From phillip.kent at gmail.com Fri Mar 1 20:07:54 2013 From: phillip.kent at gmail.com (Phillip Kent) Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:07:54 +0000 Subject: [Maths-Education] Maths-Art seminars at London Knowledge Lab, 14 March: Niloy Mitra, 'Geometry: From Sculptures to Buildings' References: Message-ID: <1362168474.5750.11.camel@phillipkent-macbook> ** PLEASE CIRCULATE ** ALL WELCOME ** GEOMETRY: FROM SCULPTURES TO BUILDINGS An LKL Maths-Art Seminar by Niloy Mitra Thursday 14th March 2013, 6.00 - 7.30pm Digital modeling by designers and engineers leads to the creation of huge archives of 3D models. There is a pressing need to develop algorithms and software tools which can help users to analyse, explore, organise, and synthesise such massive model collections. In this talk, I will show some of our recent efforts in this direction, in terms of automated analysis of 3D geometrical forms and 'constraint-aware synthesis', that is, using existing models to synthesise new forms which satisfy particular requirements - for example, to generate objects which cast interesting shadows, or building envelopes that are designed to minimise adverse shadowing effects. I will talk about some different applications including image processing, geometry processing, and fabrication-aware form finding. The talk will explore emerging trends in coupling form and function towards the grand goal of enabling fabrication-aware smart modeling and synthesis. [more details at: http://vecg.cs.ucl.ac.uk/Projects/SmartGeometry/ ] NILOY MITRA is Reader in Geometric Modeling and Computer Graphics in the Department of Computer Science, University College London. Previously, he co-founded the Geometric Modeling and Scientific Visualization Center at KAUST in Saudi Arabia. He received his Masters and PhD from Stanford University. Niloy's research primarily centres around algorithmic issues in shape understanding and structure-aware geometry processing. TIME: 6.00 to 7.30pm PLACE: London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald St, London, WC1N 3QS [Travel information & maps at: http://bit.ly/LKL-MathsArt-venue ] Next seminars: 11 April: Seminar/workshop on Mobius strips by Simon Morgan and John Sharp; 9 May: Michael Bartholomew-Biggs on poetry and mathematics. *LKLMathsArt on YouTube: Archive of videos from the Maths-Art seminars. http://www.youtube.com/user/LKLMathsArt *Visit the website and seminar archive: http://www.lkl.ac.uk/events/maths-art *Join the email list for future seminar announcements: http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/lkl-maths-art ++++++ Dr Phillip Kent, Visiting Fellow, London Knowledge Lab p.kent at ioe.ac.uk phillip.kent at gmail.com www.phillipkent.net m: 07950 952034 ++++++ From phillip.kent at gmail.com Fri Mar 8 13:49:31 2013 From: phillip.kent at gmail.com (Phillip Kent) Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:49:31 +0000 Subject: [Maths-Education] Maths-Art seminars at London Knowledge Lab, 14 March: Niloy Mitra, 'Geometry: From Sculptures to Buildings' References: Message-ID: <1362750571.2699.13.camel@phillipkent-macbook> ** PLEASE CIRCULATE ** ALL WELCOME ** GEOMETRY: FROM SCULPTURES TO BUILDINGS An LKL Maths-Art Seminar by Niloy Mitra Thursday 14th March 2013, 6.00 - 7.30pm Digital modeling by designers and engineers leads to the creation of huge archives of 3D models. There is a pressing need to develop algorithms and software tools which can help users to analyse, explore, organise, and synthesise such massive model collections. In this talk, I will show some of our recent efforts in this direction, in terms of automated analysis of 3D geometrical forms and 'constraint-aware synthesis', that is, using existing models to synthesise new forms which satisfy particular requirements - for example, to generate objects which cast interesting shadows, or building envelopes that are designed to minimise adverse shadowing effects. I will talk about some different applications including image processing, geometry processing, and fabrication-aware form finding. The talk will explore emerging trends in coupling form and function towards the grand goal of enabling fabrication-aware smart modeling and synthesis. [more details at: http://vecg.cs.ucl.ac.uk/Projects/SmartGeometry/ ] NILOY MITRA is Reader in Geometric Modeling and Computer Graphics in the Department of Computer Science, University College London. Previously, he co-founded the Geometric Modeling and Scientific Visualization Center at KAUST in Saudi Arabia. He received his Masters and PhD from Stanford University. Niloy's research primarily centres around algorithmic issues in shape understanding and structure-aware geometry processing. TIME: 6.00 to 7.30pm PLACE: London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald St, London, WC1N 3QS [Travel information & maps at: http://bit.ly/LKL-MathsArt-venue ] Next seminars: 11 April: Seminar/workshop on Mobius strips by Simon Morgan and John Sharp; 9 May: Michael Bartholomew-Biggs on poetry and mathematics. 