Other Past Events
All-Department Workshop: The Human Variable
Join us for an all-department workshop! The Human Variable: Navigating Interpersonal Dynamics with Julie Showers
Academic excellence is in our DNA, but a strong department relies on more than just successful proofs and accepted publications. Thriving in mathematics requires a shared ability to navigate the interpersonal friction that naturally arises in the high-intensity environment of academia. We’re continuing our departmental climate event series this spring with an interactive session led by Julie Showers. We hope you’ll join us for a dynamic workshop to develop a shared vocabulary for managing conflict and maintaining strong professional relationships
Workshop Abstract: In many surveys, interpersonal conflict is the primary challenge that university faculty, staff and students find most stressful. This isn't surprising. We move through high-intensity workplaces and social spaces feeling increased pressure from stakeholders (faculty members, students, staff, leaders) to have all the answers, all the time - and to express those answers in exactly the right way. Some of us face particular conflicts that seem impossible to resolve and particular colleagues who seem determined to be difficult. And yet, the ability to experience tension and remain in relationship with those who cause it is a key strength regardless of field, discipline or context. This event explores practical tools to improve our resiliency and efficacy when conflict inevitably arises.
Speaker Bio: Julie Showers retired in 2021 after serving as the University of Minnesota's Associate Vice President in the Office for Equity and Diversity. Prior to that, she served as the Director of the Office of Conflict Resolution. Before joining the University, Julie worked for over 25 years in private practice and as a senior officer at Northwest and Delta Air Lines. Now a consultant, she specializes in helping people navigate conflict in healthy and effective ways and serves as an adjunct instructor at the University of Minnesota Law School.
This event is being hosted by the Mathematics Equity & Inclusion Committee. The topic was selected based on Spring 2025 survey results of the School of Mathematics community.
Deep Learning meets PDE Workshop
Overview
Deep learning has revolutionized the landscape of PDE computation. On one hand, many challenging problems arising in the physical sciences are governed by PDEs involving high-dimensional solution spaces or high-dimensional parameter fields, where traditional numerical methods face severe computational bottlenecks. Deep neural networks offer a potentially powerful and efficient new paradigm for tackling such problems. On the other hand, many mathematical models contain unknown parameters or missing terms. Deep learning provides a flexible framework to seamlessly incorporate observational data into model prediction, while offering strategies to quantify and address model uncertainties. Despite these promising developments, the indiscriminate use of deep learning for PDE computation poses significant challenges. Training can be expensive and unstable, and may lead to solutions that lack robustness or physical reliability. Moreover, such approaches often rely on large amounts of high-fidelity data, the generation of which is itself a formidable task.
Given the past decades of intellectual development in classical numerical methods for PDEs, there is immense potential in thoughtfully combining deep learning with established computational techniques. This workshop aims to provide a platform for researchers with backgrounds in both classical numerical analysis and modern scientific machine learning to exchange ideas and technical expertise, and fostering dialogue between the scientific computing and machine learning communities.
Speakers
- Harbir Antil, George Mason University
- Wei Cai, Southern Methodist University
- Eric C. Cyr, Sandia National Laboratories
- Xue Feng, University of California, Los Angeles
- Rongjie Lai, Purdue University
- Fei Lu, Johns Hopkins University
- Chun Liu, Illinois Institute of Technology
- Mitch Luskin, University of Minnesota
- Levon Nurbekyan, Emory University
- Lorenzo Pareschi, Heriot-Watt University
- Tianyun Tang, University of Chicago
- Xiaochuan Tian, University of California, San Diego
- Richard Tsai, University of Texas at Austin
- Jack Xin, University of California, Irvine
- Wuzhe Xu, Purdue University
Organizer
86th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
This year, the 86th William Lowell Putnam competition will be held on Saturday, December 6th, 2025 in Vincent Hall Room 16 on the East Bank Campus. This is a test of mathematical creativity in problem solving, and is directed to students of science and engineering, as well as mathematics.
The exam consists of two three-hour sessions (9am - noon, and 2pm - 5pm), punctuated by a two-hour lunch break. While taking the exam, each participant works independently, and participation also includes a pledge not to post or discuss the exam questions online or otherwise before 7 p.m. (“8 p.m. EST”, which is the end of the exam on the West Coast) that day. The questions posed in previous editions are posted (together with solutions) on the examination website, and the “Putnam Exam Archive” managed by Kiran Kedlaya displays many more.
You are eligible to compete if you are an undergraduate student currently studying here (even as a visiting student), do not already hold a Bachelor's degree (or its equivalent or superior), and have not already participated in four of the previous competitions.
