VIGRE

Hamilton and Tao Awarded 2003 Clay Research Awards

2003 Clay Research Awards announced

Richard Hamilton (Columbia University) and Terence Tao (UCLA) have been awarded the 2003 Clay Research Awards, which recognize extraordinary achievement in mathematics. Hamilton was recognized for his introduction of the Ricci flow equation and his development of it into one of the most powerful tools in geometry and topology. Tao was recognized for his ground-breaking work in analysis, notably his optimal restriction theorems in Fourier analysis, his work in wave map equation, and his global existence theorems for KdV type equations. See the Clay Mathematics Institute website for more information on the award winners, their research, and the Institute. [Item posted 11/21/03

Three New PhDs

Congratulations are due to Bryan Rasmussen, Dima Kreslavskiy, and Enrique Figueroa-Lopez for defending their dissertations this term. Congratulations and best wishes also to the many MS students who are receiving their degrees.

Bryan Rasmussen's PhD title is: "Numerical Approximation of Flow-Invariant Tori." The advisor is Professor Dieci.

Enrique Figueroa-Lopez PhD title is: "Levy Process models for risky assests: Theory, Simulation and Calibration." His advisor is Professor Houdre.

Dima Kreslavskiy PhD advisor is Professor Bunimovich.

Grad Student Performs on GT Musical

Svetlana Bukharina, a first-year graduate student, will perform in
a perfromance by the GT Music Department, with details below.
Svetlana follows a number of undergrads who have participated in
Music and Theatre events on campus.

The Georgia Tech Music Department Presents:
"Invitation to the Dance" featuring the Georgia Tech Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble

The Orchestra will perform Copland's Appalachian Spring, Stravinsky's Berceuse and Finale from his Firebird Suite and Tschaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet.
The Georgia Tech Jazz Ensemble's offerings will include Duke Ellington's Dance of the Sugar Rum Cherry from his Nutcracker Suite, Herbie Hancock's Dolphin Dance, Bill Evans' Waltz for Debbie and Louie Prima's Sing, Sing, Sing.
Tickets are available at the Georgia Tech box office, and are $5 for the general public and free for Tech students with I.D.

When: Monday November 24th @ 8pm
Where: Robert Ferst Theatre

Classification of Rotational Figures of Equilibrium

That is the title of a very good looking poster presented by
Ryan Hynd last weekend.

The poster presentation was at the Sigma Xi conference in Los Angeles,and Ryan's presentation was judged to be in the top 10% of those at the conference.

The famous French philisophe Plateau observed in the 1700s a particular
property of rotating oil drops. The physical experiment requires one to
rotate oil dorps in a boyant solution. The possible shapes that one can get out
include tori. Namely the topology can change.

Beginning in the Summer of 2002, three undergraduates, Ryan Hynd, Jefferey Elms, and Roberto Lopez begain a project to duplicate these experiments. Lead by Professors Pelesko and McCuan, they also sought a characterization of all possible shapes that can be obtained by this experiment.

They have obtained characterizations of the profiles to these drops in terms of solutions to certain ordinary differential equaitons. The poster above is big file, with a large number of cool graphics on it.

Mathematical Models of BiPolar Disorder

Mathematical Models of BiPolar Disorder is the title of a paper on the ArXiV, by Mason Porter, VIGRE Postdoc, and several other undergraduates. This is a project that Mason carried to Georgia Tech from Cornell University. One of the undergraduates is Jessica Synder, participant in last summer's VIGRE REU program. For more information about the figure, see the paper.

Abstract of the paper: Bipolar disorder (manic depression) afflicts about one percent of the United States adult population. In this paper, we use limit cycle oscillators to model Bipolar II disorder, which is characterized by alternating hypomanic and depressive episodes. We consider three nonlinear oscillator models of a single bipolar patient. In each case, we begin with an untreated individual and examine the mathematical effects and resulting biological consequences of treatment. We also study the dynamics of two individuals with bipolar II disorder who live together. We model such interactions between bipolar II individuals using weakly-coupled, weakly-damped harmonic oscillators. We conclude with a discussion of possible generalizations of our model, as there are several biologically-motivated extensions that can be readily incorporated into the series of models presented here.

Simulated Simians Pick Best Football Teams As Well As Pros

The Georgia Tech Press Release on College Football Bowl rankings is at:

GT News Release web site.

This item reports the joint work of Thomas Callaghan (undergrad) Mason Porter (postdoc) and Peter Mucha (professor). Work that arose out of last summer's REU project.

There are several more Blog entries on this in the recent past.

Monkeys and Collge Football on Nature Science Online

A research project of Peter Mucha, Mason Porter, and
undergraduate Thomas Callaghan has made into
Nature Science Online (Nature is a top journal in science
publications.)

The research project, coming out of last summer's VIGRE
sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates,
concerns Bowl Rankings for College Football.
Specifically, using a random method to do the things that
others use very complicated statistics to do.

The link is:
Nature Online

Their article is at the ArXiv.


And a short intro to the work is at Professor Mucha's Web Site.

