mathematical Society. The come the fourth recipient of the Marion third recipient of the chair was Richard Bradley Brennan Professorship.

2 May 2020 Hunter

DEPARTMENT OF Professorship MATHEMATICS Christopher Hunter (1934-2008) was re- AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY cruited by FSU from MIT in 1970 to found and direct the applied mathematics program. He was the department chair from MAY 2020 www.math.fsu.edu/newsletter 1993 - 1999 and had a profound impact on mathematics at FSU. In 2018, his es- Washington Mio tate established the Christopher Hunter Chair, Department of Endowed Professor of Mathematics. The Mathematics endowment is used to support a faculty [email protected] member whose scholarly activity is fo- Amod Agashe & Richard cused on, but not limited to applied math- Oberlin ematics. The inaugural faculty member Editors was Mark Sussman. Monica Hurdal and Mark Sussman Kyle Gallivan were also nominated. Dr. Richard Bertram Reagan Creamer Sussman joined FSU in 1999 with a PhD. of computer programming (we owned a Nick Cogan from UCLA under Stanley Osher followed radio shack TRS80 computer and then we Lydia Eldredge by several years at Sandia National Labs. owned the first IBM PC computer), I was Brian Ewald Dr. Sussman answered a few questions: intimidated by the prospect of having to Arash Fahim write computer programs until I got to Nina Fernandez Shelby Fintak What was your reaction to finding San Diego State University (SDSU). My Monica Hurdal out you would be the inaugural teachers at SDSU made math and com- Steve Paris Hunter Professor? puter programming very accessible and Julia Ream I was very happy, and I became a little I quickly started to enjoy the computer Contributing Writers emotional at the time, upon hearing I programming aspect of my education University Communications was chosen as the inaugural Christopher too. I ended up with a Bachelors in Math Creative Services Hunter Professor because I was picked at SDSU with minors in both Physics and Layout and Design by my colleagues whom I hold in high re- Computer Science. gard, and I value my colleagues’ opinion. Newsletter Submissions Also, Christopher Hunter was a scholar I note that in undergraduate school, [email protected] with high integrity and I am especially through my father’s connections, I got 2 FSUmath is a newsletter humbled that it is his name that is at- part time computer programming jobs produced by the Department tached to the Professorship. (business programming, relational data- of Mathematics at Florida State bases) which were also very motivating University How did you decide to become an for me to pursue Applied Math. It was Department of Mathematics applied mathematician? Can you working as a professional programmer Florida State University tell me something about your pre- (more business programming and re- 208 Love Building graduate school experiences? lational databases) that enabled me to 1017 Academic Way From an early age, I excelled in math support myself through graduate school. Tallahassee, FL 32306-4510 and science classes and did compara- I note that one special talent that I pos- Phone: 850-644-2202 Fax: 850-644-4053 tively very poorly in other subjects. In sessed when working as a programmer Web: www.math.fsu.edu other-words, I had a lot of positive rein- is the ability to take someone else’s code, forcement regarding my achievements in and find their bugs. math and science, but not so much en- couragement in other fields. I was on my How would you describe your area of high school math team. I benefited from expertise? How has your area of re- the fact that my father has a Master’s search changed in the past 10 years degree in Mathematics and my older or so? brother has a PhD in the UCSD AMES pro- My area of expertise is (i) Numerical gram (now the UCSD MAE (Mechanical Analysis and (ii) Computational Science and Aerospace Engineering) program). and Engineering. In Numerical Analysis, Although my dad was a professional pro- my collaborators and I analyze numer- grammer and my older brother did a lot ical algorithms for their benefits and

FSU Math 3 drawbacks. Numerical Analysis is an ex- It is hard for me to select my most favorite I feel like that I am constantly growing. I citing field for me these days because it part of research since research to me is a am always reading, whether it be math, seems like there has been an exponen- whole process that cannot be broken up physics, engineering, computer science, tially growing number of new applications into pieces. As a research professor, my agriculture, history, etc. for computer algorithms in order to help official duties are research, teaching, and solve problems in industry, medicine, service, and I have been very lucky in that How many projects do you keep and national security. I look at glass- all of these activities, without exception, moving at one time? door.com, indeed.com, and monster. contribute as a whole to my continued As many as humanly possible. com and I see exciting opportunities for growth in understanding of the world Numerical Analysts. Also, I look at the around us, as well as contribute to con- many Government Grant opportunities tinued awareness of what I don’t know. online and I am always encountering new applications listed.

In Computational Science and Engineering, we apply cutting edge numerical methods in order to solve prob- Faculty lems with Aerospace, Navy, Automotive, and Medical applications. Our research Promotions has been funded through the National Congratulations to Arash Fahim, Ettore Science Foundation (NSF), Office of Naval Aldrovandi, Nick Cogan, and Penning- Research (ONR), Sandia Labs, SAIC (now ton LeNoir on their recent promotions Leidos), UTRC, Weidlinger Associates, and National Aeronautics and Space Arash Fahim joined the department Administration (NASA). Arash Fahim in 2013 after graduating from Ecole Polytechnique in 2010 and Postdoctor- In the past ten years, I have noticed that al positions at the Fields institute and the following fields have grown rapidly: the University of Michigan from 2010- Data Science, statistical learning, distrib- 2013. He was promoted to Associate uted computing systems, self-driving ve- Professor in August 2019. hicles, robotics, space exploration, and scientific discovery at atomistic scales. Ettore Aldrovandi joined the department in 2001 after Postdoctoral and How do you find collaborators? What Scientific positions at Aarhus Univer- is your favorite part of research? sitet, SUNY Stony Brook, Trieste Inter- Ettore Aldrovandi What is your least favorite aspect national School for Advanced Studies, of research? and the FSU physics department. He In the process of carrying out my re- graduated from the Trieste ISAS in search, I am non-stop curious about 1992 and was promoted to Full Profes- what other researchers are doing. I am sor at FSU in August 2018. constantly searching the web looking for information. If one knows where to Nick Cogan joined the department in look, the web is full of links to articles, 2005 after a Postdoctoral position at journals, researcher websites, computer Tulane and graduating from the Uni- programs, and presentation files. The versity of Utah in 2003. He was pro- amazing thing is that I very rarely spot Nick Cogan moted to Full Professor in August 2017. misinformation on the web in my fields. I try a lot of algorithms that I find on the Pennington LeNoir joined the depart- web for example, and they almost al- ment in 1987. She taught in the Ala- ways work! In many cases, I only “com- bama K-12 system from 1972-1980, at municate” with collaborators through colleges in North Carolina from 1980- the sharing of computer algorithms and 1987, and received her PhD from North other related research ideas. I use a lot Carolina State University in 1989. She of other peoples’ research, so I cite many was promoted to Teaching Faculty III in people in our articles, and, thankfully, August 2017. other people cite our research too. Pennington LeNoir

