Events
The Department of Mathematics sponsors a regular colloquium that hosts several talks by
external speakers every year and a general faculty seminar for talks by faculty and
students. Seminars are listed below the colloquia.
Mathematics Colloquium
The next Mathematics Colloquium will take place on Wednesday, April 22, at 4 pm in YR 321. Dr. Ahmed Imtiaz Humayun, Research Scientist at Google Research will present a talk on Understanding the Spline Geometry of Deep Neural Networks.
Abstract. The defining characteristic of modern Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) is their massive scale, with cutting-edge models containing hundreds of billions of parameters. While analyzing these networks globally, such as computing global spline partitions is computationally intractable, we can gain profound insights by examining them locally. By framing DNNs with continuous piecewise linear activations (such as ReLU and leaky-ReLU) as continuous piecewise affine (CPA) splines, this talk will explore how the local spline partition of deep neural networks can be computed exactly up to machine precision or approximated for large practical deep neural networks. The talk will also cover how analyzing local spline geometry elucidates neural network learning dynamics, helps improve downstream model performance, and guide future theoretical research.
The final Mathematics Colloquium for the year will take place on Wednesday, April 29. The speaker will be Professor Trevor Wooley, the Zoltners Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Purdue University. We will speak about Weyl, subconvex \( L^p \)-sets and arithmetic functions.
Abstract. We investigate a topic lying between harmonic analysis and number theory having an
additive combinatorics flavor, namely subsets \( \mathcal A \) of the natural numbers
having the property that, for some positive number \( p<2 \), one has
\[ \int_0^1 \Big| \sum_{n \in \mathcal A\cap [1,N]} e^{2\pi\mathrm in\alpha} \Big|^p
\, {\rm d}\alpha \ll |\mathcal A\cap [1,N]|^pN^{\varepsilon-1}. \]
Examples of such sets include (but are not restricted to) the squarefree, or more
generally, the \( r \)-free numbers. We show that there are many other examples of
such sets. For polynomials \( \psi(x;\boldsymbol\alpha)=\alpha _kx^k+\cdots +\alpha_1x
\) , having coefficients \( \alpha_i \) satisfying suitable irrationality conditions,
we obtain Weyl-type estimates for associated exponential sums restricted to subconvex
\( L^p \) sets, and we show that the sequence \( (\psi(n;\boldsymbol\alpha))_{n\in
\mathcal A} \) is equidistributed modulo 1. We discuss also applications to averages
of arithmetic functions.
Recent Mathematics Colloquium Talks
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
|
Mar 25, 2026 |
Weak assumptions in algebra and logic |
Jacob Stern, |
|
Feb 25, 2026 |
Reducibility of convex cones |
Dr. Michael Orlitzky, |
| Nov 10, 2025 | Connecting noticing of student thinking to responsive teaching in math and science |
Dr. Tara Barnhart, |
| Oct 27, 2025 | Introduction to statistical meta-analysis with an application |
Dr. Bimal Sinha, UMBC |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Large zeros of linear recurrence sequences |
Dr. Florian Luca, |
| Apr 25, 2025 | Defining connected components |
Dr. Alfred Dolich, |
| Apr 24, 2025 | Middle-school students’ meanings of points from quantitative and covariational reasoning perspectives |
Dr. Halil Tasova, |
| Mar 14, 2025 | A multi-species, multi-stimuli rheological model for living polymers | |
| Feb 13, 2025 | Using data science to understand patterns of social harm |
Dr. George Mohler, |
Seminar Meetings
The Mathematics Seminar is the venue where Towson faculty and students report on their research activities. The next talk will occur on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Dr. Miriam Parnes will present.
In addition, several research groups have research seminars in their respective research areas:
- ASRM Seminar (coordinated by Min Ji):
Meets on Fridays at 10 am - Number Theory Seminar (coordinated by A. Kumchev and N. McNew):
Meets on Tuesdays at 4:30 pm in YR 321.
Recent and Upcoming Seminars
- April 28, 2026: Number Theory & Logic Seminar.
Dr. Margaret Thomas, Purdue University, will give a talk. - March 6, 2026: ASRM Speaker Series
Matt Deveney '01', FSA, EA, presented a lecture How an actuary plays the "Game of Life." - October 16, 2025: Number Theory Seminar.
Dr. Spencer Hamblen, McDaniel College, gave at talk on Sums of k-th powers in ramified p-adic rings. - September 16, 2025: Number Theory Seminar.
Dr. Vefa Goksel gave a talk on Square patterns in dynamical orbits. - April 11, 2025: ASRM Speaker Series.
William Logan '09, FSA, gave a talk on Stable value fund dynamics: Understanding withdrawal patterns through experience studies. - April 8, 2025: Number Theory Seminar.
Dr. Russell Hendel gave a talk on A family of sequences generalizing the Thue-Morse and Rudin-Shapiro sequences. - March 11, 2025: Number Theory Seminar.
Dr. David Hubbard gave a talk on Computing the p-part of the class group. - March 4, 2025: Number Theory Seminar.
Vishal Gupta, University of Delaware, gave a talk on the Minimum spectral radius in a given class of graphs. - February 25, 2025: Number Theory Seminar.
Dr. William Craig, US Naval Academy, gave a talk on Quasimodular forms, q-multiple zeta values, and partitions. - November 21, 2024: Number Theory Seminar.
Alexander Kalogirou, University of South Carolina, gave a talk on Disjoint covering systems. - November 15, 2024: ASRM Speaker Series.
Shelby Cimino, ASA, gave a talk on Actuarial modeling: An overview. - September 10, 2024: Number Theory Seminar.
Dr. Edinah Gnang, Johns Hopkins University, gave a talk on All trees on n edges decompose the complete bipartite graph \(K_{n,n}\). - August 20, 2024: Number Theory Seminar.
Dr. Harald Helfgott, Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu, gave a talk on Expansion, divisibility and parity.
Recent Mathematics Seminar & Sabbatical Talks
- On Monday, April 13, 2026. Dr. Xiaoyin Wang presented a sabbatical lecture on Bayesian Analysis for Negative Binomial INGARCH Models with Minimal Prior Information.
- On Friday, March 13, 2026, Dr. Mostafa Aminzadeh presented a sabbatical talk on Extending Approximate Bayesian Computation to Nonlinear Regression Models: The Case of Composite Distribution.
- On Wednesday, March 4, 2026, Dr. Chris Cornwell presented a sabbatical lecture on the Functional Dimension of ReLU Neural Networks.
- On November 17, 2025, Dr. Vincent Guingona presented a sabbatical lecture on Applications of Model Theory to Statistical Learning Theory.
- On November 3, 2025, Dr. Kimberly Corum presented a sabbatical lecture on Leveraging Justice-Centered Making to Support Mathematics Teaching and Learning.
- On April 7, 2025, Dr. Banghee So, gave a seminar on A Novel Neural Network Model with Predictive Power and Interpretability for Insurance Pricing.
- On March 24, 2025, Dr. Jing Tian presented a sabbatical lecture on Parameter Analysis in Continuous Data Assimilation for Various Turbulence Models.
- On February 24, 2025, Dr. Sebastian Calvo presented a seminar on the Waldschmidt Constant of Complex Reflection Groups.
- On October 16, 2024, Dr. Min Deng presented a sabbatical lecture on Bayesian Inference for the Loss Models via Mixture Priors.
- On September 30, 2024, Dr. Melike Kara Atas presented a sabbatical lecture on Improving Pre-Service Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Fraction Concepts.