Seminars and Colloquia by Series

Joint ACO/OR Seminar - Semi-algebraic optimization theory

Series
Other Talks
Time
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 - 11:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
ISyE Executive Classroom
Speaker
Adrian Lewis – School of Operations Research and Information, Cornell University
Concrete optimization problems, while often nonsmooth, are not pathologically so. The class of "semi-algebraic" sets and functions - those arising from polynomial inequalities - nicely exemplifies nonsmoothness in practice. Semi-algebraic sets (and their generalizations) are common, easy to recognize, and richly structured, supporting powerful variational properties. In particular I will discuss a generic property of such sets - partial smoothness - and its relationship with a proximal algorithm for nonsmooth composite minimization, a versatile model for practical optimization.

Comparison Methods and Eigenvalue Problems in Cones

Series
Other Talks
Time
Monday, April 5, 2010 - 15:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 255
Speaker
Guy Degla – Institute of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Benin
The purpose of this talk is to highlight some versions of the Krein-Rutman theorem which have been widely and deeply applied in many fields (e.g., Mathematical Analysis, Geometric Analysis, Physical Sciences, Transport theory and Information Sciences). These versions are motivated by optimization theory, perturbation theory, bifurcation theory, etc. and give rise to some simple but useful comparison methods, in ordered Banach spaces, such as the Dodds-Fremlin theorem and the De Pagter theorem.

Joint DOS/ACO Seminar - The reflex algorithm - Convex optimization by random reflection

Series
Other Talks
Time
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - 13:30 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
ISyE Executive Classroom
Speaker
Merrick Furst – College of Computing, Georgia Tech
Santosh Vempala and I have been exploring an intriguing new approach to convex optimization. Intuition about first-order interior point methods tells us that a main impediment to quickly finding an inside track to optimal is that a convex body's boundary can get in one's way in so many directions from so many places. If the surface of a convex body is made to be perfectly reflecting then from every interior vantage point it essentially disappears. Wondering about what this might mean for designing a new type of first-order interior point method, a preliminary analysis offers a surprising and suggestive result. Scale a convex body a sufficient amount in the direction of optimization. Mirror its surface and look directly upwards from anywhere. Then, in the distance, you will see a point that is as close as desired to optimal. We wouldn't recommend a direct implementation, since it doesn't work in practice. However, by trial and error we have developed a new algorithm for convex optimization, which we are calling Reflex. Reflex alternates greedy random reflecting steps, that can get stuck in narrow reflecting corridors, with simply-biased random reflecting steps that escape. We have early experimental experience using a first implementation of Reflex, implemented in Matlab, solving LP's (can be faster than Matlab's linprog), SDP's (dense with several thousand variables), quadratic cone problems, and some standard NETLIB problems.

PI DAY!!

Series
Other Talks
Time
Sunday, March 14, 2010 - 13:59 for 3 hours
Location
Skiles Courtyard
Speaker
N/A – GT
Come celebrate pi day with math club! Pot-luck, so bring food! Math club will be providing the pies, so we ask that everyone else try to bring more substantial food. ;)Bring any games and such you want as well.

Mathmagics with Dr. Baker

Series
Other Talks
Time
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - 16:30 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 269
Speaker
Matt Baker – Georgia Tech
Join math club for Dr. Baker's mathematical magic show.

Preparing Teachers for the New Generation of K-16 Students - Letting Go of the Reliance upon the Traditional Statistics Introductory Course

Series
Other Talks
Time
Monday, March 8, 2010 - 11:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Room 129, Global Learning Center (behind the GA Tech Hotel)
Speaker
Christine Franklin – University of Georgia

Please Note: For more information, see the flyer.

Statistics is now a part of the K-12 curriculum (including elementary school) and there is much activity in the area of statistics education. This colloquium is intended for any and all faculty, staff, and students, who are interested in, have taught, or have children in k-12 schools.

Mathemagics - the art of mental calculation

Series
Other Talks
Time
Saturday, March 6, 2010 - 19:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Instructional Center Room 103
Speaker
Art Benjamin – Harvey Mudd College
The speaker has combined his two loves to create a dynamic presentation called "Mathemagics," suitable for all audiences, where he demonstrates and explains his secrets for performing rapid mental calculations faster than a calculator. Reader's Digest calls him "America's Best Math Whiz". He has presented his high energy talk for thousands of groups throughout the world. This event is free but reservations are required. The signup form will be available before 5pm on February 25. See details about the speaker.

Southeast SIAM Student Conference

Series
Other Talks
Time
Saturday, March 6, 2010 - 09:00 for 8 hours (full day)
Location
Skiles 269
Speaker
SIAM Student Conference – School of Mathematics, Georgia Tech
The SIAM Student Chapter at Georgia Tech will be hosting this conference. It is an extension of the ACES Workshop which has been held yearly by the universities of Auburn, Clemson, Emory, and South Carolina since 2006. As with the ACES Workshop, this conference is an opportunity for graduate students to present their research in applied mathematics and related fields as well as to meet with other graduate students from different universities and departments. See the conference site for more details.

How to Partition a Mixed Phase Space - with Applications to Atomic Physics

Series
Other Talks
Time
Monday, March 1, 2010 - 15:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Howey N110
Speaker
Kevin Mitchell – University of California, Merced
Hamiltonian systems typically exhibit a mixture of chaos and regularity, complicating any scheme to partition phase space and extract a symbolic description of the dynamics. In particular, the dynamics in the vicinity of stable islands can exhibit extremely complicated topology. We present an approach to extracting symbolic dynamics in such systems using networks of nested heteroclinic tangles-- fundamental geometric objects that organize phase space transport. These tangles can be used to progressively approximate the behavior in the vicinity of stable island chains. The net result is a symbolic approximation to the dynamics, and an associated phase-space partition, that includes the influence of stable islands. The utility of this approach is illustrated by examining two applications in atomic physics -- the chaotic escape of ultracold atoms from an atomic trap and the chaotic ionization of atoms in external fields.

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