The Reid Lecture Series

The Reid Lecture Series is an annual public lecture geared toward showing a broad audience the beauty of mathematics. It is hosted each March by the CSUSM Department of Mathematics. The event is open to the local and campus communities, including engaged high school and college students from other campuses and interested community members.

The Reid Lecture was established in 2015 and has continued with support from Founding Library Dean and Librarian Emerita Marion Reid and Founding Faculty Member and Professor Emeritus K. Brooks Reid.

The Spring 2023 Reid Lecture Series Presents: 

Over the past few centuries, the theory of probability has been developed to quantify possibilities and to help us make decisions with incomplete knowledge. More recently, this theory has been refined to include predictions based on chaotic dynamical systems, as well as providing a measure of our belief in future events based on observed data. As mathematicians, we like precision, patterns, predictions. As human beings we want to make wise, informed decisions. In this talk I will explore three questions: how can we quantify the uncertainty in our predictions, how do we make decisions in the face of uncertainty, and when is a bit of uncertainty helpful ? or fun?

A California native, Professor Ami Radunskaya received her Ph.D. in Mathematics from Stanford University.  She has been a faculty member in the Math Department at Pomona College since 1994.   In her research, she specializes  in ergodic theory, dynamical systems, and applications to various "real-world" problems.  Some current research projects involve mathematical models of cancer immunotherapy, developing strategies for targeted drug delivery to the brain, and studying stochastic perturbations of dynamical systems. Professor Radunskaya believes strongly in the power of collaboration and that everyone can learn to enjoy mathematics; as President of the Association of Women in Mathematics, she encouraged collaborative research, international outreach and cooperation between all the mathematical societies.    She is the President of the EDGE (Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education) Foundation, whose summer program won a "Mathematics Program that Makes a Difference" award from the American Mathematics Society  in 2007, and a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) in 2017.

Professor Radunskaya is a 2021 Fellow of the  Association for Women in Mathematics, a Fellow of the American Math Society, and she is the recipient of several awards, including a WIG teaching award in  2012,  the 2017 AAAS Mentor  award, and the 2020 Intercollegiate Biomathematics Alliance Distinguished Senior Fellowship.  She was featured in the documentary, “The Empowerment Project: ordinary women doing extraordinary things”, as well as in the 2020 book:  “Power in  Numbers: the Rebel Women of Mathematics”.

History

• 2015: The inaugural Reid Lecture given by Professor Ron Graham, UC San Diego Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.
• 2016: Professor Francis Su, Harvey Mudd College, Department of Mathematics.
• 2017:  Professor Alice Silverberg, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, UC Irvine.
• 2018:  Professor William Dunham, Mathematical Historian, Distinguished Author, and Research Associate in Mathematics at Bryn Mawr.
• Spring 2019:  Professor Talithia Williams, Department of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College.
• Fall 2019:  Professor Ron Gould, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Heilbrun Distinguished Fellow, Emory University.
• 2021: Professor Peter Winkler, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, Dartmouth College
• 2022: Professor Robin Wilson, Emeritus Professor of Pure Mathematics at the Open University, Emeritus Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, and a former Fellow of Keble College, Oxford University.