Department History

Chris Schroeder and Stefan Viola win 2026 Excellence Awards

Chris Schroeder and Stefan Viola received 2026 Graduate Student Excellence Awards at a ceremony in the Mandela Room.

Schroeder was recognized with two awards: Excellence in Research and Excellence in Teaching. After earning a PhD in physics, he is now pursuing a second PhD in mathematics, producing three papers that bridge mathematics and physics. He also translated a classic 833-page German mathematical text into English.

Viola received the Excellence in Teaching award. One student wrote: "There were multiple times when you explained something in lecture and it changed my math world forever."

Award citations

Integration Bee 2026

On March 25, 2026, the Binghamton Math Club held its annual Integration Bee, organized by Alif Miah, who also prepared the integrals for the competition. The event drew a packed room of students and faculty eager to test their integration skills.

After a challenging qualifying round, five finalists — Levi, Paciencia, Sean, Ryan, and Jesse — advanced to the finals, where they competed head-to-head at the chalkboard, solving integrals under time pressure. Levi Axelrod took first place in a lively and well-attended competition.

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John Abou-Rached paper accepted in Journal of the European Mathematical Society

John Abou-Rached (Robert Riley Visiting Assistant Professor) has had a paper accepted in the Journal of the European Mathematical Society (JEMS), one of the leading journals in mathematics.

The paper, "The boundary of a totally geodesic subvariety of moduli space," is joint work with Frederik Benirschke (University of Chicago) and Benjamin Dozier (Cornell University).

The paper studies moduli spaces, which parametrize the possible shapes of surfaces. The authors prove that certain geometrically special subsets — called totally geodesic subvarieties — retain their special properties even at the boundary of moduli space, where surfaces degenerate.

arXiv preprint

Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture: Martin Bridson

On March 13, 2026, Martin R. Bridson FRS (Whitehead Professor of Pure Mathematics, University of Oxford, and President of the Clay Mathematics Institute) delivered the Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture at Binghamton University. Professor Bridson was introduced by Cary Malkiewich.

His talk, "Chasing finite shadows of infinite groups through geometry," explored the deep connections between geometry and the study of infinite groups through their finite quotients.

The lecture was followed by a lively reception, where Department Chair Xingye Qiao spoke about the importance of mathematics in the modern world. Professor Bridson engaged warmly with faculty and students throughout the event.

Video recording of the lecture

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Graduate Spotlight: Meenakshy Jyothis joins University of Oklahoma as postdoc

Meenakshy Jyothis (PhD 2025) is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Oklahoma, working with Jing Tao.

Jyothis completed her dissertation "Towards Ivanov's Meta-Conjecture for Geodesic Currents" under the supervision of Eugenia Sapir. Her research explores the geometry of geodesic currents, an infinite-dimensional space that encodes information about surfaces.

During her time at Binghamton, Jyothis was known for her clear lectures and dedication to students. "I truly cherish the community I had in Binghamton," she writes. "I also feel very lucky to have had Jenya as my advisor!"

Meenakshy's website

Alumnus Barry Minemyer awarded AMS-Simons Research Enhancement Grant

Barry Minemyer (PhD 2013), Associate Professor at Commonwealth University, was awarded a 2025 AMS-Simons Research Enhancement Grant for Primarily Undergraduate Institution Faculty. Minemyer completed his dissertation "Isometric Embeddings of Polyhedra" under the supervision of Pedro Ontaneda.

About the grant, Minemyer writes: "As a faculty member at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) with a high teaching load, it is difficult to stay on top of current research breakthroughs. There is no weekly seminar, and it is difficult to find the time amongst my teaching schedule to read the most recent publications. This AMS-Simons Research Enhancement Grant for PUI faculty will allow me to take research trips that I otherwise would not have had funding for. This funding will aid in me attending conferences, giving talks, discussing mathematical ideas with other researchers, and staying up-to-date on the current research being conducted in my field."

Minemyer will present at the Binghamton Geometry/Topology Seminar on February 5, 2026.

Lorenzo Ruffoni paper accepted in the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society

Lorenzo Ruffoni (with Sami Douba, Gye-Seon Lee, and Ludovic Marquis) has had the paper “Convex cocompact groups in real hyperbolic spaces with limit set a Pontryagin sphere” accepted for publication in the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society.

A preprint is available here: arXiv:2502.09470.

Related visualizations of a Pontryagin-sphere limit set: Pontryagin sphere images/animations.

Cary Malkiewich gave an AMS Invited Address on “Higher scissors congruence”

Cary Malkiewich (Binghamton University) gave an AMS Invited Address, “Higher scissors congruence,” at the 2025 AMS Spring Central Sectional Meeting at the University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS) on March 30, 2025.

