Register
Click here to register on-line, and pay by credit card (deadline 5 pm, April 10th).
Click here to register by mail, and pay by check (deadline April 9th).
Spring 2012 SoCal-Nev Section Meeting
California State University, Fullerton
Saturday, April 14, 2012
(Directions and Map)
Tentative Program
- 8:15-12:00 Registration
Mihaylo Hall Courtyard - 8:15-10:30 Refreshments
Mihaylo Hall Courtyard - 8:15 – 9:30 Graduate Student Resume Review
- Drop off your c.v. or resume and/or your teaching and research statements for same-day faculty review and feedback.
Organized by Ivona Grzegorczyk, Cal State Channel Islands - 8:30-2:30 MAA Book Sale
Mihaylo Hall Lobby
Organized by Richard Katz and Michael Hoffman, CSU, Los Angeles - 9:00-9:55 Invited Address by Stephan Garcia, Pomona College
Hidden Symmetries in Everyday Operators
Mihaylo Hall Room 1502 - 9:55-10:10 Section Business Meeting
Mihaylo Hall Room 1502
Presentation of Section Distinguished Teaching Award
Recognition of 25- and 50-year members - 10:10-11:10 Student Poster Session
View the Call for Posters.
Mihaylo Hall Courtyard
Organized by Ioana Mihaila, Cal Poly Pomona - 11:10-12:05 Invited Address by Kristin Lauter, Microsoft Research
Elliptic Curve Cryptography and Applications
Mihaylo Hall Room 1502 - 12:15-1:15 Luncheon
Fullerton Marriott Hotel (across street from Mihaylo Hall) - 1:25-2:20 Invited Address by Scott Annin, CSU Fullerton
Mathematics and Mountaintops
Mihaylo Hall Room 1502 - 2:20-2:50 Refreshments
Mihaylo Hall Courtyard - 2:50-3:45 Invited Address by Judy Grabiner, Pitzer College
It’s All for the Best: Optimization in the History of Science and Mathematics
Mihaylo Hall Room 1502
Directions and Maps
Cal State Fullerton is located west of the 57 Freeway north of Nutwood Avenue. Coming from either the south or the north on the 57 Freeway, exit at Nutwood Avenue. Turn west on Nutwood and then turn north on Folino Drive onto campus. Park either in Lot F or in the Eastside Parking Structure. Parking is free on weekends. No permit is required.
Steven G. Mihaylo Hall is on the northwest corner of Nutwood Avenue and Folino Drive. You will see it when you turn onto Folino Drive. The registration table will be in the courtyard. The first talk will be in Mihaylo Hall, Room 1502.
Mihaylo Hall is located in the bottom right corner of the campus map available from the campus website. It is labeled SGMH on this map.
Hotel
The most conveniently located hotel is the Fullerton Marriott Hotel, located at 2701 E. Nutwood Avenue, Fullerton, on the corner of Nutwood Avenue and Folino Drive, directly across the street from Mihaylo Hall.
Register
Click here to register on-line, and pay by credit card (deadline 5 pm, April 10th).
Click here to register by mail, and pay by check (deadline April 9th).
Registration Fees
| Registration | |
| Nonmember | $45 |
| MAA Member | $40 |
| Student | $15 |
| Registration and Luncheon | |
| Nonmember | $63 |
| MAA Member | $58 |
| Student | $27 |
On-site registration will be available for the meeting, but will be $5 more than the pre-registration charge.
Register on-line
Click here to register on-line, and pay by credit card (deadline 5 pm, April 10th).
Register by mail
Click here to register by mail, and pay by check (deadline April 9th).
Stephan GarciaPomona College |
Stephan Garcia is the author of almost forty research articles (many with undergraduates) in operator theory, complex analysis, linear algebra, and number theory. He was recently appointed to the editorial board of the journal Involve, and he was also invited to help teach faculty how to supervise undergraduate research as part of the Research Experiences for Undergraduate Faculty program at ICERM. Dr. Garcia has received several NSF research grants and five teaching awards from three different institutions. For the last several years, he has been involved in the governance of the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM). |
Hidden Symmetries in Everyday Operators
What do a 2x2 matrix, a Jordan block, the adjacency matrix of a graph, the integral from 0 to x of f(y)dy, and the Fourier transform have in common? They each enjoy hidden symmetries which are part of a general theory, only recently developed by the speaker and his collaborators. We discuss these symmetries from the viewpoint of linear algebra, highlighting various applications. We also emphasize the crucial role that several undergraduate researchers played in this work. (Research partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-1001614).