Cornell IGERT Program

The NSF IGERT program supports the creation of
interdisciplinary programs in science and engineering. These programs are funded by generous fellowships, are are actively recruiting math majors. Follow the link above for a complete list of programs. Keep reading for a message from the IGERT program in Non Linear Dynamics at Cornell.

Subject: Fellowships in Nonlinear Systems at Cornell
From: John Guckenheimer
Date: 31 Oct 2003 09:30:12 -0500

The Cornell IGERT Program in Nonlinear Systems has received renewed
funding from the NSF. We anticipate awarding 8-12 two year fellowships
for students who will begin the Program in the Fall of
2004. Fellowship stipends will be $27,500 for a twelve month
period. NSF fellowship support is restricted to US citizens or
permanent residents.

The Nonlinear Systems Program is designed to foster research broadly
on nonlinear systems that combines theory, computation and empirical
data. Four thematic areas will be emphasized:

1. Complex Networks:

We are exploring such topics as the World Wide Web, populations with
hidden structure (e.g., the network of injection drug users in a major
city), the resilience of ecosystems composed of hundreds of
interacting species and mathematical patterns in the statistics of
forest fires, earthquakes, and blackouts.


2. Machines and Organisms - Locomotion and Manipulation:

We view organisms as part of a continuum of solutions to the
mechanical challenges of locomotion, flight and manipulation.
Comparing and contrasting moving machines and organisms enables us to
understand both better.

3. Biological Pattern Formation:

We are using theoretical models, novel visualization and data analysis
techniques to study the dynamics of spatially extended systems in
terms of defect structures and patterns such as scroll waves. We seek
an understanding of complex phenomena like cell migration and heart
rhythm disorders that involve a large number of dynamical degrees of
freedom.

4. Gene Regulation and Systems Biology:

Through the use of theoretical models and large-scale computation, and
leveraging the enormous experimental investment by the biology
community, we plan to develop biologically useful theories of large
subsystems of cellular function, specifically in the areas of gene
regulation, manufacture of RNA and proteins, and cell signaling.

Program requirements consist of two courses in nonlinear dynamics and
computational methods, a year-long interdisciplinary project,
participation in an IGERT seminar, a summer internship and completion
of a Ph.D. minor.

Applications are coordinated through participating graduate fields at
Cornell. Applicants should describe their interest in the IGERT
program as part of the statement of purpose in their Cornell graduate
school application. They should also complete the contact form on the
web site

http://www.chaos.cornell.edu/

(click on IGERT Fellowship and then Application).

Inquiries may be directed to John Guckenheimer at

gucken@cam.cornell.edu

Sam Burer, Math/ACO Graduate wins "New Hot Paper Recognition"

Samuel Burer, a Math graduate student in the ACO program is a coauthor on a paper picked for "Hot Paper" for September 2003, on the ISI Essential Science Indicators web page.

Samuel Burer is now an Assistant Professor of Managment Science at the University of Iowa.
The paper cited is titled, "Solving a class of semidefinite programs via nonlinear programming",
and is coauthored with Professor Renato D.C. Monteiro, of ISYE at Georgia Tech, and
Professor Yin Zhang of Computational and Applied Mathematicsat Rice University.

The paper demonstrates that a class of semidefinite programs can be solved by nonlinear
programming techniques, in a manner that is simpler and more efficient than interior point methods.

Research Horizons for January

From Evans Harrell, Graduate Director

Dear faculty,

As you know, the Research Horizons seminar is a VIGRE-supported effort to
get graduate students involved in research by providing lectures at an
introductory level. We have often seen disappointingly few students
in attendance, and this situation will probably be exacerbated in January,
because a portion of the target audience will be focusing on the Comprehensive
Exams.

We are thinking of structuring the RH seminar differently in January to
revitalize it and attract some of the students studying for the
Comps. The theme of the month would be {\it Instructive Examples}. We have
in mind a selection of faculty presenting entertaining or useful examples
which either illustrate familiar theorems of the kinds learned early in
graduate school or show how those theorems are applied in practice.

We are asking for volunteers to present their favorite instructive
examples. By the way, the time allotted need not be a full hour -
different volunteers could present a few examples in the same seminar.

Mason Porter is the organizer of the RH seminar this Academic Year, so
volunteers could address themselves to mason@math.gatech.edu to get
on the schedule.

This could be a real benefit to the graduate program, and those of
us involved in it will be appreciative.

Undergrads Participating in Conferences

The VIGRE Grant has greatly increased undergraduate participation in research activities.
See the blog entry immediately below this one, or for a more complete list of all the majors
activities, go to the
Senior Project List or the VIGRE/REU list.

The majors have also greatly increased their participation in research related trips. This past summer, Andrew Stimpson attended a conference in Austin Texas at the start of his REU.
This next week, Ryan Hynd will be presenting a paper at a 2003 SIGMA XI Forum.

Jeremy Corbett and Steve Lansel will participate in the 2004 Dynamics Days conference at Duke University, in January. Both Jeremy and Steve participated in the REU program last summer. Follow the link above for more information about their projects.