AMS Spring Central 2025: Invited Addresses

Program (Sunday, March 30)

Cary Malkiewich was named a 2025 Simons Foundation Travel Support for Mathematicians awardee.

The award supports collaborations in K-theory, scissors congruence, and geometry.

Award announcement

Malkiewich and Merling awarded NSF grant on K-theory and manifolds

Cary Malkiewich (Binghamton) and Mona Merling (University of Pennsylvania) received an NSF award “Collaborative Research: K-theory, manifolds, and polyhedra,” supporting work in algebraic K-theory and topology.

Award Details

Excel World Championship Finals

Binghamton alum Alexander Freedman ’15 (actuarial science and economics) qualified for the in-person finals of the 2025 Microsoft Excel World Championship in Las Vegas.

University story: A formula for success — Binghamton News.

BUGCAT 2025

The 18th Annual Binghamton University Graduate Combinatorics, Algebra, and Topology Conference (BUGCAT) was held in person November 15–16, 2025. Featured keynotes were Caroline Klivans (Brown), Kim Ruane (Tufts), and Matt Zaremsky (University at Albany).

Conference page: BUGCAT.

Anderson CRM 2025

Professor Laura Anderson taught a short course in October 2025 for the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM, Barcelona) Intensive Research Program in Combinatorial Geometries & Geometric Combinatorics.

CRM Intensive Research Program (Combinatorial Geometries & Geometric Combinatorics)

Brian Kirbys Equation

Binghamton News featured applied mathematics PhD candidate Brian Kirby and his research in general relativity (“Brian Kirby’s equation”).

University story: Brian Kirby’s equation — Binghamton News.

Binghamton’s first Noyce Scholarship recipient

Binghamton’s first Noyce Scholarship recipient is math major Erica Fitch (4+1 MAT). The NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program supports future middle/high-school math teachers through funding and mentorship.

University story: Meet Binghamton’s first Noyce Scholarship recipient.

Professor Laura Anderson published the book "Oriented Matroids" (Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics), Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Link:

Oriented Matroids (Cambridge University Press)

Zassenhaus Groups And Friends Conference 2025

The 2025 Zassenhaus Groups and Friends Conference was held at Binghamton University on May 31 – June 1, 2025.

Local organizers: Daniel Studenmund, Hung Tong-Viet, Tae Young Lee.

More information: Zassenhaus 2025 conference page.

Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture 2025

The 2025 Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture was held on Thursday, March 20, 2025. Prof. Nathalie Wahl (University of Copenhagen) spoke on “Letting the rank or genus go to infinity can help. Let's do it!”

Time: 3:00pm Location: Lecture Hall 10, Binghamton University The lecture was followed by a reception at 4:15pm in the Anderson Center Reception Room.

For full details (abstract, bio, reception info), see: Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture – 2025.

2024 Spring Department picnic photos

Pictures from the picnic on April 28, 2024 at Otsiningo Park are at this link: Picnic

2023 Spring Department picnic photos

Pictures from the picnic on May 7, 2023 at Otsiningo Park are at this link: Picnic

2022 Spring Department picnic photos

Pictures from the picnic at Arnold Park are at this link: Picnic

2021 Fall Department picnic photos

Pictures from the picnic at Otsiningo Park are at this link: Picnic

Betsy Gumustop (Ph.D. 1997) passed away

We are saddened by the news that Betsy Gumustop (Ph.D. 1997) has passed away. Here is a link to her obituary: Betsy Gumustop obituary.

Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Ken Ono Lectures March 11-12, 2021

Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Prof. Ken Ono (Jefferson Professor of Mathematics, University of Virginia), (virtually) visited Binghamton University to give three talks, two on Thursday, March 11, and one on Friday, March 12, 2021. The titles and abstracts for these talks are below, and links to the Panopto recordings for each one are posted below. The public talk was aimed at a general audience was open to the entire Binghamton community.

Ken Ono is the Thomas Jefferson Professor of Mathematics at the University of Virginia and the Vice President of the American Mathematical Society. He earned his PhD from UCLA in 1993, and he has published several monographs and over 180 research and popular articles in number theory, combinatorics and algebra. Professor Ono has received many awards for his research, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Packard Fellowship and a Sloan Fellowship. He was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (PECASE) by Bill Clinton in 2000 and he was named the National Science Foundation's Distinguished Teaching Scholar in 2005. He was also an associate producer of the 2016 Hollywood film "The Man Who Knew Infinity," which starred Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel.

Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 2:50-3:50 Math Club Talk (for all undergraduates interested in math):

Title: What is the Riemann Hypothesis, and why does it matter?

Abstract. The Riemann hypothesis provides insights into the distribution of prime numbers, stating that the nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function have a “real part” of one-half. A proof of the hypothesis would be world news and fetch a $1 million Millennium Prize. In this lecture, Ken  Ono will discuss the mathematical meaning of the Riemann hypothesis and why it matters. Along the way, he will tell tales of mysteries about prime numbers and highlight new advances.