4 May 2020 New Faces in the Graduate Faculty by Reagan Creamer and Shelby Fintak

Tom Needham Tom Needham In January of 2019, Dr. Tom Needham State University as an Assistant Professor. data science from many perspectives,” he walked into the Love Building to give a During his first semester, he enjoyed said. In addition to their research, Tom talk on topology in data science at FSU’s being able to work with FSU students and his peers are teaming up with the Mathematics Colloquium. Less than nine for the first time through his Calculus III Department of Computer Science and months later, he walked into the same course. “The class went smoothly and I Department of Statistics, to develop a building to teach his first full day of had some very bright students,” he said. Master’s Degree Program in Data Science. classes as an Assistant Professor. As the “My teaching experience in the first se- newest professor within the Department mester was great.” Tom has also worked on using data sci- of Mathematics, Dr. Needham brings a ence for specific applications outside of background of data science research A Focus on Data Science FSU. Last summer, he joined a group and signal processing applications to the Outside of the classroom, Tom is a part of of mathematicians at The Institute university. the budding data science research taking for Computational and Experimental place at FSU. As stated in the 2018 “Data Research in Mathematics at Brown Journey to Florida State Never Sleeps” report by Domo, a cloud- University, to look into gun violence Before coming to Tallahassee, Tom based business management platform, through a mathematical lens. “We are started his undergraduate studies it was estimated that “1.7 megabytes currently working on developing a math- in mathematics at the University of of data will be created every second ematical model to explain the increase Wisconsin-Milwaukee, graduating twice for every person on earth” in the year in mass shooting incidents in recent from the school: once in 2007 for a 2020. With 2.5 quintillion bytes of data years.” This is just one example of how Bachelor of Science in Applied Math and being created every day, data science Tom’s research provides data science Physics, and again, in 2009, for a Master has become essential to understand applications. of Science in Mathematics. Following his for researchers. For Tom, this under- time in Wisconsin, Tom traveled south to standing will come from mathematics Aside from data science, Tom has been attend the University of Georgia. Here, and statistics. “Data sci- focusing his attention on he earned his PhD in Mathematics, and ence is a vital area in a number of research wrote his thesis titled, “Grassmannian ge- mathematics because projects. For example, he ometry of framed curve spaces.” While methods of data sci- Data science is is looking into Network working on his PhD, Tom also began his ence have been very a vital area in Analysis through teaching career by serving as a Teaching successful from a prac- Optimal Transport with Assistant for six years. tical viewpoint, but the mathematics his collaborator, Samir theory of why they work Chowdhury, of Stanford Following his graduation, Tom was is still not well under- University. This area of hired by The Ohio State University as a stood,” he said. “In order for advanced mathematics examines the most effec- Ross Assistant Professor. At Ohio State, methods of data science to be more tive way to allocate resources. “The goal he taught courses such as General widely adopted in, say, medical diagnos- of this project is to use ideas from OT to Topology and Knot Theory and Calculus. tics, we need a better theoretical under- compare networks, such as social net- Additionally, he created and estab- standing of them.” works or neural networks,” Tom said. “It lished Introduction to Applied Algebraic turns out that the Optimal Transport for- Topology, an undergraduate course fo- With new programs and projects starting mulation of network analysis has many cused on persistence homology. up, Tom and a number of his peers are convenient properties, allowing us to de- working to explain the theory of data fine statistical quantities for collection of In the Fall of 2019, Tom joined the science through mathematics. “FSU has networks. For example, given a collection Department of Mathematics at Florida strong groups working in the theory of of social networks, how should one define

FSU Math 5 the ‘average’ social network?” Tom and his collaborator answer this question New Faces: Feng Bao through their work. Furthermore, he is studying Symplectic Geometry and Starting his studies in science, one FSU Signal Processing. “It turns out that professor is working to find applica- symplectic geometry has surprising tions for today’s pressing issues. Now a applications to problems in signal mathematician focused in applied and processing,” he said. “My collabo- computational math, he is working with rator, Clayton Shonkwiler [of Colorado chemists and physicists to create solu- State University], and I discovered that tions based in mathematics. Working on problems in signal processing can fre- projects supported by the Department quently be reformulated in the lan- of Energy and collaborating with some guage of symplectic geometry, which of the country’s top scientists, Dr. Feng gives a new set of tools for tackling Bao says mathematics is about solving them.” real world problems. Feng Bao Looking Ahead Background In addition to his research, Tom is For his undergraduate studies, Dr. Bao Computational Science and Mathematics, currently organizing an international was a student in the Chu Kochen Honors he started to develop his vision as a math- workshop to take place this summer. College at Zhejiang University. Studying in ematician. “At Oak Ridge, I rarely saw ap- The workshop, set to take place at the Hangzhou, China, he says his first major plications,” he said. “That established my Mathematical Biosciences Institute at was not math. Instead he studied all vision of why I should use math to solve The Ohio State University, will focus types of science ranging from chemistry real world problems.” After completing on bringing researchers together to psychology. Soon, he switched to ap- his two-year postdoctoral fellowship, he “from the disciplines of optimal trans- plied mathematics, adding that he knows became an Assistant Professor at the port and topological data analysis to it’s useful and can be used in many dif- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, discuss application domains which ferent fields. where he stayed for two years. are commonly studied in both fields.” During the summer, he will also speak After graduating from the elite honors Teaching at the 2020 SIAM Conference on college with a Bachelor of Science in In 2018, Dr. Bao started his career at Mathematics of Data Science. Mathematics, in 2006, he started at- Florida State University as an Assistant tending Shandong University. Based in Professor within the Department of Shandong, China, he worked with advisor, Mathematics. Since arriving at FSU, he Dr. Peng Shige, who he describes as one has taught Calculus III, along with a grad- Despite only being in Tallahassee for a of the most well-known mathematicians uate course in Stochastic Computing and semester so far, Tom is already begin- in financial math. Working with one of Data Assimilation. In that special topics ning to leave several lasting impacts the founders of financial math, Dr. Bao course, he is able to share his research within the math department. With says that Dr. Shige hugely influenced his field with students. “Another way to de- new programs, courses, conferences, research interests. “He is very important scribe optimal filtering, in general, is as and research projects in the works, in my research career,” he shared. “He’s data assimilation,” he explained. “In the he is looking forward to what his first probably one of the best people in prob- class, I still say, ‘this is an optimal filtering year at FSU will hold. For Tom, FSU’s ability, especially control theory.” problem,’ because this is a state that is Department of Mathematics is set random, stochastic, and not directly ob- apart from others across the country By 2009, Dr. Bao earned his Master of servable. So, we use partial noisy mea- because it provides students and fac- Science in Mathematics, and moved to surements on these hidden states. We ulty alike with inclusivity and a friendly the United States. Attending Auburn filter out the uncertainties and the noise atmosphere. “In many math depart- University in Georgia, he began focusing to make the best estimation.” ments, there is not very much inter- on computational math. There, he wrote action between different research a thesis based on optimal filtering. “The Looking to the future, Dr. Bao hopes to groups or between senior and junior goal of the optimal filtering problem is continue to teach courses in stochastic faculty,” he said. “At FSU, there are to make the best estimate of the hidden computing and optimal filtering. “I do feel frequent events where faculty from state that is not directly observable based stochastic computing is a very important several disciplines and seniority levels on your partial noisy measurements direction in computational math, espe- get together. At larger events, there is or observations,” he said. By 2014, he cially now with the supercomputers and also a lot of interaction with postdocs graduated from Auburn with his PhD in the high-performance computing facil- and graduate students.” Feeling wel- Mathematics. ities that are focused on parallel com- comed in his new environment, Tom is puting,” he said. “I think that it’s a very grateful to call Florida State home and Following his graduation, he served as important direction in computational is excited for what his time within the a postdoc at the Oak Ridge National math, and I hope I could teach more stu- math department will bring. Laboratory. Working in the Division of dents in this area.”

6 May 2020 Research physicists,” he said of his research field. that area. “My master’s advisor worked in When considering universities to work at, “They really care about real problems. So, traditional optimal control. So, I learned FSU was of great interest to Dr. Bao in the manner that evaluates how well we a lot of things actually in preparation for regards to research. “With the research do this is how many real problems can optimal control. Now, I think, if we have environment, especially in applied and be solved. Could they [the solutions] im- lots of data, and we can make a good es- computational math, there’s a very good prove other people’s lives?” timation based on the data, what do we reputation at FSU,” he said. “I know many do next? We take actions to try to take students who graduated from FSU and Currently, Dr. Bao is working on a number optimal control of the system based on became very successful. There are very of problems. One project he has taken on the data.” strong programs and good students.” is studying the computational framework of unbiased studies of correlated electron Overall, Dr. Bao is focused on providing His own research interests include sto- systems. In another research area, he is solutions to today’s pressing, science chastic optimization, data assimilation, working on finding adaptive backward problems via mathematical research. and stochastic inferences, uncertainty SDE methods for nonlinear filtering proj- For him, being able to use “mathemat- quantification. His overall goal in his ects. He is also giving new meaning to a ical methods created by real mathema- research is to solve real-world prob- subject he studied in his graduate years. ticians to solve real scientific problems” lems. Starting at Oak Ridge National “Another direction that I’m trying to ex- is what is most exciting in his career. On Laboratory, he began working with sci- plore started since I came here is optimal looking towards the future he said: “I entists to use mathematics as a solution control,” he said. With a background in hope I can be the bridge between math to pressing issues. “I feel I have to work the subject from his graduate advisor, Dr. and science.” with various scientists, like chemists and Shige, he is looking to expand the uses of

