Archive for 2013

DHS Seeks Student Volunteers

The Department of Homeland Security has just opened a call for student volunteers with a closing date of January 17, 2014. They have unpaid positions in a variety of places. [Updated: originally posted with closing date of January 3rd, which was extended.]

MCS Students Participate in ACM Programming Contest

Three MCS students went to Carlton College  this past Saturday to participate in the annual ACM Programming Contest. The contest originally started at Texas A & M in 1970. It spread through North America and has branches and chapters throughout the world. “The contest fosters creativity, teamwork, and innovation in building new software programs, and enables students to test […]

Faulty Logic or Faulty Logic about Faulty Logic?

Take a look at this MinnPost article by Joel Kramer and the comment on it by Paul Birnberg. The subject matter is Minneapolis’s Ranked Choice Voting tabulation process. Kramer offers a proof sketch that a more efficient process would necessarily give the same results. Birnberg offers a proof sketch that the results of Kramer’s process […]

Math Careers Night with Alumni

The Math Career Night is this Tuesday, Oct. 29th from 5:30-7:30 in the third floor Olin lobby! Enjoy free pizza and pop while meeting alumni who majored in Math or who have careers in math. Take this opportunity to get a feel for what math-related careers are out there after graduation and get advice from […]

MCS and Physics Administrative Assistant Retires

  Long-time MCS and Physics Administrative Assistant Linda Hewitt is retiring!  For years Linda has managed the day-to-day operations of the MCS department and kept a long string of department chairs from disaster by gently guiding them through the intricacies of budget oversight, student employment, and every other aspect of departmental management. Linda’s relaxed and […]

Women, Jobs, and a Bit of Mathematics and Computer Science

Planet Money, the economics reporting unit of National Public Radio, ran a great story this morning (9/11/13) entitled “Why Women (Like Me) Choose Lower-Paying Jobs.”  Although not strictly about mathematics or computer science, the reporter Lisa Chow was an applied math major in college, earned an MBA, and is pursuing a career not directly related […]

Cool Mathematical Art at the MIA

I don’t blog much about events that don’t have a direct connection to the department, but I was blown away by a very mathematically-oriented artwork I saw today at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The photo on their web site doesn’t do it any justice. Trever Nicholas‘s Luma is based on the concept of a […]

Tom LoFaro Named Clifford M. Swanson Professor in Mathematics

Congratulations to our colleague Dr. Thomas LoFaro, who has been named the inaugural Clifford M. Swanson Professor in Mathematics, supported by an endowment fund created by Clifford ’32 and Delores ’32 Swanson. We are grateful to the Swansons for their support of our department’s mission and to Tom for his dynamic teaching, research, and leadership. […]

Cyber-Security Competition

Students interested in a career in IT or cyber security can sign up for Cyber Aces Online. Organizers say that “top scorers will be invited to participate in the Minnesota Cyber Aces State Championship at Inver Hills Community College event in Spring 2014 to compete to win top honors, and the best performers may earn […]

LinkedIn Group

I just received another job posting and did with it what I’ve decided to do in general: I posted it to the Gustavus MCS group on LinekdIn. Didn’t know about that group? Now would be a good time to join, not just for job postings but to network with other alumni.