Department of Mathematics and Statistics Newsletter 2015 Newsletter | Page 8

Faculty highlights continued
algebraic geometry, computational algebra,
optimization, and representation theory. He also
gave a 45-minute talk on “Tensors in Multiview
Geometry,” in particular presenting his research
on “The Trifocal Ideal,” which will appear soon in
Mathematics of Computation. The synergy between
computer vision and algebraic geometry (named
“algebraic vision” by Sameer Agarwal) presents
a new and exciting area within applied algebraic
geometry. Lastly, he gave talks on algebraic
geometry and computer vision in mathematics
departments at Queens University in Kingston,
Ontario, Canada, in February 2014, and at Georgia
Tech in February 2014.
Chris Rodger delivered
an invited talk at the 9th
Troy University Mathfest
in April 2015, and he gave
the Christie Lecture titled,
“Amalgamations and
Hamilton Decompositions”
to the 2014 Fall Northeastern
Section of the Mathematical
Association of America at
Southern Connecticut State
University. He also received National Science
Foundation funding in the amount of $14,740 for
the Graduate Student Combinatorics Conference
held at Auburn University in April 2014.
Wenxian Shen received the
2013 Outstanding Teacher of
Graduate Students Award
given by the Department of
Mathematics and Statistics.

8

Michel Smith received
a math education grant
in the amount of $80,000
with Common Core, Inc.
Common Core, Inc. leads
a high-profile mathematics
curriculum project to
develop comprehensive PK12 mathematics curriculum
for the New York State
Education Department.
The goal is to bring substantial improvement
to mathematics education through increased
rigor, meaningful context, and increased student
engagement. Smith was also the Lewis-Parker
lecturer for the 64th annual meeting of AACTM in
February 2014. To help promote the mathematical
research environment in Alabama, ]