Mathematicalsciences News

Mathematicalsciences News

mathematical sciences news 2018 contents 2018 Editor-in-Chief Tom Bohman Contributing Writers Letter from Department 03 Tom Bohman Head, Tom Bohman Joyce DeFrancesco Jocelyn Duffy Janko Gravner Faculty Notes 04 Ben Panko Emily Payne Ann Lyon Ritchie Tomasz Tkocz Graphic Design and Photography 14 Carnegie Mellon University Marketing & Communications In Memoriam: Jim Greenberg Mellon College of Science Communications 18 Mathematician Dives Carnegie Mellon University into Startup World Department of Mathematical Sciences Wean Hall 6113 Pittsburgh, PA 15213 20 Alumna Shafi Goldwasser Receives cmu.edu/math Honorary Degree at Commencement Carnegie Mellon University does not discriminate in admission, employment, or administration of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, 22 handicap or disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, ancestry, belief, veteran status, or genetic Student Notes information. Furthermore, Carnegie Mellon University does not discriminate and is required not to discriminate in violation of federal, state, or local laws or executive orders. Inquiries concerning the application of and compliance with this statement should be directed to the university ombudsman, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes 26 Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, telephone 412-268-1018. Summer Undergraduate Obtain general information about Carnegie Mellon University Research in Mathematics by calling 412-268-2000. Produced for the Department of Mathematical Sciences by Marketing & Communications, November, 2018, 19-150. ©2018 Carnegie Mellon University, All rights reserved. No 28 part of this publication may be reproduced in any form Class of 2018 without written permission from Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Mathematical Sciences. 1 faculty updates Letter from Mathematics Department Head, Tom Bohman Math Helps Make Congressional Districts in PA More Fair The Department of Mathematical Sciences pursues a strategy Until recently, the lines drawn on the of developing and maintaining research groups in vibrant congressional map of Pennsylvania looked areas of mathematics that are enriched by natural connections irregular. So irregular, in fact, that the outline with other research domains within mathematics and beyond. of the seventh district looked like a drawing Our department has a tradition of being outward looking. of cartoon characters and was often referred We have research groups in applied analysis, combinatorics, to as “Goofy kicking Donald Duck.” logic and mathematical finance and probability, with a particular interest in research that has connections with other These wildly drawn maps are likely the result areas of strength at Carnegie Mellon. All of these research of gerrymandering, the more than 200-year- groups have been quite successful in recent years and the old practice of redrawing congressional stories in this newsletter are reflections of that success. and legislative lines to benefit a particular political party. Mathematicians, including The quality of our groups was affirmed by the 2018 U.S. News Mathematical Sciences Associate Professor & World Report ranking of graduate programs in mathematics. Wesley Pegden, have been enlisted to the Carnegie Mellon placed 16th in applied mathematics, 7th in forefront of the fight against gerrymandering. discrete mathematics and combinatorics and 6th in logic, all improvements from the previous edition of these rankings. In early 2017, Pegden, with University While rankings of academic programs have their flaws, I feel Cover Image Professor of Mathematical Sciences Alan that these results reflect genuine improvements in the quality Greenberg-Hastings model Frieze and the University of Pittsburgh’s of the research the department has produced over the last Maria Chikina, published a paper in the The cover image is generated by few years. Our rise in the rankings also means that our peers Proceedings of the National Academy of the cellular automaton known as the are taking notice; the survey results are based only on input Sciences that used Markov Chains to redraw Greenberg-Hastings model. This from mathematics departments that grant Ph.D.s in the area Pennsylvania’s congressional maps step by cover image is based on work of in question. step and show that there was little chance David Griffeath of the University of that the existing districts had been drawn at Wisconsin. Griffeath has conducted In this issue of the newsletter, we will introduce you to three random or without bias. The paper caught extensive studies of cellular automata. tenure-track faculty members who joined the department in the eye of lawyers who were challenging 2018. These new faculty represent our continued investment