Department News and Happenings | Mathematics at Dartmouth

Mathematics is an amazing and beautiful intellectual creation, one of the human race’s deepest endeavors. The world around us, and the future world we are creating, is woven through with mathematics — from the symmetry groups of Navajo weavings, to the airflow around a flapping bird’s wing, to the security of global computer networks.

Learn more about our vibrant department, explore our daily events calendar for the most current department events, and please come visit us in Kemeny Hall.

Recent happenings in and around the Math Department

Matt Radosevich ’20 receives Byrne Prize

May 21, 2020

Congratulations to Matt Radosevich ’20, the recipient of the 2020 John J. Byrne Jr. Prize in Mathematics, awarded to the top Dartmouth graduating mathematics major interested in continuing mathematics at the graduate level. With advisor John Voight, Matt has been working on research involving Euclidean triangle groups and Belyi maps, to be presented as his senior honors thesis. Matt was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society last October and was also captain of the club Nordic ski team and a leader in the Outing Club.

Honoring the birth of BASIC at Dartmouth, May 1964

May 18, 2020

“It is worth remembering, as communications during the pandemic rely so heavily on computers, that it was just over 50 years ago, on May 1, 1964, that Dartmouth math professor and future president John Kemeny and math professor Tom Kurtz, along with a handful of Dartmouth undergraduates, ushered in the era of personal computing with the introduction of the BASIC programming language,” says Professor Dan Rockmore. Read the Dartmouth News story, which includes two videos on the computer language that changed the world.

Neukom Prizes for Research in Computational Science

May 16, 2020

Computational science and computational techniques are now ubiquitous across the research landscape, creating a wide range of diverse and fascinating projects. The Neukom Institute is offering Undergraduate and Graduate Research Prizes, which were created to encourage undergraduate and graduate interest in research and to recognize outstanding research in the computational sciences. The submission deadline is May 22.

Special film screening for celebration of women in mathematics

May 07, 2020

Math professor Carolyn Gordon and Thayer School of Engineering professor Petra Bonfert-Taylor have co-organized a screening and discussion of the film Secrets of the Surface: The Mathematical Vision of Maryam Mirzakhani, a documentary film by George Csicsery. See our special event listing for details on how to view the film at your convenience and then join the community discussion on May 15. Photo by Jan Vondrák

The 2020 Thayer Prize Exam

May 06, 2020

Attention first-year students! The Thayer Prize Exam, a contest organized by our department each year, will take place this year on Saturday, May 30, 2020. This year’s exam will be held online. To register, please contact Professor Vladimir Chernov by Sunday May 10, 2020. If you cannot take the exam on Saturday May 30, please contact us in advance. The alternate date is Sunday May 31. For more details, please visit the Thayer Prize page.

Professor Orellana’s research recently published in two journals

April 25, 2020

Professor Rosa Orellana’s research has led to the publication of two recent co-authored papers: An insertion algorithm on multiset partitions with applications to diagram algebras in the Journal of Algebra, and Commutation and Normal Ordering for Operators on Symmetric Functions in Séminaire Lotharingien de Combinatoire. Professor Orellana’s research is in algebraic combinatorics with a focus on combinatorial representation theory and symmetric functions.

Welcoming our incoming PhD students

April 24, 2020

We are pleased to welcome the incoming class of PhD students for the fall! Clockwise from top left: Alina Glaubitz (TU Braunschweig, Germany, BS), Matthew Ellison (MIT, BS), Juanita Duque Rosero (University de Los Andes, Bogota, BS; Colorado State University, MS), Benjamin Logsdon (Williams College, BA), Jinman Park (Pohang University of Science & Tech, BS), and Michael Cerchia (SUNY Geneseo, BA; Wake Forest, MA). Brian Mintz (Brandeis University, BS), not pictured, is also joining the class.

Neukom Summer Scholars new deadline: May 13

April 16, 2020

Dartmouth’s Neukom Scholars Program provides support for undergraduates working on computational projects. The program’s goal is to support undergraduate research across the campus, and it seeks to fund third or fourth-year students engaged in faculty-advised research in the development of novel computational techniques as well as the application of computational methods to problems in the Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts. Awards are $1000/term for one or two terms. The application deadline for summer term is extended to May 13.

