Centennial MathFest

The centennial summer meeting (“MathFest“) of the Mathematical Association of America, August 5-8, 2015, in Washington DC, featured Hedrick Lectures on “Algebra Over Finite Fields” by Karen Smith, Centennial Lectures by Erik Demaine, Jennifer Chayes, Ingrid Daubechies, Carlos Castillo-Chavez, Karen Parshall, and Manjul Bhargava, and other invited lectures… Continue reading »

Reunions 2015

Great to see many of you at our Annual Reunions Math-Stats Faculty/Students/Alums Get-Together Saturday, June 13, 2015, 3:30-4:30 pm, Math-Stats Library. Next gathering will be at the joint math meetings in Seattle in January, 2016. (Click on an image to enlarge it.)… Continue reading »

Crash Takes Nash Four Days after Abel Prize

On the way home from receiving the million-dollar Abel Prize from King Harald of Norway, John Nash, along with his wife Alicia, was killed in a taxicab crash on the New Jersey Turnpike. I was at the Abel ceremonies May 21-22 myself to give the Science Lecture. Louis… Continue reading »

Reunions 2014

Great to see many of you, including Southwestern President Burger, at our Annual Reunions Math-Stats Faculty/Students/Alums Get-Together Saturday, June 14, 2014, 3:30-4:30 pm, Math-Stats Library. (Click on an image to enlarge it.)… Continue reading »

Prizes Announced at Majors’ Banquet

Professor and Chair Stewart Johnson announced this year’s Math/Stats prizes at the annual gala Majors’ Dinner at the Williams Inn Tuesday evening, May 13, 2014 (photos below): ROSENBURG PRIZE for excellent senior: Ilya Amburg and Vu Le. GOLDBERG AWARD for best colloquium: Nina Horowitz “The Mathematics Behind Playing Hard to Get“… Continue reading »

Williams at Hudson River

The hundreds of attendants at the 2014 Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference, this year at Marist College, included seven speakers from Williams: The Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci Sequence by Megumi Asada Benford’s Law and the Fibonacci Numbers by John Bihn Isoperimetric Regions in the Plane and… Continue reading »

Best Jobs 2014

According to the latest ranking by CareerCast.com, the best four jobs of 2014 are: 1. Mathematician. 2. Tenured professor. 3. Statistician. 4. Actuary. (The worst was lumberjack.)… Continue reading »

Burger Inauguration as Southwestern President

Recent Williams Mathematics Professor Edward B. Burger was inaugurated as President of Southwestern University on March 25, 2014 (preceded by Prof. Morgan’s Soap Bubble Geometry Contest). Watch Burger’s address, read the transcript, or watch the entire installation ceremony. See interview of “The Jovial College President” in the Georgetown Sun. Continue reading »