VIGRE

Public Lectures of Steve Strogatz

Steve Strogatz, very well known for his work on Network Theory,

will be giving a public lecture on "The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order" in College of Computing 16 Wednesday 9/29 at 4pm. This will be followed by
a Q & A session and a book signing.

Abstract: What caused hundreds of Japanese children to fall into seizures while watching an episode of the cartoon show Pokemon? Why do women roommates sometimes find that their menstrual periods occur in sync?

The tendency to synchronize is one of the most mysterious and pervasive drives in all of nature. Every night along the tidal rivers of Malaysia, thousands of fireflies flash in silent, hypnotic unison; the moon spins in perfect resonance with its orbit around the Earth; the intense coherence of a laser comes from trillions of atoms pulsing together. All these astonishing feats of synchrony occur spontaneously -- almost as if the universe had an overwhelming desire for order.

On the surface, these phenomena might seem unrelated. After all, the forces that synchronize fireflies have nothing to do with those in a laser. But at a deeper level, they are all connected by the same mathematical theme: self-organization, the spontaneous emergence of order out of chaos.

Professor Strogatz is a wonderful speaker. All math majors are encouraged to show up for Wednesday's talk, which will be geared
towards non-experts, so any GT student will gain a lot by attending it. (There will also be a more technical lecture Thursday 9/30 at 11am
in DM Smith 207.)

Comprehensive Exams Results

The comprehensive Exams are written exams are in the subjects of Analysis and Algebra.
The most recent exams were taken just recently, and the results of the exam are out.

Six students have now passed both exams: Ian Palmer, Guido Kampel, Mark Belinski, Michael Burkhart, Alexander Yurchenko, and Alessandro Pugliese. Of these, Ian Palmer and Michael Burkhart I know passed both exams, and Mark Belinski and Alex Yurchenko passed analysis.

Three students passed the Algebra exam: Evan Borenstein, Selma Yilidrim, and Ramazan Tinaztepe.

18 students sat for the Analysis Exam, and 5 passed.

13 sat for the Algebra Exam, and 7 passed.

Stephen Young has passed the ACO comprehensives. These exams are distinct from the
Math comprehensives.

VIGRE Site Visit is Wednesday Nov 10

The National Science Foundation will send a team to assess the impact of the first two years of the VIGRE grant at Georgia Tech.

The date of their visit is Wednesday November 10. They will meet with most people associated with the School of Mathematics, Graduate students, Undergraduates, Postdocs, and Faculty, regardless of whether or not you have
had VIGRE funding. After all, the effects of the grant should be felt across a the entire range of activites of the School of Math.

Participation by all groups is most important to having a successful site visit.

"Meet the Math Majors" luncheon, 11am-1pm on Thursday, 23 September

Pi Mu Epsilon invites you to join us for the annual "Meet the Math
Majors" luncheon. The luncheon will be held in the Skiles lounge on
Thursday, September 23 from 11am to 1pm. If you're new to the department
(i.e. freshmen or new faculty), this is a great informal opportunity to
meet the rest of the department; if you've been here a while, please
encourage others to come.

Best regards,
Alan Michaels
Pi Mu Epsilon




Pi Mu Epsilon is a national mathematics honor society, which has a dual
purpose at Georgia Tech as the "math club." If you have any questions
about the organization, membership, or other events, please visit our
website (www.math.gatech.edu/~pme/) or contact us via email
(pme@math.gatech.edu).
We will send out brief announcements and begin
planning for the 2005 GT HSMC (high school mathematics competition) late
this month.

Banuleos wins Blackwell-Tapia Prize

Rodrigo Banuelos, of Purdue University, has been awarded the 2004 Blackwll-Tapia prize. Rodrigo is a good friend of many of us here. The honor given to him is well deserved.

A message from IPAM, at UCLA.

We are pleased to inform you that the 2004 Blackwell-Tapia Prize has
been awarded to Rodrigo Banuelos of Purdue University. We hope that you
will be able to join us for a stimulating workshop and festive
celebration of Rodrigo's work, and of this prize and the values that it
stands for. The 2004 Blackwell-Tapia Conference and Prize Presentation
will be held Friday and Saturday, November 5-6, at the Institute for
Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM), located on the UCLA campus. The
conference website is located at
http://www.ipam.ucla.edu/programs/btl2004/ , where it is possible to
register and to apply for funding.

We hope that you will be able to attend this event, and that you will
bring along a spirited group of African-American, Chicano/a and Native
American undergraduates, graduate students and colleagues. There will be
a poster session where students can present their work, and also some
slots available for student talks--let us know if you have some
potential poster presenters or speakers.

