Math and Society Speaker Series
Macalester's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science is host to The Mathematics and Society Speaker Series, the purpose of which is to enhance classroom learning in mathematics or computer science through lectures by people prominent in these fields. These talks are free and open to the public. Neighbors of the College, students at local colleges, and high school students are especially encouraged to attend.
The series was established in January 2001 and is made possible through the generous financial support of Macalester alumnus Kurt Winkelmann ('78).
The past speakers are (by academic year):
| 2009-2010 |
Jeff Weeks, www.geometrygames.org |
The Shape of Space |
| 2008-2009 | Ann Watkins, California State University, Northridge | Fallacies in Elementary Statistics |
| 2007-2008 | Bart de Smit, Leiden University, The Netherlands | Escher's Print Gallery and the Land O'Lakes Effect |
| 2006-2007 | Peter Hamburger, Western Kentucky University | Symmetry in Mathematics, Science, and Art |
| 2005-2006 | Doris Schattschneider, Moravian College | Ingenious mathematical amateurs: M.C. Escher (artist) and Marjorie Rice (homemaker) |
| 2004-2005 | Helmer Aslaksen, National University of Sinapore | Heavenly Mathematics: The Mathematics of the Chinese, Indian and Islamic Calendars |
| 2003-2004 | Herb Wilf, University of Pennsylvania | Eigenvalues and (some of) their Uses |
| 2002-2003 | Gil Strang, MIT | Teaching and Using Linear Algebra |
| 2001-2002 | Tom Banchoff, Brown University | Liberal Arts Geometry in the Internet Age |
| 2000-2001 | George Andrews, Penn State | Fibonacci numbers, Ramanujan and Continued Fractions - or - Why I Took Zeckendorf's Theorem Along on my Last Trip to Canada |