{"id":897,"date":"2017-07-15T00:05:52","date_gmt":"2017-07-15T04:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/?p=897"},"modified":"2017-07-15T00:05:52","modified_gmt":"2017-07-15T04:05:52","slug":"caarms23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/2017\/07\/15\/caarms23\/","title":{"rendered":"CAARMS23"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 23rd\u00a0Conference for\u00a0African American Researchers in the Mathematical Sciences (CAARMS)<\/a> was held from June 21-24, 2017 at the University of Michigan. \u00a0This annual event features research talks by African Americans throughout the country.<\/p>\n

This year’s CAARMS felt like a homecoming of sorts for me. \u00a0The last time CAARMS was held at the University of Michigan was 1999<\/a>\u00a0— when I was a graduate student at Stanford University<\/a>. \u00a0Some 18 years later, I am now a full professor of mathematics<\/a> who is bringing his own students to attend CAARMS.<\/p>\n

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Back Row: Joseph Sauder, Edray Goins, Robert Dicks; Front Row: Chineze Christopher, Danika Van Niel, Gina Ferolito<\/p><\/div>\n

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CAARMS is unlike any other conference in the mathematical sciences. \u00a0Many times, math\u00a0conferences are either very narrowly focused on one subject<\/a>\u00a0or their\u00a0topics are so broad that speakers fail to grasp\u00a0the meaning of request\u00a0“prepare your talk for a general audience.” \u00a0CAARMS interprets “mathematical sciences” very loosely: the talks aren’t necessarily given by mathematicians but they are given by scientists who use mathematics on a daily basis. \u00a0And the talks are of very high quality!<\/p>\n

This year, the theme throughout the 4-day meeting was “Data Science<\/a>.” \u00a0Even though this mathematical zeitgeist<\/a>\u00a0causes nearly as much angst as “big data<\/a>“, I thought this was an excellent topic for students and faculty alike to learn more about. \u00a0The first day of CAARMS featured\u00a0a series of tutorials meant for undergraduates, while the second and third days focused on talks given by researchers in the mathematical sciences.<\/p>\n

Day 1: Wednesday, June 21<\/h2>\n

The first official day of the conference was spent giving undergraduate students an overview of Data Science and some of the mathematics which goes into it. \u00a0Robert Hampshire (University of Michigan)<\/a> and Bill Massey (Princeton University)<\/a> took turns running several hours worth of tutorials. \u00a0But this is not as boring as it sounds: Robert and Bill are like a father and son comedic duo, nearly completing each other’s sentences while barely being able to contain each other’s excitement about showcasing wonderful real-world applications of the material.<\/p>\n

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Robert Hampshire spent some time discussing the importance of the Rao-Blackwell theorem<\/a>, proved in 1947 by African American statistician David Blackwell<\/a>. \u00a0The poetic nature of this scene really touched me because, just a year ago, I invited Robert to give the MAA-NAM Blackwell Lecture<\/a> in Columbus, Ohio as part of the 2016 MAA MathFest.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BI8oFqBgfvE\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Bill Massey discussed the subtle differences between “disjoint events” and\u00a0“independent events”. \u00a0He had what I think is the best\u00a0quote from the entire conference:<\/p>\n

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After a long day of learning about statistics and its applications, we were treated to mathematics and jazz. \u00a0That evening, just across the hall from the conference room, there was a welcome reception. \u00a0Marcus Miller<\/a> led a performance-based discussion tying mathematics and music.<\/p>\n

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Welcome Reception at CAARMS23<\/p><\/div>\n

During the event, I sat next to two jazz aficionados David Goldberg<\/a> and Phil Kutzko<\/a>. \u00a0 We remarked how great this was to focus on an analysis of music that wasn’t Eurocentric. \u00a0Not to take anything away from the work of\u00a0notable\u00a0scholars of the relationship between mathematics and music, such Dave Kung<\/a>\u00a0or David Wright<\/a>, but it’s nice to see more of an analysis of mathematics and jazz<\/em>, much along the lines of the way Stephon Alexander studies the relationship between physics and jazz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Day 2: Thursday, June 22<\/h2>\n

The next day brought the research talks in earnest.<\/p>\n

Electrical Engineer Todd Coleman (University of California at San Diego)<\/a> led the second day\u00a0with a talk entitled “Electrical Digestive Engineering.” \u00a0(Todd hosted CAARMS19<\/a> when it was at UCSD in 2013.) \u00a0I found this talk incredible. \u00a0He discussed how to model digestion in the stomach using a form of\u00a0Maxwell’s Equations<\/a> in cylindrical coordinates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Todd Coleman: The stomach pushes using electrical rhythms. There exists a gastrointestinal pace maker to help certain problems. #caarms23<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/mZiPug8VeN<\/a><\/p>\n

— Edray Herber Goins (@edraygoins) June 22, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n