Here is a link to a Panopto recording of Ken Ono's Math Club Talk for undergraduates.

Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 4:30-5:30 Colloquium Talk:

Title: Gauss’ Class Number Problem

Abstract. In 1798 Gauss wrote Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, the first rigorous text in number theory. This book laid the groundwork for modern algebraic number theory and arithmetic geometry. Perhaps the most important contribution in the work is Gauss's theory of integral quadratic forms, which appears prominently in modern number theory (sums of squares, Galois theory, rational points on elliptic curves,L-functions, the Riemann Hypothesis, to name a few). Despite the plethora of modern developments in the field, Gauss’s first problem about quadratic forms has not been optimally resolved. Gauss's class number problem asks for the complete list of quadratic form discriminants with class number h. The difficulty is in effective computation, which arises from the fact that the Riemann Hypothesis remains open. To emphasize the subtlety of this problem, we note that the first case, where h=1, remained open until the 1970s. Its solution required deep work of Heegner and Stark, and the Fields medal theory of Baker on linear forms in logarithms. Unfortunately, these methods do not generalize to the cases where h>1. In the 1980s, Goldfeld, and Gross and Zagier famously obtained the first effective class number bounds by making use of deep results on the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture. This lecture will tell the story of Gauss’s class number problem, and will highlight new work by the speaker and Michael Griffin that offers new effective results by different (and also more elementary) means.

Here is a link to a Panopto recording of Ken Ono's Colloquium Talk.

Friday, March 12, 2021 at 4:00-5:00, Public Lecture:

Title: Why does Ramanujan, “The Man Who Knew Infinity”, matter?

Abstract: This lecture is about Srinivasa Ramanujan, “The Man Who Knew Infinity.” Ramanujan was a self-trained two-time college dropout who left behind 3 notebooks filled with equations that mathematicians are still trying to figure out today. He claimed that his ideas came to him as visions from an Indian goddess. This lecture gives many reasons why Ramanujan matters today. The answers extend far beyond his legacy in science and mathematics. The speaker was an Associate Producer of the film “The Man Who Knew Infinity” (starring Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons) about Ramanujan. He will share several clips from the film in the lecture, and will also tell stories about the production and promotion of the film.

Here is a link to a Panopto recording of Ken Ono's Public Talk on Ramanujan.

/* news:2021:0204_Phi_Beta_Kappa_Visiting_Scholar_Ken_Ono_Mar_11-12_2021 */

Louis McAuley [1924 - 2020]

With sadness we report the passing on November 18, 2020 of Professor Emeritus Louis F. McAuley.

Louis was born in 1924 in Travelers Rest, South Carolina to Stephen Floyd and Floree Cox McAuley. He served in the army in WWII in Italy at age 19. He studied at Mars Hill Jr. College, received his Bachelor's Degree at Oklahoma State University, and his Doctorate in Mathematics at the University of North Carolina.

He was a member of the mathematics departments at the University of Maryland, the University of Wisconsin, Rutgers University, and at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He also spent time as a visitor at Louisiana State University, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and Istanbul Bilgi University in Istanbul, Turkey.

At SUNY Binghamton he served as Chairman of the Department of Mathematical Sciences from 1969 -1978, and was instrumental in developing the graduate program. He directed the doctoral work of 21 students who received PhD's in Mathematics and went on to successful careers in teaching and research.

He was predeceased by his parents, his first wife Ionene McAuley, his brother Van, and his sister Harriett. Louis is survived by his three sons John Devin, Louis Kirk, and Jeff Cox, their mother Patricia McAuley, and his longtime partner Kathryn Espe, as well as his niece Charlotte Poole and nephew Stephen McCall.

Binghamton Math Graduate awarded Norbert Wiener Prize

The 2019 Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics was awarded to Marsha Berger for her fundamental contributions to adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) and to Cartesian mesh techniques for automating the simulation of compressible flows in complex geometry.

Berger received her B.S. in mathematics from State University of New York at Binghamton in 1974. She went on to receive an M.S. and a Ph.D in computer science from Stanford University in 1978 and 1982, respectively. Marsha Berger is currently a Silver Professor in the Computer Science Department at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU. She is a frequent visitor to NASA Ames, where she has spent every summer since 1990, and several sabbaticals. Her honors include membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Berger was a recipient of the IEEE Fernbach award, and was part of the team that won the 2002 Software of the Year Award from NASA for its Cart3D software.

