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Toyota-RIT Applied Mathematics Initiative

Presenter Biographies & Abstracts

TAMI Presentations 2015 www.rit.edu/science/tami

Rochester Institute of Technology

TAMI Presentations

June 29, 2015 – July 2, 2015 Monday June 29, 2015 8:20 am in GOS-A300

Opening Remarks

Dr. Laura Tubbs

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, College of Science,

RIT Dr. Laura Tubbs is the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education in the College of Science and a Professor in the School of Chemistry and Material Sciences. She received her M.S and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester. Her research interests include nuclear chemistry, measurement of naturally occurring radioisotopes using tandem accelerator based mass spectroscopy, archeological and environmental dating and tracing, and Neutron Activation Analysis - archeological applications. http://www.rit.edu/science/people/laura-tubbs

http://www.rit.edu/science/people/laura-tubbs




Monday June 29, 2015 8:30 am in GOS-A300

Symbols Are Not Scary! Dr. Erik Golen, RIT

Bio: Erik Golen is an engineer by trade, but an academic at heart. During his career, he has worked for several engineering outfits, including the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport, Syracuse Research Corporation, and BlackBox Biometrics. Through it all, the freedom of academia continues to draw him back. Erik holds both a Ph.D. in Computing and Information Sciences and a BS in Computer Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology and recently accepted a Visiting Assistant Professor position in the Information Sciences and Technologies Department at RIT.

Abstract: As our children progress through school, the numbers that they have performed computations on for years slowly begin to disappear and are replaced by symbols. Solutions to problems are rarely a clean, singular value, but a collection of symbols, operators, and numbers that on the surface appear to no longer have a basis in a student's reality. A cross-disciplinary approach that makes connections between mathematics, computing, and the sciences may be just what students need to relate these concepts to something more concrete than theorems, proofs, and postulates.





The Road to Medical Training Naomi Pless, M.D., Accelcare Urgent Care

Bio: Naomi Pless received her undergraduate and Master's degrees from MIT in 1979. After four years working for a California think tank, she attended Rush Medical College. She completed residency and fellowship training at the University of Rochester, and was subsequently on the U of R Family Medicine faculty as the Co-director of Community Medicine. Shortly after her second child was born, she left the U of R and became an "itinerant" physician, providing vacation coverage and taking on pro bono medical projects. She currently works as an urgent care physician and homeschools her 12 year old son. In her spare time she has been known to work in her backyard organic fruit and vegetable garden, costume shows for the Off Monroe players (Rochester's Gilbert & Sullivan Theater Company) and run a pre-order natural foods co-op.

Abstract: I loved high school math, and was very good it. (Funny how that works!) That didn’t really continue in college. Nevertheless, I was hired because of my math skills for my first job out of college at a think tank in California. My road eventually led to medical school and Rochester. I’ll talk about the path to and through medical training, how math is actually used in medical care, and why medical school should have required statistics instead of calculus.





Motivating Mathematics Justin Pearson, Unity Health System

Bio: Mr. Pearson attended high school at Saint Johnsbury Academy in Vermont, and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor's in Applied Mathematics from RIT. Currently he is working towards a Master's in Applied Statistics at his alma mater. He has worked as part of the Saint Johnsbury town-planning committee, as a CNC lathe operator, and as a safety process analyst for Unity Health System. None of these jobs were of an academic nature, yet mathematics played a valuable role in each.

Abstract: Motivation to learn is essential, more so in mathematics than in other disciplines. The memorization can be tedious, the fundamentally different way of thinking can be uncomfortable, and failing to grasp something - and it happens to most at one time or another - can be painful and embarrassing. A student who is expected to understand when in fact they have a weak grasp of the material can feel hopeless: rather than working to resolve the problem or asking for help, they might blame the math or the teacher, but the worst thing that they can do is resign themselves to being 'not smart enough'. Having something that holds students' enthusiasm, piques their curiosity and sense of fun, and brings them eagerly back even if they stumble is vital. The high school classroom, where inspirational teachers and choice of study meet for the first time, is the best place to instill these feelings. Students who are prepared for college and equipped with the skills to pursue their studies will have all the motivation they need to succeed in mathematics.




Monday June 29, 2015 2:00 pm in GOS-A300

Applications of high school math in micro-structured

optical films for displays, LED luminaires, and daylighting Thomas R. Hoffend Jr., Ph.D., 3M

Bio: Thomas R. Hoffend Jr. (Tom) is an advanced research specialist at 3M Company in the Electronics and Energy Group laboratory. He graduated from R. L. Thomas High School in Webster, NY in 1983. He received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from SUNY Buffalo. He started training in industrial mathematical modeling as a summer intern at Eastman Kodak. He was a NSF/3M post doc in industrial mathematics at Institute for Mathematics and its Applications at University of Minnesota. He has worked at 3M as a professional industrial mathematical modeler, process and product developer, and optical designer since 1992. Tom has worked on many 3M processes and products including data storage tape, respirators, large core light fiber, rapid thermal processing and machining by flash lamps and lasers, multi-layer optical films, laser-induced thermal imaging, LCD and OLED displays, sunlight collection and delivery systems, solar and high-efficiency LED luminaires with shaped exit patterns, vacuum-insulated glazing, and daylight-redirecting optics for windows.

Abstract:




Monday June 29, 2015 3:00 pm in GOS-A300

Mathematical Modeling of Living Systems Dr. Moumita Das, RIT

Bio: Dr. Moumita Das is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Rochester Institute of Technology. She obtained her doctorate at the Indian Institute of Physics Bangalore, India on the physics of liquid crystals and colloids. She then shifted focus to researching the physics of living systems, especially cell mechanics and migration. She did her postdoctoral research at Harvard University, University of California Los Angeles and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands). Her current research interests lie in the interface between Biology and Physics. She uses mathematical models to study how living cells and tissues use physics to their advantage and how physical properties influence their functions.

Abstract: In the past decade, knowledge about the physical properties of living systems—starting at the level of molecules, to biological cells, to tissues has been rapidly accumulating. In part, these advances have been driven by recent technological innovations in imaging and micromanipulation tools that have allowed quantitative measurements of physical properties of living systems. Using clearly stated mechanistic principles and empirical data obtained from these measurements, mathematicians and physicists can construct simple toy models for living systems expressed as equations, and perform computer simulations by solving these equations to predict or verify emergent or collective behavior over time. We can also use mathematical models to understand the changes that take place in cells during development, and during disease. In this panel, we will discuss how we match methodologies to modeling problems and challenges. The discussion and the new connections formed may provide a foundation for using mathematical modeling in the classroom to understand the properties of living systems—from molecules, to cells, to small-scale multicellular systems, to whole tissues, in health and disease. For example, we will discuss various aspects of how the human eye and human heart work, about how the physical properties of biological cells and tissues evolve during development and disease, about how we can use mathematical modeling to analyze images and identify pathological changes in cells and tissues. We will also discuss how we educate students to think about a world that crosses the traditional boundaries between scientific disciplines of physics, math, engineering, chemistry, and biology.




Tuesday June 30, 2015 8:30 am in GOS-A300

Math Modeling in the Common Core Dr. Nate Barlow, RIT

Dr. Tony Harkin, RIT

Bio: Nate Barlow is an Assistant Professor in Mathematics at RIT. He was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow at SUNY Buffalo after graduating from Clarkson University with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. As a graduate student, he was an NSF GK12 fellow - bringing science and engineering into K-12 classrooms across NY from the Adirondacks to the Bronx. He also won a teaching award while teaching in the Mathematics Department at Clarkson. Tony Harkin is Director of the RIT Center for Applied & Computational Mathematics. He was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University after graduating from Boston University with a Ph.D. in Mathematics. He has won several teaching awards including a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University and the Richard and Virginia Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching at RIT.

Abstract: Math modeling is an important part of the common core standards in New York State. We will discuss what math modeling is, how it is used in industry and research, how it is incorporated in the common core, and we’ll provide several examples of modeling lessons that were developed by Rochester City School District teachers as part of a math modeling workshop run by the speakers.





Using statistics to explore human language Dr. Emily Prud'hommeaux, RIT

Bio: Dr. Emily Prud'hommeaux is an Assistant Professor at RIT, where she teaches computational linguistics and designs algorithms for analyzing human language. Before getting her PhD, she worked in the software industry developing speech recognition systems and taught middle school Latin and music.

Abstract: Many disorders of the mind, including dementia and autism, are characterized by unusual or atypical word use. In my talk, I will discuss methods for analyzing language using statistics. I will show how gathering word statistics from the stories told by people with neurological disorders can reveal interesting and diagnostically significant information.





My journey with mathematics Dr. Ephraim Agyingi, RIT

Bio: Ephraim Agyingi is an associate professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology. He was educated at Presbyterian School, Oshie; Presbyterian Secondary School, Batibo; and Government High School, Mbengwi, Cameroon. He received his master degree in mathematics from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria in 1997. His first academic appointment was at the University of Buea, Cameroon, where he was an assistant lecturer. He relocated to the UK and completed a doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Manchester in 2002. Following his PhD studies, Ephraim served as postdoctoral research fellow at the medical physics division of the Tom Baker Cancer Center and Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada. Ephraim joined RIT in the fall of 2004. His current research interest includes numerical analysis, mathematical biology, mathematical modeling, integral equations and radiation physics.

Abstract: This talk focuses on some of my personal adventures in mathematics. I will share my math experience going back as far as elementary school. I will indicate what type of math I learned in the early years and how it was taught. As a college teacher of math, I will also talk about my expectations for students (coming from high school) who enroll in any of my classes (especially calculus). I hope to give some hints on how to stimulate student interest in math at the high school level. I currently use math to study real world problems such as wound healing, transmission of infectious diseases, cancer diagnosis and treatment. I will lightly indicate what kind of math I use in some of these projects.




Tuesday June 30, 2015 2:00 pm in GOS-A300

Mathematics and Forensics Dr. Maurino Bautista, RIT

Bio: Mao Bautista received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics Honors from Ateneo De Manila University in the Philippines in 1975. He came to the US as a Fulbright Scholar in 1978 and received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Purdue University in 1984. He has been at RIT since and has research interest in inverse scattering, inverse problems, modeling of protein mixtures, use of computers in mathematics and a passion for the teaching of mathematics. He has co-authored a book on Boundary Value Problems and written several software manuals on the use of software in mathematics.

Abstract: In this talk, we explore the use of simple mathematics in the science of forensics – determination of truth (beyond reasonable doubt) using good science (and mathematics) in a legal setting. Many of the devices used in examining evidence from a crime scene use advanced mathematics in order to work but there are several methods that require only elementary mathematics to explain. We shall look at graphs and matrices to compare fingerprints, wavelets to store fingerprint data, taking photographs of tire thread markings, blood spattering analysis to determine location of origin, image segmentation to enhance an outline from a video image, Eves’s Theorem to analyze a photograph of tire skid marks from an accident, etc., as time permits. This will be a survey presentation and will not require any advanced mathematics. The presenter attended a week-long Forensics workshop sponsored by DIMACS/Rutgers University and the Department of Homeland Security last year and is a definitely a novice in forensics science. But he has watched a whole lot of CSI, NCIS, the original Hawaii Five-O, Numbers, etc.!




Tuesday June 30, 2015 3:00 pm in GOS-A300

Common Core Modeling on Just Two Data Points Tim Goodwill, RIT

Bio: Tim Goodwill is a lecturer in the School of Mathematical Sciences, where he has taught Algebra, Calculus and Differential Equations for the past 14 years. Earlier, he earned an Master of Arts in mathematics from the University of Kentucky, and before that a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Morehead State University. Additionally, he currently is the fencing teacher for the RIT Wellness program and in the past has taught beginning classes in subjects as diverse as piano, family history research, and Chinese Kung Fu. He is the father of 6 highly energetic kids who range from 2 to 12 years in age, and is married to a happy (though exhausted) wife.

Abstract: The workshop alternate between brief presentations of ideas and hands-on work by the participants. A number of ideas on how to approach modeling questions will be addressed, and the participants will have the opportunity to create a set of their own problems based on each approach.




Wednesday July 1, 2015 8:30 am in GOS-A300

High school mathematics:

The building blocks of scientific imaging Dave Kelbe, RIT

Bio: From Victor, N.Y. (class of 2007), Dave is a Ph.D. candidate at the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, at Rochester Institute of Technology. His background in Imaging Science provides the systematic, first-principles, mathematical framework to understand and interpret information about the world remotely. He loves the flexibility and diversity afforded by the quantitative sciences. Thus, he has applied his technical background to address a number of multidisciplinary challenges, including those in applications such as forest ecology and cultural heritage. Ultimately, he hopes to use satellite remote sensing to predict and prevent slow-onset crises, e.g., food shortage, water stress, etc., in an effort to protect vulnerable populations. He is the grateful recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation Doctoral Scholarship, and the 2012 RIT Bruce R. James Distinguished Public Service Award.

Abstract: Multispectral imaging provides an opportunity to collect images at a range of wavelengths, including infrared and ultraviolet, beyond what is visible to the human eye. However without subsequent mathematical analysis, these scientific efforts reduce to simple photography. High school mathematics (geometry, algebra, etc.), thus provide the foundational building blocks for extending photography to the scientific realm. I will discuss emerging applications in the remote sensing and cultural heritage domains, which rely heavily on these various mathematical frameworks. For example, faint traces of erased writing can be recovered from ancient manuscripts using simple algebra. And, precise 3D structure can be extracted from overlapping 2D images using a simple geometric camera model. This talk will draw upon a diverse set of international experiences, with collaborators ranging from NASA to the monastic community at St. Catherine’s Monastery of the Sinai Peninsula.





Government Contracting and its Mathematical Necessities Alison Prengaman, LMI

Bio: My name is Ali Prengaman and I’m a third year Applied Mathematics BS/MS student at RIT. Spring semester of 2014 I went on co-op with a government contracting firm, LMI, and they placed me at the Pentagon with the Army G-4. This position required me to provide analytical support on Army Force Structure issues. Daily responsibilities included database creation and manipulation as well as data analysis. This summer, I am working with LMI again, this time in the Transportation and Distribution group.

Abstract: What is math even used for?... How am I going to use this in the real world?" These are very common questions when students tackle mathematics. A college student details her math background and experience that leads her to a government contracting job and shows you what math can be used for beyond the classroom.





Mathematics for Intelligence Lauren Kelley, MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Bio: Lauren Kelley received her bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics from RIT in 2014 and is now an assistant staff member at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance Systems and Architectures group. She has worked on many projects during her time at RIT, including de-interlacing and calibrating videos from eye tracking headsets. While an intern at MIT Lincoln Laboratory during the summer of 2013, Lauren worked on material identification from an airborne platform using hyperspectral imaging. Currently she is modeling expected radar system surveillance capabilities. When not working, Lauren can be found swing dancing in Boston.

Abstract: Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems play a key role in ensuring our national security, and mathematics is fundamental to the algorithms, modeling, and systems analysis required to develop new and innovative technologies. A key concern when developing new airborne or space based surveillance or communications systems is the impact of weather on system performance. Radio frequency systems can experience significant signal loss due to weather. While higher frequency systems provide better image quality than lower frequency systems, higher frequency systems also experience greater signal attenuation due to weather. The concept of signal loss caused by weather can be evaluated using basic geometry/trigonometry and can be extended with some calculus ideas. Taking on the role of a systems analyst, high school students can evaluate different system geometries and different radio frequency bands to make recommendations for new radar or communications systems.




Wednesday July 1, 2015 1:30 pm in GOS-A300

Tamra Werner, RIT Alumni Relations Wednesday July 1, 2015 2:00 pm in GOS-A300

Balloons as easy as pi: Making your lessons pop! Larry Moss, Airigami

Bio: Larry Moss began his art career in 1985 as a NYC street performer, but has gone on to display his amazing air-filled art in over a dozen countries on four continents. His achievements have been recognized by The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, CNN Headline, PBS, Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Moss has appeared on The Martha Stewart Show, NBC’s “Today” and at the White House, and has held multiple Guinness World Records. Larry has written numerous books on balloon art, these days preferring to focus his energy on writing and illustrating children’s books. Larry also has a degree in applied math and computer science, as well as a master’s in elementary education from the University of Rochester. It is through live performances and writing that Larry has combined his love of math, science and education.

Abstract: I've traveled around the world creating art with a very unusual medium. I fold air in specially prepared latex containers. That's right: balloons. We're not talking about tiny balloon doggies, or even a few balloons forming hats, but massive artistic installations involving up to 100,000 balloons. The same basic twists used to make the standard balloon dog are used for these creations. But with endeavors that large come countless engineering challenges, from forming rigid structures out of light-weight and flexible materials, to constructing safe rigging that will support hundreds of pounds worth of balloons, to calculating gas usage and airflow requirements of inflation equipment. What's more, the unusual shapes balloons come in make the challenges even greater. Traditional approaches to building don't necessarily apply when, instead of bricks and 2x4s, your smallest elements are shaped as spheres, rounded-cylinders, and mouse heads. In Raising Airizona (1987), Evelle poses the question, "These blow up into funny shapes and all?" The answer is, "Well, no ... unless round is funny." Indeed, all balloons are funny-shaped when considering their use as a building material.




Thursday July 2, 2015 8:30 am in GOS-A300

Graphs, Option Trading, And More Graphs: Using The

Pecuniary Mystique Of Options To Trick Students Into

Learning How To Graph Stuff Stephen E. LaGrou, J.D., M.B.A, RIT

Bio: Stephen E. LaGrou received a B.A. in physics and a B.A. mathematics from S.U.N.Y. Geneseo in 1982, and while there also completed 39 hours of coursework in chemistry. He then did graduate work in physics at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo, received an M.B.A. in finance from UB in 1991, and received a J.D. from C.U.N.Y. School of Law in 1995. Mr. LaGrou has practiced law for Goddard, Ronan and Dineen, P.C., a construction litigation boutique which was located in Manhattan at the time, and in the Financial Restructuring Group at the New York City office of Harris Beach, LLP, a mid-sized firm headquartered in Rochester, New York, and he continues to practice law while teaching both law and finance courses at RIT’s Saunders College of Business. Mr. LaGrou’s primary academic interests are option pricing theory, mathematics and theoretical physics.

Abstract: This talk describes how the subject of graphing can be taught to high school students by teaching them about listed options, which are among the simplest types of financial derivatives. The particular areas to be covered include option pricing and some basic strategies related to option trading. Option trading sits at the intersection of math, money and creativity, and so it has the potential to motivate students in at least three different ways. The subject is best understood by way of graphical representations. We begin by discussing the definition of an option, and how to arrive at its value. Next, the so-called “payout diagrams” for put and call options are deduced, plotted and interpreted. The basic put and call diagrams are then added together in various ways, both algebraically and geometrically, to form more complex option positions that pay out, and shift risk, in accordance with the investor’s strategy and expectations of how the market will move. From the start, learning about options involves the detailed interpretation of graphs. Combining the graphs of put and call options so as to produce the graphs of more complex option positions is a highly creative endeavor, and along the way, this process nicely illustrates certain concepts relating to superposition, which in turn lays the groundwork for later studies of Fourier series and other more advanced topics. Since option trading is associated with making money, the subject is usually of great interest to students. In fact, many students become so intrigued by options that they do not even realize, until it is too late, that they have been tricked into learning about graphing. A few words about the Wall Street “quants” who design financial derivatives, including various types of options, and their seven figure salaries, only adds to the pecuniary mystique that surrounds this field. In the end, we have a compelling, dollar-denominated answer to that age old question asked every year in high school math classes around the world: “Why do I need to know this?”





Market Research – Quantitative Applications Tyler Swob, KJT Group

Bio: Tyler Swob joined KJT Group, a healthcare market research firm, in early April as a Research Associate. His background includes experience in product development in the healthcare industry as well as in finance. While working towards his undergraduate degree, Tyler was involved with a healthcare technology startup that targeted deaf athletes. Prior to joining KJT Group, Tyler worked as an Equity Research Associate and as an Investment Banking Analyst at other firms. Additionally, he worked as a programmer at Tufts University in which he utilized Matlab and other statistical methods to analyze improved fuel cell applications with certain polymers. In 2013, Tyler earned his B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Rochester Institute of Technology and his M.E. in Engineering Management from Duke University in 2014.

Abstract: Market research represents an area of significant applications of statistics, programming, and mathematics. A well-thought out questionnaire is the center of logical algorithms involving bases, conditions, discrete mathematics, and other quantitative tools. This questionnaire in the context of market research includes a conceptual backbone for the survey while providing endpoint analytics following the processed results of respondents. An overview of the complex survey process from the beginning to the end will be presented.





Mathematical modeling to reduce waste of compounded

sterile products in hospital pharmacies Dr. Vera Tilson, University of Rochester

Bio: Vera Tilson is an Associate Professor of Operations at the Simon School of Business, University of Rochester. At Simon, Vera teaches an elective course on quantitative decision modeling with spreadsheets, and a course on healthcare operations, both topics are related to her research interests. Vera earned her PhD in 2006 from CWRU in Cleveland, OH. Prior to that she worked as a software engineer in the US and abroad in several industries: medical devices, telecommunications, consumer software. Vera has two daughters: both are Brighton High School students.

Abstract: I will give a talk based on an article published in the Hospital Pharmacy journal. The information about the talk is below: Hosp Pharm. 2014 Jul;49(7):616-27. doi: 10.1310/hpj4907-616. Mathematical modeling to reduce waste of compounded sterile products in hospital pharmacies. Tilson V1, Dobson G2, Haas CE3, Tilson D4. In recent years, many US hospitals embarked on "lean" projects to reduce waste. One advantage of the lean operational improvement methodology is that it relies on process observation by those engaged in the work and requires relatively little data. However, the thoughtful analysis of the data captured by operational systems allows the modeling of many potential process options. Such models permit the evaluation of likely waste reductions and financial savings before actual process changes are made. Thus the most promising options can be identified prospectively, change efforts targeted accordingly, and realistic targets set. This article provides one example of such a data-driven process redesign project focusing on waste reduction in an in-hospital pharmacy. A mathematical model of the medication prepared and delivered by the pharmacy is used to estimate the savings from several potential redesign options (rescheduling the start of production, scheduling multiple batches, or reordering production within a batch) as well as the impact of information system enhancements. The key finding is that mathematical modeling can indeed be a useful tool. In one hospital setting, it estimated that waste could be realistically reduced by around 50% by using several process changes and that the greatest benefit would be gained by rescheduling the start of production (for a single batch) away from the period when most order cancellations are made.




Thursday July 2, 2015 2:00 pm in GOS-A300

Modeling Observer Color Vision Variability for Movies

and Television David L. Long, RIT

Bio: David Long joined the faculty of the School of Film and Animation in 2007, where he is currently Program Chair and Associate Professor for the BS Motion Picture Science program. His research interests at RIT include engineering multispectral video capture and display systems and studying variability in human color vision for artistic applications. Prior to RIT, Long worked as a Development Engineer and Imaging Scientist with Eastman Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Division. At Kodak, his primary responsibilities included new product development and image science and systems integration for the motion picture group, focusing on film and digital imaging products. Long contributed to the design and commercialization of the Vision2 family of motion picture color negative films, as well as several digital and hybrid imaging products for television and feature film post-production. His work has earned him numerous patents and a 2008 Scientific & Technical Academy Award for contributions made to the design of Vision2 films. Outside of RIT, Long is an officer of the Rochester Section of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and is chair of the Board of the Little Theatre in Rochester. He is also a member of the Digital Cinema Society (DCS). Long has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an MS in Materials Science from the University of Rochester.

Abstract: Display technologies for movie theaters and television have begun a migration towards higher color gamut devices driven by LED, OLED, quantum dot and laser systems capable of generating near monochromatic color stimuli in the traditional red, green, blue 3-channel paradigm. The name of the game is brighter whites, darker blacks and color saturation at the very limit of human visual perception. Employing highly selective spectral stimuli in electronic displays, however, poses a risk to the consistency of visual experience amongst a group of disparate, but otherwise normal, color observers. Several models of spectral color vision have surfaced in recent research and are helping investigators better understand the implications for color experience variability. The present research serves to summarize various color difference indices which may be useful in predicting the magnitude of observer response inconsistencies and applies them to simulations of current electronic displays as examples of potential concerns these new high-gamut technologies might raise. Further, alternative color display designs have been spectrally modeled based on these indices, employing constrained linear and nonlinear optimization algorithms. Replacing the classic RGB display with a system employing 7 or more color primaries has been proven mathematically to drastically reduce observer variability. Currently, a working prototype of a 7-color display has been constructed for executing observer experiments to confirm the simulation outcomes statistically.




Thursday July 2, 2015 3:00 pm in GOS-A300

Math Placement Exam Dr. Joel Dreibelbis, RIT

Bio: Joel graduated from RIT with a BS in Computational Mathematics and a MS in Computer Science. He later attended the University of Rochester and received a Ph.D. in Mathematics. While working on his Ph.D., Joel taught as an Adjunct at many local colleges. He eventually became a Lecturer for RIT and was later promoted to a Senior Lecturer. With a primary duty of teaching, he has recently coordinated the Math Placement Exam and served on other committees such as the Website Committee and the Innovation in Teaching Committee.

Abstract: Each year, around 2000 incoming students will take the Math Placement Exam, MPE, to determine the best math course as they start their program at RIT. In this talk, we will get into the overall MPE process which includes communications to students and their advisors, creating problems for the MPE and assessing their effectiveness, and delivering the MPE (online versus by paper). A few problems from the MPE will be analyzed as well as related statistics.

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