• MathFest 2012 Program
• Invited Addresses
• Invited Paper Sessions
• Contributed Paper Sessions
• MAA-AMS Special Session
• Minicourses
• Panels/Poster Sessions/Workshops
• Graduate Student Activities
• Undergraduate Student Activities
• Sigmaa Activities
• Other Mathematical Sessions
• Committee Schedule
• Short Course
• Committee Schedule

Invited Paper Sessions

Convex Algebraic Geometry

Applied and Computational Topology

Discrete Probability on Surfaces

Combinatorics and Matrices

Mathematics and Systems Biology

Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk

• Convex Algebraic Geometry
  Thursday afternoon, Ballroom C
  
  Organizer:
  • Bernd Sturmfels, University of California Berkeley
  • Cynthia Vinzant, University of Michigan
  Speakers:
  • 1:00-1:30, Jordan Ellenberg, University of Wisconsin
  • 1:45-2:15, Jon Hauenstein, North Carolina State University
  • 2:30-3:00, Greg Blekherman, Georgia Tech
  • 3:15-3:45, Vicki Powers, Emory University
  • 4:00-4:30, Amir Ali Ahmadi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4:45-5:15, Bruce Reznick, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  Convex algebraic geometry centers around the interplay between algebraic geometry, classical convexity, and optimization. Algebraic geometry provides necessary tools to analyze and develop solutions to optimization problems, and solvers for convex optimization have led to new fast algorithms in real algebraic geometry.

• Applied and Computational Topology
  Saturday afternoon, Ballroom D
  
  Organizer:
  • Benjamin Mann, Ayasdi, Inc.
  • Jack Morava, the Johns Hopkins University
  Speakers:
  • 1:00-1:20, Henry Adams, Stanford University
  • 1:30-1:50, Andrew Blumberg, University of Texas
  • 2:00-2:20, Justin Curry, University of Pennsylvania        
  • 2:30-2:50, Rafal Komendarczyk, Tulane University
  • 3:00-3:20, Sanjeevi Krishnan, University of Pennsylvania
  • 3:30-3:50, Paul Pearson, Fort Lewis College
  • 4:00-4:20, Jose Perea, Duke University
  • 4:30-4:50, Michael Robinson, University of Pennsylvania

  One of the exciting recent developments in applied mathematics has been the explosion of insights, techniques, and tools from algebraic topology that have been used to great advantage in examining computation problems in data analysis, distributed networks, and dynamical systems. This special session will feature eight presentations on various aspects of a subject that encourages collaborations and synergies between mathematicians, statisticians, biologists, chemists, physicists, materials scientists, and computer scientists. In total, the session should provide a broad introduction to the area with a balance between the theory and applications.

• Discrete Probability on Surfaces
  Saturday afternoon, Ballroom C
  
  Organizer:
  • Richard Kenyon, Brown University
  Speakers:
  • 1:00-1:30, Ivan Corwin, New York University, Beyond the Gaussian Universality Class
  • 1:45-2:15, Timo Seppalainen, University of Wisconsin
  • 2:30-3:00, Russell Lyons, Indiana University, Random Trees and Surfaces
  • 3:15-3:45, Benedek Valko, University of Wisconsin, Point processes generated by carousels
  • 4:00-4:30, James Propp, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • 4:45-5:15, Henry Cohn, Microsoft

 

• Combinatorics and Matrices
  Thursday afternoon, Ballroom C
  
  Organizer:
  • Richard A. Brualdi, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Speakers:
  • 1:00-1:20, T.S. Michael, U.S. Naval Academy
  • 1:30-1:50, Bridget Tenner, DePaul University, Graphs: providing a link between posets, topology, and enumeration
  • 2:00-2:20, Eric Egge, Carleton College
  • 2:30-2:50, Adam Berliner, St. Olaf College
  • 3:00-3:20, In-Jae Kim, University of Minnesota – Mankato, Application of PageRank centrality to a survey instrument
  • 3:20-3:50, Leslie Hogben, Iowa State University, Parameters related to maximum nullity, zero forcing number, and tree-width of a graph

  This session will focus on the substantial interaction between combinatorics, graph theory, and matrix theory.

• Mathematics and Systems Biology
  Saturday afternoon, Ballroom B
  
  Organizer:
  • Timothy Comar, Benedictine University
  Speakers:
  • 1:00-1:20, Raina Robeva, Sweet Briar College
  • 1:30-1:50, Brandilyn Stigler, Southern Methodist University
  • 2:00-2:20, Terrell Hodge, Western Michigan University
  • 3:00-3:20, Winfried Just, Ohio University
  • 3:30-3:50, Timothy Comar, Benedictine University
  Sponsor:
  • BIO SIGMAA

  Systems biology is the study of the systems-level understanding and analysis of the biology, behavior and interactions between the biology and behavior at all levels of biological organization from the small scales of molecules and cells up to the large scales of populations and communities. Systems biology is interdisciplinary by nature, and employs significant mathematical and computational techniques to model and analyze complex biological systems. The mathematics involved in modeling complex systems is wide and varied and includes not only differential equations but also Boolean dynamics, contact networks, individual based modeling, and algebraic techniques. Examples of areas of study of gene system analysis and epidemic modeling. This session will focus on the applications of mathematics to research in areas of systems biology.

• Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk
  Friday afternoon, Ballroom C
  
  Organizer:
  • Georgia Benkart, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Tom Halverson, Macalester College
  Speakers:
  • 2:00-2:20, Kyle Petersen, DePaul University
  • 2:30-2:50, Susanna Fishel, Arizona State University
  • 3:00-3:20, Eric Egge, Carleton College
  • 3:30-3:50, Kendra Killpatrick, Pepperdine University
  • 4:00-4:20, Jim Propp, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • 4:30-4:50, Sam Hsiao, Bard College
  • 5:00-5:20, Tom Halverson, Macalester College
    

  This session will feature talks on walks on lattices and graphs and some of their many applications in enumerating tableaux, pattern-avoiding permutations, random walks, Markov chains, and many other constructs.