News and events

  • Online Seminar Series on Programming in Mathematics Education

    Prof. Chantal Buteau is co-hosting, with Prof George Gadanidis (Western University), an international online seminar series on Programming in Mathematics Education starting June 19 until August 28, 2020. See the attached poster program.

    Registration is free: http://mkn-rcm.ca/online-seminar-series-on-programming-in-mathematics-education/.

    At the first seminar held on June 19, 166 registrations from 24 countries had been received  (registrations continue to arrive as the series continues). This seminar aims at the following demographics: half academics, a quarter graduate and undergraduate students, and a quarter elementary and secondary school teachers and leaders.

    The series is funded in part by the Mathematics Knowledge Network (MKN), hosted a the Fields Institute and financed by the Ontario Ministry of Education, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (S.S.H.R.C).

    All seminars are recorded and available on the MKN website (URL from above).

    For inquiry, please contact Prof Buteau at cbuteau [AT] brocku.ca

  • Congratulations to Simon and Benjamin Earp-Lynch

    Our Masters students Benjamin and Simon Earp-Lynch have been awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal Award at Brock’s Virtual Spring Convocation. They jointly achieved the highest academic average for a graduate student in their program. For more details, please see this story in the Brock News.

    Congratulations Simon and Benjamin! We wish you to continue your success at Carleton University.

  • Dr. Molino Colloquium Talk Fri March 13 4:00 PM MCJ 430

    The Department of Mathematics and Statistics would like to invite anyone interested, including graduate students, to a Colloquium Talk by Dr. Michelle Molino on Friday March 13, 2020 from 4:00 to 5:00 PM. The talk will take place in Mackenzie Chown J-block 430 and is entitled An introduction to Algebraic Geometry. Undergraduate students are encouraged to attend.

    Abstract:
    What is Algebraic Geometry, and why should we study it? In this first seminar, we will introduce the main concepts of Algebraic Geometry at an undergraduate level. We will define the objects of study in this subject, such as the systems of algebraic equations and their sets of solutions, and study the geometry of conics as motivation for the projective plane.

  • Dr. Nanayakkara Colloquium Talk Wed March 4 2:00 PM TH 253

    The Department of Mathematics and Statistics would like to invite anyone interested, including graduate students, to a Colloquium Talk by Dr. Basil Nanayakkara on Wednesday March 4, 2020 from 2:00 to 3:00 PM. The talk will take place in Thistle 253 and is entitled Galois Descent and Hilbert’s theorem 90. Graduate students are encouraged to attend.

    Abstract:
    After discussing Galois Descent and nonabelian group cohomology, we’ll state a major theorem in Galois Descent without proof. (This theorem will be proven in a future talk, if there is sufficient interest.) Hilbert’s Theorem 90 will be deduced from the said theorem.

  • Congratulations to Matthew Babela

    The Department of Mathematics and Statistics would like to extend its well wishes to one of our former M.Sc. Mathematics students, Matthew Babela.  Matthew will be starting as an Instructional Support Coordinator at the University of Waterloo. Congratulations Matthew! We appreciate all the work you have done for the Department as a student as well as a part-time instructor. We wish you all the best!

  • Congratulations to Basil Nanayakkara and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics

    On Monday, January 27th 2020, the Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Science invited members to the 6th Annual Celebration of Excellence. One of our members of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Basil Nanayakkara, was recognized by the students of the Faculty of Mathematics and Science Council for the Teaching & Student Engagement Award. Basil received this award due to his excellence in teaching and his commitment to helping his students understand challenging material. This is the second time he has been the recipient of this award. In 2014, with a completely different set of undergraduate students, he had also been their choice. Congratulations Basil!

    The Department of Mathematics and Statistics was honoured by the Dean for achieving the highest financial surplus in the Faculty with the Highest Departmental Surplus Award. The Chair of Mathematics and Statistics, Dr. Thomas Wolf, wishes to thank the Dean for recognizing us and all members of the Department for their contribution.

  • Colloquium Talk Dr. Michelle Molino: An introduction to Symmetric Determinantal Varieties

    The Department of Mathematics and Statistics would like to invite graduate students as well as anyone else interested to a talk by Dr. Michelle Molino entitled An introduction to Symmetric Determinantal Varieties. The talk will take place on Monday February 3 from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM and be held in Thistle room 240. Graduate students are encouraged to attend.  Note: This post has been updated to a new time and location for the talk.

    Abstract:
    In this talk, we will introduce the definition, main results, and properties of symmetric determinantal varieties. In addition, we are going to define the multiplicity of a pair of modules, and calculate such multiplicity for a special pair of modules (Jacobian and Normal modules) associated with a symmetric determinantal variety. Finally, we will show the connection between this multiplicity and the Singular Theory.

  • Colloquium Talk Dr. Paul Voutier: Explicit Effective Diophantine Approximation

    The Department of Mathematics and Statistics would like to invite graduate students as well as anyone else interested to a talk by Dr. Paul Voutier entitled Explicit Effective Diophantine Approximation. The talk will take place on Friday January 10 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM and be held in Goodman School of Business room 408. This lecture will be accessible to graduate students,and even enthusiastic advanced undergraduates.

    Abstract:
    Diophantine problems go back to the early days of civilisation. Our earliest written evidence of such problems is found on the famous Babylonian clay tablet, Plimpton 322, dating back to 1800BC. Diophantine problems continue to play an important role up to the present day with the use of elliptic curves in cryptography. There are several categories of diophantine results. We speak of qualitative, quantitative, elective and explicit elective results. In this lecture, we focus on the last of these: explicit elective results. Under certain conditions, we can obtain very good explicit bounds on how well we can approximate some interesting irrational numbers by rational numbers. That is the goal of this lecture: providing a clear presentation of such techniques, while also providing insights into the latest and sharpest results in this area.

  • Congratulations to Rachel Morris

    Our former Statistics Master student Rachel Morris starts a new Data Analyst position at Sun Life Insurance Canada in Waterloo, Ontario this January. Congratulations Rachel! We wish you continued success!

  • Colloquium Talk Dr. Omar Kihel: Journey Through Cryptography

    The Department of Mathematics and Statistics would like to invite graduate students as well as anyone else interested to a talk by Dr. Omar Kihel (Brock University) entitled Journey through Cryptography. The talk will take place on Wednesday November 27, 2019 from 2:30 to 3:30 pm and be held in Goodman School of Business room 305.

    Colloquium November 27, 2019 (O Kihel)