Sincerely yours,

Carlos Castillo-Chavez
Mark Green
William Massey
Robert Megginson
Richard Tapia




Blackwell-Tapia Conference and Prize Presentation

November 5 - 6, 2004

IPAM Building (Across from Moore Hall)
Main Lecture Room: Rm 1200


Friday, November 05, 2004
1:30 - 2:30 Check-In
2:30 - 3:30 Richard Tapia (Rice University )
3:30 - 5:30 Poster Session
4:30 - 5:30 Wine/Cheese Reception (Hosted by IPAM)


Saturday, November 06, 2004
Morning Session

9:00 - 10:00 Continental Breakfast
10:00 - 11:00 Trachette Jackson (University of Michigan)
"Joaquin-Bustoz Lecture"

11:00 - 11:30 Coffee Break
11:30 - 12:30 Carlos Bustamante (Cornell University)
"Evolutionary Consequence of Amino Acid Variation within
the Human Genome "

12:30 - 1:30 Lunch (on your own)

Afternoon Session
1:30 - 2:45 Two Parallel sessions of students talks ( three 20 minute
talks in each session)
2:45 - 3:00 Break
3:00 - 3:30 Opportunities at IPAM
3:30 - 4:30 Michael Cranston (University of California, Irvine) 4:30 -
5:00 Break
5:00 - 6:00 Rodrigo Banuelos (Purdue University)
"Prize-Winners Lecture"
6:00 - 7:30 Dinner (Hosted by IPAM) Including Presentation of Prize,
Acceptance Speech

"A Loving Rendition of the Marcus-Tardos Amazing Proof of the Furedi-Hajnal Conjecture"

"A Loving Rendition of the Marcus-Tardos Amazing Proof of the Furedi-Hajnal Conjecture" is the title of a recent posting to Doron Zeilberger's personal journal.

This refers to work of GT graduate student Adam Marcus, who with Gabor Tardos, solved an outstanding conjecture in combinatorics. One consequence of their insight was a solution to the Stanley-Wilf conjecture. Fix a permuation P. Then as n tends to infinity, there is an exponential upper bound on th number of permutations on n characters that *avoids* containing any copy of P. See Adam's website for their paper.

Adam completed this work while a Fulbright scholar in Budapest. He is speaking in the Combinatorics Seminar on Sept 17. Doron Zeilberger gives a colloquium at Georgia Tech on Oct 1st, with the title "How Adam Marcus and Gabor Tardos Divided and Conquered the Stanley-Wilf Conjecture."

Sigma Xi's Undergraduate Research Conference

Sigma Xi is a national society with a strong focus on encouraging undergraduate research across a range of scientific disciplines.

Last year, Ryan Hynd participated in the Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.
This year the conference is in Montreal, in November. More information follows.
(Thanks to Mason Porter for bringing this to my attention.)

1) STUDENT OPPORTUNITY - 2004 Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference to be held in Montreal, Canada. Student events will take place on No
vember 12 and 13 and are primarily aimed at undergraduates, but opportunities for graduate students and doctoral candidates exist. Students pres
ent research; network with career researchers, graduate recruiters and potential employers; and attend workshops on such topics as communicating
science, ethics, leadership and career development. Featured speakers include environmentalist and science communicator David Suzuki, Nobel Laur
eate in physics Murray Gell-Mann, Young Investigator Award Winner Jason Neih and astronaut Julie Payette.
Information at: http://www.sigmaxi.org/meetings/annual/index.shtml

2) GRANTS-IN-AID OF RESEARCH PROGRAM - Awarding research support to undergraduate and graduate students for 80 years. Most grants range from a fe
w hundred dollars to $1,000. Vision related or astronomy related research projects may be awarded up to $2,500.
Students apply online: http://sigmaxi.org/programs/giar/guide.shtml
APPLICATION DEADLINE: OCTOBER 15, 2004.

NSA's Director's Summer Program & Graduate Mathematics Program

The NSA's Summer 2005 program has a very early deadline since
participants have to pass a security clearance.

There are Undergraduate and Graduate Programs. Stephen Young particpated
in the Grad program this past summer.

The undergrad announcement is below, and the graduate announcement after the jump.

-------------------------------------------
THE DIRECTOR'S SUMMER PROGRAM
at
THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY

CRYPTOLOGIC MATHEMATICS FOR EXCEPTIONAL UNDERGRADUATE
MATHEMATICIANS

Mrs. Jacqueline A. Holmgren, Program Manager
math@afterlife.ncsc.mil

***********DEADLINE IS 15 OCTOBER*************

The Director's Summer Program is the National Security Agency's premier
outreach to the nation's most outstanding undergraduate mathematics
majors. Each summer we invite two dozen exceptional students to
collaborate with each other and with NSA mathematicians on problems
critical to the intelligence gathering and information assurance
missions of the agency. Admission to the 12-week program is highly
competitive. Applicants should have a demonstrated superior
mathematical aptitude. A full year of abstract algebra and analysis
are recommended. Some computer experience is desirable, particularly
with C or C++ and mathematical software packages.

