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The Universe in the Middle of Nowhere

By Guest PostFebruary 17, 2013Culture, General, Scienceastronomy, atomic nuclei, big bang theory, buddhist monastics, buddhist philosophy, chris impey, conflict, cosmology, dalai lama, dharamsala, early universe, earth, ed prather, einstein, finite, forms of religion, fundamental buddhist precepts, gail burd, Galaxy, geological happenings, geshe lhakdor, geshe yeshi choephel, harmonious meeting, hubble expansion, human history, India, infinite, jime gyatso, john templeton foundation, knowledge, mathematics, mexican wrestling masks, middle, model atomic nuclei, modern science, monks program, neuroscience, ngawang lobsang, nowhere, quantum physics, relativity, Science, science and technology, science religion conflict, scientific inquiry, sonam choephel, space and time, spiritual leader, steward observatory, thabke lodoe, tibetan buddhist monastics, tibetan people, tibetan works, universe, university of arizona, weak nuclear force, western educators, zoob

The UA’s Chris Impey has taught cosmology to Tibetan Buddhist monastics in remote parts of India each summer for the past five years. With a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, he detailed his experiences in a book, “Humble Before the Void,” which likely will publish in 2014.

Chris Impey thinks back to the time he spent living on the edge of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, teaching modern cosmology to Buddhist monastics in India: “On a typical day, they would be up at 5 a.m. and have prayed for a few hours or done meditation before you even see them. And their attention is just as good at the end of a long day as at the beginning.” (more…)

‘Finally American’: Poet Discusses Impact of Inaugural Poem

By Guest PostFebruary 11, 2013Culture, Politicsamerican holiday, ancestors, building bridges, cuban immigrants, cultural negotiation, cutting sugar cane, elizabeth alexander, emotional historian, ezra stiles college, finally american, idealized america, impact, inaugural poem, inauguration platform, james taylor, math whiz, mathematics, miami beach, natural bent, new haven residents, one today, podium, poet, poetry, president barack obama, richard blanco, san giving, second inauguration, stephen pitti, sub genre, venus, vice president, washington mall, working class, writing a poem, yale professor

Is the inaugural poem a new sub-genre of poetry? According to two practitioners of the form, the answer might be “yes.”

Poet Richard Blanco and Yale professor Elizabeth Alexander, two of only five poets in history to have created works for a presidential inauguration, came together on Feb. 5 for a poetry reading and dialogue about their unique shared experience. Blanco read his work “One Today” at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, while Alexander read her “Praise Song for the Day” at Obama’s first. Their discussion was hosted by Ezra Stiles College master Stephen Pitti. (more…)

Diana Davis dances her Ph.D.

By Guest PostOctober 20, 2012Education, Sciencebouw moeller, candidate, complex, dance, dance your phd, diana davis, graduate student, language, math category, math research, mathematics, pattern, ph d, prize, pure mathematics, question, research, sequences, surfaces, symbolic dynamics, thesis, veech surfaces, words

What if the Ph.D. research becomes too complex for words? Dozens of candidates turned to the language of dance in the fifth annual national contest sponsored by Science Magazine. Diana Davis, a graduate student in mathematics, won the first-ever “Dance Your Ph.D.” prize in pure mathematics.

Math graduate student Diana Davis studies the symbolic dynamics that arise from cutting sequences on Veech surfaces and Bouw-Möller surfaces.

No idea what that means? It’s OK. She can show you. (more…)

Experiments Inform Study of Crowd Motion

By Guest PostJuly 29, 2012Scienceannual pilgrimage, brown university, crowd behavior, crowd cohesion, crowd motion, electromagnetism, experiment, laws, mathematics, mecca, sayles hall, sayles swarm, school of fish, the haj, william warren

To determine how crowd behavior emerges from individual actions, William Warren, professor of cognitive, linguistic, and psychological sciences, assembled his own crowds and engaged them in an unusual four-day experiment in Sayles Hall. The subjects were equipped with motion capture markers affixed like antennae to bike helmets.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — What must the staid-faced University luminaries in those portraits around Sayles Hall have thought while they watched this scene play out for four days last week? Over and over, two to 20 young men and women in bike helmets adorned with what appeared to be five large antennae walked back and forth across a cardboard-covered floor. En route to goals marked by numbers just beneath the portraits, they dodged each other and arrangements of cardboard pillars. Each time they generated patterns of foot traffic. (more…)

Global Science: U.S. is Still in The Game

By Guest PostJune 19, 2012Sciencealexandra achen killewald, america today, american economy, american science, decline, globalization, harvard university, mathematics, new york times, newsweek, popular media, relative scale, Science, scientific achievement, united states, university of michigan, US, yu xie

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Globalization is a benefit to U.S. scientific achievement, not a threat. That’s the conclusion of a new book that weighs the evidence from a number of recent surveys to answer its title question: “Is American Science in Decline?”

American science is in good health, according to the book’s authors, sociologists Yu Xie of the University of Michigan and Alexandra Achen Killewald of Harvard University.

Although there are areas of concern, they maintain that traditional American values will help the nation maintain its strength in science for the foreseeable future, and that globalization will promote efficiency in science through knowledge sharing. (more…)

Learning About Spatial Relationships Boosts Understanding of Numbers

By Guest PostJune 18, 2012Sciencearithmetic, calculation, elizabeth gunderson, geometry, gerardo ramirez, jason smith, linear number, math problems, mathematics, number knowledge, number line, numerical representations, objects, puzzles, sian beilock, spatial learning, spatial relationships, spatial skill, stem, Technology, university of chicago

Children who are skilled in understanding how shapes fit together to make recognizable objects also have an advantage when it comes to learning the number line and solving math problems, research at the University of Chicago shows.

The work is further evidence of the value of providing young children with early opportunities in spatial learning, which contributes to their ability to mentally manipulate objects and understand spatial relationships, which are important in a wide range of tasks, including reading maps and graphs and understanding diagrams showing how to put things together. Those skills also have been shown to be important in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. (more…)

Playing the Odds to Your Favor

By Guest PostApril 25, 2012Educationamerica, applied stochastic processes, area, average, China, chinese native, energy, evaluation, flinn scholarship, galileo circle, ireland, jason xu, kevin lin, knowledge, mathematical statistics, mathematics, ming xu, monte carlo method, physics, population, probability distribution, queen's university belfast, random sample, research, tucson, ua student, university of arizona, Wuhan

UA student Jason Xu has been recognized by the College of Science for his undergraduate research.

Wuhan, China and Tucson, Ariz.: These cities are thousands of miles apart, but they have one commonality – University of Arizona student Jason Xu.

A Chinese native and mathematics senior in the Honors College, Xu was selected as the recipient of this year’s Excellence in Undergraduate Research award by the UA College of Science at its Galileo Circle reception event.

The award “is a huge honor and means a lot to me. I feel really good to be representing the math department,” Xu said. (more…)

MU Psychology Study Finds Key Early Skills for Later Math Learning

By Guest PostJuly 15, 2011Educationcomplex math, david geary, elementary school years, fractions and algebra, good foundation, good head start, growth in mathematics, low level arithmetic, math learning, math skills, mathematics, psychologists, understanding numbers and quantity, united states, university of missouri

*Long-term study shows students must know about numbers at beginning of first grade*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Psychologists at the University of Missouri have identified the beginning of first grade math skills that teachers and parents should target to effectively improve children’s later math learning.

A long-term psychology study indicates that beginning first graders that understand numbers, the quantities those numbers represent, and low-level arithmetic will have better success in learning mathematics through the end of fifth grade, and other studies suggest throughout the rest of their lives. (more…)

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