VIGRE

GSSs: Graduate Student Seminars

ALPs

The organizers of graduate student seminars (GSSs) are given a teaching reduction of ½ of their teaching load during the period of the seminar or as soon after that as is possible. This reduction in teaching, and the educational experience of the seminar itself, contribute to their progressing more quickly in their degree program. Below are brief summaries of the GSSs held to date with specific themes.

Summer 2001

1. Natella O’Bryant organized an interdisciplinary graduate student seminar on stochastic processes, specifically on the asymptotic properties of Markov processes. The seminar met over an 8-week period using the text by Ethier and Kurtz as a guideline for the discussions. Prof. Richard Sowers was the faculty supervisor of this seminar.
2. Kevin O’Bryant organized a project-oriented graduate student seminar in which the participants give short presentations about problems of current interest. The theme of this seminar was combinatorics, number theory, and combinatorial number theory. The faculty supervisor for this seminar was Prof. Ken Stolarsky. For detailed information about this seminar, see  the Combinatorics and Number Theory homepage.
3. Diana White organized a graduate student seminar focused on problem solving in abstract algebra as a method of reviewing for one of the departmental comprehensive examinations. Five students presented material over a period of ten weeks. The faculty supervisor was Prof. Joe Rotman. Prof. Phil Griffith also provided problems and consultation on solutions of the problems.
4. Joshua Mullet and David Murphy ran a graduate student seminar that centered on algebraic geometry. Various student spoke on topic with the group meeting twice a week. For outlines of these talks, see the algebraic geometry seminar homepage. Iwan Duursma was the faculty supervisor of this series of seminars.

Spring 2002

1. Joe Mileti organized a Graduate Student Seminar in Spring 2002 on "Random Graphs and Logical Limits Laws" that focused on two texts for its theme. These texts deal with random graphs, number theoretic density, and logical limits laws. The texts are The Strange Logic of Random Graphs by Joel Spencer and Number-Theoretic Density and Logical Limit Laws by Stanley Burris. Over a half of a dozen graduate students were actively engaged in this seminar. They are Joe Mileti, Kevin O'Bryant, Hemanshu Kaul, Michael Pelmajer, Thomas Rohwer, Javier Moreno, John Maki, Jennifer Paulhus, and Dominika Polkowska. Doug West was the faculty supervisor of this seminar series.
2. Naeem Sheikh organized a Graduate Student Seminar in Spring 2002 on "Generating Functions." The goal of this seminar was to provide insight into the techniques and applications of generating functions for combinatorics students. Graduate students who participated were Daniel Cranston, Daniel Good, Jeong-Ok Choi, Burak Stodolsky, Seog-Jin Kim, Yi-Wei Teo, Xiangyu Tang (Electrical Engineering), Hemanshu Kaul, and Kevin O'Bryant. Douglas West was the faculty supervisor.
3. Diana White organized a Graduate Student Seminar in Spring 2002 that focused on problem solving in algebra with a view toward preparing for the comprehensive examination in algebra. Participants in this GSS included Barry Walker, Bart Snapp, Chetan Pahlajani, Simon Heller, Javier Moreno, John Maki, Gosia Konwerska, Rehka Santhanam, Ricardo Rojas, Tarik Tiar, Timothy Huber, and Valerie Peterson. On average the group met for two hours per week over the term, with the first hour focusing on the first course level, and the second hour focusing on the second course level. Sean Sather-Wagstaff (VIGRE Assistant Professor) was the faculty supervisor for this activity

1. Diana White organized a Graduate Student Seminar in summer 2002 that focused on reading the article by C. Peskine and L. Szpiro, Dimension projective nie et cohomologie locale. The group of graduate students met bi-weekly. The average number of participants was 4, with Jinjia Li, Diana White (graduate students) and Sean Sather-Wagstaff (faculty) presenting.
2. Heekyoung Hahn organized a Graduate Student Seminar in Summer 2002 on number theory. The weekly meetings of this seminar involved graduate students and some faculty members, including the faculty advisor Bruce Berndt. The primary purpose of the seminar was for students to talk about their own research. In addition visiting scholars presented invited talks.
3. In Fall 2002 Jinjia Li organized a GSS in commutative algebra that continued the one organized by Diana White in summer 2002. This GSS again focused on the article by C. Peskine and L. Szpiro, Dimension projective nie et cohomologie locale. Regular participants included Jinjia Li, Diana White, and Sean Sather-Wagstaff.
4. David Murphy conducted a GSS on algebraic groups in Fall 2002 under the guidance of Prof. Bill Haboush. This GSS used a series of talks by graduate students as a method of introducing the topics of most interest in the theory of algebraic groups. For further information, see http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~dcmurphy/seminars/groups.html.
5. Jonathan Cox organized a GSS in algebraic geometry in both Fall 2002 and Spring 2003. The ongoing interaction focused on a series of talks about topics of general interest in algebraic geometry. Various sources in the literature were also used. For further information, see http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~jacox/ag.html.
6. In Spring 2003, Diana White conducted a GSS as a forum for preparation for the algebra comprehensive examinations. The seminar met weekly for 2 hours. Michael Bush, Joe Mileti, and Diana White took turns leading the sessions. The group focused on problems and results from Math 401 and Math 402 that were likely to appear on comps.
   

