Archive for April 2016

May 2 – 6, 2016

Monday, May 2

MSCS Colloquium: An introduction to Fourier transform based (3D) imaging with examples from industrial applications
Thomas Höft, University of St. Thomas, Assistant Professor
We describe two imaging modalities used in industry for laser-based remote sensing. Coincidentally, the Fourier transform is central to image formation and reconstruction in both methods. Digital Holography is presented in the context of long-range imaging. Both 2D and 3D imaging techniques will be covered, and we describe an optimization problem which arises when compensating for the blur of imaging through a turbulent atmosphere. Fourier Transform Profilometry is presented in the context of a 3D face-imaging system for biometric identification. The technique is described and illustrated with data from real live humans.
3:30pm (3:15 pm cookies and conversation), RNS 310

***Biology Seminar: The Apes of the Mountains of the Moon: Ecology and
Conservation of Chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, Uganda
Kevin B. Potts, PhD
Department of Biology, Augsburg College
Monday, May 2, 4:00 PM in RNS 410

Tuesday, May 3

Psychology: Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist
Dr. Lynda Barger ’83
Dr. Lynda Barger, an Ole grad, is coming to speak about her career in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry! This talk will be AWESOME for anyone considering medical school or graduate school in psychology. She will talk about her education, career background, and current practice, and be able to answer any questions you have regarding psychiatry and related health professions.
6:00 p.m., Buntrock 144

Wednesday, May 4

MSCS Colloquium: A Mathematical Tour of the Orchestra
Daniel Droz from Penn State
A violin, oboe, clarinet, trumpet, horn, xylophone, and bell are all playing the same note (at the same octave). Why do they still sound different from one another? For that matter, why does bowing, plucking, or hammering a tightened string produce a musical note while doing the same things to most household objects just produces random noise?  We will explore the mathematical models of vibration in musical instruments of various types, seeing what unites them and what distinguishes them, and investigating a few of the ways in which mathematical differences correspond to audible differences.
3:15 pm, TOH 186

Thursday, May 5

No Seminars

Friday, May 6

Honors Day Poster Session for the Sciences
4:00 – 5:30 pm; Fourth Floor Atrium

Appetizers served

 

April 11 – 15, 2016

Monday, April 11

Physics Colloquium:  Magnetism and Mu dynamics in Vanadium Dioxide compounds and other current research interests
Speaker: Patrick (Rick) Mengyan, Instructor & Post Doc. Research Associate in Physics at Texas Tech University
3:00 pm, RNS 290

MSCS Research Seminar: Russian Troika Dolls:  A Story of Demazure Module Filtrations
Peri Shereen, a visiting assistant professor from Carleton College
A composition series of vector spaces is a chain of subspaces such that each successive quotient space has no nontrivial subspaces.  A similar definition also exists for groups.  In both cases, knowing the composition series gives us some structural information of the largest space or group.  For example, the composition series of a finite abelian group is directly related to its decomposition.  We will discuss a similar notion for modules of a Lie algebra.  In particular we will study a filtration  (a chain of submodules) where the successive quotients share a common property.  Learning about the explicit filtrations admitted will give us important structural information about the largest module.

3:15 Cookies and Conversation, 3pm Talk, RNS 310

Tuesday, April 12

What: Informal Conversation about Pathways and Possibilities in Science Education
Where: RNS 356B
When: 11:30-12:15. Drop in any time.

Are you planning to major in science? Do you enjoy spending time with youth? You can probably think of a teacher you’ve had who made a difference; have you ever thought you might be interested in teaching others?
If so, it’s a good time to start thinking about opportunities in science education. At St. Olaf, you can become a licensed middle or high school science teacher. Besides being a fulfilling job, science teachers are in demand. While there are many paths to becoming a science teacher, there are some big advantages to the licensure program at St. Olaf. Additionally, many other career paths involve some component of science education.
If you’d like to talk about what it’s like to be a science teacher and about possibilities and pathways to a teaching license, please drop in for an informal conversation with Carolyn Ocampo, visiting master teacher in Chemistry, and Emily Mohl, assistant professor in biology and education.
Questions? Contact Emily Mohl, mohl@stolaf.edu, RNS 432.

Wednesday, April 13

No Seminars

Thursday, April 14

Seminar: Neurologist and Sleep Medicine Specialist
Dr. Erik St. Louis, Associate Professor of Neurology, Mayo Clinic
Dr. Erik St Louis is a neurologist who specializes in sleep medicine. He currently works at Mayo Clinic and wants to share a bit about his research, clinical experience, and career. Please join us if you are interested in medicine, neurology, psychology, sleep medicine, OR if you just love to sleep!
6:00 p.m., Buntrock 142

Friday, April 15

No Seminars

April 4 – 8, 2016

Monday, April 4

MSCS Colloquium: “Comparing Songs without Listening: From MSCS to Music and Back Again”
Katherine Kinnaird, from Macalester College
Music is deeply entrenched in our daily lives, from playing as we work and study to enhancing our favorite television shows. The multidisciplinary field of Music Information Retrieval (MIR) is motivated by the comparisons that we, as humans, make about music and the various contexts of these comparisons. By defining tasks such as building better song recommendation systems or finding structural information in a given recording, MIR seeks to algorithmically make these musical comparisons in the same way a single human being would, but on a much larger scale. In this talk, we will 1) introduce the field of MIR, including popular tasks and cutting edge techniques, 2) present our method for comparing songs, and 3) discuss further applications of this method beyond MIR tasks.
3:30pm, RNS 310

Seminar: Distinction Poster Session
Come hear and see the candidates for distinction in Biology today at 4:00 PM in the 4th floor atrium.

Tuesday, April 5

No Seminar

Wednesday, April 6

MSCS Recital:
The recital is an annual recognition of the talent, of all types, of the members of the MSCS community.  Faculty and students will perform, together and separately, for a couple of hours in the evening.  Anyone associated with MSCS is welcome to participate, as a performer or an observer.  This is a fun, relaxed gathering of students and faculty on equal footing.  There will be food and drink, but this event features homemade food offerings. .  If you are interested in performing, please contact Steve McKelvey mckelvey@stolaf.edu).
7:00pm, Ytterboe Lounge

Thursday, April 7

No Seminar

Friday, April 8

No Seminar