Friday, September 19
The Launch of the Mentoring Math Minds Program, with Dr. Jeremy Tyson (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Title: Mathematics of Change Ringing: An Illinois Geometry Lab research project
Abstract: Change ringing is an ancient musical tradition typically played on sets of bells mounted in a tower. The bell ringers successively sound each bell multiple times, with the goal of sounding every possible permutation of bells according to certain rules (dictated by the physics and mechanics of the bell-playing process). Such a performance is known as a `change’. Mathematically, change ringing is modelled by Hamiltonian paths on the Cayley graph for the corresponding symmetric group equipped with a specific set of generators. I will talk about a Fall 2020 undergraduate research project, carried out in the Illinois Geometry Lab (now known as the Illinois Mathematics Lab), in which the students analyzed bell changes using a combination of graph theory and group theory. Along the way I’ll comment on the challenges of supervising such a research project at the height of the pandemic, the structure of the Illinois Mathematics Lab and its role in providing research experiences for undergraduate math students in the context of a large, public university, and opportunities for mathematics departments of various sizes and with diverse missions to implement similar programs for undergraduate research. In fact, the Illinois Mathematics Lab is one member in Geometry Labs United, a nationwide network of labs for undergraduate research in mathematics with an emphasis on visualization and experimentation.
Refreshments:
3:45 – 4:05 pm
Ritter Hall 235
Colloquium:
4:10 – 5:00 pm
Ritter Hall 323
BioSketch: Jeremy Tyson is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his PhD from the University of Michigan, while his undergraduate degree is from Washington University in Saint Louis. His areas of research interest include analysis in metric spaces, complex analysis, fractal geometry, and differential geometry. He has authored three books and over seventy research articles in these fields, including several papers coauthored with his students and with students of his research colleagues at other institutions. He supervised the PhD theses of 12 graduate students, and has served as the faculty advisor for eight undergraduate research projects under the auspices of the Illinois Mathematics Lab (formerly known as the Illinois Geometry Lab). He served as Director of the Illinois Geometry Lab (2015-2017), as Chair of the Mathematics Department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2018-2021), and as a Program Director at the U.S. National Science Foundation (2021-2024). He is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
Mentoring Math Minds 