Practice sessions will be held every week until the date of the exam, starting on October 10th, from 3:00 - 4:30pm. Please see the full practice schedule below for specific practice dates, times, and locations. To RSVP for the practice sessions please fill out this Math Comp and Problem Solving Club Interest Form.
Students are also encouraged to join the Putnam Practice Discord for more information and details about the Putnam exam, and the practice sessions.
Note: you are not required to RSVP to attend Putnam practice sessions, all are welcome!
Full schedule of practice sessions:
- Friday, October 10th, 3:00pm - 4:30 pm, Vincent Hall 207
- Friday, October 17th, 3:00pm - 4:30 pm, Vincent Hall 207
- Friday, October 24th, 3:00pm - 4:30 pm, Vincent Hall 207
- Monday, November 3rd, 3:00pm - 4:30 pm, Vincent Hall 215
- Monday November 10th, 3:00pm - 4:30 pm, Vincent Hall 215
- Friday, November 14th, 3:00pm - 4:30 pm, Vincent Hall 207
- Friday, November 21st, 3:00pm - 4:30 pm, Vincent Hall 207
- Monday, December 1st, 3:00pm - 4:30 pm, Vincent Hall 215
Equivariant, Motivic, and Physical Topology in the Midwest
This three-day conference celebrates the 60th birthday and influential career of Igor Kriz, whose groundbreaking contributions have shaped modern perspectives in homotopy theory and its interactions with physics. This special event will gather leading researchers and early-career mathematicians from around the world for a series of stimulating lectures, discussions, and collaborations.
The conference will spotlight cutting-edge developments in equivariant and motivic homotopy theory, as well as their deep connections to mathematical physics and symplectic topology. Invited talks by prominent experts will explore recent advances and open problems at the rich interface of these fields, honoring the wide-ranging impact of Kriz’s work.
We warmly invite you to be part of this celebration of mathematics, community, and visionary research.
Registration
Speakers
- David Ayala, Montana State University
- Agnès Beaudry, University of Colorado, Boulder
- Jeremiah Heller, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Mike Hill, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- Po Hu, Wayne State University
- Daniel Kriz, Università degli Studi di Milano
- Sophie Kriz, Princeton University
- Tyler Lawson, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- Yunze Lu, University of California, San Diego
- Peter May, University of Chicago
- Morgan Opie, Northwestern University
- JD Quigley, University of Virginia
- Hisham Sati, New York University, Abu Dhabi
Schedule
Friday
- 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. – Arrival and registration
- 1:30 p.m. - 1:40 p.m. – Very brief welcome remarks
- 1:40 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. – Jeremiah Heller
- 2:30 p.m. - 2:50 p.m. – Break
- 2:50 p.m. - 3:40 p.m. – Po Hu
- 3:40 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. – Break
- 4:00 p.m. - 4:50 p.m. – Mike Hill
- 4:50 p.m. - 5:10 p.m. – Break
- 5:10 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. – Yunze Lu
- 7:00 p.m. – Dinner at Tea House
Saturday
- 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. – Coffee and light breakfast
- 9:00 a.m. - 9:50 a.m. – Hisham Sati
- 9:50 a.m. - 10:10 a.m. – Break
- 10:10 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. – David Ayala
- 11:00 a.m. - 11:20 a.m. – Break
- 11:20 a.m. - 12:10 p.m. – Agnès Beaudry
- 12:10 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. – Lunch break
- 2:00 p.m. - 2:50 p.m. – Daniel Kriz
- 2:50 p.m. - 3:10 p.m. – Break
- 3:10 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. – JD Quigley
- 4:00 p.m. - 4:20 p.m. – Break
- 4:20 p.m. - 5:10 p.m. – Peter May
Sunday
- 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. – Coffee and light breakfast
- 9:00 a.m. - 9:50 a.m. – Sophie Kriz
- 9:50 a.m. - 10:10 a.m. – Break
- 10:10 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. – Morgan Opie
- 11:00 a.m. - 11:20 a.m. – Break
- 11:20 a.m. - 12:10 p.m. – Tyler Lawson
- 12:10 p.m. – Closing and departure
Organizers
- Thomas Fiore, University of Michigan-Dearborn
- José Manuel Gómez Guerra, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
- Kyle Ormsby, Reed College
- Maru Sarazola, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- Sasha Voronov, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- Craig Westerland, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Logistics
Getting to UMN
- The Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) is conveniently located nearby Downtown Minneapolis. The airport is connected to the city center and to the UMN campus by public transport, particularly the Metro Blue Line.
- Metro Transit is the Minneapolis / St. Paul public transportation system – it includes bus and train services that run from very early morning until late in the evening.
