A Taste Of Pi - Talks and Activities for High School Students
2004 - 2016
The "A Taste of Pi" was a series of talks and activities for high school students sponsored by the IRMACS Centre, the SFU Department of Mathematics, the Pacific Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and the SFU Faculty of Science.
The co-organizers of the series were Dr. Malgorzata Dubiel and Dr. Veselin Jungic.
For more details about the series, please see the article Dubiel, M., Jungic, V., A Taste Of Pi: Long and Lasting, CMS Notes, Volume 31, No. 3 (2009), 7-9
We would like to thank to all students, teachers, presenters, and volunteers for their enthusiastic participation and their many contributions to the "A Taste Of Pi" series.
Between 2005 and 2016 all talks were held in the IRMACS Presentation Studio. Our special thanks go to the staff of the IRMACS Centre for their unselfish support over many years. We would also like to thank to Ms. Ivana Filipovic for her work on the design of the "A Taste Of Pi" logo, the session posters, and the original web site, and to Ms. Nancy Bourassa-Jaswal for sharing with the "A Taste Of Pi" community her art and talent over several years.
Presenters and Talks:
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 13 |
Dr. Peter Borwein, Department of Mathematics |
A VERY LARGE Piece of Pi |
|
1 |
|
April 3
|
Dr. Nils Bruin, Department of Mathematics |
Fermat as Easy as ABC |
|
2 |
|
May 8
|
Dr. Adrian Lewis, Department of Mathematics |
Maximum Traffic in Networks |
|
3 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
October 16 |
Dr. Luis Goddyn, Department of Mathematics |
Satellites, Engine Testing and Strange Ways of Counting |
|
4 |
|
November 13
|
Dr. Chris Budd, Department of Mathematics, University of Bath, UK |
Celtic and Other Knots |
|
5 |
|
December 11
|
Dr. Petr Lisonek, Department of Mathematics |
Combinatorial Designs, Finite Geometries and DNA Screening |
|
6 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 5 |
Dr. Ladislav Stacho, Department of Mathematics |
Routing without a map |
|
7 |
|
April 9
|
Dr. Ralf Wittenberg, Department of Mathematics |
Simple Functions, Chaotic Behaviour |
|
8 |
|
May 14
|
Dr. Radoš Radoičić, Department of Mathematics, Rutgers University, USA |
Iterative Processes in the Plane |
|
9 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
October 1 |
Dr. Tom Archibald, Department of Mathematics |
Conformal Mapping form Mercator to Riemann |
|
10 |
|
November 5
|
Dr. Pavol Hell, School of Computing Science |
From Graph Colouring to Constraint Satisfaction: There and Back Again |
|
11 |
|
December 3
|
Dr. Rob. Scharein, Department of Mathematics |
Real, Virtual, and Virtually Real Mathematical Knots |
|
12 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 11 |
Dr. Matt DeVos, Department of Mathematics |
Regular Polyhedra, from Euclid to the 4th Dimension |
|
13 |
|
Dr. Dave Boal, Department of Physics |
The physics of early life forms |
14 |
||
|
April 8
|
Dr. Bob Russell, Department of Mathematics |
A Brief History of Computational Mathematics |
|
15 |
|
Dr. Glyn Williams-Jones, Department of Earth Sciences |
Things that go BANG in the night - what makes a Volcano Tick |
16 |
||
|
May 6
|
Dr. Norman Reilly, Department of Mathematics |
Algebraic laws: how many suffice? |
|
17 |
|
Dr. Tony Williams, Department of Biological Sciences |
What's blood got to do with it? A physiological detective story |
18 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Title |
# |
|
October 14 |
Dr. Stephanie Van Willigenburg, Department of Mathematics, UBC |
Mathematical Methods behind Stunning Symmetries |
|
19 |
|
Dr. Alton Harestad, Biological Sciences |
Biodiversity in the Forest: You Do the Math |
20 |
||
|
November 4
|
Dr. JF Williams, Department of Mathematics |
What is Applied Math Good for? |
|
21 |
|
Dr. Levon Pogosian, Department of Physics |
Our universe: facts and speculations |
22 |
||
|
December 2
|
Dr. Matt DeVos, Department of Mathematics |
How to cut cake |
|
23 |
|
Dr. Carl Schwartz, Department of Statistics |
One fish, two fish, .... How to estimate the size of animal and human populations using mark-recapture methods |
24 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 10 |
Dr. Marni Mishna, Department of Mathematics |
The Mathematical Difference Between a Turnip and a Cabbage |
|
25 |
|
Dr. Neil Brenda, Department of Chemistry |
Nanotechnology, Molecular Machines and How We are Using Them |
26 |
||
|
April 14
|
Dr. David Muraki, Department of Mathematics |