Marsha Berger is one of the inventors of AMR algorithms, used in solving partial differential equations to improve the accuracy of a solution by locally and dynamically resolving complex features of a simulation. Berger provided the mathematical foundations, algorithms, and software that made it possible to solve many otherwise intractable simulation problems, including those related to blood flow, climate modeling, and galaxy simulation. Her mathematical contributions include local error estimators to identify where refinement is needed, stable and conservative grid interface conditions, and embedded boundary and cut-cell methods. She is part of the team that created CART3D, a NASA code based on her AMR algorithms that is used extensively for aerodynamic simulations, and which was instrumental in understanding the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster. She also helped build GeoClaw, an open source software project for ocean-scale wave modeling. It is used to simulate tsunamis, debris flows and dam breaks, among other applications.

Erik Kjær Pedersen [1946 - 2020]

With sadness we report the passing on May 24, 2020 of Professor Emeritus Erik Kjær Pedersen, our friend and colleague.

Erik grew up in the Jutland Peninsula of his native Denmark. He received his Masters Degree with emphasis in topology at Aarhus University, then the leading mathematics center in Denmark. He moved on to doctoral studies at the University of Chicago, receiving his PhD in 1974 under the direction of Richard Lashof. He had a considerable reputation in research mathematics as author or coauthor of more than sixty research papers in leading journals.

Erik returned to Denmark and spent a significant part of his career at Odense University before moving to the United States in 1990. That was when he was recruited by the Mathematical Sciences Department at Binghamton as part of an innovative SUNY program called the Graduate Research Initiative, intended to advance the research profiles of the four SUNY centers. He remained in our department until the end of 2006 when he answered the call to return to Denmark as head of the mathematical sciences department at the University of Copenhagen.

While at Binghamton, Erik had a considerable and highly positive influence on the ethos of our department. He increased our profile, organized important conferences, and in his two terms as Department Chair provided strong leadership. Nobody ever called Erik Pedersen mild-mannered. His personality filled the room.

Michael Sorensen, Head of the Mathematical Sciences Department, University of Copenhagen writes: “It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that Erik Kjær Pedersen died earlier today at a hospital in Florida after a long illness. Last summer, it was found that Erik had a brain tumor. After an operation he got relatively well, but unfortunately the improvement did not last.

“Erik, as Head of [the Copenhagen] Department for 10 years, played an absolutely invaluable role both for the department and for Danish mathematics. During his time as Head of Department, MATH's international standing was very significantly improved so that we can now compete with the best European departments. The number of external grants, many of them very prestigious, exploded. The same is true of the number of PhD students and postdocs. In addition, Erik ensured that the department is financially sound and has considerable savings.”

Erik Kjær Pedersen is survived by his wife Inger Stricker Pedersen, their three children, and several grandchildren.

New degree track in Statistics to launch in Fall 2020

A new track in Statistics will soon be added to the Bachelor of Arts in Mathematical Sciences degree. Statistics is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data. The BA track in Statistics is designed to provide a solid mathematical and statistical foundation for a successful career in statistics, data analysis and data science. To obtain a BA degree in Mathematical Sciences with a Statistics track, a student must complete 50 credits of coursework in the field of Mathematical Sciences as follows:

• Calculus I--III and Linear Algebra (16 cr.)
• Number Systems (4 cr.)
• Scientific Computing (2 cr.)
• Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics (8 cr.)
• Regression and Statistical Learning (8 cr.)
• Two electives from pure mathematics courses (8 cr.)
• One additional elective (4 cr.)

Detailed major requirements will be found in the 2020 University Bulletin. Inquiries should be sent to the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

As usual, to declare or drop a major or minor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, fill in this Google Form.

David Lee Hanson [1935 - 2020]

With sadness we announce the passing, on March 13, 2020, of our friend and colleague David Lee Hanson.

Dave grew up in Kansas, did his undergraduate work at MIT, and received his PhD degree in probability at Indiana University under the direction of J. R. Blum. Mathematical Reviews lists authorship or co-authorship of 54 research papers.

The enormous development of SUNY in the 1960's led to a fundamental change in the role of our department. Prior to 1968 it was an undergraduate teaching department, but starting in that year its mission was enlarged, making it also a graduate and research department. As part of that development, Dave was hired 1973 as a "leading professor". He was an early architect and supporter of our entry into the field of statistics, still to this day a major component of our program.

At a difficult time in the department's development - a time marked by strong disagreements among faculty members - Dave took on the arduous role of Department Chair in 1983. He remained in that role for the next sixteen years, steering the department through those difficulties.

Binghamton University's transition from being a liberal arts college to being a research university was slow and not always easy. Perhaps Dave's greatest achievement during his long chairmanship was his success at guiding the deans of that period on how a research mathematical sciences department should be structured.

Long after his retirement he also continued to teach a course each semester right up to two weeks ago.

In his retirement Dave served several terms as an elected member of the Vestal School Board.

His wife Alison passed away last Fall. He is survived by his three daughters and one son.