Professor Rockmore on random vs. selective testing

April 15, 2020

Professor Dan Rockmore and Government professor Michael Herron describe how a relatively small set of randomly distributed tests could give health officials a more accurate picture of the current spread of the novel coronavirus throughout the U.S. Currently, testing is heavily skewed towards those with symptoms. While this makes sense, considering limited testing resources, it prevents us from fully understanding how the impact of COVID-19 varies among regions and communities.

Math alumna featured in MAA FOCUS

April 09, 2020

Kira Hamman MA ’99, Assistant Teaching Professor of Mathematics at Penn State, is featured in the February/March issue of MAA FOCUS, in which she recounts learning something entirely new this past summer: how to play the cello. “How often,” she asks, “do we become students of things that are uncomfortable for us to learn?” Professor Hamman’s research interests include logic and set theory, the philosophy of mathematics, and mathematics and democracy.

Announcing the 2020 Math Essay Contest winners

April 01, 2020

Math major Mary Versa Clemens-Sewall ’20 won first prize at the college level in our local AWM essay contest Biographies Of Contemporary Women In Mathematics. Her essay, For the Love of (Sharing) Math, features visiting faculty member Nadia Lafrenière, who has organized Maths en Ville walking tours of Montréal. Other 2020 winning essays are from high school students Sophie Usherwood and Sora Shirai, and middle school students Hannah Malin-Stremlau, Farren Stainton, Benjamin Thaler Wellborn, and Leigh Grace Eggleton. Three local students won prizes at the national level!

Springing into spring term

March 29, 2020

The Math Department has jumped into the work at hand for remote learning this spring! Almost all of our focus in the last few weeks has been on our courses, which you may browse on our course offerings page. We have added a new link with more details, including course descriptions and information about how each course will be taught this spring. As we move into the term, we are mindful that extending our empathy, generosity, and kindness will help ensure a smooth transition for all in the new learning environment.

Professor Winkler featured in The Guardian’s puzzle series

March 24, 2020

Can you solve this puzzle devised by Professor Peter Winkler? Featured in this week’s Monday Puzzle series in The Guardian, Professor Winkler is described by the article’s author as “one of my all time puzzle heroes.” Currently the Puzzle Master at the National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath), Professor Winkler reminds us that to keep our minds fresh, we may sign up for free on Mind-Benders for the Quarantined! to receive his weekly mathematical puzzles from MoMath.

Mathematical art at JMM 2020

February 21, 2020

The work of Instructor Bjoern Muetzel and Yana Mohanty was featured in the JMM 2020 Art Exhibition this winter. Starting with a snub dodecahedron with mirrored inside faces, they used a spherical camera to produce an image which, when transformed via stereographic projection, highlights the chirality of this Archimedean solid. Read their submission to the art exhibition about how this was done.

Professor Feng Fu featured in Dartmouth News

February 21, 2020

Dartmouth News writes about Professor Feng Fu’s multidisciplinary approach to research and teaching in what he calls “mathematical humanities”, ranging from quantitative explorations into human behavior, the ethics of algorithms, and mathematical models of morality. “The research we do has a focus on understanding multifaceted human behavior, ranging from public health cooperation, political polarization, and diversity,” says Fu. Learn more +

Math alumnus receives national award for teaching excellence

February 13, 2020

Mark Tomforde Ph.D. ’02, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Houston, is a 2020 recipient of the MAA Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award, which recognizes teaching effectiveness that has been shown to have had influence beyond the honorees’ own institutions. He has received several other teaching awards, including the 2019 Distinguished College and University Teaching of Mathematics Award (Texas section) and the 2015 John C. Butler Excellence in Teaching Award at UH.

Modeling the spread of wildfires at INRA Avignon

February 05, 2020

During Fall term Byrne Scholar Hugo Nam ’21 spent four months at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in Avignon, France. During his internship at INRA’s Biostatistics and Spatial Processes center, Hugo studied the application of Hawkes processes in developing statistical models related to the spread of wildfires in various European regions and wrote code to model such phenomena.

Mathematics REU 2020: apply by March 13

January 15, 2020

Professor Anne Gelb and Dr. Matthew Parno of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) will lead the Dartmouth Mathematics REU this summer. Students will have the opportunity to work on applications in areas such as sea ice dynamics, radar imaging, subsurface flow, near-shore wave modeling, Arctic microbial communities, and snowpack evolution.

