Calendar

Time interval: Events:

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Posted August 26, 2026

Informal Analysis Seminar Questions or comments?

12:30 pm – 1:20 pm Lockett 233

Shrinkal Wagle, Louisiana State University
TBD (PDEs)

Posted September 15, 2026

Geometry and Topology Seminar Seminar website

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Virtual

Ian Cavey, University of Massachusetts Amherst
TBA

Event contact: Kyle Binder

Posted August 27, 2026

Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?

3:30 pm Lockett Hall 233

Fabian Espinoza de Osambela, Louisiana State University
TBD

TBD

Friday, October 16, 2026

Posted September 30, 2026
Last modified October 8, 2026

Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?

10:30 am – 11:20 am Zoom: https://lsu.zoom.us/j/98176468969

Franco Blanchini, University of Udine, Italy IEEE Fellow, IFAC Fellow
Control Theory and Mechanisms

Mathematics has recently gained recognition as a language for addressing problems in biology, biochemistry, and medicine. Control theory is a branch of mathematics that draws on tools from several mathematical disciplines. Many techniques originally developed to solve control problems can be adapted to address new and relevant questions, both practical and curiosity-driven, in other fields. This talk focuses on the structural analysis of control systems, with the aim of understanding how mechanisms work, why they behave in a certain way, and to what extent they can perform their intended functions reliably, even in the presence of perturbations and disturbances. The first part introduces motivating examples from disciplines outside control theory, illustrating how a control-theoretic approach can provide powerful insights into their underlying principles. The second part introduces the notions of structural and robust properties, discussing paradigmatic case studies from the literature. Robust stability analysis is approached from an inverse perspective: "We know that this system is stable, but why is it so remarkably stable?" Other fundamental concepts, such as (perfect) adaptation, structural steady-state analysis, graph-based loop analysis, and aggregation, are also discussed. The third part presents applications from biology and biochemistry, illustrating the potential impact that control theory, suitably adapted, can have on these disciplines. It highlights how interdisciplinary research can bring fresh perspectives and new challenges to control theorists.

Posted October 6, 2026

LSU SIAM Student Chapter

2:30 pm – 3:30 pm Keisler Lounge

Jeremy Shahan, Louisiana State University
Industry Speaker

Jeremy Shahan, who graduated with his Ph.D from LSU in 2025, is visiting to give a talk about his work as a Finite Element Developer at Deep South Crane and Rigging, LLC.

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Posted September 20, 2026

Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Lockett 233 or click here to attend on Zoom

Murtadha Aljanabi, LSU
TBA

Posted September 29, 2026

Computational Mathematics Seminar

3:30 pm – 4:20 pm LDMC, Room 1034

Mansur Shakipov, University of Houston
A Stokes–Cahn–Hilliard Model of a Phase-Separated Fluid Membrane: Analysis and Discretization

We study the surface Stokes–Cahn–Hilliard system governing tangential flow and phase separation in viscous fluid membranes. The equations are posed on a closed stationary surface embedded in 3D. We first address the questions of well-posedness, continuous dependence and higher-regularity. We then propose an unfitted finite element method with a novel stabilization term that eliminates spurious velocity components associated with Killing fields in the numerical solution. Assuming geometric exactness, we derive error estimates in the energy and L2 norms for the spatially-discrete method. Finally, we explore the model computationally.

Event contact: Shawn Walker

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Posted August 26, 2026

Informal Analysis Seminar Questions or comments?

12:30 pm – 1:20 pm Lockett 233

Sayandeep Sarkar, Louisiana State University
TBD (PDEs)

Event contact: Laura Kurtz

Posted September 15, 2026

Geometry and Topology Seminar Seminar website

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Lockett 233

Emily Stark, Wesleyan University
TBA

Event contact: Kevin Schreve

Posted August 27, 2026

Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?

3:30 pm Lockett Hall 233

Huong Vo, Louisiana State University
TBD

TBD

Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Posted September 28, 2026

Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Lockett 233 or click here to attend on Zoom

Yifeng Huang, Emory University
TBA

Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Posted August 26, 2026
Last modified October 6, 2026

Informal Analysis Seminar Questions or comments?

12:30 pm – 1:20 pm Lockett 233

Majid Abubakar, Louisiana State University
Asymptotic Analysis of Integral Functionals of Ergodic Jump-Diffusion Processes under Discretization

tbd

Event contact: Laura Kurtz

Posted September 15, 2026

Geometry and Topology Seminar Seminar website

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Lockett 233

Colby Kelln, University of Minnesota
TBA

Event contact: Jagerynn Ting Verano

Posted August 27, 2026

Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?