The 2020 Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture

The 2020 Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture will be postponed to Fall 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Stay tune for our updates.

Robert Gompf, University of Texas at Austin will give the annual Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture for 2020. The lecture will be given on <del>Thursday April 30, 2020 at 3:00 p.m</del>. in Lecture Hall 9. Prof. Gompf is the Jane and Roland Blumberg Centennial Professor in Mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin. For more see: https://web.ma.utexas.edu/users/gompf/

The lecture will be followed by a reception at <del>4:15 p.m.</del> in The President's Reception Room, Anderson Performing Arts Center, Binghamton University. This reception is for the whole Binghamton Mathematics Community as well as for our visitors.

Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture is an annual event in memory of Peter Hilton, 1923-2010, a member of the Binghamton Mathematics Department from 1982 until his death in November 2010. He was an internationally famous member of the mathematical community. His contributions included a major role in the code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park during World War II, where he worked with Alan Turing, and important research contributions to topology, homological algebra, elementary number theory, combinatorics, and polyhedral geometry, as well as mathematics education at all levels. A collection of memoirs by people who knew Peter has been published in the December 2011 issue of Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

Peter gave a talk to the department about his wartime codebreaking. You can watch it here.

AMS Sectional Meeting to be held in Binghamton in October

A Fall Sectional Meeting of the American Mathematical Society will take place at Binghamton University, Oct. 12-13, 2019, hosted by our department. Here is a link to important information about the meeting from the AMS website: Sectional AMS Meeting Information.

For visitors coming to our campus, we have modified a detailed campus map to show where the talks will be held, where to park, and where the reception will be held on Saturday, Oct. 12, 6:00-7:30 PM. Here is a link to the map as a pdf file: Binghamton University Campus Map for AMS Visitors.

After parking in lot M2, please come to the Lecture Hall building. In the lobby area near Lecture Hall 2, you will find the AMS registration desk. The AMS Book Sale will be located in Lecture Hall 3, as well as an Exhibition and Sale of mathematical artwork by Alex Feingold. The invited addresses will be in Lecture Hall 2. Special sessions will be located in other Lecture Hall rooms and in the Student (Classroom) Wing building attached to the Lecture Hall.

Once you know the room in which your talk will be given, you may learn more about the room and its available technology on the following EdComm Website. Once you are on that page, find the room in either the list of Lecture Hall rooms, or Classroom Wing rooms. Note that the Classroom Wing is marked as the Student Wing on the campus map available above. In most rooms, VGA and/or HDMI cable connections are available for your laptop, allowing you to project slides. The system controlling projectors should be turned on before the first talk each day by volunteers from our department, but you can view video tutorials about those controllers at the bottom of the following webpage: AV Tutorial Videos. The second tutorial about ``Laptop Ready Basic Instructions" is especially relevant to speakers and organizers of special sessions in the classrooms.

Here is a summary of the situation for presentations in each room. Every room has projectors and at least one screen if you wish to project slides from your computer. Only five laptops will be available for use if needed, so bring your own. All the rooms being used in the Lecture Hall (LH-4, 5, 11, 12, 13) have a glass whiteboard at the front of the room and a blackboard on the side wall. In the Classroom Wing, Rooms CW-108, 110, 212 and 214 have only writable walls requiring a dry erase marker. Rooms CW-305 and 307 have both a whiteboard and a blackboard. Rooms CW-321, 323, 325, 327, 329 and 331 have only a blackboard at the front of the room. Dry erase markers and erasers will be available at the AMS Registration Table, but those supplies should be returned at the end of the day to that Table to be ready if needed for the next day.

BUGCAT 2019 to be held in Binghamton

Binghamton University Graduate Conference in Algebra and Topology (BUGCAT)

The 12th Annual Binghamton University Graduate Conference in Algebra and Topology (BUGCAT) is to be held at Binghamton University, November 2nd and 3rd, 2019.

This year's featured keynotes are Profs. Matthias Beck from San Francisco State University, Johnathan Barmak from la Universidad de Buenos Aires, and Marcelo Aguiar from Cornell University.

Visit the conference home page (to be updated) and the conference Facebook Page, or e-mail gradconf@math.binghamton.edu for more information.

The 2019 Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture

Shmuel Weinberger, University of Chicago will give the annual Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture for 2019. The lecture will be given on Thursday April 4, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. in Lecture Hall 9. Prof. Weinberger is the Andrew MacLeish Professor of Mathematics at University of Chicago. For more see: https://math.uchicago.edu/~shmuel/

The lecture will be followed by a reception at 4:30 p.m. in The President's Reception Room, Anderson Performing Arts Center, Binghamton University. This reception is for the whole Binghamton Mathematics Community as well as for our visitors.

Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture is an annual event in memory of Peter Hilton, 1923-2010, a member of the Binghamton Mathematics Department from 1982 until his death in November 2010. He was an internationally famous member of the mathematical community. His contributions included a major role in the code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park during World War II, where he worked with Alan Turing, and important research contributions to topology, homological algebra, elementary number theory, combinatorics, and polyhedral geometry, as well as mathematics education at all levels. A collection of memoirs by people who knew Peter has been published in the December 2011 issue of Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

Peter gave a talk to the department about his wartime codebreaking. You can watch it here.

BUGCAT 2018 to be held in Binghamton

The 11th Annual Binghamton University Graduate Conference in Algebra and Topology (BUGCAT) is to be held at Binghamton University, October 13th and 14th, 2018.

This year's featured keynotes are Profs. William Menasco from University at Buffalo, Ruth Charney from Brandeis University, Jean-François Lafont from the Ohio State University and Nataša Jonoska from University of South Florida.

Deadline for registration is October 5th and abstracts for talks should be also submitted by this day. Registration can be done through the conference website.

Visit the conference website and the conference Facebook Page, or e-mail gradconf@math.binghamton.edu for more information.

The 2018 Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture

Prof. Vaughan Jones from Vanderbilt University will give the annual Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture for 2018. The lecture will be given on Thursday April 12, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. (the location is TBD). Vaughan Jones is Stevenson Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, at Vanderbilt University. For more see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaughan_Jones

Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture is an annual event in memory of Peter Hilton, 1923-2010, a member of the Binghamton Mathematics Department from 1982 until his death in November 2010. He was an internationally famous member of the mathematical community. His contributions included a major role in the code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park during World War II, where he worked with Alan Turing, and important research contributions to topology, homological algebra, elementary number theory, combinatorics, and polyhedral geometry, as well as mathematics education at all levels. A collection of memoirs by people who knew Peter has been published in the December 2011 issue of Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

Peter gave a talk to the department about his wartime codebreaking. You can watch it here.

Passing of Prof. Tom Head

With sadness we announce the passing on Nov. 10, 2017 of our colleague Tom Head. Tom received his PhD at the University of Kansas in 1962. His earlier work was in algebra. His textbook “Modules; a primer of structure theorems” was published in 1974. But Tom's most notable work was concerned with interactions between molecular biology and formal language theory. It was in this field that about half of his 86 research papers were written. In 2002 he received the annually given Yellow Tulip Award for his early contribution to DNA computing. In 2004 he was presented with the festschrift volume of papers: "Aspects of Biomolecular Computing." Tom joined our department in 1988 and retired in 2005. He was a delightful colleague and he will be missed.

BUGCAT 2017 to be held in Binghamton

The 10th Annual Binghamton University Graduate Conference in Algebra and Topology (BUGCAT) is to be held at Binghamton University, October 14th and 15th, 2017.

This year's featured keynotes are Profs. Eric Swenson from Brigham Young University, Tim Riley from Cornell University, and Zoran Sunic from Hofstra University.

Deadline for registration is <wrap hi>October 6th</wrap> and abstracts for talks should be also submitted by this day. Registration can be done through the conference website.

Visit the conference website and the , or e-mail gradconf@math.binghamton.edu for more information.

Seventh Annual Upstate New York Number Theory Conference

On the weekend of May 6 and 7, we are proud to host this year's Upstate New York Number Theory Conference, that will have talks on various aspects of Number Theory. For updates, please see the conference website at http://people.math.binghamton.edu/borisov/NTconf2017.html.

Zassenhaus Groups and Friends Conference

The 2017 Zassenhaus Groups and Friends Conference will take place at Binghamton University on May 26-28, 2017. We are pleased to invite you to participate in this year's edition of the Zassenhaus Conference. The website for the conference is at: (https://sites.google.com/a/oswego.edu/zassenhaus/). Registration is online, at the Registration tab, and abstracts can be submitted through the same form. This year the Saturday evening banquet will be held at Quality Inn and Suites (4105 Vestal Parkway East, across from the university).

The 2017 Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture

Prof. Konstantin Mischaikow from Rutgers University will give the annual Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture on Thursday, April 27, 2017. The lecture will be given in Fine Arts Building room 258 at 3:00 pm. It will be followed by a reception at 4:30 pm, in The President's Reception Room, Anderson Performing Center, Binghamton University. This reception is for the whole Binghamton Mathematics Community as well as for our visitors. A flyer of the event can be . The title and abstract, along with a list of previous speakers, can be found at the Hilton Memorial webpage.

Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture is an annual event in memory of Peter Hilton, 1923-2010, a member of the Binghamton Mathematics Department from 1982 until his death in November 2010. He was an internationally famous member of the mathematical community. His contributions included a major role in the code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park during World War II, where he worked with Alan Turing, and important research contributions to topology, homological algebra, elementary number theory, combinatorics, and polyhedral geometry, as well as mathematics education at all levels. A collection of memoirs by people who knew Peter has been published in the December 2011 issue of Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

Peter gave a talk to the department about his wartime codebreaking. You can watch it here.

