August 23, 1996
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- NEW CHAIRMAN of the Department of Mathematics
- On July 21st, Philippe Tondeur was named as the new acting chairman of the department by Dean Delia of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
From the Chair:
We would like to welcome to Urbana-Champaign the following faculty members and visitors for the new academic year:
- NEW FACULTY
- Anand Pillay
, Swanlund Professor (327 Illini Hall), to arrive in Spring 1997.
- Professor Anand Pillay comes from the University of Notre-Dame. He is one of the first holders of a Swanlund Chair created this year at the UIUC. He has been described as one of the best logicians active today. He got his PhD degree from London University in 1978, and held positions as Royal Society Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Paris, CNRS Invited Researcher at the University of Paris, Lecturer at the University of Manchester, Visiting Assistant Professor at McGill University, Humboldt Foundation Fellow at Kiel University and at the University of Freiburg (Germany), and Van Vleck Visiting Professor at Wesleyan University, and at all ranks successively at the University of Notre-Dame.
- Susan Tolman, Assistant Professor, to arrive in Fall 1997.
- NEW VISITORS
- Eli Aljadeff,Visiting Professor (223 Coble Hall)
- Professor Aljadeff comes to us from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. His interests are in Brauer groups and Galois cohomology. He got his PhD degree from Tel-Aviv University in 1988. He has been a visitor at the University of Texas-Austin in 1988-89, and at the UIUC in 1989-90.
- Mihail Kolountzakis, Visiting Assistant Professor (222 Illini Hall)
- Professor Kolountzakis comes to the UIUC from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He got his PhD degree from Stanford University in 1994 under Paul Cohen. His interests are in Harmonic Analysis and its applications (Number Theory, PDE's, Probabilistic methods in Harmonic Analysis).
- Margit Messmer, Visiting Assistant Professor (222a Illini Hall)
- Professor Messmer comes from the Indiana University in South Bend, IN. She got her PhD degree from the University of Chicago in 1992, and has been visiting at the University of Freiburg (Germany) and at Wesleyan University (Connecticut). Her research interests are in model theory and algebra.
- John Sullivan, Visiting Assistant Professor (215 Altgeld Hall).
Professor Sullivan will be here for the fall semester. He is coming from the University of Minnesota, where he is an Assistant Professor. He got his PhD degree from Princeton University in 1990. From there he went to the University of Minnesota, where he was on a Geometry Computing Group Posdoctoral Fellowship from 1990-1993. Later he was an MSRI Postdoctoral Fellow in Berkely from 1993-1994. In 1995 he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. His interests are in the theory and computation of optimal geometries, which involves a combination of mathematical theory and numerical experiments.
- NEW VISITING SCHOLARS
- Robert Foote, Visiting Scholar (329 Illini Hall)
- Professor Robert Foote is on a sabbatical leave from his position
at Wabash College. His interests are in Differential Geometry and PDE's.
The following visiting scholars plan to stay for another year:
-
- Erik Boeckx, Belgian NSF Postdoctoral Fellow (227 Illini Hall)
- James Haglund, NSF Postdoctoral Fellow (225 Coble Hall)
- NEW GRADUATE STUDENTS
- There are 58 new students entering the department this fall. 26 are from the US and 32 are International students from 16 Countries.
- NEW COURSES
- MATH 118. Numeracy.
This course will now be taught using Quantitative Reasoning : Mathematics for citizens
in the 21st century, and material from newspapers, magazines, and other popular
sources.
- MATH 400. This year, class will meet on Mondays only during the entire academic year. The first meeting will be the introductory lecture by John W. Gray on Sept. 9, followed by two lectures on Sept. 16 and Sept. 23 by Stephanie Alexander on Geometry. MATH 400 SCHEDULE.
- MATH 416 Advanced Topics in Abstract Algebra: Galois Module Theory; Fermat's Last Theorem ; Category Theory
- MATH 428. Geometrical Computer Graphics.
- MATH 428. Geometry and Modern Physics.
- MATH 488. Computability and Complexity in Contemporary Mathematics (Schupp)
- MATH 491. Literature Seminar in Mathematics.
- CONGRATULATIONS
- The Department expresses its congratulations to Bruce Berndt, who in August 1996 shared with William Fulton the Leroy P. Steele Prize of the AMS for Exposition. The citation states:
To BRUCE C. BERNDT, Professor of Mathematics at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. for the four volume work, Ramanujan's Notebooks, Parts I,II,III and IV, published between 1985 and 1994 by Springer-Verlag. In recognition of Berndt's heroic and extraordinary achievement in exposing to the general mathematical researcher a trove of results that were utterly inaccessible before. In an impressive scholarly accomplishment spread out over 20 years, Berndt has provided a readable and complete account of the Notebooks, making them accessible to other mathematicians. Ramanujan's enigmatic, unproven formulas are now readily available, together with context and explication, often after
the most intense and clever research efforts on Berndt's part.
- Congratulations to Robert Bauer, who in May 1996 won a Sloan Dissertation Fellowship for the Academic Year 1996-97. His thesis project is on Probability and Stochastic Geometry.
Postdoctoral Positions Announcement.
New Three-Year Positions
- Computer System Manager(s).
- Two half-time positions have been filled by Carl Freeland and Bob Berry (look for them in 127 AH at the posted hours). They are full-time staff in the Departmental User Services program (trainees with back-up support from the Computing and Communications Services Office; this program is explained on the DUS CCSO web page). Carl and Bob are each available half-time for Math.
- Tuesday - Sept. 10, 1996.
4:00-5:00 - 314 Altgeld Hall
- MATHEMATICS IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY LECTURE. "Randomness and Pseudo-Randomness in Discrete Mathematics", Noga Alan, Baumritter Professor of Mathematics, Tel Aviv University.
- Wednesday - Sept. 11, 1996.
4:00-5:00 - 314 Altgeld Hall
- FACULTY FORUM. This new series will meet weekly, mostly on Wednesdays to discuss various issues of interest to the department in an open-ended format. Topics such as finances, course structure, university mandated changes in programs, etc. will be treated as they arise.
First meeting: "Welcome by the new Chair of the Department", Philippe Tondeur.
- Thursday - Sept. 19, 1996.
4:00 PM - 314 Altgeld Hall
- MATHEMATICS IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY "Energy Integral", Cathleen Morawetz, President of the AMS.
- 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM - Room A, Illini Union
- Math/AMS reception for Cathleen Morawetz.
- Friday - Sept 27, 1996.
11:30 - 12:30 - 143 MEB
- MATHEMATICS IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY "How I became a mathematician", Ingrid Daubechies
- 4:30 - 5:30 314 Altgeld Hall
- MATHEMATICS IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY "Surfing with Wavelets", Ingrid Daubechies
- 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM - 165 Everitt Lab
- Comprehensive exam in Algebra
- 9:00 AM-11:45 AM - 314 Altgeld Hall
- Orientation Program for new graduate students
- Outline of graduate studies.
- 1:00-4:00 - Place To Be Announced
- Orientation Program for new graduate students
- Practice teaching and advising for new graduate students
- 9:00 AM-11:40 AM - Place To Be Announced
- Orientation Program for new graduate students
- Practice teaching, copy machine introduction, Mathematics.
- 1:00 PM-4:00 PM - Place To Be Announced
- Orientation Program for new graduate students
- Practice teaching, copy machine introduction
- 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Place To Be Announced
- Orientation Program for new graduate students
- Sample exams, Q & A period, Faculty resource period
- 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM - Place To Be Announced
- Classroom graphics, visual media, library tour.
- 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM - 165 Everitt Lab
- Comprehensive exams in Geometry, Logic, Number Theory, etc.
NO MEETINGS TODAY.
- 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM - 241 Altgeld Hall
- International TA's Meeting
- 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM - 165 Everitt Lab
- Comprehensive exam in Analysis
- 2:00 PM - 1952A Orchard St. (John Murray's home)
- Party for Incoming Foreign Math Grad Students and their Families
- An informal gathering at which new foreign grad students can meet each other and discuss their transition to the United States. Spouses and children are especially welcome.
- 6:00 PM - 1st Floor of house at 411 W. Green St., Urbana
- Party for All Math Grad Students
- All grads please come out and welcome the new students! Chips, drinks, and buns will be provided. Barbeque grills will be set up so bring something to grill! If you want, bring a main course or dessert to share (optional)!
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