Distinguished Science Award honoree, alumni presentation and panel discussion
04-05-2023
Luca Capogna earned his PhD in Mathematics in 1996 and is returning to campus to accept a 2023 Distinguished Science Award from the College of Science. While at Purdue, he enjoyed learning mathematics amid a lively community of fellow students and faculty. In that same spirit of a community of scholars, he is delivering a research presentation on April 13 and participating in a panel discussion on April 14. Please join these events as you are able.
Luca Capogna is a profesor of Mathematics, and department chair, at Smith College, in Northampton, MA. Before joining Smith, he held positions at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications and at the University of Arkansas. Luca's research is at the intersection of Partial Differential Equations, Analysis and Machine Learning. For his work in research and education he was awarded a National Science Foundation Early Career Award. His research and outreach activities have been supported by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Education and by the Simons Foundation. Luca is also passionate about his service to the scientific community and to K12 outreach including numerous professional development workshops aimed at underrepresented groups in the Mathematical Sciences.
THURSDAY, APRIL 13
3:30 pm, BRNG B222
Joint Mathematics Colloquium and Partial Differential Equations Seminar
Tea and cookies at 3pm in Math Library before the seminar
Title: Parallel Parking, Unicycles, and Visual Illusions: PDE and Geometry in Sub-Riemannian manifolds and beyond
Abstract: In this talk we will describe some mathematical models for various phenomena (parallel parking, motion of robot arms, unicycles, visual illusions, ...) that can be expressed in terms of certain non-Euclidean geometries structures called sub-Riemannian geometries. In each model there are natural ordinary differential equations (ODE) and partial differential equations (PDE) that arise in connection with optimization problems. We will describe how the properties of solutions of these equations are affected by the geometry of the ambient space. I will focus on problems I have personally worked on, since my time as a graduate student at Purdue, and hint at possible future directions. The talk is accessible to advanced undergraduate and to graduate students.
FRIDAY, APRIL 14
1:00 pm, BRNG B222
Panel Discussion: Careers, from Academics to Industry
Refreshments available
Four mathematics alumni share their career experiences and share tips to prepare for careers in academics and industry. This informal event will include ample time for Q&A, so bring your questions!
Co-organized by Mimi Boutin and Aaron Yip, with support from the Department of Mathematics and the Center for Computational and Applied Mathematics (CCAM).
Panelists:
Luca Capogna, Purdue PhD in Mathematics,1996, Professor and Chair of Department of Mathematics, Smith College (see above)
Kindyl King, Purdue PhD candidate in Mathematics, Vice President of AWM Purdue Chapter
Kindyl earned her B.S. in Mathematics from Austin Peay State University in 2018.
While at Purdue, she worked with her advisor Dr. Mireille Boutin in developing and teaching thepilot courses of The Data Science Labs - a new sequence of undergraduate labs teaching data science using electronic hardware and sensors. Following the completion of her Ph.D. in May 2023, Kindyl will join John Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group as a Data Scientist.
Emma Reid, Purdue PhD in Mathematics, 2021, R&D Associate Staff Member, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Emma completed her PhD in Applied Mathematics at Purdue University in August of 2021.
Her PhD research consisted of developing flexible super resolution techniques that incorporate data fusion across image domains. She has been a staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory since graduation. Her research interests include computational imaging, data fusion, and explainability of neural networks.
Drew Swartz, Purdue PhD in Mathematics, 2015, Vice President, Research and Development at Circana (formerly IRI)
Drew Swartz leads a team of statisticians and software engineers developing new applications and products for the company.
His team's work runs the full spectrum, from early-stage research into new mathematical models, to development of production code for applying these models at scale. Drew received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Purdue in 2015, where his thesis work focused on partial differential equations under the supervision of Prof. Aaron Yip.