Mathematical Sciences Foundry

      On Monday, December 8 , Ben Vernasco, Research Scientist & Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biology at Whitman College will discuss how Earth’s biodiversity is currently being transformed by the dramatic changes humans are imposing on the natural world. Passive acoustic monitoring is an emerging field of study that combines simple technologies, rapidly developing neural networks, and quantitative methodologies to measure soundscapes across broad geographic areas and document such changes in ecosystems around the world. In this talk, Professor Vernasco will share his collaborative efforts that combine passive acoustic monitoring, neural networks, remote sensing, and Bayesian hierarchical models to provide an unprecedented level of detail about the bird communities of the Blue Mountains. He will highlight how two ecologically contrasting woodpeckers—one thriving in dense, fire-suppressed forests and the other dependent on large, fire-maintained pines—reveal the lega...

    On Monday, September 29 , Nathaniel Larson '19 will share how he generally applies math to his data consulting work and then delve into his work experience in one branch of mathematics: knowledge graphs and how they can be used to identify fraud, improve knowledge base searching algorithms, and solve other business problems. A mathematical foundation in graphs and graph theory can help us understand why graph databases are efficient ways to store and retrieve complex interrelated data, and how certain patterns--like between-ness, centrality, modularity and more--help us to identify commonalities between groups or find anomalies. Learn more about how data science works in the business world, and how Whitties learning math in a liberal arts setting may be well-positioned for a career in tech consulting. Bio:   Nathaniel has worked for over 6 years with Slalom Consulting, a global technology consulting firm headquartered in Seattle. He speciali...

The film Counted Out shows us the power of math in our society, our economy, and our democracy. At 7:00pm on March 31st in Maxey Hall on the Whitman College Campus in Walla Walla, WA, the Whitman College Department of Mathematics & Statistics will take part in Counted Out’s worldwide movement to re-imagine math with a free screening of the award winning film Counted Out. In our current information economy, math is everywhere. The people we date, the news we see, the influence of our votes, the candidates who win elections, the education we have access to, the jobs we get — all of it is underwritten by an invisible layer of math that few of us understand, or even notice. But whether we know it or not, our numeric literacy — whether we can speak the language of math — is a critical determinant of social and economic power. Counted Out shows what’s at risk if we keep the status quo. Do we want an America in which most of us don’t see ourselves “math people”? Where math proficiency go...

  On Monday, March 3 at 4 pm in Olin 201 Madeleine Sherry ’24 will talk about her experience going to a math conference as an undergrad at Whitman, the importance of networking in developing ideas, finding potential career paths, and creating connections, as well as my insight into grad school life and the application/decision process. There will be plenty of time to answer questions, so hopefully, this session will be helpful to any students interested in pursuing further education or getting ready for what comes next after graduation! Bio:  Madeleine Sherry ’24 is currently a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in statistics at Oregon State University. Madeleine majored in Mathematics and minored in German Studies and Data Science during her time at Whitman College. She was also a part of the women’s lacrosse team and served as the captain of the team her senior year.  Beyond athletics, Madeleine was a Delta Gamma sorority member and was part of Whitman's Pa...

  On Monday, February 24 at 4pm in Olin 201 Benjamin Seashore Hobson ’23 will talk about communicating statistically, as he does in his job as a player development analyst with the New York Mets. Benji works with the rest of the Mets analytics team to perform data-driven research to find opportunities for improvement for players within the Mets organization and then collaborates with coaches and player development leadership to incorporate those findings into individual player plans. He will share examples of how he shares statistical insights with coaches and players with a broad range of statistics and data knowledge levels. Benji will also discuss how his time at Whitman prepared him to both perform data analysis and communicate with a diverse set of teammates.   Bio:  Benjamin Seashore Hobson ’23 is currently a player development analyst for the New York Mets. He majored in Mathematics and minored in Gender Studies and Hispanic Studies during his time at Whitman Coll...

  On M onday, February 10 at 4pm in Olin 201 Dr. Andrés Aragoneses will talk about how chaos is a relatively recent field of research that merges topics as diverse as mathematics, biology, physics, astronomy, economics, and geology. It encompasses phenomena ranging from avalanches in piles of sand to population dynamics, virus propagation, soccer strategies, stock market fluctuations, laser oscillations, and the dynamics of particles in Saturn’s rings. Chaos is not randomness, though it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between the two. In this presentation, he will explore how chaos can be simulated, the physical systems in which it can be found, how mathematical techniques can be developed to characterize and unveil hidden symmetries in chaotic behaviour, and how universality patterns can be discovered within chaos.   BIO: Andrés Aragoneses conducts experimental research in photonics and complex dynamics. In his experimental setups, known as Photonic Neurons, he ind...