What is the Square Root of the Scream? |
|
27 |
|
Dr. Felix Breden and Kristen Gorman, Department of Biological Sciences |
Fishin' for Genes |
28 |
||
|
May 12
|
Dr. Branko Curgus, Department of Mathematics, Western Washington University |
Numbers in the Sky(viewing Sculpture) |
|
29 |
|
Dr. Derek Bingham, Department of Statistics |
Statistical Models for Spectroscopic Redshifts of Galaxies |
30 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
October 20 |
Dr. Jason Bell, Department of Mathematics |
How to sum series |
|
31 |
|
Dr. Melanie O'Neill, Department of Chemistry |
Junk RNA? |
32 |
||
|
November 10
|
Dr. Cedric Chauve, Department of Mathematics |
Walking around combinatorial trees |
|
33 |
|
Dr. Arne Mooers, Department of Biological Sciences |
How to Build the Tree of Life |
34 |
||
|
December 8
|
Dr. Veselin Jungic, Department of Mathematics |
A story about BIG numbers |
|
35 |
|
Dr. Gwen Flowers, Department of Earth Sciences |
Cold calculations: the math and physics of glaciers |
36 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 8 |
Dr. Adam Oberman, Department of Mathematics |
Mathematics insights into gambling and the stock market |
|
37 |
|
Dr. Simon Watkins, Department of Physics |
Some connections between everyday consumer electronics, quantum physics, and Einstein |
38 |
||
|
April 5
|
Dr. Matt Devos, Department of Mathematics |
Game Theory (serious fun) |
|
39 |
|
Dr. David Baillie, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry |
Worms in Space.... why bother? |
40 |
||
|
May 3
|
Dr. Malabika Pramanik, Department of Mathematics, UBC |
The secret life of numbers |
|
41 |
|
Dr. Margaret Kalacska, School of Criminology |
Eyes in the sky: satellite and airborne remote sensing |
42 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
October 18 |
Dr. Greg Martin, Department of Mathematics, UBC |
Prime number races |
|
43 |
|
Dr. Sophie Lavieri, Department of Chemistry |
Chem + is = 3 |
44 |
||
|
November 15
|
Dr. Razvan Fatecau, Department of Mathematics |
Differential equations and the broken swimming records at the 2008 Summer Olympics |
|
45 |
|
Dr. Andrei Frolov, Department of Physics |
The beginning of the universe |
46 |
||
|
December 6
|
Dr. Paul Tupper, Department of Mathematics |
Zipf's law and the size of cities |
|
47 |
|
Dr. Leah Bendell, Department of Biological Sciences |
A day at the beach... from an invertebrates point of view |
48 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 7 |
Dr. Matt DeVos, Department of Mathematics |
How to draw a line |
|
49 |
|
Dr Paul Percival, Department of Chemistry |
Using an exotic atom to explore chemistry in a pressure cooker |
50 |
||
|
April 4
|
Dr. Nilima Nigam, Department of Mathematics |
Mathematics, fish and locusts |
|
51 |
|
Dr. Tom Loughin, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science |
Wanna bet? Best strategies for games of chance |
52 |
||
|
May 9
|
Dr. Jamie Mulholland, Department of Mathematics |
Symmetries of Things |
|
53 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
October 17 |
Dr. Jonathan Jedwab, Department of Mathematics |
Games, counting, and curvy lines |
|
54 |
|
Dr. Andrew Blaber, Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology |
Weightlessness and fainting astronauts |
55 |
||
|
November 14
|
Dr. Randall Pyke, Department of Mathematics |
Fractals: Drawing them, using them, and playing the Chaos Game |
|
56 |
|
Dr. Jenifer Thewalt, Department of Physics and Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry |
The Skin Barrier |
57 |
||
|
December 5
|
Dr. Nathalie Sinclair, Faculty Of Education |
Deflating Triangles: Getting More Tiles for Your Money By Giving Up On? |
|
58 |
|
Dr. Esther Verheyen, Department Of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry |
What's the big deal about stem cells? |
59 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 13 |
Dr. Rina Zazkis, Faculty Of Education |
Hollywood Perceptions of Mathematics |
|
60 |
|
Dr. Sarah Johnson, Department Of Physics |
Particle Physics 101 |
61 |
||
|
April 10
|
Dr. John Stockie, Department of Mathematics |
Math and the Olympics |
|
62 |
|
Dr. Peter Wilson, Department Of Chemistry |
Synthesis and Symmetry |
63 |
||
|
May 15
|
Dr. Veselin Jungic, Department Of Mathematics |
What Makes 42.2 a BIG Number? |
|
64 |
|
Dr. Allison Kermode, Department Of Biology |
Plants and Human Health |
65 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
October 16 |