Kristin LauterMicrosoft Research
|
Kristin Lauter is a Principal Researcher and the head of the Cryptography Group at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, and an Affiliate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Lauter's research interests include algorithmic number theory, algebraic geometry, and their applications in cryptography; for example, in the areas of cryptographic hash functions, authenticated key exchange and secure cloud computing. Dr. Lauter received her Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1996. Prior to joining Microsoft, she was a T. H. Hildebrandt Research Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan (1996–1999), and a Visiting Researcher at the Max Planck Institute (1997) and the Institut de Mathematiques Luminy in France (1999). She was a co-winner of the Selfridge Prize in Computational Number Theory in 2008. |
Elliptic Curve Cryptography and Applications
In the last 25 years, Elliptic Curve Cryptography has become a mainstream primitive for cryptographic protocols and applications. This talk will give a survey of elliptic curve cryptography and its applications, including applications of pairing-based cryptography, which are built with elliptic curves. No prior knowledge about elliptic curves is required for this talk. One of the information-theoretic applications I will cover is a solution to prevent pollution attacks in content distribution networks which use network coding to achieve optimal throughput. One solution is based on a pairing-based signature scheme using elliptic curves. I will also discuss some applications to privacy of electronic medical records, and implications for secure and private cloud storage and cloud computing.
Scott AnninCSU Fullerton |
Scott Annin is Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Mathematics at California State University, Fullerton. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002, the same year he began his career at Fullerton. He has published numerous articles in non-commutative ring theory, group theory, semigroup theory, and mathematics education. He is also co-author of a popular text, Differential Equations and Linear Algebra. He is a co-PI on an NSF grant to develop Native American-based mathematics materials for the classroom, and he is a faculty partner on an NSF grant entitled “Teachers Assisting Students to Excel in Learning Mathematics,” a collaboration between Cal State Fullerton’s math department and the teachers in the Garden Grove Unified School District. Many of his current endeavors involve collaborations with undergraduates, many of which have led to joint publications, Putnam team success, and many student awards. These collaborations have helped Dr. Annin win Cal State Fullerton’s highest honor for teaching, the Carol Barnes Excellence in Teaching Award in 2008, and the MAA’s Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2009. |
Mathematics and Mountaintops
You’ve probably heard the old adage “Life is a journey, not a destination.” That’s a lesson I’ve learned again and again over thousands of miles of leading treks high and deep into the Colorado Rockies as a summer Hikemaster for the YMCA of the Rockies. While the view from the summit is amazing, it’s the getting there that is most inspiring.
And so it is with mathematics. The moment of mathematical discovery is breath-taking, but the hard work and perseverance required to get there are what truly make the moment meaningful. I’ve had the tremendous privilege of leading students on journeys to their own mountaintop moments in mathematics. In this talk, I’ll describe some of the best treks I’ve shared with my students over the years in teaching and research. Often these students have come from humble beginnings to scale enormous mountains, and along the way, I’ve found great joy in turning the student experience on an enormous campus of 35,000+ into a personal, private hike across a spectacular mathematical landscape. This talk will be filled with inspiring mountain scenery and inspiring Cal State Fullerton math students.
Judith GrabinerPitzer College |
Judith V. Grabiner, the Flora Sanborn Pitzer Professor of Mathematics at Pitzer College in Claremont, is the author of The Origins of Cauchy’s Rigorous Calculus, The Calculus as Algebra: J.-L. Lagrange, 1736–1813, and A Historian Looks Back: The Calculus as Algebra and Selected Writings. Her articles (seven of which have won prizes from the MAA) include “The Centrality of Mathematics in the History of Western Thought,” “Newton, Maclaurin, and the Authority of Mathematics,” and “Who Gave You the Epsilon? Cauchy’s Contributions to Rigorous Calculus,” and a DVD course for the Teaching Company entitled “Mathematics, Philosophy, and the ‘Real World.’” She won the Southern California Section’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2002, and the MAA’s national Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Distinguished Teaching Award in 2003. |
It’s All for the Best: Optimization in the History of Science and Mathematics
Many problems, from optics to economics, can be solved mathematically by finding the highest, the quickest, the shortest – the best of something. This has been true from antiquity to the present. Why did people start looking for such explanations, and how did we come to conclude that we could productively do so? Scientific examples will include problems from ancient optics, and more modern questions in optics and classical mechanics, drawing on ideas from Newton’s and Leibniz’s calculus and from the Euler-Lagrange calculus of variations. A surprising role will also be played by philosophical and theological ideas, including those of Leibniz, Maupertuis, Maclaurin, and Adam Smith.Student Poster Session
Both undergraduate and graduate students are invited to present a poster at the Spring Section Meeting of the MAA.
Here are some ideas of what students can present:
- Results of masters thesis, honors, senior, or independent study projects
- Results of classroom projects or modeling contests
- Results of REUs or other summer research programs
- Historical investigations in pure or applied mathematics
- Solutions of problems from the Putnam Exam or from the Monthly or other journals
CV, Research and Teaching Statement
Review for Graduate Students
Are you a graduate student or postdoc applying for faculty positions or other jobs this year?
Bring hard copies of your CV, Research Statement and/or Teaching Statement to the Fall Section meeting for review by a group of local mathematicians. They will help you look for ways to improve your application, so it is more competitive on the job market. To participate, please leave your materials at the registration table before 9:30 am, and they will be reviewed and ready for pick up around 2:30pm. You may bring academic and industrial CVs, which highlight different relevant achievements. The reviewers will return an evaluation rubric and feedback on the content and the presentation of your materials.
We wish you good luck in your job hunt!