The goals of the Director's Summer Program are to:

* introduce the future leaders of the U.S. mathematics
community to the Agency's mission and share with them the
excitement of working on mathematics problems of national
importance;

* provide a deep understanding of the vital role that
mathematics plays in enabling the Agency to tackle a diverse
set of technical challenges;

* encourage bright undergraduate mathematics majors to continue
their study of mathematics and pursue careers in the
mathematical sciences; and, of course, to

* solve current operational problems.

DSP participants work on a wide range of problems in mathematics,
cryptology, and communications technology. These problems often involve
applications of abstract algebra, geometry, number theory, probability,
statistics, combinatorics, graph theory, algorithms, computer science,
and analysis. Introductory lectures on modern cryptologic mathematics
will be given at the beginning of the summer; at the same time,
approximately ten current problems will be presented. Each student will
choose one or two as the focus for his or her research. Students are
expected to document their work in technical papers which are internally
published at the agency.

Information about the Director's Summer Program is sent to over 300
colleges and universities each year. Because of the lengthy security
processing required, the deadline for applications is 15 October each
year. To apply, a student should send a resume, at least two letters of
recommendation from faculty members familiar with their technical work,
and current transcripts. A list of courses which will have been
completed by the end of the academic year should also be included.
**Students must be U.S. citizens.** All information should be sent to:

Department of Defense
National Security Agency
9800 Savage Road
Fort George G. Meade, MD 20755-6515
Attn: R1 (DSP), Suite 6515.

DSP, located at Fort Meade, Maryland, runs from end of May through
middle of August. Students are paid a salary commensurate with their
education level. Responsibility for housing finances rest with the
student. Students who attend out-of-state schools are eligible for
round trip airline ticket to and from school or mileage reimbursement
up to cost of government issued airline ticket.

The Director's Summer Program is an extremely rewarding summer
experience! For additional information, call Mrs. Jacquie Holmgren,
Program Manager at (301) 688-0983 or send e-mail to
math@afterlife.ncsc.mil. For more information about career
opportunities at the NSA visit www.nsa.gov.

THE GRADUATE MATHEMATICS PROGRAM
at
THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY

CRYPTOLOGIC MATHEMATICS FOR EXCEPTIONAL GRADUATE
STUDENTS IN MATHEMATICS

Mrs. Jacqueline A. Holmgren, Program Manager
math@afterlife.ncsc.mil

***********DEADLINE IS 15 OCTOBER*************

The Graduate Mathematics Program provides an opportunity for exceptional
mathematics graduate students to work directly with NSA mathematicians
on mission-critical problems and experience the excitement of the NSA
mathematics community. Admission to the 12-week program is highly
competitive. Applicants must be U.S. citizens who are
currently enrolled in a mathematics graduated program.

Applicants should have demonstrated superior mathematical aptitude and
problem-solving skills. Evidence of successful work on an independent
project in pure or applied mathematics or computer science is
desirable. Applicants may be at any stage in their graduate careers and
working, or intending to work, in any area of mathematics. Computer
programming experience, especially C or C++, is desirable.

State of the art computer software resources are available to Graduate
Mathematics Program participants. Computational software packages such
as MATHEMATICA, MATHLAB, MAGMA, MAPLE and SPLUS are also available.

Information about the Graduate Mathematics Program is sent to over 300
colleges and universities across the United States. Because of the
lengthy security processing required, the deadline for applications is
15 October each year. To apply, a student must send a resume, at least
two letters of recommendation from faculty members familiar with their
work, and a copy of undergraduate and graduate transcripts through the
current academic year. All information should be sent to:

Department of Defense
National Security Agency
9800 Savage Road
Fort George G. Meade, MD 20755-6515
Attn: R1 (GMP) Suite 6515.

GMP, located at Fort Meade, Maryland, runs from end of May through
middle of August. Students are paid a salary commensurate with their
education level. Responsibility for housing finances rest with the
student. Students who attend out-of-state schools are eligible for
round trip airline ticket to and from school or mileage reimbursement
up to cost of government issued airline ticket.

For additional information about the Graduate Mathematics Program, call
Mrs. Jacquie Holmgren, Program Manager at (301) 688-0983 or send e-mail
to math@afterlife.ncsc.mil. For more information about career
opportunities at the NSA visit www.nsa.gov.