This Week in Science at St. Olaf

Monday, April 24th

MSCS Colloquium: Bayesian Models for Analysis of Airborne Chemical Exposures During the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response and Clean-up Efforts
Carrie Groth ’12, St. Olaf Graduate, Ph.D. Candidate,
University of Minnesota Division of Biostatistics
3:30 pm, RNS 310, Everyone Welcome

Tuesday, April 25th

No Seminar

Wednesday, April 26th

Physics Colloquium
Graduate School Panel
7:00 pm RNS 297

Thursday, April 27th

Math-Biology (Pre-Health) Seminar

Evolutionary Dynamics of Cancer
Jasmine Foo – University of Minnesota
7:00 pm, RNS 410

Friday, April 28th

Olaf W. Millert and Juta R. Millert Memorial Speaker Series in Psychology Talk
Ambivalent Stereotyping and its association with status inequality and conflict
Dr. Susan Fiske, Princeton University
3:30 pm, TOH 280

MSCS Research Seminar: The origins of differential geometry and some modern applications
Joe Benson, St. Olaf Visiting Professor of Mathematics
3:40 pm, RNS 204

Chemistry Seminar: Distinctions
Hannah Brown
3:15 pm RNS 310

Monday, April 10

MSCS Colloquium – Writing Numbers as the Sum of Factorials
Suzanne Doree, Professor of Mathematics Augsburg College

In standard decimal notation, we write each integer as the linear combination of powers of 10.  In binary, we use powers of 2.  What if we used factorials instead of exponentials?  How can we express each integer as the sum of factorials in a minimal way? This talk will explore the factorial representation of integers, including historical connections to permutations, a fast algorithm for conversion, and the secret of the “third proof by mathematical induction.”  Next we’ll extend this representation to rational and then real numbers, ending with some remaining open questions.

3:30 pm, RNS 310

Chemistry Seminar: The evolution of the hexadehydro-Diels-Alder (HDDA) reaction
Thomas Hoye, Ph.D., University of Minnesota
7:00 pm, RNS 150

Biology Distinction Poster Session

4th floor atrium, 4:00PM

Tuesday, April 11

No Seminar

Wednesday, April 12

MSCS Colloquium – A Universal Taylor Series

You perhaps learned in Calc II that the Taylor polynomials of a function can do a very good job of approximating the original function. For example, the Taylor polynomials of y = sin x are quite well-behaved.

In this talk, we will discuss the existence of a function whose Taylor polynomials behave in the worst possible way – its Taylor polynomials can approximate any continuous function whose graph passes through the origin! In other words, the Taylor series of such a function is as divergent as imaginable; its partial sums “travel everywhere.” Such a badly behaved Taylor series is called a universal Taylor series.
Time permitting, we will also discuss a function whose successive derivatives behave just as wildly, some new research on what such a function can look like, and how you can get involved in this research.

Math Candidate
3:30 pm, RNS 310 – Everyone Welcome!

Thursday, April 13

No Seminar

Friday, April 14

No Seminar

Monday, April 3rd

Bio/Chem Seminar: Toxicology in the Industrial Setting in the 21st Century
Robert Roy, Ph.D.| Lead Toxicology Specialist
Diplomate, American Board of Toxicology
3M Medical Department

RNS 150 7:00 PM

This presentation will focus on various aspects of industrial/occupational toxicology including:  an introduction to some of the basic, although very important, principles of toxicology, various pathways to a career in toxicology (including those in the industrial, governmental and academic fields), an general overview of what toxicologists do/are involved with and where they work, and will finish with a discussion of some currently “very active” areas of toxicology.  There will also be time for questions and discussion.

MSCS Colloquium: Recent Computer Science Team Undergraduate Research
Come to hear about recent team projects in the Capstone Seminar (CS 390) and in Parallel and Distributed Computing (PDC) completed Fall ’16 & Interim ’17
Refreshments @ 3:15 pm – Talk @ 3:30 pm – Everyone Welcome

Tuesday, April 4th

No Seminar

Wednesday, April 5th

Physics Colloquium: The Two-Higgs-Doublet Model
Speaker: Patrick Kneschke, Ph.D. Student from University of Dresden
2:00 pm, RNS 210

Thursday, April 6th

No Seminar

Friday, April 7th

Increasing Diversity and Excellence Across STEM
IDEAS Distinguished Speaker Series – in collaboration with Carleton College
Francis Su, Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College

Francis Su has a passion for teaching and popularizing mathematics – hear him speak about reaching beyond traditional (and often unintentional) borders of participation in STEM.

Talk: 11:00 – 11:45 am
Lunch to Follow – please sign up at https://www.broadeningthebridge.org/ideas/
St. Olaf Regents Hall of Science 4th Floor Atrium