Colloquium

Fall 2025 Colloquium Series

• Fall 2025 Dates, Speakers, and Abstracts

  August 29, 2025

  Impact of Multilevel Infinities on Additive Combinatorics 
  Renling Jin, College of Charleston (joint with Mauro DiNasso)
  In the talk we will introduce a general scheme in nonstandard analysis with multiple levels of infinities and show an easy way to derive theorems in additive combinatorics using the scheme. As the applications we will prove an infinite set version of Schur’s theorem and a mixture of Hindman’s theorem and infinite set version of Folkman’s theorem

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  September 19, 2025

  TBD

   

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  September 26, 2025

  Randomizing Assignments Written in LaTeX with Python
  David Flenner, College of Charleston
  This session will demonstrate how Python code can be integrated into LaTeX documents in order to create randomized assignments using a program I created, called PyTeX. Basic knowledge of LaTeX is required, and familiarity with Python is very helpful. Here you will learn how to create questions in such a way that you can generate different versions of an exam, by allowing Python to randomize values within the questions for you. I will demonstrate to you first how this works by creating a new exam to show you what is possible.  We will start out with something very basic, but quickly increase the complexity of the questions by using the Sympy library. Next, I will show you how I have progressed in my own usage and have begun creating a question library for my classes. Lastly, I will show where the installation instructions and documentation are located so that you can begin utilizing PyTeX for your own assignments. The intended audience is any instructor in the math or science fields who utilizes LaTeX regularly and would like to develop a means of simplifying the creation of assessments.

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  October 3, 2025

  On Legendre's conjecture and the existence of primes between consecutive powers
  Nic Jones, College of Charleston student
  In this talk, we will make some progress towards resolving Legendre's conjecture. Considered one of the most significant problems in number theory, Legendre's conjecture was even listed as one of Landau's problems about prime numbers at the 1912 International Congress of Mathematicians. By exploring a variant of Legendre's conjecture, namely the existence of primes between consecutive arbitrary powers, we can answer questions on the distribution of prime numbers in intervals. We will survey and present the current literature on this problem. Some partial extensions to the literature will also be given. This is joint work with Jack Dalton. 

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  October 10, 2025 *virtual*
  This talk will be held on Zoom (meeting link, password: 2025 ) and will begin at 3:10 p.m.
  

  What are the main tools Statisticians, mathematicians, and data scientists use after graduation when working in the industry?
  Desale Habtzghi, DePaul University
  Over the past decade, there has been a growing emphasis on incorporating computing into the statistics curriculum, moving beyond traditional statistical software packages. With the rise of data science, computational literacy has become more important than ever. Today, nearly all industries and major organizations are increasingly data-driven in their planning processes and business decision-making. In this talk, I will present findings from a survey of statistics and data science practitioners, both within and outside academia, to assess what the education community has done well and identify areas where further improvements are needed in teaching these essential skills.

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  October 17, 2025

  TBD

   

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  October 24, 2025

  Groups Big and Small and the Infinite Conjugacy Class Property
  Joshua Frisch, University of California San Diego
  In group theory, dynamics, probability, and geometry, there are many ways to think of infinite groups as being big (like the free group on two or more generators) or small (like the integers). In this talk, I will discuss one such notion, the infinite conjugacy class property, and explain how it connects four seemingly different perspectives: one from dynamics, one from probability, one from algebra, and one from geometry. This talk is based on joint works with Omer Tamuz, Yair Hartman, and Pooya Vahidi Ferdowsi.

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  October 31, 2025

  TBD

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  November 7, 2025

  Associating Groups to Borcherds Lie Algebras
  Liz Jurisich, College of Charleston
  For a classical Lie group, the Lie algebra is formed as the tangent space at the identity element. However, infinite-dimensional Lie algebras, such as Kac-Moody and Borcherds algebras do not appear as tangent spaces in the same way.  However,  these algebras appear both as abstract objects and as symmetries in nature and associating a group structure is desirable.  During my sabbatical, I mainly studied two approaches for constructing groups from Borcherds Lie algebras. 
  Approach 1: For Borcherds Lie algebras without isotropic simple roots, plus other properties, we can use a decomposition of the algebra and results for the classical case, a Magus Group, and ideas from Kac-Moody group theory to form an associated group. 
  Approach 2: Extend methods originated by Jaque Tits for constructing Kac-Moody groups with additional methods developed for Borcherds algebras.

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  November 14, 2025

  Smoothed Empirical Likelihood for Quantile Inference Under Balanced Ranked Set Sampling
  Tingting Tong, College of Charleston
  Empirical likelihood is a useful nonparametric method for statistical inference. However, it can be unstable when used for quantile estimation because the quantile estimating function is not smooth. In this talk, I will introduce a smoothed empirical likelihood method for quantile estimation under the balanced ranked set sampling (BRSS) design. This sampling method improves efficiency when ranking is easy but exact measurement is expensive. The smoothed empirical likelihood approach uses a kernel smoothing step that makes the likelihood function smooth and easy to compute. I will present the main theorem showing that the smoothed empirical log-likelihood ratio follows a chi-square distribution. Simulation studies and a real data example show that the method gives accurate and reliable results. Overall, the proposed method provides a simple, stable, and efficient way to make inference about quantiles.

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  November 21, 2025

  Examining the Role of Deconstruct Calculus on Changing Students’ Attitudes Toward Mathematics
  Kathryn Pedings-Behling, College of Charleston
  Students in Business Calculus rarely begin the semester with a positive attitude toward mathematics, and for many, this terminal course is their final formal math experience. To examine whether curricular structure could shift these attitudes, I implemented the Deconstruct this Business Calculus Journal as a semester-long intervention and studied its impact through a convergent mixed-methods design grounded in the Three-Dimensional Model for Attitude Toward Mathematics and cognitive dissonance theory. About 150 students were invited to participate in the Attitudes Toward Mathematics Inventory, structured journal prompts, and a focus group. Quantitative results showed a statistically significant improvement in overall attitudes, with the strongest gains in self-confidence. Qualitative data revealed that students often experienced cognitive dissonance when their longstanding belief that they were “bad at math” conflicted with their success and understanding in the course. Reflective journaling helped them identify and resolve this tension, and students pointed to the curriculum’s conceptual activities and low-floor/high-ceiling tasks as central to building confidence. Although context-specific, the findings suggest that embedding structured reflection and conceptual engagement within a supportive curriculum can meaningfully improve attitudes toward mathematics for math-reluctant students in terminal postsecondary courses.
• Give a Talk or Invite a Speaker

  If you would like to give a talk or invite someone to give a talk on our colloquium, please contact the colloquium coordinator, Stéphane Lafortune (lafortunes@cofc.edu).

  For outside visitors please include visitor's name, affiliation, and the title or the area of the suggested talk.   

  Also, as the sponsor, please note that you will be responsible to find an accommodation and take care of the visitor during his/her visit.