the Pennsylvania congressional map in front For more on the cover image in research (see page 8). of the state Supreme and Greenberg-Hastings itself see Court. Pegden testified pages 16-17 of this newsletter. The cover image for this newsletter was produced by the in the case. The court cellular automata known as the Greenberg-Hastings model found the maps to be (see page 16 for some mathematical details regarding unconstitutional and I hope that the this model). Jim Greenberg, who introduced this model in called for the maps to be many alumni of joint work with Stuart Hastings, passed away earlier this redrawn before the state’s the Department year. Greenberg was head of the Mathematical Sciences May primary elections. of Mathematical Department from 1995 to 2002. For more on Greenberg, see Sciences have the story on page 14. The newly drawn map a chance to appears to be more fair. reconnect with The department’s outward-looking research orientation also In November’s midterm the department has benefited our students. We have constructed a curriculum elections, Pennsylvania’s by visiting that gives excellent support to educational activities across congressional delegation cmu.edu/math the university while preparing mathematics majors for success went from primarily in a wide range of careers both in academia and beyond. You Republican to evenly split, Let us know can read about the success of our students in the stories on reflecting the popular vote “Goofy kicking Donald Duck.” Pennsylvania's 7th district before what's new pages 22-31 of this newsletter to learn more about our current in the state. the newly drawn map. United States Department of Interior. with you! and recent students. 2 3 faculty notes In his thesis, the prize committee noted, “Vasey undertook a deep and sustained study of classification theory for abstract elementary classes.” “Among the many theorems he proved, his eventual categoricity theorem for universal classes is recognized as a landmark achievement toward Shelah's conjecture generalizing Morley's theorem Mathematics Alumnus Sebastien on uncountable categoricity to abstract Vasey Receives Prestigious Sacks elementary classes,” the committee Prize in Logic continued. “A second remarkable result is his classification of the stability spectrum for Sebastien Vasey, who earned his doctorate tame AECs, which may well pave the way from Carnegie Mellon University’s Department for connections with, and applications to, of Mathematical Sciences in May 2017, other areas of mathematics.” has been awarded the Sacks Prize by the Association for Symbolic Logic for his The Sacks Prize was founded in 1994 to dissertation. The annual international prize honor noted logic researcher Gerald Sacks recognizes “the most outstanding doctoral of Harvard and MIT. Sacks was known dissertation in mathematical logic.” for serving as an advisor to many Ph.D. students. Vasey shared this year's prize with Vasey conducts research in model theory, Matthew Harrison-Trainor, a postdoctoral one of the main branches of mathematical fellow in mathematics at Victoria University logic. He won the award for his dissertation of Wellington. Last year, Vasey was a titled “Superstability and Categoricity in recipient of the Guy C. Berry Graduate Abstract Elementary Classes,” which he Student Research Award. He is currently completed under the direction of Professor of a Benjamin Peirce Fellow in the Harvard Mathematical Sciences Rami Grossberg. University Department of Mathematics. Hayden Schaeffer Receives observed data, in a sense, reverse engineering NSF CAREER Award models from data. These extracted models can be used to gain insights on the data and Assistant Professor of Mathematical make data-enabled decisions. Kavčić-Moura University vision. In the article, Fonseca potential, specifically through Sciences Hayden Schaeffer received Professor of Mathematical offers advice to young women, his social enterprise startup, a Faculty Early Career Development CAREER Awards are among the most Sciences Irene Fonseca encouraging them to network, Expii. The success of Loh’s (CAREER) award from the National Science prestigious awards for young faculty. They was featured in a special be confident in their skills and teaching methods is evident in Foundation. The award supports his work recognize and support those who exemplify Women’s History Month have fun. his students’ triumphs. As the on optimization and machine learning for the role of teacher-scholars through issue of the Notices of the coach of the U.S. Mathematical understanding features and structures in outstanding research, excellent education American Mathematical Olympiad Team, he led the Associate Professor of time-series data. and the integration of education and research.

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