Math/Stat Awards Banquet

It was another glorious year in the Math/Stat department at Williams.  We celebrated its end with our annual banquet, packed with over 150 faculty and students.  As tradition, the new majors received a beverage wrench, and everyone joined in applauding the winners of this year’s awards. Colloquium… Continue reading »

Reimagining the Course Catalog

BACKGROUND At the start of the year, I was made chair of a committee to reimagine the Williams Course Catalog for 2015-2016.  We were tasked with coming up with a “scheme and shape” for how the course catalog can be organized, and how different kinds of information can be visualized.  Instead… Continue reading »

Cartography of Tree Space

Over six years ago, I wrote a post on ways in which mathematics (at  a research level) and art (at a gallery level) can intersect today.  The problem is that in our enlightened world, the work of the mathematician and the visual artist are not only viewed as incompatible, but… Continue reading »

Majors and Careers

The teaching of my first tutorial at Williams occurred in Spring 2012, on phylogenetics, the study of evolutionary trees.  As with most tutorials, I had ten students in my class, grouped in pairs, where their strengths included pure mathematics, biology, art, and computer science.  My tutorial was… Continue reading »

Mathematical Danger

In what way is mathematics dangerous?  This past year, the Williams College Gaudino program has been looking at the idea of danger.  Hence my question, in what way is mathematics dangerous? Maybe there is emotional danger, as the media mocks the typical math professor as nerdy and… Continue reading »

NASA Internship

NASA offers fall and spring semester paid internships for undergraduate and graduate students.  Internships are in a variety of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines as well as business and finance. The deadline for fall semester internship applications was recently extended to May 31st. Interested students can apply at: … Continue reading »

Frank Morgan’s Asia Tour

Professor Frank Morgan is headed on a whirlwind tour of Asia and Mathematics.   Find out all the information here.  Recently, he appeared on television there as well, showing his lectures in mathematics: <http://www.trt.vn/Tint%E1%BB%A9cS%E1%BB%B1ki%E1%BB%87n/tabid/57/itemid/5542/categoryId/3/type/1/Default.aspx>  … Continue reading »

SPUYTEN DUYVIL Undergraduate Mathematics Conference

The SPUYTEN DUYVIL conference takes place at St. Francis College, in Brooklyn, New York, on Saturday April 24, 2010.  The primary purpose of the conference is to give undergraduates the opportunity to discuss mathematics with their peers. We invite the submission of an abstract for a presentation or a poster. The deadline… Continue reading »