Dick Forrester, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Dickinson College and Laura Kilko, Associate Director of Dickinson College Career Center will present our Math/CS Chat on Tuesday, November 1st at Noon in Tome 115.  Their presentation is titled "Where Do I Go From Here".  In this chat they will discuss a wide variety of careers and opportunities for students majoring in mathematics and computer science.  In addition, they will talk about graduate school options, internships, and REUs (Research Experience for Undergraduates).  Specific information about our recent graduates will be provided.  Everyone welcome - free pizza!

Congratulations to the team of Katherine Veil, Seth Tracy and Ilya Kamens!  They competed in the IEEE Xtreme 24-Hour Programming Competition at PSU Harrisburg this weekend & placed 3rd in the region and 154th internationally!  Great job!!

Dr. Matthew Taylor, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Lafayette College, will present "Help and Agent Out: Learning From the Environment and  Humans" on Tuesday, October 25th at Noon in Tome 115.  Free pizza!

Abstract: Significant advances have been made in autonomous learning, from game playing to training a robot to walk to autonomous helicopter flight.  However, we have little understanding about how to best teach such agents.  This talk will first present background on reinforcement learning, a paradigm where virtual and robotic agents can autonomously learn to act in complex environments.  We will then discuss a selection of recent work towards integrating autonomous learning with advice from other agents or even humans.

Professor Michael Holden will be the next Rush Hour speaker on Thursday, October 20th from Noon -1pm in the Rector Stafford Lecture Room.  His talk is "Fear & Loathing on the Energy Front: A Savage Journey to the Heart of America's Quest for Cheap & Plentiful Energy".  Free pizza!

Abstract: An outsider looks at the conversion to sustainable energy sources from a relatively objective viewpoint.

Congratulations Professor Tim Wahls!  He recently had a paper accepted for the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Software verification and Testing Track. The title is: "Translating B Machines to JML Specifications", and the conference will be held in Riva del Garda, Italy in March 2012.  The paper is coauthored with Danni Yu ('11), Nestor Catano and Victor Rivera of the University of Madeira (Portugal), and Camilo Rueda of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Columbia).

All Math & CS Majors & Faculty - please join us for a BBQ on Thursday, October 13th from 12-1:30 pm in the Rector Courtyard (Rain Location - Rector Atrium).  The professors will be grilling hotdogs, hamburgers and veggie burgers as well as provide side dishes & desserts. Come out & join in the fun!

Dr. Alice Armstrong, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Shippensburg University, will present "Learning & the Search for Strong Al" on Tuesday, October 11th at Noon in the Rector Science Complex Stafford Lecture Room.  Free pizza!

Abstract: Strong Al is a term used to mean an artificial intelligence that is on par with or exceeds human intelligence. In this talk, she will define and discuss some of the challenges that face us in the search for strong Al.  She will also propose an approach to the problem called Collective Learning Systems and demonstrate some of the success achieved using this approach.

 

The 72nd Annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition will be held on Saturday, December 3rd in Tome 232 from 10am-1pm and 3-6pm.    If you are interested in taking this very challenging mathematics exam and see how you compare to the best mathematics student in the US and Canada, email Tonya Miller (millert@dickinson.ed) by the end of the day on Thursday, October 6th to sign up.  The exam is free but you MUST PRE-REGISTER.  If you would like more information, see the brochure outside Professor Richeson's office (Tome 237) or visit http://math.scu.edu/putnam/.

 

The next Math/CS Chat will be held on Thursday, October 6th at Noon in Tome 115.  Gary Haggard, Professor of Computer Science at Bucknell University, will present "Chromatic Polynomials Blending Mathematics & Computer Science".  Free pizza!

Abstract: Coloring graphs has intrigued mathematicians since the 4-Color Conjecture was first posed.  One major attempt to confirm this conjecture in the 20th century involved a new mathematical structure called a chromatic polynomial.  Althought this structure did not yield a solution, it has taken on a life of its own as an important way to study graph coloring.

The use of mathematics and computer science blend together in the study of chromatic polynomials.  The mathematics give us insight into the nature of these polynomials.  The mathematics gives us insight into the nature of these polynomials.and computer science gives us a way to explore nontrivial examples not amenable to hand calculation.

Some of the open questions about these polynomials will be explored including when a polynomial is a chromatic polynomial and when is a chromatic polynomial the chromatic polynomial of exactly one graph.

The currently fastest algorithm for computer chromatic polynomials will be explained.  A theorem suggested by the results of a computation will be shown.