Mathematics Seminar Series New York City College of Technology(CUNY) Time: Thursdays: 1-2pm Location: Namm 723 (Math Department) If you like to give a seminar or receive announcements please send an email to the organizers: Delaram Kahrobaei (dkahrobaei@citytech.cuny.edu) or Hans Schoutens (hschoutens@citytech.cuny.edu)
Schedule		FALL 2013
		Corina Calinescu	TBA
		Spring 2013
	2-21-2013	John Velling (Brooklyn College)	MathLynx: the Online Interactive Dynamically Driven Math Pedagogy Environment (Flyer)
		FALL 2012
	8-30-2012	Kenneth Andrew Parker	WeB WorK: Put Down Your Grading Pen. (Flyer)
		Spring 2012 2011
	5-2012	Ariane Masuda (NYCCT)	Permutation polynomials over finite fields (Flyer)
	2-2012	Barry Cherkas (Hunter Collge)	Mathematics, Patents, & Graphing Calculators: What is WebGraphing.com? (Flyer)
		FALL 2011
	9-8-2011	Dr. Jack Miller (CCNY)	Instructors Assess Every Step So Why Can't Software? (Flyer)
		Spring 2011
	3-10-2011	Dean Alfredo Posamentier (Mercy College)	Problem Solving Techniques Novel Ideas for Introducing Key Concepts in Mathematics (Flyer)
		FALL 2010
	9-16-2010	Boyan Kostadinov	Introduction to Discrete Time Option Pricing (Flyer)
	12-9-2010	Johanna Ellner	Open Forum on Teaching Topics remedial to Pre-calculus (Flyer)
		Spring 2010
	2-11-2010	Jonathan Natov	Teaching Applied Mathematics @ City Tech
	3-11-2010	Leo Chosid	Nutshell Statistics or Improving on the Last 25%
		Fall 2009
	9-17-2009	Samar ElHitti	Resolution of Singularities, Local Uniformization and Prime ideals of infinite value (Flyer)
		Spring 2009
	1-28-2009	Ezra Halleck and Satyanand Singh	Using Converge as a demonstration tool for Calculus I-III
	2-26-2009	Alex Rozenblyum	Quantum Groups and Some Types of Orthogonal Polynomials
	3-19-2009	Arthur Kramer	The Simplicity of Complex Numbers
	4-30-2009	Michael Munn	Volume growth and the topology of manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature
		Fall 2007
	8-30-2007	Schoutens, Hans	Ultra-products in algebra (Abstract)
	9-20-2007	Halleck, Ezra	Using Technology in a Sophomore Linear Algebra Course (Abstract)
10-4-2007	Ghezzi, Laura	Valuations in Algebraic Geometry (Abstract)
	11-8-2007	Katz, Neil	Advisement Workshop
	11-29-2007	Reitz, Jonas	Set Theory, Foundations, Independence and Forcing (Abstract)
		Spring 2008
	2-7-2008	Cengage Learning (Thompson Learning)	Homework Management Systems (Abstract)
	2-14-2008	Wiley on Wiley Plus	Homework Management Systems
	3-27-2008	Satyanand Singh	Using Technology in Calculus and Beyond(Abstract)
	4-10-2008	Andrew Douglas	An introduction to quiver representations(Abstract)
	5-22-2008	Victoria Gitman	Standard systems of non-standard models of Peano Arithmetic(Abstract)
		Fall 2008
Fall 2008	9-11-2008	Janet Liou-Mark	Understanding the Promotion and Tenure Process at City Tech
	9-18-2008	Zhao Chen	Efficient Displacement Structure Computations
	10-30-2008	Katz, Neil	Advisement Workshop
References	Hans Schoutens Book: The use of ultraproducts in Commutative Algebra (To be published in Springer) Ezra Halleck: Summary of Using Technology in a Sophomore Linear Algebra Course
Links	CUNY Math
	Address: Mathematics Department, New York City College of Technology (CUNY), 300 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA © 2007 (since August 2007)

Abstracts:

Samar ElHitti:

One of the most important problems in Algebraic Geometry is the problem of Resolution of Singularities. In the nineteen thirties, Oskar Zariski established a fundamental way of attacking this problem by introducing valuation theory into Algebraic Geometry. Since then, valuations have been important in addressing resolution problems. Valuations give us a way of reducing a global problem, such as resolution, to a local problem. The valuation theoretic analogue of resolution of singularities is Local Uniformization. Zariski proved Local Uniformization (in characteristic zero) in 1944. His proof gives a very detailed analysis of rank 1 valuations, and produces a resolution which reflects invariants of the valuation. In the process to generalize Local Uniformization, Mathematicians ran into certain formal ideals associated to the valuation, called prime ideals of infinite value; which have proved to be important and interesting. In rank 1 valuations, Cutkosky and Ghezzi make essential use of Perron transforms and Zariski’s resolution algorithm in studying such ideals. However, when the rank of the valuation is greater than 1, there is no natural way of defining ideals of infinite value. We were able to solve this problem by appropriately defining these ideals and by generalizing the techniques from the rank 1 case. In this talk, we will present a history of the problem and give the necessary definitions and examples that reflect the motivation and the depth for studying prime ideals of infinite value.

Michael Munn:

In 1994, G. Perelman showed that if the volume growth of a complete, open Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature was sufficiently close to that of Euclidean space then the manifold is contractible. We use Perelman's techniques to produce explicit bounds on the volume growth which guarantee individual homotopy groups are trivial (allowing for nontrivial higher homotopy). These bounds depend only on the dimension of the manifold the level of homotopy.

In this talk, I will give a brief description of Ricci curvature describe how a lower bound on volume growth affects the topology of manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. If time permits, I will show how these results can be extended to pointed metric measure limit spaces of a sequence of manifolds whose Ricci curvature is nonnegative.

Alex Rozenblyum:

Quantum groups were first introduced independently by Drinfeld and Jimbo around 1985 in the study of statistical mechanical models and have since appeared in many areas of mathematics and physics, such as representation theory, the theory of knots, noncommutative geometry. The representations of a number of quantum groups relate to various types of q-special functions, in particular to orthogonal polynomials of discrete variables.

The talk will consist of two parts. The first part is a brief introduction and motivation of quantum groups as one-parameter deformations of classical Lie groups. The second part is some results of the speaker on discrete orthogonal polynomials related to representations of quantum groups and .

Arthur Kramer:

I will present a brief history of complex numbers and then show how they beautifully simplify the calculations for ac circuits which makes them analgous to the calculations for dc circuits. The man principally responsible for their application is the "Wizard of Schenectady" George Steinmetz, whose interesting life I will discuss briefly. The main purpose is to show our faculty, who may not be aware, of the very practical application of complex numbers that many of our technical students need to understand.

Ezra Halleck and Satyanand Singh:

While not as flexible or open-ended as Maple, MATLAB or Mathematica, Converge is a software program that can be used for demonstration purposes as well as student laboratories. It has the advantage of a much smaller learning curve. Many “canned” examples exist which take little skill to use. As familiarity develops, the instructor can learn to do more custom demonstrations.

We will demonstrate the basics to its use as well as provide a tour of how we have or plan to use it in our classes. Satyanand will begin with more advanced demonstrations mainly for use in Calc II and III. Ezra will present demonstrations for use in Calc I. The snapshot of the demonstration below of the MVT takes about 5 seconds to bring up. Once completed, the software prompts for modifications of the canned example or for a completely new one.

Converge has been installed on all demonstration computers in the North wing of the 7^th floor of Namm and is available for installation on faculty computers. We do not have a big enough license for students.

Janet Liou-Mark:

To demystify the promotion and tenure process at City Tech, this session will assist faculty members in preparing a strong dossier that highlights teaching, service and scholarship.  A variety of strategies will be illustrated, as well as resources that faculty can draw upon as they develop their portfolios. Issues such as mentoring, file preparation tips, writing promotion guidelines will also be discussed. 

Zhao Chen:

The computations are extremely important in computer science, applied mathematics and engineering. New techniques are always needed to develop to improve efficiency of algorithms. Many active researchers have successfully exploited the displacement structure in a fast computation. The displacement structure has been implemented in the efficient computations of many structured matrices such as Toepletz-like, Cauchy-like, Henkle-like matrices in the algebra of matrices. A variety of applications includes conformal mapping, tangential Nevanlinna-Pick interpolation, convolution, solution of integral equations, rational interpolation, Fast Fourier Transform, Fast Cosine/Sine transform, linear processing, oil exploration, polynomial interpolation, polynomial evaluation, signal and image processing. During our presentation, we will explain the ring isomorphism of the displacement structure and the efficient computations.