The Mathematics Department at the University of Oklahoma hosted the ninth annual OU MathFest on Friday, Jan 18, 2008 and Saturday, Jan 19, 2008 on the OU campus in Norman. The Mathematics Department acknowledges the generous sponsorship of the OU Graduate College.
Nineteen undergraduate mathematics majors and prospective graduate students participated in the following events. By all accounts, it was a success.
The attendees at OU MathFest 2008 heard some cool talks:
- Dr. Lucy Lifschitz told us how a cyclic configuration of Heisenberg groups leads one to conlcude that Sl(n,Z) is not orderable for n at least 3.
- Dr. Matt Clay presented a chilling account of the relationship between global warming and Euler's formula.
- One of our graduate students, Ravi Srinivasan, gave an engaging account of the life and mathematics of Ramanujan.
- Dr. Keri Kornelson gave a sobering account of the relationship between martini glasses, drinking straws and the mathematics of tight frames.
- Dr. Kevin Grasse told us about randomness, the month of December, and the Vietnam Draft Lottery.
They also got to chat with current OU graduate students and faculty, and to visit the University History of Science Collection. Reports have it that they even had time to check out some Norman night life!
If you are interested in attending OU MathFest, plase check back toward the end of the Fall 2008 semester for registration instructions and a schedule for OU MathFest 2009.