LSU
Mathematics

# Front Page News

## Susanne C. Brenner appointed to NSF Advisory Committee

Professor Susanne C. Brenner was appointed to the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPSAC). The committee currently consists of twelve members, and its task is to "provide advice and recommendations to the National Science Foundation’s programs within the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS). Susanne C. Brenner and Lynne Hillenbrand (Astronomy; California Institute of Technology) are replacing Bruce Elmegreen (Physics; IBM Watson Research Center) and Emery Brown (Computational Neuroscience; Harvard and MIT) on the committee.

Susanne C. Brenner joined the math department in 2006 and is currently the Nicholson Professor of Mathematics. She is a SIAM Fellow (2010), AMS Fellow (2012) and AAAS Fellow (2012).

## Middleton Math Lab Featured in the News

(Photo: Bogdan Oporowski)

The Daily Reveille as well as the College of Science Newsletter covered the move of the Math Lab from Pleasant Hall to an 8,000 square foot space on the third floor of Middleton Library. The new Math Lab allows approximately 4,000 students a week access to one of the 254 computers.

## Blaise Bourdin to Deliver Plenary Lecture at CFRAC 2017

Professor Blaise Bourdin will be one of the plenary speakers at the fifth international Conference on Computational Modeling of Fractures and Failures of Materials and Structures (CFRAC 2017), June 14-16, 2017.

## Pramod Achar to deliver invited address at AMS Sectional Meeting

Professor Pramod Achar has been invited to deliver a planary address at the Sectional Meeting of the American Mathematical Society in Charleston, SC, March 10-12, 2017. Pramod Achar joined LSU in 2004.

(Photo: Bogdan Oporowski)

## 2016 Simons Foundation Collaboration Grants for Pallavi Dani and Phuc Nguyen

Professors Yaniv Almog, Pallavi Dani and Phuc Nguyen are among the recipients of the 2016 Simons Foundation Collaboration Grants for Mathematicians.
Each collaboration grant provides $7,000 per year for five years. The grants will commentce September 1, 2016, and end August 31, 2021. ## Mhel Lazo, B.S. Math 2012, featured in LSU’s social media campaign Mhel Lazo, who received his B.S. in Math in 2012 with a concentration in Actuarial Science, is featured in LSU’s social media campaign highlighting alums under 30 years old. In 2010 he participated in the LSU Math SMILE program. Currently, he works for The Walt Disney Company. ## Army grant for Robert Lipton Professor Robert Lipton was awarded a grant by the Army Research Office (ARO) for work on Mathematical and Multi-Scale Foundations of Nonlocal Modeling. The ARO provides funding of a total of$500,000 for three years through its Solid Mechanics Program. The goal of the research is to create the theoreticaland computational foundations necessary for nonlocal mechanical models to provide reliable and predictive simulations of dynamic fracture. Dynamic fracture is a complex problem involving multiple interacting cracksRobert Lipton's research will be supported by a postdoctoral associate who is funded through the grant.

Robert Lipton joined the LSU math department in 2001 from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute where
he was professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences.
Currently, he is the S.B Barton Professor of Mathematics.

(Photo: Bogdan Oporowski)

## Porcelli Lectures by Maria Chudnovsky Online

The Porcelli lectures by Maria Chudnovsky, Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, are available online on the YouTube channel of the LSU math department. The videos were prepared by Bogdan Oporowski, with the assistance of Joshua Fallon.

(Photo: Bogdan Oporowski)

## MATRIX workshop at the University of Melbourne

The MATRIX workshop on Hypergeometric Motives and Calabi Yau Differential Equations will take place January 8-28, 2017 at the University of Melbourne. The workshop is organized by Professors Ling Long (LSU), Masha Vlasenko (Polish Academy of Sciences) and Wadim Zudilin (University of Newcastle).

## Postdoctoral positions for new LSU PhD's

A number of 2016 LSU math PhD's have accepted postdoctoral positions: