Month: January 2022

PIZZA SERVED from 11:30 -11:55     in front of Hislop Family Auditorium

TALK STARTS AT 12:00 PM

“Dido’s Problem and the Isoperimetric Inequality”

Presented by

CHEE HAN TAN
 Department of Mathematics – Bucknell University

Thursday, February 3, 2022

12:00 P.M.        HOLMES HALL – 116 Hislop Family Auditorium

Abstract: What is the shape with a given perimeter that encloses the largest area? In this talk, we will learn about the history of this problem (dating back to 814 BC) and daring attempts by many great mathematicians whose incomplete solutions led to the development of diverse areas in modern mathematics. Finally, we will reveal the answer and discuss how to solve the problem.  

The Graduate Statistics Program at Penn State.

This is a chance to hear about that program and to ask more general questions about graduate school.

All are welcome

INVITED SPEAKER:

David Hunter – Professor of Statistics 

Penn State University

THURSDAY – January 20
4:00 – 5:00 PM

OLIN 372

“When the Supreme Court declares your homework unconstitutional: Reflections on data science and society”

Presented by David Hunter,  Department of Statistics – Penn State University

Thursday, January 20, 2022

12:00 P.M.        HOLMES HALL – 116 Hislop Family Auditorium

Abstract: The 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case known as Gratz v. Bollinger addresses a formula for college admissions that was created by a statistics graduate student (the presenter) for a specific purpose.  The method used to create this formula is considered simplistic by modern machine learning standards; yet the debate that ensued, which could not have happened if a more modern approach had been used, illustrates that science and society do not always benefit from machine learning models that achieve the best possible predictive performance.  This talk discusses the history of the legal case, the admissions formula and how it was created, and the implications of the debate for how we build predictive models.

PIZZA Provided!