The College of Arts and Sciences
and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics are pleased to announce
a special presentation and reception.
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Speaker:
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Melanie Wood |
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Topic:
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The Creative Process of Mathematics | |
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Date:
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Tuesday, October 26, 2004 | |
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Time:
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8 PM | |
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Location:
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Ward Building, Room 1 |
Description:
Insight. Originality.
Inspiration. New perspectives. Opening your mind. Finding a different
way. Playing around. That is mathematics. Somehow our society
and even our education system has perpetuated the myth that mathematics is
about memorization, technicalities, formulas and equations,
only one correct answer. Yet this picture utterly fails to describe
the creative process that is professional mathematics.
About Melanie Wood:
Melanie Wood has won many accolades
for her accomplishments in mathematics. Most recently, she won the Morgan Prize,
the nation's top honor in mathematics for research by an undergraduate student.
Melanie was the first woman to win a Morgan Prize, but she is no stranger
to mathematical firsts. She was also the first woman named as a Putnam
fellow for her performance on the prestigious Putnam Exam, and the first woman
to represent the United States as a member of a math olympiad team. She
won both a Gates Cambridge Scholarship and a Fulbright to study at the University
of Cambridge, and is
currently a doctoral student in Mathematics at Princeton University on a
National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. She was profiled at age 17 as "The Girl
Who Loved Math" by Discover magazine, and was recently interviewed in
the MAA's Math Horizons Magazine. Click here
to read the interview.
Ms. Wood's current research interests are in algebraic
number theory and arithmetic algebraic
geometry. Melanie also enjoys acting, especially classical acting and voice
work; directing; dancing;
and philosophy.