September 22, 2015
K-State, KU sponsor 13th annual Prairie Analysis Seminar
Several leading experts on aspects of mathematics in material science will be featured speakers at the 13th annual Prairie Analysis Seminar at Kansas State University.
The conference, which is free and open to the public, starts at noon Friday, Sept. 25, and continues all day Saturday Sept. 26, in Cardwell Hall. It is sponsored by the mathematics departments of K-State and the University of Kansas. The meeting is supported by a grant by the National Science Foundation and by K-State's Isidore and Hilda Dressler Endowment for the Enrichment of Mathematics.
The seminar will feature two one-hour talks by David Kinderlehrer, professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Giving one-hour talks will be professors Robert McCann of the University of Toronto, and Yekaterina Epshteyn of the University of Utah.
The speakers will focus on recent mathematical advances in the understanding of materials comprised of small crystallites or grains, separated by interfaces. Energy and connectedness of the grain boundaries network can determine the properties of the material across a wide range of scales. Much attention will be given to a new characterization of the texture, known as the Grain Boundary Character Distribution, related to the interfacial energy.
In addition, about 20 shorter talks will be given by mathematicians from throughout the U.S. and Canada. There is an expected attendance of around 40-50.
Conference organizers Marianne Korten and Nathan Albin, professors of mathematics at K-State, together with Estela Gavosto and Rodolfo Torres, mathematics professors at KU, and mathematics professor Charles Moore of
Washington State University, received a grant from the National Science Foundation for the seminar series from 2015 through 2017. The annual conference alternates between K-State and KU.
For more information on the seminar, call 785-532-0567 or visit the website.