Registration is now open! Please fill out the online registration form if you plan to attend. The schedule of talks and list of abstracts will be posted here as they become available.
| Description |
|---|
In addition to student presentations, the conference features two invited faculty
plenary talks, a panel on career opportunities in government, industry, and academia, networking opportunities at lunch (provided to all participants) and a drawing for door prizes at the end.
| Information |
|---|
Location: 7800 York Road, on the campus of Towson University in Towson Maryland.
Time: 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Registration starts at 9:30am, along with coffee and pastry refreshments.
Free lunch provided for all registered participants. Stay until after the final plenary talk for a chance to win one of 5 door prizes (including board games and, like every year, a flying drone!)
Please fill out the online registration form if you are planning to attend.
Organizers: Sergiy Borodachov (sborodachov@towson.edu), Alexei Kolesnikov (akolesnikov@towson.edu), Nathan McNew (nmcnew@towson.edu)
| Plenary Speakers |
|---|
Title: Climbing (or Finding Paths) through Trees: Computing the difficulty of mathematical problems
Abstract: You can make a simple family tree by starting with a person at the root and then adding two branches for her parents, and then adding two branches for the parents of each of her two parents, and so on. Such a family tree is an example of a binary tree because each level of the tree has at most two branches. We'll see that every binary tree with infinitely many nodes has an infinite path; this result is called Weak Kőnig's Lemma. But just because we know a path exists, doesn't mean we can find it. Given Weak Kőnig's Lemma, it's natural to ask whether we can compute a path through a given binary tree with infinitely many nodes. It turns out the answer to this "Path Problem" is "no", so we say that the problem is not "computable". But then what exactly is the computational power of this Path Problem?
Using the Path Problem as a test case, we will explore the key ideas behind taking a "computable" perspective on mathematics (over an "existence" one) and describe an approach for measuring the computational power of mathematical problems. We'll see that the computational power of problems varies widely and studying problems' power helps to illuminate what really makes problems "tick".
This talk will highlight ideas from graph theory, theoretical computer science, and logic, but no background in any of these subjects is necessary.
Plenary Speaker 2: Dr. Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, Mathematical Sciences, George Mason University
Title: Quantitative Biology in the Age of AI: Mathematical Modeling, Computation, and Opportunities for Undergraduate Research
Abstract: Quantitative biology is rapidly transforming the study of living systems by bringing together mathematical modeling, computation, statistics, and data science to understand complex biological phenomena. In the age of AI, these connections create exciting opportunities for mathematicians and particularly undergraduate students, to engage in interdisciplinary research. Building on themes from my recent book, Quantitative Biology: Mathematical Modeling and Computation, this presentation will explore mathematical and computational approaches including differential and difference equations, biological networks, nonlinear dynamical systems, numerical simulation, optimization, and machine learning, with applications to epidemiology, biological interactions, neural processes, and health. Through these examples, we will see how mathematical modeling, analysis and simulation can be applied to real-world questions and how AI is changing the way researchers formulate questions, analyze data, build models, and test hypotheses. The talk will also highlight pathways for undergraduates to get involved in research through faculty mentoring, REUs and summer research programs, internships, research competitions, scholarships, fellowships, and external funding opportunities. Ultimately, quantitative biology provides a powerful example of how mathematics, computation, and AI can enable undergraduate students and faculty to contribute to interdisciplinary research addressing important challenges in health, disease, sustainability, and human well-being.
| Contributed Talks |
|---|
| Career Panel |
|---|
Panelists:
- Jazmin Sharp, PhD student, Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Julianne Nierwinski, Operations Research Analyst, U.S. Army Transformation Decision Analysis Center
- Julia Daniel, Secondary Mathematics Teacher, Anne Arundel County Public Schools
| Logistics |
|---|
Parts of the conference may also be available on Zoom. Links to participate will be emailed to registered participants.
Last modified 14 September 2026.