AMUSE
Welcome to the home page of the
Applied Mathematics Undergraduate SEminar (AMUSE)
"When am I ever going to use this?"
The purpose of this seminar is to introduce undergraduates to
applications of mathematics: finance, engineering, biology, physics.
It is attended by undergraduates at all levels, as well as
occasional graduate students and faculty.
Talks by faculty, graduate students, and professionals are
generally in the ballpark of 45-55 minutes long, which leaves plenty
of time for questions. The first 15-20 minutes of a talk should be
accessible to freshmen students in their first year of calculus. If
the entire talk can be made accessible to freshmen, that is much
appreciated. We can also split the hour so that two people can
speak.
AMUSE is also happy to host undergraduate student talks that are
accessible to this audience. These talks are often the highlight of
the semester, and we hope they encourage more undergraduates to get
involved with research! Generally we schedule several students to
speak in one evening, so each one only needs to speak for 10-15
minutes.
If you would like to speak, or have suggestions for a speaker that
would give an engaging talk to an undergraduate audience, please
email Peter Jantsch, pjantsch "at" math.tamu.edu.
If you would like to involve undergraduates in your research
program, we'd love to have you introduce them to your topic via this
seminar.
|
Date Time |
Location | Speaker |
Title – click for abstract |
|
02/01 6:00pm |
BLOC 306 |
Dr. Reza Ovissipour Texas A&M University |
Mathematics for the Agri-food Systems
Mathematics for Agri-food Systems is the strategic application of mathematical principles and techniques to address challenges and optimize diverse facets within agriculture and the food supply chain. This discipline plays a pivotal role in elevating efficiency, productivity, and sustainability throughout agri-food systems. Its application spans various critical domains, encompassing statistical analysis, precision agriculture, modeling, optimization, traceability, blockchain, crop and livestock management, food safety risks, big data management, genetics, and decision support systems. The integration of mathematics into different facets of agri-food systems facilitates precise statistical analysis, enabling evidence-based decision-making. This interdisciplinary approach to mathematics in agri-food systems will be thoroughly explored during the seminar with an emphasis on its significance in
food safety, big data management, precision agriculture, optimization, bioreactor scaling up, kinetics of changes, and the implementation of blockchain for traceability. The seminar will discuss how mathematical methodologies contribute to the advancement and sustainability of agri-food systems. |
|
02/15 6:00pm |
BLOC 306 |
Dr. Peter Kuchment Texas A&M University |
Wonderful Wizardry of Tomography. Mathematics of seeing inside a non-transparent body. |
|
02/29 6:00pm |
BLOC 306 |
Dr. Prabir Daripa Texas A&M University |
Introduction to modeling of population dynamics
We will introduce some models, continuous and discrete, for population dynamics. Then we will study these at a very elementary level and discuss pros and cons of these models. We will show why mathematical understanding of these models are important before their use for estimating future population. There will be several takeaways from this talk including the emergence of chaos lurking in very simple models. The hallmark of this is that when "present" determines the future but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future". This is in essence "Chaos" (In Wikipedia, you find this as one of the definitions of "Chaos" within "Chaos Theory") as opposed to classical stability theory in which when the present determines the future and the approximate present does determine the future but may be a drastically different one. The content of the talk will be kept very simple so that it is accessible to even first year undergraduate students. |
|
03/21 6:00pm |
BLOC 306 |
Dr. Alexandru Hening Texas A&M University, Mathematics |
Can environmental fluctuations save species from extinction?
In order to have a realistic mathematical model for the dynamics of interacting species in an ecosystem it is important to include the effects of random environmental fluctuations. Many have thought that environmental fluctuations are detrimental to the coexistence of species. However, this is not always the case. I will present to you some interesting examples where environmental fluctuations lead to highly counterintuitive results. |
|
04/04 6:00pm |
BLOC 306 |
Dr. Guy Battle Texas A&M University, Mathematics |
Nano-Electric Crystal Ball Calculation as a Problem in Number Theory
Consider nano-crystals based on an arbitrary salt compound (with no regard for whether the technology for creating a chosen shape even exists). We pursue the problem of calculating the net electric charge due to a difference between the number of alkali ions and the number of halogen ions. If the crystal has an I^infinity shape of arbitrary size, then the net charge is essentially zero - i.e., zero plus or minus the fundamental unit of charge. In the case where the crystal has an I^1 shape, we derive an expression for the net charge that has the same order of magnitude as the area of the surface for an arbitrarily large size. In the case where the crystal has an I^2 shape, the problem of calculating the net charge for an arbitrary radius seems to be open. We discuss a couple of partial results. |
|
04/18 6:00pm |
BLOC 306 |
Dr. William Rundell Texas A&M University, Mathematics |
Eigenvalues; matrices and into differential equations: Can you hear the density of a vibrating string or the shape of a drum?
In an undergraduate curriculum one sees eigenvalues in linear algebra and in the basic o.d.e. class one writes systems of equations, converts to a matrix question, and interprets the eigenvalues as pointers to the system's behaviour. We will go over this briefly enough to see the pattern of: "have problem, find eigenvalues, interpret behaviour." But it is a more interesting question to turn this around: "I have a differential equation or a system of such and its eigenvalues are known; what can you say about the system?" This is a partial explanation for the cryptic title. The purpose of the talk is to fill in some of the reasoning (and of course answer the questions in the title). |