New Faces: Ibrahim Ekren How do we measure our time here on The force of this impact lead to a trend Earth? By the amount of money we can that would continue throughout Ekren’s make in a year? By our perfect score on a education. After reading an article about difficult exam? Or is it the people we meet an accomplished math finance professor, that are more important and their advice he knew that attending the university at more life-changing than any number we which she taught was the next step for can compute? For Ibrahim Ekren, Ph.D., him. Towards the end of his master’s it is the latter. He can pinpoint the three program there, it was her and his advi- biggest influences in his career and even sor’s influence that sent him even further remains in contact with some of them to into academia. They suggested he go this day. Though his skill and life-long in- work under a strong researcher in math terest in mathematics guides his daily life, finance, Dr. Jianfeng Zhang who would it is the people he meets along the way later become his doctoral advisor, at the that truly leave an impression. University of Southern California. With this, Ekren moved across the globe to Ibrahim Ekren Ekren was born in Turkey and moved obtain his Ph.D. in mathematics. to France when he was 15 years old. “I Ekren experienced with his professors, didn’t speak the language, and I real- After conducting postdoctoral research at he might not have ended up here with ized that I could never compete with the ETH Zurich and completing one year as us today. other people academically in anything a Post-Doctoral Assistant Professor with that would require knowledge about the the University of Michigan’s Department As a professor, connecting with others language.” This led him in the direction of Mathematics, Ekren accepted a faculty remains a potent theme for Ekren. “I of math and physics, subjects at which position at Florida State University. Our used to have undergrad professors who he naturally excelled, in the universal lan- strong math finance department is one were proud of the number of students guage of numbers and logic. After high of the biggest in the U.S. - a main factor who would drop out of the class, because school, it was his math teacher, Michel that attracted Ekren to our university in it would show rigor in the class, and it London, that encouraged him to continue the first place - and provides plenty of op- is not the same thing in the U.S.” The his studies in math. “He wrote my rec- portunities for collaboration and discus- transition from France’s abstract way of ommendation letter, I was accepted [at sion. “Mathematicians have the image of thinking and teaching, to the concrete Preparatory Classes in mathematics], and self-centered, reserved individuals. This is and ‘down-to-Earth’ way of working in the everything followed after that. I think that not how things work. People do not just United States challenged Ekren to adapt was one of the biggest impacts in my life do math in their corner, they collaborate.” his method of teaching from what he’s in terms of this choice.” Without the empowering relationships always known. “I realized that I needed

FSU Math 7 to take into account the differences in the expectations of the students New Faces: Aseel Farhat and the university. It’s not about how I want to teach, but it’s also how the Becoming a Mathematician sailing and no more exams, the mirage university and students expect me to As if unwilling to lose a brilliant mind, of ease and only doing things you want teach.” Coming from the education mathematics serendipitously reclaimed to do. But in reality, life after gradua- system in France, where an average the focus of Dr. Aseel Farhat’s career. In tion is much harder, especially for those and acceptable grade is less than 10 high school, math and physics played on seeking a career in academia. It takes a out of 20, cultural differences obvi- equal ground. Farhat excelled in both, great piece of advice, delivered just when ously played a huge part in his tran- but ultimately chose physics for her you’re ready to hear it, self determina- sition to professorship in the states. first undergraduate degree. During this tion, and the right mentor to push you It took him some time to adjust to time, Farhat completed a minor in math- to that higher potential. American undergrads’ mentality, but ematics. She took all the major classes his compassion for his students and and even returned for a second B.S. in During her time at UCI, Farhat trained personal understanding of cultural the subject. rigorously with her doctoral advisor, differences made the transition one Professor Edriss S. Titi. She attributes he was willing to work towards. After receiving her masters in computer her success and ability to work under science, Farhat began the grueling pro- pressure to her advisor’s high expecta- For Ekren, the importance of absorbing cess of applying for PhD fellowships in tions. “I was trained to accept how hard wisdom from one’s academic sur- physics. She could certainly calculate the [researching] can get.” roundings isn’t limited to the people odds, but after two years of sending out he works with alone. Understanding international applications for physics, the While working her second postdoc, the philosophy of a subject is just as one applied mathematics program she Farhat explored a new direction. The important as learning the material it- applied to granted her the fellowship. The gears shifted towards applied physics self. “The fact that some people say University of California, Irvine. problems, the Navier Stokes equations, we don’t use [math] after [schooling] which required mathematical analysis is completely wrong, because it cre- and solutions. ates logical thinking.” When you understand logic, you’re more structured Farhat recalls advice from a former pro- in your way of thinking and can easily fessor that put this all into perspective: spot false ideas. It would greatly ben- “She used to tell me all the time, ‘make efit humanity if more people realize sure you have two lines of research, be- these implications, especially before cause with one line, you can only go in raising their hand to ask ‘when will one direction.’ With two lines, you can we ever use this?’ in one of Dr. Ekren’s make a plane of directions.” Farhat has classes. done exactly that, focusing on a blend of Navier Stokes equations and fluid At the end of a long day, after working dynamics in her current research. “I can on pricing models and teaching cal- find a problem that’s interesting, that has culus three to his undergraduate Aseel Farhat significance, and link it to [my] research students, Dr. Ekren tries to squeeze and get nice results. When you’re a young in some relaxation time before it’s his This turned out to be one of those times assistant professor, it takes time to find turn to look after his one-and-a-half when the universe knows exactly what your own path, but I have two paths that I year old daughter. “In the past, I used we need before we do. Farhat enjoyed can make a plane of problems with in the to play soccer, I used to run a lot, I the theoretical side of physics more than meantime. [I’ll] find my own path some- used to ski. But that is all ‘used to.’” the experimental side graduate schools where in the middle.” Luckily, the academic life provides tend to focus on. “I realized that I actually numerous opportunities to travel liked mathematics more,” she said. “I got Amid her multiple projects, Dr. Farhat and add to the list of more than 20 a program that was math with some ap- focuses on continuous data assimila- countries Ekren has already visited. “I plications from physics. It was a perfect tion and proving criteria related to the have never been to the south of the fit.” Proving theorems, pure mathematics, 3D Navier-Stokes equations. Along one world, so that’s the next objective.” and analysis. line, she analyzes algorithms related to The fact he enjoys traveling is no sur- weather forecast problems to determine prise. Collaborating with researchers Trained for Academia which ones work and under what condi- and experiencing cultures around the If you surveyed a library full of students, tions. Along the other, she does a sort of world is just another way this math say Strozier during finals week, you’d see mathematical backtracking to find condi- finance and probability professor that most of them can’t wait for gradua- tions that will prevent the Navier Stokes deepens his understanding of the tion. Enticed by the promise of smooth solutions from blowing up. way this pale blue dot in space tends to operate.

