The schedule for last year, 2023-2024, can be found here.
September 19 (Thursday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Aaron J. Bertram, University of Utah
Title: Three is a Crowd: A Benjamin Button Colloquium
Abstract: Three is harder than two, and not just when dealing with human beings and celestial bodies. The complexity increases dramatically when we pass from line segments (two-gons) to triangles, from circles (bivalent graphs) to trivalent graphs and from quadratic forms to cubic forms on a complex vector space. While I want to focus on the last of these, pointing out the relationships between cubic forms and lattices, Gorenstein rings and ``K3-categories'', there is also rich mathematics in trivalent graphs and polygons that I might lead with in a standard colloquium talk. Instead I want to ``Benjamin Button'' this colloquium, starting with the more advanced mathematics first and working backward to an amusing ending/beginning.
October 3 (Thursday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Daniel Sanz-Alonso, University of Chicago
Title: Ensemble Kalman Methods and Structured Operator Estimation
Abstract: Data assimilation is concerned with estimating the state of a dynamical system from partial observations. In applications such as numerical weather prediction where the state is high dimensional and the dynamics are expensive to simulate, ensemble Kalman filters are often the method of choice. In this talk, I will present new results on structured covariance operator estimation that help explain why these algorithms can be effective even when deployed with a small ensemble size. Our theory also explains the importance of using covariance localization in ensemble Kalman methods for global data assimilation.
October 17 (Thursday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Qiang Ye, University of Kentucky
Title: Preconditioning for Accelerated Gradient Descent Optimization and Regularization
Abstract: Accelerated training algorithms, such as adaptive learning rates and various normalization methods, are widely used in deep learning but not fully understood. When regularization is introduced, standard optimizers like adaptive learning rates may not perform effectively. This raises the need for alternative regularization approaches and the question of how to properly combine regularization with preconditioning. In this talk, we present preconditioning as a unified mathematical framework for understanding various acceleration techniques and deriving appropriate regularization schemes. We will explain how preconditioning with AdaGrad, RMSProp, and Adam accelerates training; discuss the interaction between regularization and preconditioning, and demonstrate how normalization methods accelerate training and how this perspective can lead to new preconditioning training algorithms.
November 14 (Thursday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Jack Xin, UC Irvine
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
November 21 (Thursday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Jody Reimer. / Ken Golden
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
December 5 (Thursday), 4pm - Colloquium part of Distinguished Lecture Series In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Chandrashekhar Khare
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
February 20 (Thursday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Hau-Tieng Wu, NYU Courant
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
February 27 (Thursday), 4pm - Colloquium part of Distinguished Lecture Series In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Amie Wilkinson
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
March 6 (Thursday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Mark Iwen, Michigan State U.
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
March 20 (Thursday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Jesse Wolfson, UC Irvine
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
March 25 (Tuesday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335 (Note the unusual time!!) This colloquium is part of the AWM speaker series.
Speaker: Julia Pevstova, U. Washington, Seattle
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
March 27 (Thursday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Dejan Slepcev, Carnegie Mellon U.
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
April 3 (Thursday), 4pm - Colloquium part of Distinguished Lecture Series In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Mauro Maggioni , Johns Hopkins
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
April 8 (Tuesday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335 (Note the unusual time!!) This colloquium is part of the AWM speaker series.
Speaker: Claudia Miller, Syracuse U.
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
April 10 (Thursday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Ben Antieau, Northwestern U.
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
April 24 (Thursday), 4pm - In person, JWB 335
Speaker: Rustum Choksi, McGill U.
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD