Campus Theory Seminars
Fall Semester 1995
Michigan State University College of Natural Science
MSU College of Natural Science Campus Theory Seminars are held in Room 224
of the Physics-Astronomy Building on the
Michigan State University campus
at 11:30 am on the first Thursday of each month during Fall
Semester and on the third Thursday of each month during Spring
Semester.
Refreshments are served at 11:15 am.
Thursday, 7 September 1995
- Speaker: Michael F. Thorpe
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, Michigan State University
- Topic: Rigidity in Networks
- Rigidity of Networks made up of bars and joints has important applications
in mechanical structures and solid materials. We describe the transition from floppy
to rigid and how these ideas can help us understand physical properties.
Thursday, 5 October 1995
- Speaker: Erik D. Goodman
- Case Center for Computer-Aided Engineering & Manufacturing, Michigan State University
- Topic: Genetic Algorithms and Applications to Hard Global Optimization
Problems
- Genetic Algorithms (GA's) were conceived in the 60's by John Holland (U. of Mich.)
as an approach to optimization and machine learning. GA's use a finite-length string or tree
(or forest) to represent a possible solution to the problem, and mimic aspects of evolution
to search the space: strings crossover and/or mutate to create new strings, then a function
evaluation determines the fitness of a new solution, and the fittest ones survive to continue
the process.
Thursday, 2 November 1995
- Speaker: Mervyn Susser
- Editor of the American Journal of Public Health
and Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor of Epidemiology Emeritus, Columbia University
- Topic: Choosing a Future for Epidemiology: From the Black Box to Chinese Boxes
- Mervyn Susser is best known for studies of the short and long term effects of
pregnancy nutrition on later health and development (Famine and Human Development:
The Dutch Hunger Winter of 1944-45, Oxford University Press, 1975), and for his interest
in causal theory in epidemiology (Causal Thinking in the Health Sciences, Oxford
University Press, 1972). A longstanding interest in the relationship of social and political
science to medicine and public health (Sociology in Medicine, 3rd Edition, 1985) has
found recent expression in his explorations of the role of epidemiology in the public policy
arena and the paradigm which underlies epidemiology.
Thursday, 7 December 1995
- Speaker: Michael Frazier
- Department of Mathematics, Michigan State University
- Topic: Wavelets: From Mathematics to Industry
- We will describe the basics of the theory of wavelets and discuss some of the
applications. We hope to answer the following questions: What is a wavelet? What's new and/or
important about wavelets? For what sorts of problems are wavelet methods likely to be more
useful than traditional Fourier analysis techniques?
For Further Information
- Contact:
- Raoul D. LePage
- Tel: (517) 353-3984
- Fax: (517) 353-3902
- entropy@msu.edu
Back to MSU Physics-Astronomy Home Page
MSU College of Natural Science Campus Theory Seminar Schedule page, created by
George J. Perkins.
Updated 1995.10.04 by GJP.