Dr. Katherine E. Stange, Department Of Mathematics and PIMS |
Clocks, Set, Elliptic Curves, and the Secret Math of Spies |
|
66 |
|
Dr. Andrew DeBenedictis, Department of Physics |
Black holes, wormholes, warp-drives, and time machines: Some extreme features of gravitation |
67 |
||
|
November 6
|
Dr. Roger Donaldson, Department Of Mathematics and PIMS |
It's likely more than software: How probability models make the internet useful |
|
68 |
|
Dr. John Clague, Department of Earth Sciences |
Science and Politics in the Great Climate Change Debate |
69 |
||
|
December 4
|
Dr. Karen Yeats, Department of Mathematics |
Unexpected identities |
|
70 |
|
Dr. Shahram Payandeh, School of Engineering |
Robotics: it is in Serious Games |
71 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 12 |
Dr. Jessica McDonald, Department of Mathematics |
Connect-the-dots with graph theory |
|
72 |
|
Dr. Lynne Quarmby, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry |
Actually, on a cellular level, I am really quite busy |
73 |
||
|
April 9
|
Dr. Matt DeVos, Department of Mathematics |
The Remarkable Tale of Bill vs. the Fish |
|
74 |
|
Dr. Mario Pinto, Department of Chemistry |
Molecular modelling and drug design |
75 |
||
|
May 14
|
Dr. Cynthia Loten, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, UFV |
Caterpillars and Monstrous Trees |
|
76 |
|
Dr. Michell Vetterli, Department of Physics |
What is mass? I bet you thought this was a solved problem? |
77 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
October 15 |
Dr. Emily Walsh, Department of Mathematics |
Storm chasing |
|
78 |
|
Dr. Norbert Haunerland, Department of Biological Sciences |
"The eight plague" - muscle fuel in locusts and other high-performance athletes |
79 |
||
|
November 12,
|
Dr. Charles Samuels, Department of Mathematics, Oklahoma City University |
A new kind of circle and the p-adic numbers |
|
80 |
|
Dr. Claire Cupples, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry |
Noisy green bugs: Understanding life at the molecular level |
81 |
||
|
December 3
|
Dr. Mark MacLean, Department of Mathematics, UBC |
Geometric phases? |
|
82 |
|
Dr. Byron Gates, Department of Chemistry |
The chemistry of nanoscience |
83 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 17 |
Dr. Ladislav Stacho, Department of Mathematics |
Wondering in a town, not so much without a reason |
|
84 |
|
Dr. Bingyun Sun, Department of Chemistry |
How do science and technology help us understand ourselves and shape our future? |
85 |
||
|
April 14
|
Dr. Daniel Katz, Department of Mathematics |
Error-Correcting Codes: From hard drives to cell phones to deep space |
|
86 |
|
Dr. Erol Girt, Department of Physics |
Magnetic recording |
87 |
||
|
May 12
|
Dr. Stephen Choi, Department of Mathematics |
The music of primes |
|
88 |
|
Dr. Sherryl Bisgrove, Department of Biological Sciences |
It's a green world - why watching plants grow is really quite exciting |
89 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
October 13 |
Dr. Peter Dukes, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Victoria |
Finite Geometries and the Set Game |
|
90 |
|
Dr. Nancy Forde, Department of Physics |
How do our cells (do) work? How Physicists approach Biology |
91 |
||
|
November 17
|
Dr. Chiaka Drakes, Department of Mathematics |
Modelling Thinking |
|
92 |
|
Dr. Bernard Crespi, Department of Biology |
Where Darwin meets Freud: What is mental illness, and where does it come from? |
93 |
||
|
December 1
|
Dr. Andrew King, Department of Mathematics |
Painting yourself into a corner: Graph colouring and optimization |
|
94 |
|
Dr. George Agnes, Department of Chemistry |
Mimicry of Particulate Air Pollution in Vitro |
95 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 9 |
Dr. Kevin Doerksen, Department of Mathematics |
"And so on...": Induction, recursion, and iterating your way to infinity |
|
96 |
|
Eric LeGresley, Department of Chemistry |
Serendipity: The Wanderings of a High School Student |
97 |
||
|
April 6
|
Dr. Fok-Shuen Leung, Department of Mathematics, UBC |
The Infinitude of Primes |
|
98 |
|
Dr. Gail S. Anderson, School of Criminology |
Murder and Maggots |
99 |
||
|
May 11
|
Dr. Shonda Gosselin, Department of Mathematics, University of Winnipeg |
Tracking down a network intruder: The metric dimension of a graph |
|
100 |
|
Dr. Walter Chica, IRAP Pacific - NRC Canada |
The Legacy of Albert Einstein Celebrity-Scientist, Paradoxical Genius |
101 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