1. Joe Mileti organized a GSS on Large Cardinals in Summer 2003. More information about this GSS is on the web at www.math.uiuc.edu/~mileti/LargeCardinals/. Regular participants included Joe Mileti, Javier Moreno, Dominika Polkowska, and Hernando Tellez.
2. Jennifer Paulhus organized a GSS on Algebraic Number Theory. The GSS covered selected sections of Serre's Local Fields and Washington's Introduction to Cyclotomic Fields. Participants included Tim Kilbourn, Jen Paulhus, Micah James, John Jossey, James Atkinson, Eric Landquist, Stephanie Treneer, Ayhan Gunaydin, Barry Walker, Michael Bush, Maosheng Xiong, Jason Sneed, and Leon McCulloh. More information about this GSS is on the web at http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~paulhus/summer.html.
3. Diana White organized a GSS on Varieties and Schemes in summer 2003. Working with the text Algebraic Geometry by Hartshorne, this seminar met twice per week for lectures of approximately 90 minutes each, as well as once per week for an informal problem solving session over coffee. Regular participants included graduate students Shivi Bansal, Samuel Kadziela, Kevin Jones, Quinquan Wu, and Diana White; and faculty member Sean Sather-Wagstaff. Diana White then continued this activity in Fall 2003 and Spring 2004 in organizing a GSS on Commutative Algebra and Algebraic Geometry.
4. Jonathan Cox organized a GSS with Sheldon Katz as the faculty supervisor. The topic for this activity in fall 2003 was Gromov-Witten invariants and related topics. See www.math.uiuc.edu/~jacox/pastf03.html for further information about talks and participants. This group then went on to work together in spring 2004 on a GSS in mirror symmetry. See www.math.uiuc.edu/~jacox/past.html for information about this subsequent semester's activity.
5. Katarina Jegdic led a GSS in analysis in Fall 2003 and Spring 2004. A variety of talks and topics were investigated in detail with wide participation. See their webpage for more information: Fall 2003 www.math.uiuc.edu/~kjegdic/analysis_fall03.html; Spring 2004 www.math.uiuc.edu/~kjegdic/analysis_spring04.html
6. John Jossey organized a GSS on Algebraic Number Theory: Class Field Theory, with the faculty supervision of Steve Ullom and Leon McCulloh in Fall 2003. The group followed the text by Cassels and Frohlich, "Algebraic Number Theory." The graduate student participants were Barry Walker, Nadya Markin, Jennifer Paulhus, Micah James, Michael Bush, Timothy Kilbourn, Bin Wang, Florin Stan, and the organizer.
7. Bogdan Petrenko (Scott Ahlgren, faculty supervisor) led a GSS in Quantum Calculus during Fall 2003. The group met weekly and worked together to cover the text "Quantum Calculus" by V. Kac and P. Cheung. The main participants were Bogdan Petrenko, O. Chan, Jong Yun Hahn, Chadwick Gugg, D. Robinson, and Stephanie Treneer.
8. The Women in Mathematics at UIUC GSS seminar has run over the last couple of years. This year (Fall 2003 and Spring 2004), taking over from Stephanie Treneer and Jennifer Paulhus, a group of three students organized this ongoing forum for mathematical talks. This year's organizing committee consisted of Jeong Ok Choi, Katarina Jegdic, and Valerie Peterson. Rinat Kedem was the faculty advisor. This seminar activity occurred usually every two weeks. See their webpage for more information at www.math.uiuc.edu/~kjegdic/w.seminar.html.