Professor Rockmore writes on AI and the creative arts

January 09, 2020

In an essay titled The Mechanical Muse in The New Yorker Annals of Inquiry, Dan Rockmore, professor of Mathematics and director of the Neukom Institute, explores the idea of computer programs generating lyrical poetry. He poses the question: “Given the power of new techniques in artificial intelligence, why not think more broadly about the kinds of art one can make using it?”

Byrne Scholar Summer 2019 technology internships

January 08, 2020

Supported by the Byrne gift, Byrne Scholars Aadil Islam ’21 and Raymond Chen ’22 participated in summer 2019 internships. Aadil interned in a JHU APL data science camp working on models to detect fake news, and Raymond developed quality control code as a cloud applications intern at an American multinational corporation. “It was very rewarding to be able to apply what I learned in both Computer Science and Mathematics courses at Dartmouth,” says Raymond.

Service trip to Puerto Rico

January 03, 2020

Professor Sergi Elizalde, house professor of East Wheelock House, traveled to Puerto Rico with five East Wheelock students last spring as part of a service trip to El Departamento De La Comida (El Depa), a sustainability and food justice collective devoted to empowering the island’s communities to be ecologically resilient through local and sustainable farming. From left: Angel Aguilar ’22, community member Victor Dacosta, and Professor Elizalde. Learn more +

Professor Orellana elected to AMS Council

December 13, 2019

Professor Rosa Orellana has been elected to the Council of the American Mathematical Society as Member at Large. Professor Orellana’s research is in algebraic combinatorics with a focus on combinatorial representation theory and symmetric functions. At Dartmouth she co-founded a chapter of the AWM in an effort to increase the number of women taking and majoring in mathematics at Dartmouth and has organized Sonia Kovalevsky Math Days to encourage young women in our community to study mathematics.

Research in molecular and evolutionary biology

December 12, 2019

Byrne Scholar Jacob Fyda ’22 spent eight weeks this summer in the Integrative Physiology of Mammalian Energy Metabolism research group at the Wenner-Gren Institute. “I had the incredible opportunity to experience a foreign country and actively participate in a productive, high-impact lab.” Jacob’s work involved the analysis and annotation of the genomes of several hundred representative animal species, as well as phylogenetic analysis, selection pressure analysis, and the construction of evolutionary trees.

New advanced statistics book by Professor Demidenko

December 06, 2019

Professor Eugene Demidenko is the author of the recently published book Advanced Statistics with Applications in R. Professor Demidenko has broad interests in theoretical and applied statistics, applied mathematics, and biomathematics. The book is the product of a forty-year experience in teaching of probability and statistics and their applications for solving real-life problems.

Sonia Kovalevsky Day Saturday May 9, 2020

November 22, 2019

Sonia Kovalevsky Day is a fun-filled day of mathematics with hands-on workshops and talks for middle and high school female students and their teachers, both women and men. Originally started and funded by the Association for Women in Mathematics, the purpose of the day is to encourage young women to continue their study of mathematics and to assist the teachers of female mathematics students.

Math Department and AWM Essay Contests

November 20, 2019

The Math Department is sponsoring the Essay Contest Biographies of Contemporary Women in Mathematics, which is modeled on the national AWM Essay Contest and is open to all middle and high school students in the Upper Valley and to all Dartmouth undergraduates. Two of last year’s winning essays received national awards. The contest deadline is January 31, 2020.

Collaborating on problems in combinatorics

November 14, 2019

Joint work of fifth-year graduate student Juan Auli and Professor Sergi Elizalde on inversion sequences in combinatorics has led to two papers published this year: Consecutive Patterns in Inversion Sequences in Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science and Consecutive Patterns in Inversion Sequences II: Avoiding Patterns of Relations in Journal of Integer Sequences. Learn more +

Professor Rockmore writes in The New Yorker

November 08, 2019

Where do mathematical ideas come from? In part, from “a feeling of being free, of forgetting for a moment that we are bound by gravity and logic and convention, of letting the magic happen,” writes Professor Dan Rockmore in The Myth and Magic of Generating New Ideas in The New Yorker Annals of Inquiry. “Perhaps it is the momentary feeling of being untethered that gives the mind free rein — the space to have a good idea.”

Byrne Scholar research project in biomathematics

November 07, 2019

Byrne Scholar Connor Spencer ’22, second from left, conducted research on the genetics of thermogenesis of eutherian mammals at the Wenner-Gren Institute this summer. Connor is especially interested in the intersection of computer science and applied mathematics. “My research this summer at the Wenner-Gren Institute at Stockholm University offered me with a truly life-changing experience,” he says. “I am really glad to have taken part in this research and worked with some of the best thinkers in this field.”

Professor Wallace to present at NCCC Grand Rounds

November 06, 2019

Professor Dorothy Wallace will give a talk titled Creating a Broadly Useful In Silico Tumor Simulation Through Leveraging Multiple Data Sources at Norris Cotton Cancer Center Grand Rounds on Tuesday November 12 from 12 – 1pm at DHMC. Professor Wallace, whose current research focuses on mathematical biology, will lead Dartmouth’s second Mathematical Oncology DSP at the Moffitt Cancer Research Center in Tampa this winter.

New course to be offered in Winter 2020

October 25, 2019

Math 19 (Introduction to Set Theory) will be offered in Winter 2020. Topics covered include the algebra of sets, ordinals and cardinals, transfinite induction and recursion, and the axiom of choice. Students will learn language and concepts used throughout mathematics, and will learn how to write mathematical proofs, which makes Math 19 excellent preparation for upper level courses. View the full advertisement for more information.

Talk by math and science writer Evelyn Lamb

October 24, 2019

What can you do with a math degree? Accounting, finance, and computer programming might come to mind, but what about writing and journalism? Mathematician and freelance writer Evelyn Lamb will give a talk titled Building a Creative Career in Mathematics on Thursday November 7 at 5:30pm in 008 Kemeny. This talk is sponsored by the Department of Mathematics, the Byrne Scholars Program, the Dartmouth Math Society, and the Association for Women in Mathematics.

Joint faculty and former grad student research published

October 24, 2019

Professor Scott Pauls and Daryl DeFord Ph.D. ’18 co-authored the paper Spectral clustering methods for multiplex networks, recently published in the journal Physica A. Professor Paul’s research focuses on building and analyzing network models for social, biological, and physical systems. DeFord, currently a postdoctoral associate at MIT (CSAIL), received the Hannah Croasdale Award for his approach to research and teaching while at Dartmouth.

Geometry activities at MoMath’s NYC Math Festival

October 23, 2019

Instructor Bjoern Muetzel and Byrne Scholar Hugo Nam ’21 participated in the fourth annual NYC Math Festival where they led geometry activities with children. Using solids built from Geometiles® and mirrors attached to the inside faces they created a new type of kaleidoscope with which to view New York City postcards at the festival.

At MathFest 2019 in Cincinnati

October 18, 2019

Byrne Scholar Kayla Hamann ’22 (standing, fifth from left) recently attended MAA MathFest, where she attended talks on topics ranging from recreational mathematics to math in social justice. She also attended a mentoring workshop for women where she learned from other undergrads, graduate students, professors, and professionals. “I came away from MAA MathFest with a wealth of resources,” she says. Kayla is an aspiring math major and on the executive board of the student chapter of the AWM.

Professor Pauls receives NSF funding for undergrad data science programs

October 16, 2019

Together with Thayer professors Petra Bonfert-Taylor and Laura Ray and computer science professor Lorie Loeb, Professor Scott Pauls received a $2.8M NSF Accelerating Discovery Award for the grant Data Science Infused for Undergraduate STEM Education. With this award, Dartmouth will develop teaching materials to introduce data science into first-year courses in science, technology, engineering, and math by the Fall of 2020. Learn more +

Neukom Institute opportunities for undergraduates and postdocs

October 11, 2019

Dartmouth’s Neukom Institute provides support for undergraduates working on computational projects by way of the Neukom Scholars Program and Travel Grants. In addition, the Neukom Fellows program brings to campus early-career interdisciplinary postdoctoral researchers whose work has a computational theme. View the list of current Neukom fellows to see research interests and mentorships.

Professor Demidenko speaks at campus ITC event

October 06, 2019

On Thursday October 17 Adjunct Professor of Mathematics Eugene Demidenko will give a lunchtime talk on how machine learning can be enriched by statistics. Professor Demidenko’s interests include methodological and applied statistical research with applications to advanced bioengineering technologies. He is the author of the book Mixed Models: Theory and Applications with R and is the recipient of several awards from the American Statistical Association. Register here for the talk.

At the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge

September 20, 2019

Thanks to the generous Byrne gift, Byrne Scholar Archita Harathi ’22 recently traveled to the U.K. to conduct research under the guidance of Marie Curie Fellow Irena Vankova at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge. “My experience working at the British Antarctic Survey was full of learning and exploring the potential of mathematics in a variety of applications. I am forever grateful for experience and the memories I made along with it!”

Professor Pomerance and alumni attend Erdős conference

September 19, 2019

Professor Carl Pomerance, Jared Duker Lichtman AB, AM ’18, and Nathan McNew Ph.D. ’15 attended the 2019 Paul Erdős Lecture Series, a conference in memory of one of Professor Pomerance's greatest mentors. Jared will be starting a Ph.D. at Oxford with an interest in number theory of the sort Erdős particularly enjoyed, and Nathan is now Assistant Professor at Towson University. Professor Pomerance spoke on “Erdős and Primitive Sets” at the conference.

Welcome from the Dartmouth AWM

September 19, 2019

The Dartmouth Association for Womxn in Mathematics welcomes the Class of 2023! The executive board invites you to attend meetings where you can suggest programming ideas for the term and be around other self-identifying womxn (and allies) who enjoy mathematics. Clockwise from upper left: Kayla Hamann ’22, Itzel Castañeda Ruvalcaba ’20, Roxy Holden ’21, Lizzie Hernández-Videa ’22, and Paola Karapataki ’22.

Professor Winkler named Puzzle Master at MoMath

September 09, 2019

The National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) has selected Professor Peter Winkler as the second Distinguished Chair for the Public Dissemination of Mathematics. He will launch “A Year of Puzzles” at MoMath and will lead a series of public initiatives, including mini-courses in puzzle solving, special events at city high schools, and a series of puzzle-themed dinners on probability and decision theory. “Being good at math is great, but not necessary. Being unafraid of math, and a bit curious, is enough to give any child or adult a big advantage.” Learn more +

Math alumnus honored by Lathisms

September 06, 2019

Enrique Treviño Ph.D. ’11, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Lake Forest College, is a 2019 Lathisms honoree in the category of Latinx and Hispanic mathematics educators. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics with an emphasis in number theory under the guidance of Professor Carl Pomerance. Lathisms was founded in 2016 to showcase the contributions of Latinx and Hispanic mathematicians during Hispanic Heritage Month. “My favorite part of Lathisms has been the podcast. It is great to hear about the life of other mathematicians. To listen to the struggles on their path and their resilience... and to hear the joy mathematics brings to them.”

Joint faculty and graduate research published in Inverse Problems and Imaging

August 30, 2019

The paper Edge-adaptive $\ell_2$ regularization image reconstruction from non-uniform Fourier data by graduate student Victor Churchill and Professor Anne Gelb (joint with Rick Archibald at Oak Ridge National Laboratory) was recently published in Inverse Problems and Imaging. Below are synthetic aperture radar images of a car reconstructed using (left) $\ell_1$ regularization and (right) edge-adaptive $\ell_2$ regularization. The top panels show the full car and the bottom are close-ups of the lower right wheel.

Welcome Assistant Professor Asher Auel

August 29, 2019

The department welcomes Assistant Professor Asher Auel, whose article The Mathematics of Grace Murray Hopper was published earlier this year in Notices of the American Mathematical Society. “I think that her story should be retold in our courses because it emphasizes the broad importance of basic training in mathematics. In some sense, you could think of mathematics as the liberal arts of the sciences. It’s the language you’ll use in all scientific disciplines. It’s a way of knowing, a way of thinking, and a way of understanding truth.”

2019 ICERM Illustrating Mathematics

August 28, 2019

Instructor Bjoern Muetzel and Yana Mohanty will be exhibiting photographs and sculptures of mirror solids at the ICERM Illustrating Mathematics Program at Brown this fall. For the piece Archimedean billiards II, they explored what happens when you attach mirror surfaces to the inside faces of a rhombicosidodecahedron. “We set out to find this out by placing a spherical camera near the center of the solid and then stereographically projecting the output.” Learn more +

Class of ’23 Byrne Scholars

August 23, 2019

Isabel Pantle, Varun (Rooney) Malladi, Eliza Crocker, and Anna Mikhailova (clockwise from top left) are among ten named Byrne Scholars in the class of 2023. The generous Byrne gift allows students to study with faculty committed to using mathematics to build solutions to complex problems, to present research findings at conferences, and to participate in research exchanges abroad.

Our recent Ph.D.s

August 22, 2019

Michael Musty and Sam Schiavone received their Ph.D.s this summer focusing on topics in algebra, geometry, and number theory. Michael’s thesis is 2-group Belyi Maps and he has a visiting position at ICERM where he will be working on visualizations of dessins d’enfants in the Illustrating Mathematics program. Sam’s thesis is On Algebras Of Low Rank And On Belyi Maps and he is moving on to a postdoc position at MIT in the Number Theory group.

Biomathematics research project in Stockholm

August 21, 2019

Byrne Scholars Connor Spencer ’22 and Jacob Fyda ’22 conducted an undergraduate research project in biomathematics at the Wenner-Gren Institute in Stockholm, Sweden this summer. Martin Jastroch and Michael Gaudry, the project’s supervisors, study mitochondria and cellular energy metabolisms. Instructor Bjoern Muetzel facilitated this exchange. From left: Martin Jastroch, Bjoern Muetzel, Connor Spencer, and Michael Gaudry.

Professor Voight’s research highlighted by Simons Foundation

July 26, 2019

The annual report of the Simons Foundation features Principal Investigator John Voight’s research in arithmetic geometry and number theory and explores where this work may lead in the future. “Our collaboration grew out of the questions: What does computational number theory look like in the 21st century, and what tools should be developed for use by the arithmetic geometry community?” Learn more +

2019 undergraduate poster gallery

July 25, 2019

Jared Hodes ’20 discusses his group’s joint work on their poster $\alpha\beta\gamma$ Conjecture for Gaussian Integers, which won Second Place in Pure Mathematics at our undergraduate poster session held annually in May. View the gallery of 2019 posters to see interesting examples of our student-faculty research.

Math alumna curates stories of mathematical resilience

July 18, 2019

Allison Henrich Ph.D. ’08, Professor of Mathematics at Seattle University, is the editor of Living Proof: Stories of Resilience Along the Mathematical Journey. This collection has an impressive Dartmouth showing: along with Henrich, Lola Thompson Ph.D. ’12, David Neel Ph.D. ’02, Nicholas Scoville Ph.D. ’10, and Dominic Klyve, Ph.D. ’07 each contributed a chapter. The book is available as a free download. Learn more +

At the National Math Festival

July 17, 2019

Instructor Bjoern Muetzel (right), Byrne Scholar Hugo Hyung Ju Nam ’21, and Math major Ty Fierce Metteba ’20 recently traveled to the National Math Festival in Washington, D.C. where they led geometry activities with children. Muetzel’s research interests include low dimensional geometry and topology, systolic geometry, and harmonic forms on surfaces.

Professor Wallace awarded for work with alumni

July 07, 2019

The Dartmouth Alumni Council presented the 2019 Rassias Award to Professor Dorothy Wallace. The award is granted to a faculty member each year and recognizes exceptional educational outreach to alumni. Professor Wallace, who has recently led alumni trips to Iceland and Greece, incorporates mathematical concepts into the excursions, making math accessible to alumni and their families.

Our recent Ph.D.s

July 06, 2019

Angelica Babei received her Ph.D. in June and will be starting a postdoc position at Vanderbilt this fall. Her research interests are in algebraic number theory and her thesis On the Arithmetic of Tiled Orders focused on computing type numbers of orders in central simple algebras.

Will Kaufman ’20 wins Neukom Prize

July 05, 2019

Math major Will Kaufman ’20 is the second place winner of the Neukom Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Research in Computational Science for 2019. Will's project, Improving change detection algorithms with variance based joint sparsity recovery, explored image reconstruction problems in signal processing.

Victor Churchill wins Neukom Prize

June 27, 2019

Congratulations to Victor Churchill, winner of a second place Neukom Prize for Outstanding Graduate Research in Computational Science for his project Detecting edges from non-uniform Fourier data via sparse Bayesian learning. Victor works with Professor Anne Gelb on image reconstruction problems; their work has recently led two joint papers.

Our recent Ph.D.s

June 26, 2019

Sara Chari and Melanie Dennis pose for family photos on the Dartmouth lawn following the 2019 Investiture ceremony. Sara (thesis: Orders in Quaternion and Central Simple Algebras) is moving on to a position at Bates College, and Melanie (thesis: Combinatorial Proofs to Linear Algebraic Identities) will be teaching at SNHU.

Math alumni open house

June 25, 2019

Math alumni Ken Swinski ’73, Dan Crowley ’73, and Bill Keegan ’75 enjoy refreshments and share stories at our open house during reunion week. Ken reports that his Dartmouth alumni club recently distributed copies of Professor Dan Rockmore’s book What Are the Arts and Sciences? A Guide for the Curious to local high school students.

