April/May 2015 NewsletterMathematics and Statistics

Visitor University Host From To Room ExtnRichard Law York M Plank 16.3.15 16.5.15 605 8028Ian Frigaard (Erskine) British Columbia M Moyers-Gonzalez 1.5.15 7.6.15 607 8875

Welcome to our School Visitors

Douglas Bridges’ Retirement Function

After 16 years of teaching and outstanding research at UC, Professor Emeritus Douglas Bridges retired on 24 April. Douglas held the Chair of Pure Mathematics and also spent several years as Head of Department. He is still involved in the CORCON project so will continue to have an office here(Erskine Room 502, extn 7663). A very enjoyable dinner to mark the occasion was held on 18 May. Thanks to Mark Hickman for the photos, which continue on page 4.

Professor Ian Frigaard (Erskine Fellow)Welcome to Ian Frigaard, who comes to us from the Departments of Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Ian’s field of special interest is Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, and during his time at UC he has been teaching in EMTH210. Ian, who is based in Room 607, is hosted by Miguel Moyers-Gonzalez, and is also interacting with Phil Wilson.

New ArrivalWelcome home to Blair Robertson, who has returned this month from the University of Wyoming in Laramie, USA, to take up a mathematics lecturing position in the School. Blair will be a familiar face to many, having graduated with a PhD in Mathematics from this School in 2010. He is based in Room 713.

2015 UC Teaching AwardCongratulations to Michael Plank, who has been awarded a 2015 University of Canterbury Teaching Award. The award will be presented on 8 June, during UC Teaching Week.

Callaghan Career AwardMasters student Jasper McKenzie has been awarded a Callaghan Career Award for ‘Big Data Engineering Science’ in Wynyard Group’s R & D team. He was chosen from a short-list of four candidates across the nation based on his ability to build from source and demonstrate technical understanding of open source technologies from the Berkeley Data Analytic Stack (BDAS). His MSc in CAMS is in digital humanities involving a computationally intensive nonparametric analysis of all trials in the Old Bailey Court of London, England, from 1674 to 1913. Jasper starts his job on 18 May.

Raaz Sainudiin

Successful PhD DefenceCongratulations to Dr Lisa Henley, who last month successfully defended her CAMS PhD thesis on The Quantification and Visualisation of Human Flourishing. Lisa, who lives on Waiheke Island, was supervised by Jennifer Brown and Marco Reale and examined by Professor Les Oxley from Waikato University. Shortly after her defence, she flew out to the USA to attend the SAS Global Forum Conference in Dallas as an invited speaker. Above: Lisa (back row, first left) and her fellow SAS student ambassadors in Dallas.

http://blogs.sas.com/content/sgf/2015/04/26/the-future-of-analytics/

Research Tip of the MonthHaving fresh ideas for research helps keep momentum going. I like to go to a variety of conferences to meet different people and listen to different talks. This often leads to new collaborations and research ideas. I find that going to a conference just outside my normal area is a great way to challenge myself to start something new.

Jennifer Brown

Congratulations to our Recent GraduatesBA (1

stClass Hons) in Mathematics: Carolyn Irons

BSc (1st

Class Hons) in Mathematics: Michael Hackney, Allanah Kenny and Alex Warnaar. BA (Statistics): Nicholas Coomber

BSc (Mathematics): Christopher Bryant, Yun Hee Choi, Christopher Gellen, Daniel Gray, Eun Young Lee,Callum Nicoll, Benjamin Roberts, Miles Rout, Liam Sycamore, Viliami Tuipulotu and James van Dyk.

BSc (Statistics): Cameron Bell, Christopher Bryant, Yun Hee Choi, Oliver Eaton and Eun Young Lee.

Papers SubmittedSainudiin, R., Moyers-Gonzalez, M., and Burghelea, T.: A Microscopic Gibb Field Model for the Macroscopic Yielding Behaviour of a Viscoplastic Fluid, Journal article, 15 pages, 2015.