- Bicycles and scooter rentals are available from Lime, Spin, and Veo.
Child care
Care.com connects visiting families with experienced local caregivers.
Explore the Twin Cities
Looking for things to do while in Minneapolis? Here are some great resources:
Micro-workshop: Data-driven approaches for physical models
The Data-driven approaches for physical models micro-workshop will take place on the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities campus on Monday, May 19th. This workshop will feature two speakers:
Aryan Deshwal
Adaptive Experimental Design to Accelerate Scientific Discovery and Engineering Design
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Aryan Deshwal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CS&E) at University of Minnesota. His research agenda is AI to Accelerate Scientific Discovery and Engineering Design where he focuses on advancing foundations of AI/ML to solve challenging real-world problems with high societal impact in collaboration with domain experts. He won the Outstanding Dissertation Award for his PhD and was selected for Rising Stars in AI by KAUST AI Initiative (2023).
Tobias Blickhan
Parametric model reduction of particle systems: discrete inverse continuity equation (DICE)
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Tobias Blickhan is a Faculty Fellow at the Courant Institute, New York University. He completed his PhD in mathematics at the Technical University of Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, working with Eric Sonnendrücker. His research focuses on reduced order modeling for parametrized partial differential equations and the application of generative modeling methods to physical systems.
Organizer
This event is sponsored by the National Science Foundation DMS-1846854.
85th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition
This year, the 85th William Lowell Putnam competition will be held on Saturday, December 7, 2024 in Vincent Hall Room 16 on the East Bank Campus. This is a test of mathematical creativity in problem solving, and is directed to students of science and engineering, as well as mathematics.
The exam consists of two three-hour sessions (9am - noon, and 2pm - 5pm), punctuated by a two-hour lunch break. While taking the exam, each participant works independently, and participation also includes a pledge not to post or discuss the exam questions online or otherwise before 7 p.m. (“8 p.m. EST”, which is the end of the exam on the West Coast) that day. The questions posed in previous editions are posted (together with solutions) on the examination website, and the “Putnam Exam Archive” managed by Kiran Kedlaya (www.kskedlaya.org/putnam-archive/) displays many more.
You are eligible to compete if you are an undergraduate student currently studying here (even as a visiting student), do not already hold a Bachelor's degree (or its equivalent or superior), and have not already participated in four of the previous competitions.
Practice sessions will be held every week until the date of the exam, starting on October 8 from 4:15 - 5:50pm in Vincent Hall 215.
To register for the exam and/or RSVP for the practice sessions please fill out this Google Form.
Full schedule of practice sessions:
All meetings will be held in 215 Vincent Hall.
- Tuesday, October 8th, 4:15 - 5:50 pm – Enjoy FREE PIZZA for our first practice session! ?
- Tuesday, October 15th, 4:15 - 5:50 pm
- Thursday, October 24th, 4:30 - 6:00 pm
- Thursday, October 31st, 4:30 - 6:00 pm
- Tuesday, November 5th, 4:15 - 5:50 pm
- Thursday, November 14th, 4:30 - 6:00 pm
- Tuesday, November 19th, 4:15 - 5:50 pm
- Monday, November 25th, 4:30 - 6:00 pm
- Thursday, December 5th, 4:30 - 6:00 pm
Summer School and Workshop on Relative Langlands Duality
Overview
The relative Langlands program is a generalization of the classical Langlands program from reductive groups to certain homogeneous spaces. The recent work of Ben-Zvi, Sakellaridis, and Venkatesh on relative Langlands duality reveals new connections of the program to algebraic geometry and physics. The summer school and workshop will cover several aspects of the relative Langlands program and explore those new connections.
