Archive for May, 2008

Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles

May 30, 2008

Unfortunately for you, I once again have no graphics to adequately convey what I am researching. This week was another flood of terms such as Gaussian curvatures, osculating circles, helices, tangential vectors, level curves, line of foci, and other fun mathematical concepts. I won’t go into much more detail since we’re basically still learning the needed concepts, but we did have one big change. We are completely altering our area of research. Our group is no longer researching the curvature of blood vessels. Now we are the “double bubble” group. Our adviser had done some research on this area in the past and we are now exploring new realms of it. As simple background, a circle is the absolute best way to contain a given area with the smallest possible perimeter. Likewise, a sphere is the most efficient way to contain a given volume with the smallest surface area. However, we are looking at the efficiency of what happens when two bubbles (spheres) bump into each other and combine. We are looking at how we can contain the most volume with the least surface area. Our whole group is pretty excited about this and we’re looking forwards to new adventures. Our group is really working well together. We’re joking around with Ole and Lena jokes (which only a few of us get) yet moving forwards as fast as we can (which means as fast as I can). We added another member who arrived back from Hong Kong study abroad which brings our total for Oldham Scholars in the group to three, which is really funny to me. Anyways, more updates and better pictures to come soon.

The other major event of the week was moving into the on-campus apartments on Sunday. It’s a much longer walk to get to my research building and dining centers, but it has more room and a kitchen. I’m rooming with one of my friends and two of his friends. Hopefully, we all continue to get along. I somehow got everything moved, including my futon. It took most of the day, but I’m all settled now.

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My friends who helped me move in

Now that I have a lot more free time, I have undertaken the task of getting myself back into as good of shape as possible. Every day, either during lunch or after work, I go to the gym for about an hour and run, bike, row, or swim. Additionally, I’m trying to eat healthier and make other small adjustments. The desserts at our dining center are incredible, but I’m trying my best to resist them more often. I’m rather sore from the gym, but I’ll keep up my new life as long as possible.

Some of the rest of my free time is spent hanging out with other research participants. Every Thursday, our math research group goes out to eat at a local restaurant together. We also have one event planned each week just for us. This week’s activity was going to Coldstone for ice cream. It’s nice to be able to see each other and our professors without talking about math or work at all. Future events include movie nights and game nights.

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Some of the math researchers at Coldstone

However, I don’t need someone to plan a night for movies and games. I got together with some science researchers on Thursday night for Catchphrase and Taboo. It got a bit out of control and some of us had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard, but you have to realize what you’re getting yourself into when you start a game night with me.

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Elizabeth was on the floor crying because she was
laughing so hard during game night

Finally, I’ve been working hard to bring a disc golf course to the University of Richmond. This has taken a lot of my time with communicating with local disc golfers as well as administration and potential designers. However, if it all works out, I’ll be really excited.

Quote of the Week: “If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicate life is” - John Louis von Neumann
Thought to Ponder: Why are some blackboards green?
Shout Outs: Anyone who’s ever braved a game night with me
YouTube Video of the Week:

I saw this on TV and was amazed that a human body can do that

Published on May 30, 2008 in Campus Events and Breaks. 0 Comments

Research Begins

May 24, 2008

I have survived my first week of math research. I really had no idea what to expect when I went into it. I knew that I would probably be one of the least prepared, having only finished Calculus 2, and that I was getting in way over my head. Now that the first week is done, I would confirm my expectations. For the first two days, I was basically lost. We were covering “fundamental” math concepts that I had not even heard of. So, it’s difficult to follow along without being overwhelmed. This is basically how the first two days went for me. It was mainly lecturing in math for about five hours a day. However, once I started to get the hang of it and actually started asking questions, it got a lot better. It’s fairly enjoyable now and I really like my group, which consists of one other student, our professor, and another student/assistant. I now understand a fair amount and things are starting to get easier. We’ve made some really cool graphics representing what we’re studying. Still, it is daunting to look at my summer and see eight hours of math research for five days a week for ten weeks. That’s 400 hours of working with math in my near future.

I suppose that I should actually explain what we are researching. When I say that I’m doing math research, most people just give me a blank stare. When I expound on my actual project though, they are even more bewildered and don’t follow at all. So, I’ll try to simplify things. What we covered this week were the basic components of curves. Our project is specifically concerned with the curvature of these curves. So, we compute basic vectors that run tangential and normal to the curve. Every Friday each group gives a presentation and we thought the simplest way to think of it was as a car (a point) being on a curvy road (a curve). Pointing an arrow dead ahead of the car at any point will give you the direction (compass reading). This arrow would be of constant length. If that arrow were adjusted to show how fast you are going in that direction, then that arrow would give you velocity (speedometer and compass). Continuing with this process, we also create other arrows that are perpendicular to the two we just made. However, we don’t care how fast the car is going or about any actual properties of the car. We care about pure direction and the properties of the road. So, we give all of the arrows a constant length and simply want to know how these arrows are changing and how quickly at that. To finish up, we create circles that would show the path your car would travel if you locked your hands in a certain position on the steering wheel. The smaller and tighter the circle, the bigger the curvature. I know it’s really complicated to explain, but it’s mainly conceptual projects right now. We will eventually start examining the components of blood vessels and how, when they get bunched up and coiled, the curvature can become extreme. This could result in strokes. This curvature becomes known as tortuosity and it’s pretty exciting stuff. So, I’ll work on explaining my project better and report back to you as we progress even more. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find some graphics that we have done to explain things more efficiently.

Even though I did work full-time for four days this week, I did do plenty of other things. On my free day of Monday, I went to a local ice cream shop with my friend. He lives in Richmond and I hadn’t seen him since school ended. It was good to catch up with each other and just talk.

We also had some social gatherings with my research posse. I am one of six different research groups that comprise LURE (Long-Term Undergraduate Research). In all, there are about 20 students involved. So, we all went to one of our adviser’s house for a dinner on Wednesday night. We were able to prove that, for the most part, a group of math students can carry on a normal conversation and be quite social. We talked about everything from movies to airport stories to politics. I also got a group of us together on Friday night to play four hours of Apples to Apples and Catchphrase. It was pretty fun.

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Playing Apples to Apples with fellow researchers

It was also my friend and roommate’s birthday this week, so we surprised him with a cookie cake and sang to him.

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My roommate’s birthday

With all of this going on and working a 9-5 job, I’ve found out that time can disappear. After work, I usually go to the gym for a while and then dinner. By then, it’s 7:00 and time to take care of other items of business, such as e-mails and work for organizations or other projects I’ve been working on. By the time I’m done with that, I’ve been exhausted and really tired, so I usually hang out with friends for a while or watch TV before going to bed. I guess I never realized what it was like to work a normal job.

Finally, I need to mention a project I’ve been working on that I’m really excited about. Technically, it’s through student government, but I started it up on my own. I’m trying to bring a disc golf course to UR. I approached our Wellness Center with the idea and they were just starting to look into it as well. So, I’ve been given control of the project and have been contacting local disc golf clubs and other contacts. I just heard from a potential designer and things are really rolling along quickly. However, it is a lot of work with constant e-mail communication and keeping everything straight. If all goes well and we receive full funding and official approval from the University soon, then we are hoping to have the course up in the fall.

That’s all for now My life is busy, but I’m on a three-day weekend with Memorial Day and have time to recover. I move into the on-campus apartments tomorrow and hope to just relax for a short while now. I’m afraid that this blog got a bit long and complex, so sorry about that. Take care and enjoy the holiday weekend.

Quote of the Week: “Support Bacteria. They’re the only culture some people have” -Saying on one of the slides for a LURE presenter who is studying infectious diseases and was educating us about anti-bacterials.
Thought to Ponder: In the song “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain”, who is she?
Shout Outs: Anyone who is going to be on-campus this summer
YouTube Video of the Week:

I don’t know why I picked this one. It entertained me though and I kept watching. Enjoy.

Published on May 24, 2008 in Miscellaneous. 0 Comments

What To Do?

It’s been three weeks since I finished school. What a crazy thought! It feels like I haven’t done anything. This past week was spent working in the Admissions Office for twenty hours giving tours. Besides that, I had nothing to do with no one here on campus yet and no way to get off-campus. Needless to say, I haven’t done much this week. I’ve adjusted to my new dorm room on-campus and watched lots of TV, even Discovery Channel, Food Network, and Game Show Network. Besides that, I finally got around to reading some books I’ve been meaning to get to. Our main dining center has been closed due to the lack of students on-campus, so I’ve had to deal with limited food options in addition to the boredom. In short, I’ve been eating PB&J, popcorn, granola bars, Ramen, and Pop-Tarts for a good share of the week.

With such few things to do, I don’t have much to report. However, I did attend a baseball game here on-campus. We lost, but it was still a beautiful day for a baseball game.

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The baseball game I went to on-campus

I also went to a yard sale that the University hosts. They collect all of the clothes, sofas, lamps, and everything that is left after the students leave. They sell it at very cheap prices to staff, students, and the public. I went and managed to buy a nice futon, stool, and lamp for my room next year. Finally, I’ve been in touch with some of my organizations regarding our plans for the fall. I’ve proposed a few ideas for events to get freshmen involved with InterVarsity that I’m very excited about.

Sadly, that’s all I have to report for this week. At least the weather has been amazing this week, usually 70s and sunny. However, without anything to do outside, that makes it not as enjoyable. I start my math research on Tuesday and will let you know how that goes.

Quote of the Week: “In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom.” -Richard Bach
Thought to Ponder: Should vegetarians eat animal crackers?
YouTube Video of the Week:

One of the top viral videos of the year (40 million views!!!)

Published on May 18, 2008 in Breaks. 0 Comments