University of Victoria

The peaceable queens problem asks to determine the maximum number $a(n)$ such that there is a placement of $a(n)$ white queens and $a(n)$ black queens on an $n \times n$ chessboard so that no queen can capture any queen of the opposite color. We...

A phase transition is a phenomenon in physics, chemistry, and other related fields where the macroscopic behavior of a system changes qualitatively when the tuning parameter (such as temperature) that governs local interactions is varied by a small...

School timetabling is a complex problem in combinatorial optimization, requiring the best possible assignment of course sections to teachers, timeslots, and classrooms. For educational institutions, the Master Timetable dictates to every single...

Combinatorial Configurations lay between block designs and hypergraphs. When these incidence structures can be embedded in the plane, we call them Geometric Configurations. In this talk, we will explore several results in the study of configurations...

This seminar will focus on aspects of the ecology of animal home ranges in which empirically derived movement tracks are viewed as realizations of continuous time, continuous space stochastic processes. Topics will include the distinctions between...

Selection acts upon genes tied together on chromosomes. This physical association reduces the efficiency of evolution because, in the absence of sex, alleles must rise and fall together in frequency with the genome in which they are found. In this...

Depth and width parameters of graphs, e.g., tree-width, path-width and tree-depth, play a crucial role in algorithmic and structural graph theory. These notions are of fundamental importance in the theory of graph minors, fixed parameter complexity...

An highly active research area is concerned with finding conditions on sparse sets that ensure the existence of many geometric patterns. I will present some results in this direction connecting Newhouse thickness and its generalizations to higher...

The field of DNA Topology includes the study of DNA geometry (supercoiling) and topology (knots and links) and their effects on DNA in vitro and in vivo. Statistical mechanics-based polygonal models of DNA have proved useful for addressing many...

This alternative math education event will present fun activities to explore math and computer science concepts to children (and adults!) using games and art! Lots of hands-on activities including: Sorting network An impossible balancing act...