Full resolution group photo download
Summer school on Relative Langlands Duality, June 3-5, 2024
Summer school schedule & talk info
Invited Speakers
- David Ben-Zvi (Austin)
- Chen Wan (Rutgers)
- Lei Zhang (NUS)
- Yiannis Sakellaridis (JHU)
- Hiraku Nakajima (IPMU)
Workshop on classical, geometric and physics aspects of the Relative Langlands program, June 6-8, 2024
Invited Speakers
- Gurbir Dhillon (Yale)
- Ruotao Yang (Skoltech)
- Wang Xiao (Chicago)
- David Nadler (Berkeley)
- Zhilin Luo (Chicago)
- Spencer Leslie (Boston College)
- Hiraku Nakajima (IPMU)
- Charlotte Chan (Michigan)
- Chen Wan (Rutgers)
- Tony Feng (Berkeley)
- Zhiwei Yun (MIT)
- Xinwen Zhu (Stanford)
Organizers
- Tsao-Hsien Chen (UMN)
- Dihua Jiang (UMN)
- Kai-Wen Lan (UMN)
- David Nadler (Berkeley)
- Lingfei Yi (UMN)
Recordings
June 3rd
June 4th
June 5th
June 6th
June 7th
June 8th
Developing Online Learning Experiments Using Doenet (2024)
Apply to attend
Organizers
- Kris Hollingsworth - Minnesota State University, Mankato
- Anurag Katyal - Palm Beach State College
- Melissa Lynn - St Olaf College
- Duane Nykamp - University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
In this five-day workshop, participants will learn how to create and implement online learning experiments using the Distributed Open Education Network (Doenet, doenet.org). Doenet is designed to help faculty critically evaluate how different content choices influence student learning in their classrooms. Doenet enables instructors to quickly test hypotheses regarding the relative effectiveness of alternative approaches by providing tools to assign different variations of an activity and analyze the resulting data.
Following brief introductions and demos of features of the Doenet platform, participants will work in small groups to develop learning experiments that can be used in the college classroom, assisted by the developers of Doenet. The expectation is that participants will leave the workshop with a learning experiment that they can use in their classroom the following year.
The workshop will run from 9 AM on Monday, May 20 through Noon on Friday, May 24. All organized activities will occur between 9 AM and 4 PM each day.
The workshop is open to faculty at all levels teaching STEM courses.
To apply, please submit the following documents through the Program Application link at the top of the page:
- A personal statement briefly (200 words or less) stating what you hope to contribute to the discussion on learning experiments and what you hope to gain from this workshop. Include courses you teach for which you'd like to develop learning experiments. Priority will be given to those able to run learning experiments in their courses in the following year.
- A brief CV or resume. (A list of publications is not necessary.)
Deadline for full consideration: April 17, 2024.
Recent Advances in Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations
Event Overview
Recent Advances in Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations will be held from May 13 through May 17, 2024, at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. The conference provides much needed opportunities for participants to keep track of the significant developments in some of the most active research areas in PDEs. The talks are arranged at a leisurely pace over one week, to allow participants ample time to interact with experts in their area of interest. Panel discussions on career developments and experts-led sessions on open problems will further enhance the involvement of participants in the conference. Speakers will be asked for permission to record their talks that will be made publicly available for a wider accessibility. Special attention will be paid to advertise and recruit participants from underrepresented groups.
The analysis of fluid equations and Calculus of Variations (CVs) is undergoing very rapid and significant progress in recent years. The conference features a wide scope of active topics in both fluid equations and calculus of variations. Specifically, the scientific themes of the conference include (i) Computation and Computer Assisted Proofs in PDEs, (ii) Convex Integration Techniques and its Applications, (iii) Regularity theory of the Euler and Navier Stokes equations, (iv) Hydrodynamic stability in high Reynolds number regime, (v) Calculus of Variations from material sciences. Important breakthroughs have been achieved in recent years in all these closely related areas. CVs is a fertile source of ideas for many branches of PDEs including fluid equations. It is hoped that by bringing together experts from both areas a cross-fertilization is more likely to occur.
Event Schedule
Speakers
- Kyungkeun Kang – Yonsei University
- Gregory Seregin – University of Oxford
- Alexander Kiselev – Duke University
- John Ball – Heriot-Watt University
- Thierry Gallay – Université Grenoble Alpes Institut Fourier
- Laszlo Szekelyhidi – Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences
- Camillo De Lellis – Institute for Advanced Study
- Richard James – University of Minnesota
- Javi Gomez-Serrano – Brown University
- Connor Mooney – University of California, Irvine
- Jacob Bedrossian – University of California, Los Angeles
- Anna Mazzucato – Pennsylvania State University
- Peter Constantin – Princeton University
- Peter Polacik – University of Minnesota
- Julien Guillod – Laboratoire Jacques-Louis Lions, Sorbonne Université
- Hyunju Kwon – ETH Zürich
- Irene Fonseca – Carnegie Mellon University
- Robert Kohn – New York University
- Svitlana Mayboroda – University of Minnesota
- Blair Davey – Montana State University
Organizers
- Dallas Albritton – University of Wisconsin, Madison
- Tarek Elgindi – Duke University
- Hao Jia – University of Minnesota
- Tai-Peng Tsai – University of British Columbia, Vancouver
- Vlad Vicol – New York University
- Xiaodong Yan – University of Connecticut
The conference is supported by NSF DMS-2346780: "Conference: Recent advances in nonlinear Partial Differential Equations." The event is also sponsored in part by the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications.