The 2009 Pi Mu Epsilon Address

Diophantine geometry and Apollonian packings

by Dr. Peter Sarnak
 

Princeton University & Institute for Advanced Studies

Friday, May 1, 2009
  
2:30 pm, Mendel 154

 

Pi Mu Epsilon inductees, 2009.

Tanya Picinich, Michelle Altura, Elizabeth Awalt, Gregory Cappa, Patrick Costello, Jennifer Flasher, Elizabeth Gilbert, Ryan Mancino, Kristie Michaud, Irene Shastri, Paul Cornwell, John Nawn, Christopher Tomaszewski, Kerry Townsend, and Stephen Twigg.

Continuing Pi Mu Epsilon members.

James Belasco, Scott Bruckner, Patrick Cesarz, Kaitlin Cherundolo, Lauren Giselman, Jennifer James, Stephen Perno, John Sonchack, Danielle Trinkner, Justin Wyrobek, Elizabeth Zagar.
 

What is Pi Mu Epsilon?

Pi Mu Epsilon is a national honorary mathematics society whose purpose, to quote from its Constitution, "is the promotion of scholarly activity in mathematics among students in academic institutions... ." To achieve this goal, chapters of Pi Mu Epsilon have been established at various academic institutions, including here at Villanova University. Each chapter is designated by the state in which it is located and by a Greek letter assigned chronologically. Thus, ours is the Pennsylvania Iota Chapter. Chapters elect members based on proficiency in mathematics, the minimum requirements being the completion of two years of college level mathematics courses with honorable grades and a ranking in the top one-third of one's class in overall college work. Since 1985, well over two hundred Villanova mathematics majors have become members of Pi Mu Epsilon.
 

The Villanova Pi Mu Epsilon Address.

2009. Peter Sarnak, Diophantine geometry of Apollonian packings.
2008. Helen Grundman, Niven numbers and n-Niven numbers.
2007. Rachel Hall, Asymmetric Rhythms and Tiling Canons
2006. Stephanie Frank Singer, Counting the Vote: How Mathematicians Can Help Stop the Destruction of American Democracy
2005. Pamela Gorkin, A Mathematician with Principles and Problems: Dirichlet.
2004. Chris Rorres, If Archimedes Had A Computer.
2003. Larry Joel Goldstein, The Mathematics of Blood Flow.
2002. John F. Dillon, National Security Agency, Pseudorandom Sequences with Ideal Autocorrelation.
2001. Jerry Kazdan, The University of Pennsylvania, Using Symmetry.
2000. Margaret H. Wright, Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies, The Mathematics of Optimization.
1999. Michael C. Reed, Duke University, Mathematics of the Auditory System.
1998. Judy Kennedy, University of Delaware, Horseshoes and How One Thing Leads to Another.
1997. Jeffrey C. Lagarias, AT\& T Bell Labs, Keller's Conjecture on Cube Tilings.
1996. Jerry P. King, Lehigh University, The Art of Mathematics.
1995. Leon Ehrenpreis, Temple University, Identities: What are they? How do you prove them? Who cares anyway?.
1994. J. Stuart Hunter, Princeton University, Statistics and the Scientific Method.
1993. Herbert Wilf, University of Pennsylvania, How Linear Algebra Helps Us To Count Things.
1992. David Zitarelli, Temple University, Joseph Liouville: Modern Mathematician.
1991. Rhonda Hughes, Bryn Mawr College, From Fourier Series to Wavelets: Trends in Harmonic Analysis.
1990. Donald Newman, Temple University, Those Billion Slices of Pi.
1989. Amos Altshuler, Ben-Gurion University (Israel), An Impossible Concert for a Triangle and a Cube.
 

Contact Pi Mu Epsilon

Villanova University Chapter:
Dr. Timothy Feeman (advisor)

National Office (official website)