3:30 pm Lockett Hall 233

Krishnendu Kar, Louisiana State University
TBD

TBD

Thursday, October 29, 2026

Posted September 21, 2026

LSU SIAM Student Chapter

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Helen Moore, University of Florida
Counterintuitive Optimization for Airplanes and Medicines: How to Improve Patient Outcomes Using Mathematics

: Finding a treatment regimen that increases median patient survival time by 5% means extra time with loved ones for patients. It can also mean the difference between clinical trial success and failure for a new therapy. In the past, trial and error was used to find treatment regimens that yield better patient outcomes. Now we have mechanistic mathematical models of disease-therapy dynamics that can help. Optimization methods can predict regimens expected to achieve the best outcomes; these regimens can then be tested experimentally and clinically. This can be especially helpful when there are many possible different combinations to consider, or when optimal regimens are counterintuitive. I will make the case that counterintuitive solutions can be best in the real world, for both airplanes and treatment regimens, and that we may be missing out on substantial patient benefit when we don’t calculate optimal regimens for our disease models.

Friday, October 30, 2026

Posted September 21, 2026

Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?

10:30 am – 11:20 am Zoom: https://lsu.zoom.us/j/98176468969

Tim Hoheisel, McGill University, Canada
A Computational Framework for Linear Inverse Problems via the Maximum Entropy on the Mean Method

We present a framework for solving linear inverse problems that is computationally tractable and has mathematical certificates. To this end, we interpret the ground truth of a linear inverse problem as a random vector with unknown distribution. We solve for a distribution which is close to a prior P (guessed or data-driven) measured in the KL-divergence while also having an expectation that yields high fidelity with the given data that defines the problem. After reformulation this yields a strictly convex, finite dimensional optimization problem whose regularizer, the MEM functional, is paired in duality with the log-moment generating function of the prior P. We exploit this computationally via Fenchel-Rockafellar duality. When no obvious guess for P is available, we use data to generate an empirical prior. Using techniques from variational analysis and stochastic optimization, we show that, and at what rate, the solution of the empirical problems converges (as the sample size grows) to the solution of the problem with known prior. Moreover, we show how stochastic subgradient methods can be brought to bear on the MEM dual. This is joint work with Rustum Choksi (McGill), Matthew King-Roskamp (McGill), and Gabriel Rioux (Imperial College).

Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Posted August 26, 2026

Informal Analysis Seminar Questions or comments?

12:30 pm – 1:20 pm Lockett 233

Jackson Knox, Louisiana State University
TBD (Dynamical Systems)

Event contact: Laura Kurtz

Posted September 25, 2026

Geometry and Topology Seminar Seminar website

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Lockett 233

Steven Clontz, University of South Alabama
TBA

Posted August 27, 2026

Informal Geometry and Topology Seminar Questions or comments?

3:30 pm Lockett Hall 233

Michael Young, Louisiana State University
TBD

TBD

Friday, November 6, 2026

Posted September 30, 2026

Control and Optimization Seminar Questions or comments?

10:30 am – 11:20 am Zoom: https://lsu.zoom.us/j/98176468969

Daniel Wachsmuth, University of Wuerzburg, Germany
Solution Algorithms for Nonsmooth Optimal Control Problems Based on the Pontryagin Maximum Principle

The talk is motivated by optimal control problems for partial differential equations. The main interest is in problems that involve integral functions of the type \[\int_\Omega g(u(x)) \ dx,\] where $g : \mathbb R \to \mathbb R$ is nonsmooth and nonconvex, and $u$ is the control variable. Examples involve $L^{\scriptscriptstyle r}$-pseudonorms with $r\in [0,1)$ or problems with the constraint $u(x) \in \mathbb Z$ for $x\in \Omega$. Due to the nonconvexity of $g$, the existence of solutions in $L^{\scriptscriptstyle p}$-spaces cannot be proven. Local solutions (if they exist) can be proven to satisfy the Pontryagin maximum principle. A distinctive feature of this result is that no differentiability with respect to the control variable $u$ is required. The maximum principle serves as a starting point to develop an implementable solution algorithm. We prove that the residual in the maximum principle vanishes along the iterates produced by the algorithm. Under additional assumptions, the iterates are a minimizing sequence.

Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Posted August 22, 2026

Algebra and Number Theory Seminar Questions or comments?

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Lockett 233 or click here to attend on Zoom

Isabella Negrini, University of Toronto
TBA

Event contact: Gene Kopp

Wednesday, November 11, 2026

Posted August 26, 2026

Informal Analysis Seminar Questions or comments?

12:30 pm – 1:20 pm Lockett 233

Ruben Acevedo Acevedo, Louisiana State University
TBD (Spectral Theory)

Posted September 15, 2026