It is with pleasure that the department of Mathematics, Physics, and Geology presents a summer speaker series in mathematics. Our series this summer explores recent achievements in research made by CBU faculty, staff, and graduates. We plan to have talks each month from May - August in person and on MSTeams to show the CBU community some of the wonderful places that a degree in mathematics at CBU can take you. While you take in some mathematics, we are happy to provide light refreshments to help maintain plasticity.

A note on CoViD-19: This speaker series will be delivered both in person and streamed on Microsoft Teams. In view to protecting our community, if you are not feeling well, please do use the Teams link to attend virtually.

Our Fourth Talk for the Season

Thursday, Aug 17, 2023 ROOM A-230

1130-1230pm: B. Hooper MSc, K. Quinn CPA, B. Melnick MEd, E. Rosta MSc, and S. Walsh MSc., Cape Breton University Mathematics Honours Graduates

Title: A Collections of Talks: Paths and Destinations opened by Mathematics.

Abstract: This hour session will contain three talks given by K. Quinn, followed by B. Melnick, followed by B. Hooper, E. Rosta and S. Walsh. Each of our speakers is an honours graduate from Cape Breton University Mathematics. They have all since gone on to earn graduate degrees from places like CBU, McMaster Univeristy, Dalhousie University, The University of Waterloo and more. With all of these graduates now working in Sydney, we very much look forward to hearing of the experiences a degree in mathematics at CBU can lead to.

Abstracts:

• K. Quinn. Living with Cerebral Palsy is not always easy, but I still continued on with my education at CBU after I graduated from high school in 2012. With math being my favorite subject in high school, I enrolled in the BSc at CBU focusing on mathematics. After finishing my honours in math at CBU, I continued my education at CBU to become a Chartered Professional Accountant. Even though accounting is less complex than mathematics, many doors have opened for me because of my academic backgrounds. Today, I am an Income Tax Auditor with the Canada Revenue Agency and also an Atlantic Regional Representative for Persons with Disabilities within the CRA.
• B. Melnick.I will discuss my path to becomming a math teacher - getting to CBU, my journey there, and how math and education will shape my future directions.
• B. Hooper: I will discuss moving from my math degree into software development while at Protocase, and then transitioning into my current role as a biostatistician. After this, I plan to discuss an example of an exciting project I worked on.
• E. Rosta: I will focus on the value of a math degree in a non-math-based research career, discussing topics from my work such as systematic literature reviews and economic modelling.
• S. Walsh:I will talk about my transition as a math student focusing on fluid mechanics during my master's to then becoming a biostatistician, and how the skills I developed and experiences gained at CBU have helped me throughout. I will also spend time discussing what my day-to-day activities while working in biostatistics and give a brief overview on some analyses we commonly conduct for clients.

Quick Bio's:

• K. Quinn: Born in Sydney, NS, Kelsey Quinn has been working for the CRA since January 2019. She has two degrees from CBU: BSc with Honours in Mathematics (2016), and BBA with a Major in Accounting and a Business Internship (2019). Kelsey is currently an Income Tax Auditor for the CRA, soon to become a CPA. She is also an Atlantic Regional Representative for Persons with Disabilities in the CRA. As a person living with Cerebral Palsy, Kelsey also works to give back to her community by tutoring mathematics and accounting and filing tax returns.
• B. Melnick: is from the Pier. She graduated from CBU mathematics with a BSc honours in 2015, earned her BEd at CBU in 2016 and is completing her Masters in Curriculum and Education Technology at Mount St. Vincent University. Brittney is working as a high school math and science teacher in the CBRM.
• B. Hooper was born in Sydney and Graduated with an honours degree in mathematics from CBU in 2016. She earned her MSc in mathematics at McMaster University in 2017 and now works in Sydney as an analyst.
• E. Rosta is from Birch Grove. She earned a BSc honours in mathematics in 2016 from CBU, a BSc from St F.X. in 2018, and earned her Masters in community health and epidemiology from Dalhousie in 2020.
• S. Walsh is from Sydney. She graduated from CBU mathematics in 2018 and also earned her Masters in applied mathematics from the University of Waterloo in 2020. She is now working locally as a bio-statistitian.

MSTeams Coordinates to follow by email. Email Scott Rodney at scott(dot)rodney(at)gmail(dot)com for technical support.

