Williams is in the process of evaluating the current residential system and trying to come up with new models for housing. Currently, the College uses the neighborhood system, wherein the College is divided into four neighborhoods. Upon finishing the first year, students enter a given neighborhood and remain… Continue reading »
Williams College has this wonderful tradition called Winter Study. Williams students are overloaded with courses, sports, extra-curricular commitments, and who knows what else during the fall and spring semesters. During January, for 3 1/2 weeks, they get to relax – just a little. There are academic courses offered… Continue reading »
At the December 2009 joint meeting of the American and Korean Mathematical Societies, it was inspiring to hear at the panel of presidents and throughout the meeting of the great potential, though up against scarce resources. Korea will support 1000 mathematians from developing countries at its 2014… Continue reading »
Since soap bubbles minimizing surface area or energy provide the typical model for my research in the calculus of variations, I receive lots of related and unrelated reports from friends. My former student Kevin Hahm ’07 sent me a link to an amazing video of water droplets… Continue reading »
Two weeks ago, the first UnKnot Conference was held in Granville, Ohio at Denison University. And no, UnKnot does not stand for a conference devoted to the properties of the trivial knot, which would be short conference indeed, but rather for the Undergraduate Knot Theory Conference. Organized by… Continue reading »
This entry is written by Nico Aiello ’09 on behalf of SMASAB 2009. At Williams, every senior math/stats major has to give a colloquium talk. If you had asked me on the morning of my colloquium how I felt about the colloquium requirement, it’s… Continue reading »
Crocodilia, the biological order that includes alligators and crocodiles, have the interesting property that the gender of offspring is not determined by random genetics but by the environment of the nesting site. Prime nesting sights, in wet marshes near water sources, produce nearly 80% female hatchlings. The… Continue reading »
Cildo Meireles is a well-known Brazilian artist, associated with the art movement “Neo-concrete art”. He was recently given a full retrospective by the Tate Modern Museum in London, which I had the opportunity to see in December 2008. Meireles’ intriguing and aesthetically seductive installations… Continue reading »
NPR's Here and Now from November 24th, 2008 featured a discussion of some mathematical recipes for the holidays. The first recipe from Instructibles is for a "pie-cosahedron". The name (and shape) come from the icosahedron, a 20-sided platonic solid. The pie-cosahedron is a 20-sided pie. Check out the recipe here. (This pie would also make a great snack for anyone playing Dungeons and Dragons.) Continue reading »
This past week marks the rising of the Sol LeWitt sun in my part of the world. At the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), a beautiful new exhibition on The ABCDs of Sol LeWitt has just opened, exploring the underlying grammar of his art and ideas. … Continue reading »