8 May 2020 New Faces: Tyler Foster

community college with the intention of textbook, with pages from other text- pursuing math, an intention strongly rei- books stapled in. Foster and the other fied by his acceptance to the University of graduate students marvel at the guy’s California, Berkeley. Foster continues to wealth of knowledge, prodding each find and read the latest books on mathe- other to go ask a question and see for matics, eventually realizing that academic themselves. Each random question is not papers would have served his purpose only met with an answer, but a full-blown better. He blames the lack of distinction lecture aided by the nearest blackboard. on his youth. It’s a minor detail in many years of graduate school, but sticks with Foster as an At Berkeley, Foster favors algebraic ge- ideal to aspire towards. ometry. It seems impenetrable, but the difficulty is what intrigues him. He reads Without so little as a master’s degree in about Alexander Grothendieck on the mathematics, I realize I’m not the ideal web and sits tirelessly with Hartshorne’s person with which to discuss highly spe- Tyler Foster algebraic geometry book, trying to cialized research. But I’m still so curious read and understand it in little bits. In as to how this work gets done. So I asked. This is my novice, and quite frankly, em- retrospect, he admits he barely under- “There’s two different days I have. One barrassing attempt at high concept art. stood anything in that book, but each happens when I really understand some- Hopefully, at least one person will sharply small piece conquered was an exciting thing. I can tell that I understand it, and exhale through their nose because of it. accomplishment. all I need to do is sit down and write all Quite serious about art himself, a high the words and show myself that I know it. school-aged Tyler Foster listens to his In graduate school at Yale University, the Then another day is: I know what I want math teacher go on a tangent about the concepts keep growing. Luckily, Foster’s to happen mathematically, and for like projective plane. No one really follows be- advisor, Mikhail Kapranov, is a walking five hours, every single thing I think of just cause this isn’t an undergraduate level math class, but it shows Tyler that math might have something more interesting to say than what a high school curriculum could show him. He does well in math, Faculty but doesn’t particularly care for it at this time. Retirements Thank you and congratulations to re- After high school, he attends Art Center cent retirees Ken Dodaro, Mike Mester- College of Design to study fine art, which ton-Gibbons, and David Kopriva! he calls ‘west coast conceptual art.’ It’s the Ken Dodaro intention behind a piece, and its ability Ken Dodaro joined the department in to evoke connections and provoke dis- 1985 after graduating with a Master’s cussion that becomes the focus on his degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic education, putting him and his peers in a Institute. Following 33 years of service, pretty cerebral state of mind. Around the he retired as Teaching Faculty III. same time, Foster picks up the practice of browsing the math section at a local Mike Mesterton-Gibbons received his Barnes and Noble. He dives into books PhD from Oxford in 1977 and settled that pique his interest, sometimes in at FSU in 1982 after several research Mike Mesterton-Gibbons spite of their difficulty. The selection here and teaching fellowships in the UK. He is pretty good thanks to the store’s close joined the ranks of the Emeriti in 2017. proximity to CalTech. It’s a good place to be if you suddenly become interested in David Kopriva received his PhD from math. the University of Arizona in 1982. Af- ter working at many observatories, na- In the aisles of Barnes and Noble, Foster tional labs, institutes, and foundations, introduces himself to Susan Blackmore he landed at FSU until his 2017 retire- and W.D. Hamilton. Before long, pure ment. His (Bruce) Lee number is 3. mathematics supersedes his interest David Kopriva in making conceptual art. He heads to

FSU Math 9 doesn’t work. Nothing’s making sense. I you’re eager to find out if you can make After surviving Michigan and Connecticut feel like every idea I have is wrong. That’s it work. Somewhere along the line, things winters as a lifelong Californian, Dr. a frustrating day.” At that point, Dr. Foster stop making sense, new problems arise Foster enjoys the pseudo-freeze of may go read something to understand faster than you can solve old ones, and Florida winters. The local bugs fascinate or just sit down and think about it really the whole thing no longer resembles him almost as much as Tallahassee’s hard. Every day he conquers a new piece what you had in mind. In art, maybe proclivity for hiding weird adventures at of the theorem he wants to prove, he you give up on the piece with a vague every turn. From biking around St. Marks, adds a notecard or strip of paper to the intention of trying again later, next time to less conventional things like floating pair of whiteboards on his office floor. with more foresight. But in math, it’s not down Wakulla after dark, or eating really Parts one and two, he says, keeping in a matter of finding a new approach to good fried chicken from a gas station mind that part one must be built with a bad idea, as much as your idea being car wash, there’s never a dull moment in part two in mind. As we sit in his office literally false. “That’s a kind of finality that the capital city if you know where to look. he recognizes a hole in the problem from doesn’t exist in a lot of other disciplines. “There’s something that’s just kind of mad across the room. Of course, I only see ink It makes it really fun, like higher stakes, about it.” Since reminiscing his way back on paper held in place by circular pink but also when that happens it’s just super into an old hobby, Dr. Foster spends magnets. depressing. Congratulations, you spent most of his free time skateboarding and three months on a bad idea.” But then wouldn’t have it any other way. As he puts In math and in art, it only takes the you read another paper with a cool result it: when he isn’t skating, he just wants to thought of an idea to inspire interest. and spark a new idea to pursue. be skating. The concept could completely fail, but

New Faces: Alexander Reznikov

Serving as one of the newer members expert in his field, but he was also able to of Florida State University's Department experience the United States for the first of Mathematics, Assistant Professor time. While living on his own, something Alexander Reznikov offers the program very uncommon for graduate students in a fresh perspective. Russia, he was able to travel and explore America, frequently venturing to Chicago, Growing up in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Ann Arbor, and occasionally California, young Alexander excelled in mathe- on the weekends. He also made a point matics. During his grade school years, he to travel home to Russia and spend time completed an intensive mathematics pro- with his family. gram. One of the reasons Alexander became interested in pursuing mathematics Three qualifying exams, plenty of rigorous Alexander Reznikov was the long line of mathematicians in research, and five years later, he gradu- his family. With his mother, grandmother, ated from MSU in 2014, earning his PhD During the fall 2017 semester, he started grandfather, and great-grandfather all in pure mathematics. After graduation, teaching a calculus course, which he con- serving as mathematicians themselves, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and tinued to do for the next two semesters Alexander continues the tradition. After spent three years at Vanderbilt University to follow. As of spring 2019, he began in- graduating high school, he attended a for a postdoctoral research opportunity. structing a graduate course for the first university in his hometown to receive his time. Bachelor of Science degree in pure math- Journey to Florida State ematics. With his grandfather having had In 2017, he began applying for assis- Research Interests and their experience in America, Alexander began tant professor positions at universities Applications to the Classroom to explore American graduate school op- across the nation. After catching the As for his research, Alexander explores portunities himself. eye of Florida State University's mathe- many topics, such as harmonic analysis, matics department, Alexander traveled potential theory, and complex analysis. In 2009, Alexander moved from Saint to campus after being invited to inter- Through the department, he is able Petersburg, Russia to East Lansing, view. Shortly thereafter, he accepted an to conduct his own research and then Michigan, to attend Michigan State assistant professor position and began relay it back to students, in an effort to University. While at MSU, he was not only teaching the same year. get them interested in upper level topics. able to conduct research and become an

10 May 2020 "Harmonic analysis is a very fun topic to "Outside of class, I meet with prospec- In the future, Alexander hopes to facili- talk to students about," he comments. tive graduate students," he explains. tate a program-wide conference and has "It's why you hear sound when you pull "We are bringing a lot of prospective reached out to the Conference Board of the string on a guitar. It oscillates, be- graduate students here and I'm trying to the Mathematical Sciences to do so. The comes a lot of waves, and when these meet with all of them, to show off FSU." conference would host ten lectures from waves reach your ear, you hear the a widely respected mathematician, while sound." "To me, complex analysis is also part of simultaneously providing graduate stu- harmonic analysis, although I'm sure dents with an opportunity to share their Using lighthearted, accessible examples this is different for others in the depart- research. like these, Alexander is able to make ment" he suggests. "Complex analysis difficult concepts attainable to his stu- appears everywhere. In some sense, it In 2018, Alexander received a grant from dents. When discussing potential theory, is one of the more established parts of the National Science Foundation to fur- he uses examples involving bagels and mathematics." ther his research. He continues to apply gas stations to help his students under- for such grants to continue his research stand the problem setting. He also finds In 2018, he specifically focused part of and sponsor graduate students. it helpful to draw connections between his research on fractals. his research areas. He also works to host analysis seminars "It is somewhat surprising to me that a to make reading papers more accessible In his Measure and Integration course, lot of things are false in this set because to students and completes yearly class- he is able to show first-year graduate they are so symmetric," he observes. "I room visits to explain his research. students his own research, in an effort am very excited to be able to prove that to expand their knowledge of mathe- something is actually true." Outside of the Classroom matics and help them choose an area Alexander and his wife, Natalia, revolve of focus themselves. While in graduate Currently, Alexander is focusing his at- their weekends around their four- school, students have two years to pass tention on problems related to discrete year-old daughter, Victoria. They love qualifying exams and discover what as- potential energy. to travel, venturing to countries such pects of research interest them. as Russia and Brazil. In Tallahassee, Teaching Graduate Students they love going to community events "These are my two years to make a As of spring 2019, Alexander began such as productions by the Children's difference," he remarks. "I feel that I teaching his first graduate level course Theater, local concerts, and FSU's very am teaching them real stuff. After this at FSU. own circus. Alexander also enjoys gar- course, they can start reading modern dening, grilling out on the weekends, papers. "Overall, I am trying to shape a "A first-year grad student has some and participating in outreach to local mathematician." preferences but they are still pretty elementary schools. undecided about the direction of their Aside from teaching his course and con- research," he explains. "This is why I ducting research, Alexander continues wanted to teach a graduate course so to focus on encouraging the success of badly." graduate students.