October 5 |
Dr. Ralf Wittenberg, Department of Mathematic |
Functions and Chaos |
|
102 |
|
Dr. Isabelle Côté, Department of Biology |
Lionfish: The ultimate invader |
103 |
||
|
November 2
|
Dr. Bojan Mohar, Department of Mathematics |
Combinatorics and randomness |
|
104 |
|
Dr. Lisa Craig, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry |
Microbial strategies and human defences in infectious disease |
105 |
||
|
November 30
|
Dr. Manfred Trummer, Department of Mathematics |
Computing with computers: Expecting the unexpected |
|
106 |
|
Dr. Barbara Frisken, Department of Physics |
Colloids in Space! |
107 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 8 |
Dr. Indy Lagu, Department of Mathematics, Mount Royal University |
And the Winner is ... |
|
108 |
|
Dr. Zabrina Brumme, Faculty of Health Sciences |
Pathogen genetic diversity: challenges and opportunities |
109 |
||
|
April 5
|
Dr. Jeremie Lumbroso, Department of Mathematics |
Counting data with coin flips |
|
110 |
|
Dr. Erika Plettner, Department of Chemistry |
The sense of smell in insects and new pest control methods |
111 |
||
|
May 10
|
Dr. Shawn Desaulniers, Department of Mathematics, UBC |
Practical Applications of Theoretical Mathematics |
|
112 |
|
Dr. Nabyl Merbouh, Department of Chemistry |
3D printing: From a digital model to a 3D object |
113 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
October 18 |
Dr. Leah Keshet, Mathematics Department, UBC |
Mathematics of flocks and swarms |
|
114 |
|
Dr. Tim Swartz, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science |
Statistics in sport with an emphasis on soccer and hockey |
115 |
||
|
November 15
|
Dr. Nils Bruin, Department of Mathematics |
The harmony of numbers |
|
116 |
|
Dr. Howard Trottier, Department of Physics |
Starry Nights @ SFU: Astronomy outreach from campus to community |
117 |
||
|
December 6
|
Dr. Nicolas Fillion, Department of Philosophy |
A taste of infinity |
|
118 |
|
Dr. Angela Brooks-Wilson, Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology |
Health Secrets of the Super-Seniors |
119 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 14 |
Dr. Krystal Guo, Department of Mathematics |
Graph Theory: Helping Map-makers and Tourists Since 1735 |
|
120 |
|
Dr. Richard Vaughan, School fo Computing Science |
"Intelligent" Interactions with Surprisingly Simple Robots |
121 |
||
|
April 11
|
Dr. Gordon Hamilton, Math Pickle |
Unsolved Problems, Great Games & Perplexing Puzzles |
|
122 |
|
Dr. Will Cupples, Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology |
Mathematics of the kidney |
123 |
||
|
May 9
|
Dr. Richard Hoshino, Department of Mathematics, Quest University |
Inspiring Change through Mathematical Activism |
|
124 |
|
Dr. Ivona Mladenovic, Department of Biology |
Cloning Humans - a Science Fiction or Not? |
125 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
October 17 |
Dr. Alejandro Erickson, School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, Durham University |
Make a mathematical discovery with tatami tiles |
|
126 |
|
Prof. Joan Sharp, Department of Biological Sciences |
Life's origins and the nature of life on Earth - and elsewhere in the Universe |
127 |
||
|
November 14
|
Dr. Kseniya Garaschuk, Department of Mathematics, UBC |
The world according to Latin squares |
|
128 |
|
Dr. Stephen Robinovitch, Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology |
Defying gravity: the science of landing safely during a fall |
129 |
||
|
December 5
|
Dr. Nathan Ilten, Department of Mathematics |
Counting cleverly using group theory |
|
130 |
|
Dr. Steven Dodge, Department of Physics |
A brief history of time-resolved spectroscopy |
131 |
|
Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Poster |
# |
|
March 12 |
Dr. Elyse Yeager, Department of Mathematics, UBC |
The Near Miss: Graphs that almost (but don't quite!) contain a given structure |
|
132 |
|
Dr. Richard Frank, School of Criminology |
Exploring the criminal activities in the Dark Web |
133 |
||
|
April 9
|
Dr. Fiachra Knox, Department Of Mathematics |
Graph Eigenvalues: The Mathematics of Chain Letters |
|
134 |
|
Dr. Sara Harris, Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Science, UBC |
The Change in Climate Change |
135 |
||
|
May 7
|
Dr. Ben Adcock, Department of Mathematics |
From time to frequency: How Fourier transforms changed the world |
|
136 |
|
Dr. Cameron Morland, Department of Mathematics |
Totally Random, Perfectly Predictable Sequences |
137 |