Category: Uncategorized

Student Colloquium talk by Professor Kari Lock Morgan, Penn State University

Title: Understanding Statistical Significance

Abstract:  You may or may not have heard of results being “statistically significant,” and you may or may not know that results qualify as statistically significant if the p-value falls below a given threshold.  Regardless of whether these phrases currently hold any meaning for you, the goal of this talk will be to shed light on the actual meaning of a p-value and statistical significance (beyond just “p < 0.05”).  This will be accomplished by covering a modern and computationally intensive way of computing a p-value that will be illustrated both by hands-on and online activities (so bring a laptop or tablet if you want to play along!).  This simulation-based approach will be both accessible to those who have never taken any statistics, and valuable to those who have taken statistics but want a deeper understanding or a more modern approach.

Student Colloquium talk by Professor Matthew Mizuhara ’12 of The College of New Jersey

Title: An Orchestra without a Conductor: The Mathematics of Synchronizing Fireflies

Abstract: In Amphawa, Thailand trees are lined with thousands of fireflies spontaneously flashing in near perfect unison. However, there is no “leader” driving this coordination. The Kuramoto model, a non-linear system of differential equations, describes the firefly flashes. Using numerical simulations, we can capture this spontaneous emergence of synchronization and explore other, new patterns which can arise. No background in differential equations is required to enjoy this talk!

Student Colloquium talk by Professor Dick Forrester of Dickinson College

Title: Assigning Students to Schools to Minimize Socioeconomic Variation between Schools: An Introduction to Optimization Modeling

Abstract: Numerous studies have found that a student’s academic achievement is as much determined by the socioeconomic composition of their school as their own socioeconomic status. In this talk we provide a methodology for assigning students to schools so as to balance the socioeconomic compositions of the schools while taking into consideration the total travel distance. Our technique utilizes a bi-objective general 0-1 fractional program that is linearized into a mixed 0-1 linear program which can be submitted directly to a standard optimization package. If you didn’t understand that last sentence, don’t worry, the purpose of this talk is to introduce you to optimization modeling.  As a test case for our approach we analyze data from the Greenville County School District in Greenville, South Carolina.

Quantum Games and Quantum Computing

Thursday, October 19, 12:00 P.M. ROOM 268 in the Olin Science Building

Abstract: What’s the shortest message you can send someone? It might seem like the answer is a single bit: a 0 or a 1.

But the world is much stranger than that! We can also send quantum bits (or qubits) that can be 0 or 1 or “both” 0 and 1 at the same time.

These quantum messages have surprising power for computing and sending information. I’ll talk about how we can better understand these strange quantum messages by studying games that use quantum messages instead of classical messages.

Leonardo of Pisa (a.k.a Fibonacci) has a remarkable connection with Bucknell, and to celebrate this fact we are holding an interdisciplinary conference on October 14. Featured speakers include:
Mario Livio – an astrophysicist and author of popular science books,
Keith Devlin – NPR’s “Math Guy” and the author of numerous popular mathematics books,
William Goetzmann – Director of the International Center for Finance, Yale University

This event will be in the Langone Center from 10:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.

Lunch tickets are available in Olin 380, or by writing to math@bucknell.edu

Learn more here.

Title: Efficiency Of Non-Compliance Chargeback Mechanisms In Retail Supply Chains

Abstract: In practice, suppliers fill retailers’ purchase orders to the fill-rate targets to avoid the non-compliance financial penalty, or chargeback, in the presence of service level agreement. Two chargeback mechanisms – flat-fee and linear – have been proven to effectively coordinate the supply chain in a single-period setting. However, the mechanisms’ efficiency, the incurred penalty costs necessary to coordinate the supply chain, have not been studied yet. Since retailers are often accused of treating chargeback as an additional source of revenue, this study compares the expected penalties resulted from the flat-fee or linear chargeback to shed light on the retailers’ choice of mechanisms. Using experimental scenarios consisting of various demand functions, demand variabilities, and fill-rate targets, the simulation results offer counter-evidence to the accusation.