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FSU Math 11 New Faces: Sanghyun Lee Sanghyun Lee

On a sunny Sunday morning, you decide media to improve the techniques of oil work, and another on seawater intru- to bust out some suds and clean up a and gas production. Penetrating deep sion. “A big portion of research is going bit. Wash your car, do the dishes, give into the subsurface with lots of water to workshops and conferences for re- your hair the shampooing it deserves. and high pressure leads to seemingly un- searchers. This is a good opportunity When you go to pour dish soap in that predictable results. One initial cut could to get all these method people together oil-covered bowl or stream shampoo spur numerous spidering fractures with and see their recent advances so we can straight into your palm, you might be no way to predict, observe or study their try to improve them together, if we can.” lucky enough to see something truly in- growth. This lead the researchers at the The tricky task of finding interesting prob- triguing: a self-propelling, soap-shooting Center for Subsurface Modeling to de- lems with feasible solutions couldn’t be fountain! This mesmerizing phenomenon velop a simulation. Scan data, such as accomplished without this open dialogue is caused by the Kaye effect, a property the toughness of the ground material, of research and ideas. of certain fluids that inspired Sanghyun allowed Lee and associates to study frac- Lee, Ph.D. to embark on a career solving tures, how they propagated, and predict Since Coming to Florida real world problems. “Not only [do] I think how and where they were likely to form. Lee has adjusted the focus of his research math professors were influencing me, “The gas price is really cheap now, right? towards local problems since accepting kind of telling me how the fundamental This is one of the main reasons. We have the faculty position at FSU. “I want to science is important, but also, [seeing] new technology.” find a really good problem in Florida. I how these studies could be applied to think sinkholes and the seawater control real applications in computer science was Collaboration is Key might be some of the good problems fascinating.” This understanding would Lee admits he’s no experimentalist, so here.” With all the groundwater pockets, ground Lee in research solving problems his research is predicated upon collab- springs and sinkholes spotting Florida, related to numerical methods for partial oration with chemists, mechanical engi- the thread of geophysical fluid dynamics differential equations (PDEs), especially neers and even hydrologists. “Otherwise and subterranean phenomena continues those PDEs coupled with multiphysics I’m just sitting down and making up the throughout Lee’s research. “We cannot and multiscale phenomenons. Lee is problem,” he says. At every level, creative really prevent [sinkholes], but ...what constantly looking for a ‘good problem’ researchers find the most compelling I’m trying to do now is find how we can to dedicate himself to, including hydraulic topics and innovative solutions by en- model the sinkhole so we can use this as fracturing, sinkholes, and seawater intru- gaging with reality. What problems can I a forecast tool... We still don’t know the sion, now focusing on the problems in the solve in the world around me? Who has dominating factor, so we have to figure state of Florida. searched for a solution already? What that out first.” He remains active in the did they find? “Researching is often re geophysics community, giving talks, or- During his undergraduate at Sogang searching. It’s not always finding some- ganizing mini-symposiums, and even col- University, Lee began searching for ways thing very new but I can try to research laborating with UCF’s sinkhole institute to to take his studies away from the desk and what people already did and tweak a little find new solutions. into real world equations. “To apply math idea and see what happens next.” to the real world, we need to have some When Dr. Lee isn’t modeling sinkholes simulation techniques, which means it’s Researchers, like Lee, gather throughout and fractures, he enjoys fishing off the based on all the computing techniques.” the year at symposiums and workshops panhandle and camping with his wife and After double majoring in mathematics to meet friends, exchange new ideas, find two kids. “We are adjusting to the life in and computer science, Lee moved to collaborators and most importantly, good Florida.” Luckily, our beautiful swampy Texas A&M, where he received his Ph.D. problems. To help facilitate productive state offers plenty of research-worthy from the Department of Mathematics. conversations pertaining to his research, problems and peaceful places to cast a His postdoctoral studies put him in col- Dr. Lee organized two mini-symposiums line. laboration with Mary Wheeler, modeling at the upcoming SIAM GS conference the propagation of fractures in porous in Houston, Texas. One on the fracture

12 May 2020 FSUMS general body meeting. (center left: President, Anna Wuest; center right: President Emeritus, Sofia Medina)

Society of Undergraduate Math Studies

When most people hear the term “math SUMS meetings typically take place once club”, they think of students gathering to a month on a Thursday, at 5 pm. The practice challenging problems, usually for club usually has about 30 people in at- a competition. But SUMS – the Society of tendance, but over 100 people officially Undergraduate Mathematics Students – on the roster. All students in the math de- provides a relaxed environment for stu- partment are emailed the time and topic dents to further the mathematical com- of the meeting in advance and can drop munity here at FSU. by if the subject is of interest to them. After an icebreaker riddle to get everyone in a mathematical state of mind, a club of- ficer or guest speaker will give a presentation. Past topics have included research opportunities in STEM, how to navigate the math department as a transfer student, and grad school tips. In addition to general body meetings, SUMS also helps coordinate students to attend the Troy Undergraduate Mathematics Conference in early April.

Sofia Medina (right) talking about SUMS sponsors and fields speakers for tessellations in bees the Undergraduate Math Seminars, in which faculty members (or even stu- ‘Math in Nature’ room at Math Fun Day. dents) give talks about an area of their These activities included showing how expertise. On January 28th, SUMS of- the condensed structure of DNA is actu- ficer Sam Glickman gave a talk about the ally long enough to stretch to the moon subject of his undergraduate thesis, KPZ and back (pictured). We also showed how Michael Madar (left) & Connor Doherty (right) universality. SUMS also worked directly different animals, like bees, exhibit pat- demonstrating the unraveling of DNA with Dr. Monica Hurdal to coordinate the terns that follow the Fibonacci sequence!

FSU Math 13 2020 Board Members (left to right): Regan Cotton, Vice President; Sarah Downing, Secretary; Dr. Monica Hurdal, Faculty Sponsor; Angie Davenport, Treasurer; Julia Ream, President Association for Women in Mathematics The Association for Women in within the greater STEM family, creating Other upcoming events for the organi- Mathematics (AWM) is a professional a space and atmosphere for underrep- zation include volunteering with The Big society whose mission is to encourage resented demographics in the organiza- Event to give back to the Tallahassee women and girls to study and to have action that historically has not always been community, sponsorship of a room at tive careers in the mathematical sciences, present in the mathematical sciences. Math Fun Day to introduce a younger and to promote equal opportunity for Finally, the chapter’s monthly study ses- audience to women in math, and a spe- and the equal treatment of women and sions are aimed at encouraging healthy cial Pi Day Fundraiser. General meetings girls in the mathematical sciences. The study habits and exploring different for the Spring will include opportunities AWM FSU student chapter was founded study environments across FSU to help for undergraduate members to practice in 2016 and soon after officially became members explore the study strategies their presentation skills and a graduate a Recognized Student Organization (RSO) that work best for them so that they can student panel. Next year, the AWM FSU through the university. With that, the better succeed in school. Through these student chapter hopes to initialize an in- chapter has now grown to well over the main three avenues, the AWM FSU stu- vited lecturer series highlighting women 34 members it was founded with, hosting dent chapter hopes to encourage and in math in order to further expose FSU’s men and women undergraduate and promote its members to continue their student body to the work of women graduate students from a variety of STEM pursuit and enjoyment of the mathemat- mathematicians and encourage students degree tracks! ical sciences here at FSU and beyond. of all underrepresented demographics to continue their pursuit of the mathemat- This past year, the FSU AWM student The AWM FSU student chapter has also ical sciences. chapter has implemented specialized recently started the AWM Mentoring programming in order to focus efforts Network. The AWM Mentoring Network toward realizing the greater AWM goal pairs graduate and upper division un- via three overarching themes: personal dergraduate student mentors with un- development, community, and engage- dergraduate student mentees. The goal ment. This programming is broken up of this pairing is for mentors to serve as into three branches in order to actively an academic big sibling to their mentee, target these areas. General Meetings guiding them through the upcoming create space for a variety of seminars school year. Mentor-mentee discussions and workshops aimed toward the pro- can cover a variety of topics such as: fessional and personal development of concerns about one’s major, advice for organization members. In the Fall 2019 applying to graduate school, as well as semester, some of these included a spe- more general conversations about what cial seminar on Imposter Syndrome and different areas of math look like and how a Resume Workshop hosted by the de- to learn more about them. The program partment’s career liaison Krystle Graham. kicked off to a great start in the Fall of Social Meetings allow for members to 2019 and will continue on in the Spring. bond and build a sense of community Volunteers help the public make Binary Bracelets to learn more about coding at Math Fun Day

