The 2022 PME conference is pleased to host 2 invited speakers: Dr Steven M Seubert and Dr Sara Jensen.
Steven M Seubert (born March 26, 1959) is an American mathematician having over forty publications in function-theoretic operator theory, and ten in mathematical biology (mate choice models), economics (job search models) and psychology (synchrony) with four Ph.D. students. He received his B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in 1981, and M.A. and Ph.D, from the University of Virginia in 1983 and 1987, respectively. He joined the faculty at Bowling Green State University in 1987 where he became a Professor in 2000 and retired in 2022 after serving the Department of Mathematics and Statistics as Assistant Chair, Graduate Coordinator, and Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Seubert has been awarded the Kappa Mu Epsilon honorary society award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics on multiple occasions, BGSU’s Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, and the Ronald McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program Award for the advancement of minorities and under-represented college students.
He takes a keen interest in the mathematics of art and the art of mathematics, having taught courses in each on several occasions. He established an endowed scholarship for students to study the glass arts at Chihuly’s school in Pilchuk, Seattle, holds the title of “El Magnifico” for non-art faculty supporter of BGSU arts, and is President of the Labino Glass Arts Society.
When not landscaping or gardening on his six acre farm, playing with his four beloved grandchildren, designing community art installations, or playing his French horn, Steve is most likely to be found on the nearest tennis court.
Saturday Morning Talk
The Pope’s Rhinoceros
Abstract: This talk is a vivid account of the mathematics of navigation at sea, spun around one of history’s most bizarre chapters: the sixteenth-century Portuguese attempt to procure a rhinoceros as a bribe for Pope Leo X.
Sara Jensen is an associate professor of mathematics at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI, a mother of 4, and (just this past year) a runner of 2 half marathons. A graduate of Carthage, Dr. Jensen earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the supervision of Dr. Martin (Marty) Isaacs, one of the leading researchers in finite group theory and character theory. She enjoys working on research with undergraduate students, and has mentored many projects, two of which have been published in peer reviewed journals (“Fundamental Groups of Simplicial Complexes” and “Determining Frobenius Complements from Sequences of kth Powers”). Some enjoyable recent projects conducted with undergraduates include “An Analysis of Gender Bias in Film” and “Investigating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Statistics and Data Science Courses”.
Dr. Jensen’s research interests extend beyond these topics to include the mathematics of games and knitting. Dr. Jensen took a skill learned from her grandmother and developed “The Mathematics of Knitting,” an undergraduate course on knitting offered at Carthage. While her favorite things to knit are hats, her students have knitted throw pillows, potholders with geometric patterns, headbands, phone cases, coffee mug cozies, baby hats, and even a Rubik’s Cube. Dr. Jensen uses this class to expose topics that are traditionally reserved for math-only audiences – such as geometry, abstract algebra, and topology – to a wide range of students.
Dr. Jensen served as a mathematical crafting consultant for a New York Times bestselling author. Her article “Why I Teach Math Through Knitting” was published in The Conversation before being picked up by Smithsonian Magazine, Interesting Engineering, and Popular Science. Currently, her research focuses on Sequence Knitting and covering numbers of finite groups.
Dr Sara Jensen
Friday Evening Talk
The Slippery Symmetry of Stockings
Fair Isle knitting is a type of knitting using two colors at a time to create patterns, with restrictions on the number of stitches in a row that can be the same color. Given the rules of Fair Isle knitting, one can ask what it means for two Fair Isle patterns to be the same and how many different Fair Isle patterns are possible given n stitches. Using Fair Isle knitting as an example, we will explore how fiber arts can provide the mathematical community with deep and rich mathematical questions. This talk will examine some of the mathematical approaches I’ve considered with Fair Isle knitting, including computer programming, Abstract Algebra, and Number Theory.
