SP General Audience Graduate Seminar provides MIT students the venue for more scholarly and open interactions with their peers.

Dinner Served

Sponcers: ODGE Office of the Dean for Graduate Education 

Speakers

Lieutenant Commander Sjaak de Vlaming 

• US Navy & MIT Naval Construction and Engineering
• Talk: Submarine Modular Construction
• Bio:  Born and raised in upstate South Carolina, LCDR de Vlaming graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2005 with a degree in Mathematics. LCDR de Vlaming served on the USS LOS ANGELES (SSN 688) based in Pearl Harbor, HI from 2007 to 2010, ending the last three months of his tour in Bremerton, WA, where the LOS ANGELES was decommissioned. He subsequently transferred into Engineering Duty which focuses on submarine
  design, construction, and maintenance. He was the delivery officer for the USS JOHN WARNER (SSN 785) in Newport News, VA, before coming to MIT.
  
  His research interests concern improving shipyard data capture methods, including personnel allocation and accurate job duration planning. 

Nicholas Triantafillou

• MIT Mathematics
• Talk:  Recent and Not-So-Recent Developments in Sphere Packing
• Bio: Nicholas Triantafillou is a 4th year PhD student studying arithmetic geometry in the math department. He particularly likes algorithms for computing invariants of algebraic varieties, arithmetic statistics, and problems which involve both pure mathematics and computer science. 
• Abstract:  This is a talk about fitting as many balls as possible into a (really, really big) box. We'll explore some of the challenges in making this a mathematically precise question and in thinking about high-dimensional spheres. Along the way, we'll see some connections to computer science and number theory. The talk should be of particular interest to fruit vendors in 8 and 24 dimensions.

Patrick White 

• MIT Nuclear Engineering
• Talk: Understanding the Present and Future of Nuclear Power
• Bio: Patrick White is a third-year PhD student in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department at MIT. Patrick’s research focuses on regulation, licensing, and safety of current generation and advanced nuclear power plants. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2012, with a focus in thermal and structural finite element modeling. Before coming to MIT, Patrick worked for at MPR Associates, an engineering consulting firm specializing in work with commercial nuclear power plants.
• Abstract: For many people, “nuclear power” is a term that evokes danger and fear. For the engineers and scientists who study it, “nuclear power” is an incredible tool for global electrification and preventing significant quantities carbon emissions and particulate pollution. In this talk, we will review the basics of nuclear energy and discuss the potential for nuclear energy to help in the fight against climate change. We will also preview the potential for advanced nuclear reactor design to change the way we think about the safety and deployability of nuclear power plants. 

This seminar series aims to:

• Help inspire interdisciplinary collaborations, as students learn about problems in other fields that could be attacked using their own expertise. 
• Provide a venue to spark new collaborations and interdisciplinary projects. 
• Increase graduate student exposure to fields outside of their primary area of research. 
• Give graduate students an opportunity to practice public speaking in a low-pressure environment of peers. 
• Help graduate students think about presenting their work to non-expert audiences. 
• Increase students' comfort levels with unfamiliar research topics. 

Join us for the seminar and dinner at MIT's Sidney Pacific graduate residence! 

Contact: Neil Gaikwad, gaikwad@mit.edu for more information