14 May 2020 Panel Discussion Quant Symposium

The twenty-first Quant Symposium at the A new feature of the twenty-first Quant professionals, including our six guests Florida State University was funded by Symposium was the presence of Andrew and three recruiters, answered students’ the College of Arts and Sciences and the Fan and Jon Yeatman, two of our most questions about issues related to the job Department of Mathematics. The event, successful M.S. alumni. Andrew is now market. The recruiters came from the which was aimed toward career enhance- at the Citi Bank in Tampa, where he is Citi Bank in Tampa and the Florida State ment for graduates in financial mathe- working on a new area where mathemat- Board of Administration and interviewed matics, was held on February 22-23, 2019 ical science has left its mark, the counter- several of our students on the premises. at the Department of Mathematics. In party risk. Jon worked for many years in attendance were 94 students, faculty the Florida State Board of Administration, members, alumni, and professionals, 21 where the public funds of the state of females and 73 males, among them 31 Florida including the employees’ pension non-FSU affiliated. fund is managed.

Two well-established non-FSU profes- As always, we invited two of our Ph.D. sionals, Dan Pirjol (VP at J.P. Morgan) alumni, David Mandel from J. P. Morgan and Hamed Firouzi (founder of Alphabist and Ming Zhu from Bank of America and L.L.C.), presented new trends in research Merrill Lynch. David, one of our recent and practice in financial mathematics, in- alumni, talked about his path toward a cluding the role of data science in algo- career in financial industry as well as the rithmic trading, applications of machine geometry of statistical hedging in the learning in the retail credit market, cryp- fixed-income security market. Ming laid tocurrency, and scaling limit of GARCH out the shortcomings of the traditional model to a tail risk model. LIBOR interest rate and the reasons behind the recent move in the market toward SOFR interest rate. A panel of nine Discussions over lunch Math Puzzler In this issue we present a Math Puzzler. The question comes from the FSU High School Math Contest. A prize* will be awarded for the best solution with the clearest explanation submitted by September 1, 2020. Solutions can be submitted to [email protected]. We hope you are challenged by this Puzzler!

In parallelogram ABCD, the point P on the long diagonal AC is the same distance, x, from the 3 vertices A, B, and D; and twice that distance, 2x, from the other vertex, C. Determine the internal angle α at the vertex A.

*FSU Mathematics faculty and their families, and those affiliated with the FSU High School Math Contest (sponsors, participants, math club members, etc.) are not eligible for the prize. The newsletter editor and staff will determine prize eligibility.

FSU Math 15 Math Fun Day Volunteers Math Fun Day A Great Success!

On February 1, 2020 the Mathematics The Fractal Room was filled with beau- in computers were able to play in the Department held its seventh annual FSU tiful images of fractals and had several Scratch programming environment and Math Fun Day and it was another amazing fractal-building activities. Fractals are enhance their critical thinking skills In the success! We had over 600 people from infinitely repeating patterns and visitors Polygons Through Programming activity the community visit us during Math Fun learned where they occur around us. room. Day. Over 120 graduate and undergrad- Many kids were seen walking around uate students, faculty and staff volun- with their own 3D Sierpinski Tetrahedron The Symmetries and Patterns Room had teered their time and effort with Math Fractal or they created a fractal using a volunteers adorned with origami crowns Fun Day. This event continues to do a computer. who taught children how to make their wonderful job of cultivating and stimu- own crowns. Visitors explored geometries lating mathematics among K-12 school The Mathematical Games Room had and patterns with easy to make origami students through engaging and hands-on many great games like SET, 3D tic- models and discovering the wonders of activities. tac-toe, Tower of Hanoi, and logic puz- the hexahexaflexagon was another pop- zles. Learning the mathematical strate- ular activity. Kids continued exploring This year we had our classic activity gies for playing various games can give geometry and shapes in the Geometric rooms and we added a few new themes. you a winning edge! Those interested Constructions Room, which had a large table where everyone could build shapes and patterns and models with the Zome construction tool.

The FSU Student Chapter of the Association of Women in Mathematics organized the Women in Math Room where children could engage with activities that related to accomplishments women have made in the fields of mathematics and computing. Colored beads introduced children to binary code so they could make bracelets of their name in binary.

Older kids were introduced to ghosts from FSU’s past in the Math Escape Room. Participants had to use their mathematical knowledge to unlock clues to the ghosts’ past, break the curse, and escape! Faculty & Student Volunteers As usual, this room was a big hit!

16 May 2020 The Math in Nature room was organized FSU Math Fun Day reached hundreds by the FSU Student Undergraduate of children and it helps to inspire a love Mathematics Society (SUMS). This room of math. It continues to be a great ser- was a huge success with many new and vice from our Department to our com- interesting activities, including the community. A special thank you goes out to plexity of DNA, the numerous ways you Dr. Monica Hurdal for being the Director can find the Fibonacci sequence in na- of this event and Lydia Eldredge for as- ture, and even a real lizard that was used sisting. Financial contributions from the to demonstrate body proportion and Department of Mathematics and the game theory! College of Arts and Sciences are grate- fully acknowledged. Plans are already A number of faculty also participated in underway for an even better event next various workshop rooms including Secret year! We hope to see you there! Codes and Easy as Pi. Participants were Math Games Room able to interact with faculty – they were able to break secret codes with Dr. Giray Okten, or engage in hands-on activities and demonstrations with Dr. Arash Fahim, Dr. Sam Ballas, Dr. Aseel Farhat, High School Math and Dr. Jon Ahlquist. We also had the new Pi-endulum activity, where participants could obtain pi by swinging a pie on the Competition end of a pendulum! And of course, we We are pleased to announce the winners of the FSU High School Math Contest. still had the Sea-to-See touch tanks which This contest, held each fall, requires the competitors to give detailed written an- had an activity about the mathematical swers to 10 questions over three hours. We congratulate all the participants from intricacies of the snail shell. our high schools spread out around Leon county, and thank the undergraduate math club for their invaluable assistance in proctoring and grading the exam. We have received many wonderful comments from our visitors. 8TH ANNUAL 7TH ANNUAL Great interactive educational ac- MATH CONTEST FALL 2019 MATH CONTEST FALL 2018 tivities for all ages. Students, staff, volunteers, etc. were very energetic, Lower Division | Grades 9-10 Lower Division | Grades 9-10 helpful and welcoming. 1st Place 1st Place Filippo Aldrovandi-Reina (Chiles) Alex Hu (Chiles)

nd nd The posters were fantastic! The 2 Place 2 Place staff/volunteers were super Wesley Chen (Chiles) Brighten Jiang (Chiles) nice and helpful! THANK YOU! What a gift for Tallahassee! Honorable Mention: Honorable Mention: Akash Bhat, Cyrus Nadiazdeh (Chiles), (Rickards), Rahul Iyer (Chiles), Kaitlyn Bruce Yang (Chiles) Wen (Chiles)

Upper Division | Grades 11-12 Upper Division | Grades 11-12 1st Place 1st Place Alex Hu (Chiles) Andrew Yuan (Chiles)

2nd Place 2nd Place Elise Farr (Chiles) Jennifer Wen (Chiles)

Honorable Mention: Honorable Mention: Jessica Cao (Chiles) Brandon Chyi (Chiles), April Le (Chiles) Townsend Porcher (Chiles), Jason Zhang (Chiles)

More information about the exam is available at www.math.fsu.edu/~ewald/outreach/contest.math. A Mathematical Lizard