Papers AcceptedHosking, R.: Solving Sangaku with Traditional Techniques, an article for a book called Proceedings of the Takebe Conference 2014, to be published in 2016 by the Mathematical Society of Japan (MSJ) in the series `Advanced Studies for Pure Mathematics' (ASPM).

Papers PublishedBinny, R., Plank, M.J., and James, A.: Spatial Moment Dynamics for Collective Cell Movement Incorporatinga Neighbour-dependent Directional Bias, J.R. Soc. Interface 12:20150228http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2015.0228.

Sainudiin, R., Thatte, B. and Véber, A.: Ancestries of a Recombining Diploid Population, Journal of Mathematical Biology, 0303-6812, 10.1007/s00285-015-0886-z, pages 1-46, 2015.

Conferences and Visits

Brendan Creutz: invited to attend the Rational Points 2015 Workshop at the Franken-Akadamie Schloss, Schney, Germany, from 26 June to 6 July.

Giulio Dalla Riva: attending Ergodic 2015, MCEB 2015, MMEE 2015, and visiting ENS and the University of Zurich, 13 June – 15 July.

Jeanette McLeod: attended two Te Punaha Matatini (TPM) research meetings at the University of Auckland on 20 and 24 April.

Michael Plank: to attend the Society of Mathematical Biology Annual Conference in Atlanta Georgia, 30 June – 3 July.

Charles Semple: to attend the Moutons Matheux Workshop in Structural Matroid Theory, France, 5 -11 July.

Maarten McKubre-Jordens visited Stockholm University from 7 April – 7 May to carry out research with Erik Palmgren and his group on the Marie Curie IRSES project Correctness by Construction. While he was there, he gave a seminar titled Mathematics in Contradiction.

Photo: Erik Palmgren and Maarten in front of the Sankt Lars Kyrkoruin (St Lawrence Church ruins) in Sigtuna township, the oldest town in Sweden. Sigtuna was founded in 980AD, and the Sankt Lars Kyrka was built around 1100AD. Amongst other things, ancient runic stones inscribed with futhark runes adorn the site.

Douglas Bridges’ retirement dinner

News from the Library

• To recommend books to the Library, send the details to the Library Liaison Officer for Mathematics and Statistics, Assoc. Prof. Marco Reale http://bit.ly/1zwYHKa

• New books: Librarians’ Picks of the Month http://canterbury.libguides.com/newbooks• New titles for Mathematics and Statistics http://bit.ly/NVj1hV; for Mathematical Statistics

http://bit.ly/MIS2WA; new-titles-list generator http://bit.ly/1brTI3EFrom the Web

1. Mathematicians Chase Moonshine’s Shadow (Quanta Magazine) http://bit.ly/1GarJl72. We Are Instant Number Crunchers (The Loom, National Geographic) http://bit.ly/1EHgFgu3. Committing the ‘Gambler’s Fallacy’ May Be in the Cards, New Research Shows (Texas A&M U)

http://bit.ly/1Eyds4c4. Topology Teaching Blogs (Blog on Math Blogs) http://bit.ly/1FOV9oi5. The Math Major Who Never Reads Math (Math with Bad Drawings) http://bit.ly/1CudJU66. The Mystery of Extraordinarily Accurate Medieval Maps (Discover Magazine) http://bit.ly/19dVFle7. Breadth vs. Depth: Why Some Researchers Are Inclined to Span Boundaries, Others to Remain

within Them (U Virginia) http://bit.ly/1Glg4Qs8. The Unintended Consequences of Borrowing Business Tools to Run a University (Chronicle of

Higher Education) http://bit.ly/18G1Yi79. To Help Students Succeed Professionally and Personally, Teach the Art of Being Human (Chronicle

of Higher Education) http://bit.ly/1EMvDlr10. IFLA statement welcoming UN Special Rapporteur on Copyright Policy and the Right to Science and

Culture http://bit.ly/1b2J0D1And on the lighter side...

• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Feb 12, 2015 http://bit.ly/1zjfOw7• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Feb 14, 2015 http://bit.ly/1FzTOBz•

John Arnold | Mathematics/Statistics Liaison Librarianhttp://canterbury.libguides.com/profile/JohnArnold