Problem of the Week

Starting from this semester, the Math Club will post a problem every Friday to encourage our undergraduate students to enjoy the beauty of mathematics outside of the classroom. Some of the problem do not require much mathematics background while some require certain basic training.

Answers should be sent to Jaiung Jun (jjun@math.binghamton.edu) by Thursday (a day prior to a new problem).

The first problem of the series is:

Circle A rolls one time around circle B whose radius is three times that of circle A. A letter A is drawn inside circle A. How many times will the letter A rotate? (Hint: It's not 3)

See future problems at Problem of the Week webpage.

BUGCAT 2016 to be held in Binghamton

The 9th Annual Binghamton University Graduate Conference in Algebra and Topology (BUGCAT) is to be held at Binghamton University, October 15th and 16th, 2016.

This year's featured keynotes are Profs. Khalid Bou-Rabee, Thomas Koberda, and Luise-Charlotte Kappe.

Deadline for registration is <wrap hi>Monday, October 3rd</wrap> and abstracts for talks should be also submitted by this day. Registration can be done through the conference website.

Visit the conference website and the , or e-mail gradconf@math.binghamton.edu for more information.

Ph.D. alumni featured in Press and Sun-Bulletin

Joshua Palmatier, who received his mathematics Ph.D. in 2005 from the department, currently a math professor at SUNY Oneonta, was featured in an article in Press and Sun-Bulletin, a local media. The article was titled "".

Honors Calculus introduced

The Department of Mathematical Sciences is pleased to introduce the Honors Calculus course in Fall 2016. The course number is Math 222H. It meets MWF 9:40 and R 11:40.

Click for a flyer of the new course.

Adrian Vasiu received Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities

Adrian Vasiu, Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, has received the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities. He was honored at the Excellence Awards Dinner on October 22, 2015 with a medal, a plaque and a check. Vice President for Research Bahgat Sammakia introduced Adrian at this event with the following words.

<blockquote>Known for bringing the highest level of scholarship and innovation to his profession, Adrian Vasiu is an international leader in arithmetic algebraic geometry, also called number theory, whose breakthroughs have helped define the discipline. Continuing high-level research with a focus on a long-standing conjecture of the Italian geometer C. Traverso, and with international collaborators, he proved that Traverso’s estimate is not correct in general and then proved the correct substitute, with their results published in the prestigious Annals of Mathematics.

The methods he developed to solve this conjecture are far reaching. It is an honor to award Adrian Vasiu the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities.</blockquote>

Ross Geoghegan is elected a Foreign Member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences

Ross Geoghegan, Research Professor of Mathematics and Department Chair-Designate, has been elected a Foreign Member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences. He will give his inaugural lecture in Skopje some time in the Spring 2016 semester. This recognizes a long association between the Binghamton Department of Mathematical Sciences and Macedonia initiated by Professor Geoghegan. Seven of Binghamton's PhDs in mathematics have come from Macedonia.

The Eighth BUGCAT will be held November 14-15, 2015

The 8th Annual Binghamton University Graduate Conference in Algebra and Topology (BUGCAT) is to be held at Binghamton University, November 14-15, 2015. There will be talks throughout the day Saturday and also Sunday morning. Lunch will be provided on Saturday and there will be a banquet, at a cost of $15, Saturday evening.

This year's featured keynotes are Mark Feighn from Rutgers University and Bob Morse from the University of Evansville.

Deadline for registration is <wrap hi>Friday, November 6, 2015</wrap> and abstracts for talks should be also submitted by this day. Registration can be done through the conference website.

Visit the conference website and the , or e-mail gradconf@math.binghamton.edu for more information.

The 2015 Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture

Prof. Ralf Spatzier from University of Michigan will give the annual Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture on Thursday, April 23, 2015. The lecture will be given in Science 2, Room 140 at 3:00 pm. It will be followed by a reception at 4:30 pm, in The President's Reception Room, Anderson Performing Center, Binghamton University. This reception is for the whole Binghamton Mathematics Community as well as for our visitors. A flyer of the event can be . The abstract of the lecture talk can be found at this webpage.

Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture is an annual event in memory of Peter Hilton, 1923-2010, a member of the Binghamton Mathematics Department from 1982 until his death in November 2010. He was an internationally famous member of the mathematical community. His contributions included a major role in the code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park during World War II, where he worked with Alan Turing, and important research contributions to topology, homological algebra, elementary number theory, combinatorics, and polyhedral geometry, as well as mathematics education at all levels. A collection of memoirs by people who knew Peter has been published in the December 2011 issue of Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

2015 Zassenhaus Conference

The Department of Mathematical Sciences at Binghamton University is pleased to host the 2015 Zassenhaus Group Theory Conference on the Memorial Day weekend, Friday May 22 to Sunday May 24, 2015. This conference continues the series of Ohio State-Denison Mathematics Conferences first organized in the 1960's by Hans Zassenhaus.

• Conference Homepage
• Conference History

BUGCAT 2014

The 7th Annual Binghamton University Graduate Conference in Algebra and Topology was held on October 18-19, 2014. It was again a great success with about 90 registered participants (from many states and two countries) and two excellent key note speakers, Justin Moore (Cornell University) and Danny Calegari (University of Chicago).

This event is organized by our graduate students for graduate students. In addition to the key note talks, there were 26 talks given by graduate students over the weekend.

A group photo taken by Prof. :people:matt: is posted here.

7th Annual Binghamton University Graduate Conference in Algebra and Topology

The 7th Annual Binghamton University Graduate Conference in Algebra and Topology is to be held at Binghamton University, October 18-19, 2014. There will be talks throughout the day Saturday and also Sunday morning. Lunch will be provided on Saturday and there will be a banquet, at a cost of $15, Saturday evening.

This years featured keynotes are Justin Moore from Cornell University and Danny Calegari from the University of Chicago.

Deadline for registration is October 11, 2014 and abstracts for talks should be also submitted by October 11, 2014. Registration can be done through the conference website.

Travel assistance is available with priority given to those giving talks.

Visit the conference website and the , or e-mail gradconf@math.binghamton.edu for more information.

80th Birthday Celebration for Luise-Charlotte Kappe

On October 7, 2014, the Department of Mathematical Sciences celebrated the 80th birthday of Prof. Luise-Charlotte Kappe, as shown in these pictures.

These pictures were photographed by Prof. Alex Feingold.

Retirement Party for Shelly Zacks

On October 16, 2014, the Department of Mathematical Sciences celebrated the retirement of Prof. Shelly Zacks. Speeches in honor of Shelly's long and productive career were made by Prof. Anton Schick, Chairman of the DOMS, Harvey Stenger, President of Binghamton University, and Prof. Nitis Mukhopadhyay (University of Connecticut-Storrs), colleague and co-author of Prof. Zacks. Pictures from the party are posted here.

These pictures were photographed by Prof. Alex Feingold.

A Conference in Honor of Ross Geoghegan's 70th Birthday

A conference in honor of Ross Geoghegan's 70th birthday will be held in Columbus, Ohio, June 16th-20th, 2014. The conference, hosted by the Ohio State University, is titled "Topological Methods in Group Theory."

The conference will honor the numerous mathematical contributions of :people:ross:. Ross was one of the first mathematicians to use topological techniques to study groups. His textbook "Topological methods in group theory" is one of the standard references in the area.

Ross Geoghegan, Bartle Professor of Mathematics at Binghamton Univeristy, has been with the department since 1972.

A Conference Session Dedicated to Luise-Charlotte Kappe

The 32nd Ohio State-Denison Mathematics Conference was held from Friday, May 9 through Sunday, May 11, 2014 at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. It had sessions on Group Theory and Ring Theory. The conference was initiated by Professor Hans Zassenhaus in the early 60s and has a long tradition.

The Group Theory Session was dedicated to Professor Luise-Charlotte Kappe (Binghamton University).

Fernando Guzman and Joseph Brennan were among the session organizers. Professor Emerita Luise-Charlotte Kappe has been with the department since 1968.

Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture - 2014

Prof. Doug Ravenel (Rochester) gave the Third Peter Hilton Memorial Lecture on Thursday, April 10, 2014.

Peter Hilton, 1923-2010, was a member of the Binghamton Mathematics Department from 1982 until his death in November 2010. He was an internationally famous member of the mathematical community. His contributions included a major role in the code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park during World War II, where he worked with Alan Turing, and important research contributions to topology, homological algebra, elementary number theory, combinatorics, and polyhedral geometry, as well as mathematics education at all levels. A collection of memoirs by people who knew Peter has been published in the December 2011 issue of Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

Moving Updates

The department will move to a newly renovated building - the Old Whitney Hall. Demolition and asbestos abatement are complete and construction work is advancing on several fronts. Wall framing and dry wall are well underway along with runs for mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

The project entails constructing two classrooms in former lounge areas. Old dorm rooms will be converted into office space, testing labs and support space for the math department.

Work also involves code and energy updates, new windows and a new roof. Work will be complete in August 2014.

Graduate Conference in Algebra and Topology

The Binghamton University Graduate Conference in Algebra and Topology took place on November 9, 2013. Our keynote speaker was Benson Farb from the University of Chicago. Click here for more information about this annual conference.