FSU Math 17 Department News

The “Actuarial Ambassador Program”, a Navid Salehy (PhD 2019, Kercheval) is Faculty Awards joint effort between FSU Actuarial Science Assistant Professor, University of New and the International Association of Black Orleans. Martin Bauer is a co-PI on an NSF grant Actuaries, established to raise awareness (Collaborative Research) on “The Space of the actuarial profession among math- Nima Salehy (PhD 2019, Okten) is Adjunct of Riemannian Metrics for the Statisti- ematically talented black students, was faculty, Louisiana Tech University. cal Analysis of the Human Connectome” awarded the 2018 Affiliate of the Year and a grant from the Erwin-Schrödinger Award at the IABA Annual Meeting in Yu-Ying Tzeng (PhD 2017, Okten) is Institute, Vienna, on “Geodesic Equa- Atlanta last summer. There were about Assistant Professor, Department of Risk tions on Mapping Spaces”. a dozen past and present FSU actuarial Management and Insurance, National science students in attendance. Cheng-Chi University, Taiwan (co-directed Richard Bertram received an with Dr. Paul Beaumont). Outstanding Paper Prize from the Society FSU Mathematics will host an NSF-CBMS for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in Regional Research Conference in Jian Wang (PhD 2017, Okten) is at Byton, 2017, with co-authors Theodore Vo and August 2020 titled “Analysis, Geometry, Santa Clara. (co-directed with Dr. Jinfeng Martin Wechselberger. Bertram also re- and Partial Differential Equations in a Zhang). ceived an FSU Graduate Faculty Mentor Lower-Dimensional World”. It is being Award in 2017, and a Distinguished organized by Aleksandr Reznikov. Chechen Zhou (PhD 2017, Kercheval) Research Professor Award in 2019. In works at Wells Fargo, NC. 2019 he was selected as the inaugural Tam Family Professor of Mathematics Alumni News (there is an article about the professor- Graduate Student ship planned for the next newsletter). In Serdar Cellat (PhD 2018, Okten and Mio) 2017, 2018, and 2019 he received grants works at Liberty Mutual, Boston. News from the NSF and the NIH.

Yuanda Chen (PhD 2017, Kercheval) Orhan Akal published two journal ar- Kyle Gallivan, Yousuff Hussaini, works for Goldman Sachs, NY. ticles and three conference papers at and Giray Okten, along with Bahri ICMLA 2018, ICIP 2019, and SPIE 2020. Uzunoglu of Uppsala University received Zailei Cheng (PhD 2018, Zhu) is working He collaborated with NIH, and interned a grant from the Swedish Foundation for in Citi, Tampa, Florida. for Air Force Research Lab, Intelligent International Cooperation in Research Robotics Inc., and Siemens Healthineers. and Higher Education (STINT), on Chun-Yuan Chiu (PhD 2016, Kercheval) A patent application for the work done at “Renewable energy conversion scenarios works at Bank of America NY. Siemens is in progress. for Florida power system disaster relief and resiliency”. Justin Eilertsen (PhD 2016, Magnan) Yiran Chen gave a talk in the 2019 SIAM is a postdoctoral fellow in nonlinear Conference on Computational Science Ishkan Grigorian was inducted by Phi dynamical systems at the University of and Engineering, titled “Goodness-of-fit Eta Sigma National Honor Society for a Michigan (Ann Arbor) in the Department Testing of Copulas using Quasi-Monte Service Excellence Award in 2018. of Molecular and Integrative Physiology. Carlo Methods”. Monica Hurdal was designated a Woman Matthew Hancock (PhD 2018, Magnan) Antigoni Georgiadou received a of Distinction in Science, Technology, works at Enthought (Austin, Texas) in DAAD grant to fund her internship at Engineering and Mathematics in 2017, machine learning and scientific software the European Space Agency (ESA) in and as a Trailblazer in 2019, both by the development. Darmstadt, Germany, and received the Oasis Center for Women and Children, URA Visiting Scholarship three times Tallahassee. Andrey Manakov (PhD 2019, Magnan) (2017, 2018, 2019) to travel and work at works for Citigroup (Tampa) as a lead Fermilab, in Batavia Illinois, as a research Sanghyun Lee was awarded an NSF grant quantitative researcher. assistant. titled “Fluid-filled Fracture Propagation with a Phase Field Approach in Subsurface David Mandel (PhD 2017, Hussaini and Josh Kimrey gave an invited mini- by Employing Nonlinear Strain Limiting Okten) joined J.P. Morgan, NYC. symposium talk at SIAM Applications of Models and Enriched Galerkin Methods”. Dynamical Systems 2019.

18 May 2020 Washington Mio received an NSF Craig Nolder organized a special ses- grant (Collaborative Research) on “The Faculty News sion at the AMS sectional meeting in Topology of Functional Data on Random Martin Bauer was co-organizer for an Gainesville, Florida. Metric Spaces, Graphs and Graphons”. NSF-Workshop on “Applications-Driven Geometric Functional Data Analysis” Giray Okten gave a plenary talk ti- Ziad Musslimani received a Fulbright held at FSU in 2017 and “Shape Analysis, tled “Randomized quasi-Monte Carlo Fellowship in 2019 and the Marie Curie Stochastic Geometric Mechanics and methods in global sensitivity analysis”, Fellowship, from the European Research Applied Optimal Transport” held at Banff, at the Ninth International Conference Council in 2018. Canada in 2018. on Sensitivity Analysis of Model Output, Barcelona, Spain, in 2019, and wrote Giray Okten received a Graduate Faculty Sanghyun Lee organized mini-sym- a textbook titled “First Semester in Mentor Award in 2019 from FSU. posia at the SIAM Conference on Numerical Analysis with Julia”, which is an Mathematical and Computational Issues open access textbook, published by the Mark Sussman was awarded a NASA in the Geosciences Houston, Texas, Florida State University Libraries. He also grant as a co-PI with Kourosh Shoele (PI), and at the 20th Annual Conference co-organized, with Sergei Kucherenko, a and Wei Guo (Co-PI) on “Fast multilevel of the International Association for special session at the Monte Carlo and multi-phase CFD-nodal model for cryo- Mathematical Geosciences (IAMG), State quasi-Monte Carlo Methods in Scientific genic applications”. College, Pennsylvania. Computing Conference, Rennes, France, in 2018. Nick Moore’s recent work on rogue waves with Tyler Bolles (then an undergraduate at FSU) and Kevin Speer of GFDI has been featured on Physics Central, which can be found at http://physicsbuzz. physicscentral.com/2019/01/scientists-may- have-solved-mystery-of.html

FSU Mathematics PhD Recipients Fall 2018

NAME AREA ADVISOR THESIS TITLE

Applies & Computational Zailei Cheng Lingjiong Zhu Diffusion Approximation of a Risk Model Math

Summer 2018

NAME AREA ADVISOR THESIS TITLE

Exploration of the Role of Disinfection Timing, Nihan Acar Biomath Nick Cogan Duration, and Other Control Parameters on Bacterial Populations Using a Mathematical Model

Applied & Computational Neural Rule Ensembles: Encoding Feature Interactions Gitesh Dawer Adrian Barbu Math into Neural Networks

Applied & Computational A Riemannian approach for computing geodesics in Yaqing You Kyle Gallivan Math elastic shape space and its applications

Kyle Gallivan & Applied & Computational Pierre-Antoine Absil Riemannian Optimization Methods for Averaging Xinru Yuan Math Symmetric Positive Definite Matrices

FSU Math 19 FSU Mathematics PhD Recipients

Spring 2018

NAME AREA ADVISOR THESIS TITLE

Washington Mio & Metric Learning for Shape Classification: A Fast and Serdar Cellat Biomath Giray Okten Efficient Approach with Monte Carlo Methods

Atanaska Zapry- Using Mathematical Tools to Investigate the Biomath Nick Cogan anova Dobreva Autoimmune Hair Loss Disease Alopecia Areata

Evolutionary Dynamics of Bacterial Persistence Under Sepideh Ebadi Biomath Nick Cogan Nutrient/ Antibiotic Actions

Daniel Eduardo Distributed Neural Network Models for Birdsong Biomath Richard Bertram Galvis Production

Algorithmic Lung Nodule Analysis in Chest Matthew Charles Applied & Computational Tomography Images: Lung Nodule Malignancy Jerry Magnan Hancock Math Likelihood Prediction and A Statistical Extension of the Level Set Image Segmentation Method

Optimal Portfolio Execution Under Time-Varying Hua-Yi Lin Financial Math Arash Fahim Liquidity Constraints

