Past Events Archive
To read details of past events select event from the list below
2009-03-17 Network Upgrade, Website unavailable
The morning of Tuesday, March 17 the College is putting new network hardware into our building. Over the time of this work there will be limited or no network connectivity in our building and from our building to the rest of the interweb.1) Please plan accordingly.
Work is scheduled to begin at 8:30 am.
It is my hope it will be all finished and all our systems will be back up by noon.
-Greg
2009-03-02 Kyle Burke Lecture
Sponsored by the Department of Computer Science in honor of
Winifred Asprey ‘38 Emeritus Professor of Computer Science
###Atropos: A Sperner Triangle Game###
Kyle Burke
Boston University
Monday, March 2, 4pm
OLB, Computer Science 105
Sperner's Triangle, a classic combinatorics tool, provides the backdrop for a new board game, Atropos, which we present in this talk. We discuss the rules of the game and play once against the audience! Following this, we use computer science to determine whether the game is a “good” game, showing that Atropos is PSPACE-complete for our main evidence.
Google for 'Atropos game' to find a playable applet of the game.
Kyle Burke is a graduate student at Boston University working towards a Ph.D. in boardgames. When not teaching, he creates combinatorial games and analyzes their computational complexity. This, unfortunately, does not leave him enough time to actually play them.
2009-02-20 Margaret Wright Lecture
Non-Derivative Optimization: Mathematics, Heuristics, or Hack
Margaret Wright
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
New York University
Friday, February 20, 2009
3:30pm
300 Rockefeller Hall
Tea at 3:15pm
Professor Wright's second Asprey Lecture, is entitled “Non-Derivative Optimization: Mathematics, Heuristics, or Hack?” This talk will briefly survey the current state of the art of non-derivative optimization methods, trying along the way to highlight a few of the interesting open mathematical questions. It is intended for an audience with some sophistication in mathematics.
For additional details see the full Vassar Press Release.
2009-02-19 Margaret Wright Lecture
The Remarkable Saga of Linear Programming: the Problem, the Methods, the Continuing Mysteries
Margaret Wright
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
New York University
Thursday, February 19, 2009
5:00pm
300 Rockefeller Hall
Reception at 4:30pm - Public Welcome
For additional details see the full Vassar Press Release.
2009-02-23 Edward Jung Lecture
Murray Visiting Professor
Dept. of Computer Science at Rutgers University
Monday, February 23, 2009
OLB classroom 105, 4pm
Information Security: Is this a good field to study?
Historically, the need for security goes back to almost 4000 years ago, B.C. 2000. However, it was during World War II when many modern security solutions were developed. The target application was primarily the war-related events. More recently, in the late ‘70s, the application of the modern security solution into the commercial realm became a reality with the advent of a security concept and technology known as “public-key cryptography”. For instance, the e-commerce application such as Internet banking was built based on this model. As we enter society in the 21st century, new reliable services are and will be in demand (in both public and private sectors); it will be worthwhile to review and discuss the current status and future prospects on the work of information security.
In this talk, we will start with reviewing historical perspectives on information security. Two fundamental human activities, i.e., various types of attacks and their counter-measures, will be studied in order to understand the risks involved in our daily life. Some of the topics include technical issues such as wireless security and mobile anti-virus protection, as well as social issues such as privacy (e.g., location privacy) and identity theft. Then, a list of practical applications and industry sectors where information security plays an important role will be presented. Finally, a list of potential undergraduate research topics will be briefly introduced. The primary goal of this talk is to provide undergraduate students with minimum technical background on this area with the opportunity to learn (‘feel’) this interesting field of study.
Bio:
Edward Jung is a Murray Visiting Professor in the Dept. of Computer Science at Rutgers University. His current research interest is in secure and reliable computing and networking with an emphasis on enhancing trustworthiness of mobile computing and wireless networks. From 1997 until 2003, he was a member of Technical Staff at Bell Labs, where he conducted research work in the areas of wireless data networks and network security. From 2003 until 2007, he worked on information security at Samsung Research, where he was director of the research group. He has co-authored about 30 technical publications and holds 60 US/international patents on these topics. He received an undergraduate degree (B.S. with Distinction) and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Upcoming Event Details
For information on Current and Upcoming Events, please select our Upcoming Events Page.