Wooster Professors Untangle Knot Theory at Faculty at Large Lecture
Wooster Professors Untangle Knot Theory at Faculty at Large Lecture
Jennifer Bowen and John Ramsay to speak on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at The College of Wooster
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John Finn
330-263-2145
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WOOSTER, Ohio — Jennifer Bowen and John Ramsay, faculty members in the department of mathematics and computer science at The College of Wooster, will present “Knots, Links, and Bottles: Pure Math with a Twist” at the second Faculty at Large lecture of the fall semester on Tuesday, Oct. 11. The talk, which is free and open to the public, begins at 11 a.m. in Lean Lecture Room of Wishart Hall (303 E. University St.).
Bowen and Ramsay will discuss how they have involved students in pure mathematics research through initiating an undergraduate research program in the field of knot theory. They will also provide an overview of mathematical knots and links, and then present examples of the class of Klein Links (knots on a Klein Bottle) that they have developed.
Knot theory research has a relatively long history in mathematics, with increased attention being paid to it during the past 20 years. A rise in technological advances in the 80s and 90s, as well as the connection between knots and recent chemistry and molecular biology advances, have allowed for new approaches to knot theory. This new research has applications in the analysis of DNA strand behavior and synthetic molecule development.
Bowen is an assistant professor of mathematics at Wooster, where she joined the faculty in 2007. She specializes in the study of non-associative algebras and matrix rings, and teaches calculus, basic statistics, abstract algebra, and number theory. Ramsay is a professor of mathematics at Wooster, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1987. His expertise is in algebraic topology and mathematical consulting in business and management settings through the Applied Mathematics Research Experience (AMRE), which he founded in 1994. He teaches calculus, linear algebra, topology and operations research.
The next Faculty at Large lecture will be Tuesday, Nov. 15, when Travis Foster, assistant professor of English at Wooster, presents "Gospel Sermons, Holy Ghost Preachers, and the Politics of Black Fellowship, 1865-1910.” Additional information about the Faculty at Large lecture series is available by phone (330-263-2576) or e-mail.