The 1-Type of K-Theory for a Waldhausen Category as Yaineli Valdes Pure Math Ettore Aldrovandi a Multifunctor

Ethan Randy Wil- Pure Math Richard Oberlin Affine Dimension of Smooth Curves and Surfaces liams

Characteristic Classes and Local Invariants on Xiping Zhang Pure Math Paolo Aluffi Determinantal Varieties (Temperate)

Fall 2017

NAME AREA ADVISOR THESIS TITLE

Jian Li Biomath Nick Cogan Modeling of Biofilms with Implementations

Monte Carlo Scheme For A Singular Control Problem: Wan-Yu Tsai Financial Math Arash Fahim Investment-Consumption Under Proportional Transaction Costs

Sergiusz Jan Richard Bertram & Developing SRSF Shape Analysis Techniques for Biomath Wesolowski Wei Wu Applications in Neuroscience and Genomics

Wen Xu Pure Math Mark van Hoeij Third Order A-Hypergeometric Functions

Melissa Sue Applied & Computational Kyle Gallivan & Paul Low-rank Riemannian Optimization Approach to the Marchand Math Van Dooren Role Extraction Problem

20 May 2020 FSU Mathematics PhD Recipients

Summer 2017

NAME AREA ADVISOR THESIS TITLE

Applied & Computational Mark Sussman & M. Space-Time Spectral Element Methods in Fluid Chaoxu Pei Math Yousuff Hussaini Dynamics and Materials Science

Algorithms for Solving Linear Differential Equations Erdal Imamoglu Pure Math Mark van Hoeij with Rational Function Coefficients

On the Multidimensional Default Threshold Model for Chenchen Zhou Financial Math Alec Kercheval Credit Risk Model

An Electrophysiological and Mathematical Modeling Diana Lissett Biomath Richard Bertram Study of Developmental and Sex Effects on Neurons of Flores-Diaz the Zebra Finch Song System High-Order, Efficient, Numerical Algorithms For Omid Khanmoha- Applied & Computational Mark Sussman Integration In Manifolds Implicitly Defined By Level madi Math Sets

Yahya Ahmed Sorvali Dilatation and Spin Divisors on Riemann and Pure Math Craig Nolder Almalki Klein Surfaces

Jinfeng Zhang & Ensemble Methods for Capturing Dynamics of Limit Jian Wang Financial Math Giray Okten Order Books

Arithmetic Aspects of Noncommutative Geometry: Matilde Marcoll & Yunyi Shen Pure Math Motives of Noncommutative Tori and Phase Paolo Aluffi Transitions on GL(n) and Shimura Varieties Systems Quasi-Monte Carlo and Markov Chain Quasi-Monte Giray Okten & Paul Yu-Ying Tzeng Financial Math Carlo Methods in Estimation and Prediction of Time Beaumont Series Models

Leona H. Sparaco Pure Math Kathleen Petersen Character Varieties of Knots and Links with Symmetries

FSU Math 21 FSU Mathematics PhD Recipients

Spring 2017

NAME AREA ADVISOR THESIS TITLE

Mathematical Modeling and Analysis of Gene Knockout Vehpi Yildirim Biomath Richard Bertram Compensation in Pancreatic Beta-Cells

Mike Mesterton- Game-Theoretic Models of Animal Behavior Observed Yao Dai Biomath Gibbons in Some Recent Experiments

Mathematical Modeling of Biofilms and Jian Li Biomath Nick Cogan Implementations

Applied & Computational Kyle Gallivan & Anuj Trend and Variable-Phase Seasonality Estimation from Liang-Hsuan Tai Math Srivastava Functional Data

Random Sobol - Sensitivity Analysis and Model David Mandel Financial Math Giray Okten Robustness

Mehmet Emin Pure Math Eriko Hironaka Topology of N-gonal Curves Aktas

Scroll Waves: And How They Interact with Non-Reactive Daniel Weingard Biomath Richard Bertram Knots, Tori, And Spheres

Modeling Limit Order Book Dynamics using Hawkes Yuanda Chen Financial Math Alec Kercheval Processes

Mike Mesterton- The Impact of Competition on Temporal Musth John Max Wyse Biomath Gibbons Strategies: A Game-Theoretic Approach

Joseph Patrick Insulin Secretion Rhythms: Calcium Regulation of Beta- Biomath Richard Bertram McKenna Cell Metabolism and Rescue of Islet Oscillations

22 May 2020 Mathematics Honors Day 2019

Every year in the spring, the Department of Mathematics recognizes graduate and undergraduate students for their teaching, academic, or service achievements. The following are the award winners from the Annual Honors Day event in Spring 2019:

Dwight B. Goodner Clara Kibler Davis Evelyn and John Mathematics Fellowship Scholarship Baugh Undergraduate Millie and Dwight Goodner established this award to recognize teaching excel- Nicole Bruce Scholarship lence in mathematics by graduate stu- Yiran Chen dents. Carolyn Eady Aaron Putriment Opal Graham Adam Tatun Johnna Barnaby Thanittha Kowan Anthony Maiello Carolyn Eady Inmaculada Sorribes Rodriguez Brooke Dyer Lydia Eldredge Xiaoya Wang Catherine Williams Inmaculada Sorribes Rodriguez Christopher Tobar Danielle Marino Distinguished Teaching Daniela Lemus Kenneth G. Boback Award Assistants Jared Giotta This award is presented to an outstand- The Department recognizes gradu- Jonathan Justice ing senior undergraduate majoring in ate students who have demonstrated Kayla Davis Mathematics. several semesters as successful teach- Kristen Swinski ing assistants and are in good stand- Kyle Putriment Jacob Spainhour ing in the Mathematics Department. Luke Dilworth Madison Flick Betty Anne Case John Bergschneider Michael Deveikis Jamie Fox Michael Madar Actuarial Science Award Opal Graham Michael Ramsey This award is presented to an outstand- Grayson Jorgenson Mukund Viswanathan ing undergraduate student majoring in Yang Liu Paige Graber Actuarial Science. This award was estab- Michael Niemeier Reagan Huet lished by Courtney and Shari White. Nima Salehy Rebecca Glesser Kangwei Xing Regan Cotton Kristen Swinski Samir Iskandarani Travis Bolger Financial Math Quant Tristan Waterbury Bettina Zoeller Symposium Poster William Shparberg Richmond Award Competition Winners This award is presented to two graduate Other Honors students for outstanding service to the 1st Place: Navid Salehy and Arun Polala • 16 students were inducted into the Department. 3rd Place: Jamie Fox Florida Beta Chapter of Pi Mu Epsi- Johnna Barnaby lon, an academic, national scholarly Angelica Davenport Graduate Research Week society in mathematics • 15 students received SOA/CAS Award Winners exam reimbursements for Exam P/1 Charles and Anna Uhrhan • 38 students received SOA/CAS exam Endowed Scholarship Flash Talk Competition reimbursements for Exam FM/2 st This award is presented to a deserving 1 Place: Patrick Eastham • 7 students received SOA/CAS exam nd math major exemplifying excellence in 2 Place: Yiran Chen reimbursements for Exam IFM/3F scholarship and moral character. • 1 student received an SOA exam re- Poster Competition imbursements for Exam C 1st Place: Opal Graham • 1 student received an SOA exam re- Sofia Medina nd 2 Place: Inmaculada Sorribes imbursements for Exam L-TAM Rodriguez 3rd Place: John Bergschneider

FSU Math 23 DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY Thank you! Become a friend of FSU Math in 2020!

FSU Math community members are invited to become a Friend of FSU Math by donating to the Florida State University Foundation. Any amount will be truly appreciated, and will help us achieve our department goals in teaching and service to the community.

Your past gifts have been used in a variety of ways to support FSU Math. These include alumni networking efforts, such as the newsletter and social media, awards for excellence in teaching and service for graduate students and faculty, research training and support, distinguished visitors and guest lectures, and community outreach programs like Math Fun Day and the FSU High School Mathematics Contest. Your generosity will help us continue to offer a strong academic program, foster connections to the community, and create opportunities for life and career after graduation for our students.

For information about donations with special targets like outreach, named awards, or lecture series, please contact [email protected].

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24 May 2020