By Dan Nonte, University Relations
Chaos, mutants and dating. This is going to be a special Saturday at UNCG.
A dozen undergraduate students from around the state will present their research on these topics and others during a mathematics conference.
That’s right, math is sexy.
The conference, organized by Dr. Jan Rychtar and supported by a grant from the Mathematical Association of America, runs 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. in rooms 104 and 132 of the Bryan Building. Eight of the students attend UNCG; the others are from Davidson College, Meredith College and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Most of the presenters have applied advanced mathematics to everyday situations. Several will deal with specific applications of game theory, the modeling of how individuals or groups seek to maximize their returns. Thomas Schelling and Robert Aumann won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Economics for their work on game theory.
Among the presenters is UNCG student Christian Sykes, who has been awarded a $3,000 Trjitzinsky Scholarship by the American Mathematical Society. Sykes studies evolutionary game theory and intends to pursue graduate studies in pure mathematics.
The award was made possible by the Waldemar J. Trjitzinsky Memorial Fund. The mathematical society used a random drawing to select member universities, which in turn picked deserving students. Eight students nationwide received the award.
At Saturday’s conference, Dr. Richard Fabiano of UNCG will deliver the keynote lecture about an elastic structure known as a sandwich beam at 1:30 p.m. The students, each making a 15-minute presentation, are:
• Dan MacMartin, UNCG, mentored by Rychtar: “Bacterial Wars! A Matlab Simulation.” MacMartin used a data-manipulation software package to model the struggle between competing strains of bacteria. His work is supported by an undergraduate research assistantship.
• David Dumbrowski, UNCG, mentored by Dr. Scott Richter – “Strategically Singled Out.” Dumbrowski studied the decision-making strategy of contestants on the ’90s MTV program “Singled Out.”
• Joseph Krenicky, UNCG, mentored by Rychtar: “No Way Out: The Prisoner's Dilemma, an Introduction to Symmetric Normal Form Games.” Krenicky studied a specific branch of game theory, the method of explaining the interactions of competing agents.
• Gavin Taylor, Davidson College, mentored by Dr. Tim Chartier: “Imagemosaics: Painting with Pictures.”
• Martha Shott, Davidson College, mentored by Chartier: “Super Size Me: An Optimization Problem.”
• Brian Stadler, UNCG, mentored by Rychtar: “Evolutionary Dynamics on Graphs.” Stadler used graphs and evolutionary dynamics to explore how populations change over time.
• Christian Sykes, UNCG, mentored by Rychtar: “Stealing’s for the Birds: A Model of Kleptoparasitism.” Sykes applied game theory to the tendency of some birds, particularly seabirds, to steal food from each other. His work is supported by an undergraduate research assistantship.
• Kathryn Sikes, UNCG, mentored by Rychtar: “How Do I Get to Chaos from Here: Pitchfork Bifurcation and the Feigenbaum Route.” Sikes explored the use of mathematics to make sense of apparent chaos.
• Steven Piantadosi, UNC-Chapel Hill, mentored by Dr. Karl Petersen: “Symbolic Dynamics and the Free Group.”
• Heather Allmond, Meredith College, mentored by Dr. Virginia Knight: “On the Cyclic Cutwidth of Complete Tripartite and N-Partite Graphs.”
• Michael Shiver, UNCG, mentored by Dr. Paul Duvall: “Perfect Numbers.” Shiver studied the perfect number theories of Nicomachus of Gerasa, a mathematician born about 100 A.D.
• Samuel Grundman, UNCG, mentored by Dr. Jerry Vaughan: “Harnessing the Power of Computers to Aid in Evaluating Indeterminate Limits.” Grundman studied the use of computer algebra systems in evaluating nontrivial limits.