13 June: speaker TBC. *LKLMathsArt on YouTube: Archive of videos from the Maths-Art seminars. http://www.youtube.com/user/LKLMathsArt *Visit the website and seminar archive: http://www.lkl.ac.uk/events/maths-art *Join the email list for future seminar announcements: http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/lkl-maths-art ++++++ Dr Phillip Kent, Visiting Fellow, London Knowledge Lab p.kent at ioe.ac.uk phillip.kent at gmail.com www.phillipkent.net m: 07950 952034 ++++++ From A.Bakker4 at uu.nl Sun Mar 24 13:12:07 2013 From: A.Bakker4 at uu.nl (Bakker, A. (Arthur)) Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2013 13:12:07 +0000 Subject: [Maths-Education] 21st century maths conference Message-ID: Hi all, I would like to draw your attention to a conference on 21st century maths. The key question is: ?What should students learn about maths in the 21st Century?? What is interesting is that it is not organised by mathematics educators, but Charles Fadel, who wrote the 21st century skills book, of the Center for Curriculum Redesign in collaboration with OECD and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. See for information: http://eventus.trippus.se/21stcenturymaths Among the sponsors is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I think it is important that maths educators stay involved in such initiatives outside our discipline. Arthur Bakker Purpose of the conference: What should students learn in the 21st century? This conference will discuss top-level changes in the Math school curriculum, in terms of what topics and branches should be added, and just as crucially, what should be removed. Rationale: In the 21st century, humanity is facing severe difficulties at the societal (global warming, financial stresses), economic (globalization, innovation) and personal levels (employability, happiness). Technology?s exponential growth is rapidly compounding the problems via automation and off-shoring, which are producing social disruptions. Education is falling behind the curve[1], as it did during the Industrial Revolution. The last profound changes to curriculum[2] were effected in the late 1800?s as a response to the sudden growth in societal and human capital needs. As the world of the 21st century bears little resemblance to that of the 19th century, education curricula are overdue for a major redesign. This is all the more true in Science/Technology/Engineering/Math (STEM), where demand is outpacing supply worldwide. Math being the foundation of STEM, and in turn innovation, the situation requires urgent attention. Beyond STEM professions, we are seeing very significant innumeracy in a very large segment of the population, which has severe consequences on the ability to understand the world?s difficulties. From phillip.kent at gmail.com Tue Mar 26 21:19:42 2013 From: phillip.kent at gmail.com (Phillip Kent) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:19:42 +0000 Subject: [Maths-Education] =?iso-8859-1?q?Maths-Art_seminars_at_London_Knowledge_Lab=2C_11_?= =?iso-8859-1?q?April=2C_=22Art_and_the_M=F6bius_strip=3A_A_mostly_hands-o?= =?iso-8859-1?q?n_experience=22?= References: Message-ID: <1364332782.9918.5.camel@phillipkent-macbook> ** PLEASE CIRCULATE ** ALL WELCOME ** ART AND THE MOBIUS STRIP: A MOSTLY HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE An LKL Maths-Art workshop by Simon Morgan and John Sharp Thursday 11th April 2013, 6.00 - 7.30pm The M?bius strip is a well known mathematical object in topology. Among artists, its curious properties have been often explored, with Max Bill and M. C. Escher among the most famous exponents. After a brief survey of this art and a basic mathematical overview, we will explore new aspects of this fascinating object as a starting point for potential new art. The session will be mainly practical because the properties of the M?bius strip can only be explored through hands-on experience. Please bring scissors, tape, and large paper sheets (e.g. old newspapers)! SIMON MORGAN is a mathematician with a career-long interest in the connections between mathematics, art and education. He has taught and researched mathematics in the UK and the USA, including at the University of Minnesota and Los Alamos National Laboratory. JOHN SHARP is a researcher, writer and teacher on mathematics and art, and is well known for the sculptural forms known as Sliceforms and Dforms, and for his work on anamorphosis. He is co-organiser of the LKL Maths-Art seminars. TIME: 6.00 to 7.30pm PLACE: London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald St, London, WC1N 3QS [Travel information & maps at: http://bit.ly/LKL-MathsArt-venue ] Next seminars: 9 May: Michael Bartholomew-Biggs on poetry and mathematics. 13 June: Jonty Hurwitz. *LKLMathsArt on YouTube: Archive of videos from the Maths-Art seminars. http://www.youtube.com/user/LKLMathsArt *Visit the website and seminar archive: http://www.lkl.ac.uk/events/maths-art *Join the email list for future seminar announcements: http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/lkl-maths-art ++++++ Dr Phillip Kent, Visiting Fellow, London Knowledge Lab p.kent at ioe.ac.uk phillip.kent at gmail.com www.phillipkent.net m: 07950 952034 ++++++