Our Third Talk for the Season

Thursday, June 22, 2023 ROOM TBA

1130-1230pm: Mr. J. Makary, Lab instructor, Cape Breton University

Title: An Algebraic Approach to Simplifying Quantum Circuits

Abstract: The quantum computer was originally posed by Richard Feynman and Yuri Manin, though work applying to the computer started to show in the 1960s. The foundations of the computer are based on quantum mechanics and was shown through the works of Peter Shor and Lov Grover to best our classical computer at certain tasks. This has led a vast number of mathematicians, physicists, engineers, and many more scientists to explore the possibilities of this machine. We will use mathematical tools to examine the operations this computer runs, and how to write a unique circuit to perform certain tasks. We will also give a normal form for popular circuits run on these machines.

Bio: Justin Makary is a lab instructor in the department of Mathematics, Physics and Geology at Cape Breton University. Before joining us in Cape Breton Justin completed a BSc. Double Hons in Mathematics and Computing Science from Saint Mary's University and MSc in Mathematics from Dalhousie. More, he was also part of the Dalhousie Quantum Computing Research Group, under the supervision of Neil J. Ross. These days, Justin is heavily engaged in mathematics education and hopes to make quantum computing accessible for early undergraduates.

MSTeams Coordinates to follow by email. Email Scott Rodney at scott(dot)rodney(at)gmail(dot)com for technical support.

Our Second Talk for the Season

Thursday, June 22, 2023 SB-200

1130-1230pm: Dr. Y. Salmaniw, University of Alberta

Title: From analyzing to modelling with partial differential equations

Abstract: In my undergraduate years at Cape Breton University (2012-2016), I was given the opportunity to study a subclass of partial differential equations in great detail. Armed with a solid analytical background, I extended this investigation through my master’s and doctoral degrees. My focus gradually shifted from a purely analytical study of these equations to utilizing them as tools for understanding specific phenomena in the natural world. In this talk, I will briefly outline my academic journey from Cape Breton University to McMaster University and, finally, to the University of Alberta. The focus of the discussion will then be the content of my recent dissertation, where I used parabolic and elliptic partial differential equations to model the impacts of habitat loss in single- and multi-species settings. We will wrap up with an exploration of the limitations of these models and how the field of movement ecology is advancing towards more realistic and mathematically engaging scenarios to better describe animal movement behaviour.

PDF slides HERE

Bio: Dr. Y. Salmaniw graduated from CBU mathematics in 2016, completed his MSc Mathematics at McMaster and, was awarded his PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Alberta in 2023. More, Dr. Salmaniw won an NSERC Post Doctoral Fellowship to study at Oxford University for two years. From his beginnings at CBU researching with Professor Chen, to his graduate studies with H. Wang(UA) and Z. Shen(UA), Dr. Salmaniw has been passionate about modelling biological systems with mathematics. His interests vary widely from non-local problems in partial differential equations to the modelling of habitat fragmentation and its impacts on population dynamics. Dr. Salmaniw has given many conference talks on his research and is an engaging speaker. We hope to see you there.

MSTeams Coordinates to follow by email. Email Scott Rodney at scott(dot)rodney(at)gmail(dot)com for technical support.

Our first Talk for the Season

Thursday, May 11, 2023 SB-200

1130-1230pm: Sullivan Francis MacDonald, University of Toronto

Title: Decompositions in Hölder Spaces

Abstract: In this talk, I will discuss recent work on the problem of decomposing non-negative H\"older continuous functions into finite sums of squares of functions which inherit some smoothness. This problem is motivated by applications in partial differential equations and pseudo-differential operators, and progress has relied on a combination of techniques from classical analysis, convex geometry, and occasional uses of combinatorics and graph theory. Following an expository discussion, I will present some improvements on earlier results, new techniques for approaching the decomposition problem, and recent insights which may motivate future research. Time permitting, I will also discuss interesting open problems that are accessible to undergraduate and graduate students.

Full PDF description and abstract HERE
PDF slides HERE (Best viewed in Adobe Acrobat)

Bio: Sullivan F. MacDonald is from Dutch Brook just south of Sydney along the Gabarus highway. He graduated with an honours degree in Mathematics from CBU in 2021, has just finished his Master's degree at McMaster and is now a PhD candidate in the Mathematics Program at the University of Toronto. Sullivan's interests are broad and include topics like the one above along with functional analysis, Orlicz Spaces, the question mark function and other pathological objects, regularity theory for PDEs, and more.

MSTeams Coordinates to follow by email. Email Scott Rodney at scott(dot)rodney(at)gmail(dot)com for technical support.