Juan Auli receives Bogart Teaching Award

June 14, 2019

Juan Auli is the recipient of this year’s Kenneth P. Bogart Teaching Award for his dedication to and excellence in advancing the educational mission of the department. Juan was also recognized this year as Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher for Math 20. Congratulations to Juan!

BASIC: the first user-friendly computer programming language

June 08, 2019

Spotted this week: a New Hampshire historical marker honoring the work of John Kemeny and Tom Kurtz on the development of BASIC. How did this come about? See the Granite Geek blog article, and click to view a larger image.

Undergraduate Poster Prizes

June 07, 2019

Ethan Goldman ’22 stops by the department to receive congratulations for First Place in Pure Mathematics for his poster Continued Fractions and abc-Triples. The poster was a project for the course An Introduction to Mathematics Beyond Calculus led by Professor John Voight. Ethan has not yet declared a major but is considering Mathematics.

Melanie Dennis receives Graduate Teaching Award

May 31, 2019

Congratulations to Melanie Dennis, the recipient of the 2019 Guarini Graduate Teaching Award! This award recognizes dedication, commitment, creativity, innovation, and overall excellence in teaching. Melanie has accepted a position at Southern New Hampshire University and we wish her much success.

Undergraduate Poster Prizes

May 30, 2019

Louisa Gao ’22 and Matt Sawicki ’20 won First Place in Applied Mathematics for their poster For Whom the Bell Tolls: Modeling Wind Chimes with the Classical Wave Equation. Combining their interests in math and music, they applied the wave equation to model the acoustics of vibrating cylinders in a project for Introduction to Applied Mathematics taught by Professor Dorothy Wallace.

Improving image reconstruction from very noisy data

May 15, 2019

Fourth-year graduate student Laura Petto works with Professor Anne Gelb on image reconstruction problems and is helping to design new algorithms with potential applications in the fields of aerial and medical imaging. Learn more +

Math Camp 2019

May 12, 2019

This year we are hosting Math Camp, two summer enrichment sessions for local high school students. Topics covered will be outside of the usual high school syllabus and students can interact with mathematicians in a fun, non-graded environment. Each program will cover different mathematical topics and students are invited to attend one or both sessions.

Mathematics Undergraduate Poster Session

April 27, 2019

All undergraduates who have done research projects in pure or applied mathematics are invited to present a poster at the department's annual Undergraduate Poster Session on Wednesday May 29 from 4:30–6:30pm in the main floor of Kemeny Hall. View our gallery of 2018 posters for inspiration!

Professor Pomerance's proof seen on The Big Bang Theory

April 25, 2019

Professor Carl Pomerance's paper Proof of the Sheldon Conjecture, co-authored with Chris Spicer, proves a mathematical concept inspired by an episode in the CBS series The Big Bang Theory. In the April 18 episode, excerpts from Professor Pomerance's proof can be seen written on the whiteboard in the show. Learn more +

Sonia Kovalevsky Day May 11

April 24, 2019

The 2019 Thayer Prize Exam

April 23, 2019

The Thayer Prize Exam, a Dartmouth mathematics competition for first-year students, will take place this year on Saturday, April 27 from 10am – 1pm. Please notify the Mathematics Department in advance if you would like to take the exam but cannot take it on April 27.

Presenting research at NENAD 2019

April 18, 2019

Professor Yoonsang Lee and graduate student Victor Churchill recently gave research talks at New England Numerical Analysis Day 2019 at WPI. Professor Lee gave a talk about his recent paper A seamless homogenization method for multiscale diffusion and advection operators based on joint work with Bjorn Engquist at UT Austin. Churchill's talk was on joint work with Professor Gelb, Image reconstruction via edge-masked regularization.

Juan Auli honored during Grad Student Appreciation Week

April 17, 2019

Math graduate student Juan Auli was named an outstanding graduate student teacher for his work teaching Math 20 — Probability in Fall 2018. Every year, DCAL invites undergraduates to nominate graduate students who have been outstanding teachers to be recognized during Grad Student Appreciation Week. Congratulations to Juan!

Call for students to register for the Wetterhahn Science Symposium

April 12, 2019

Are you doing research in science, math, or engineering? Present your findings at the 28th Annual Wetterhahn Science Poster Symposium on May 22. Register online by Wednesday May 8. Questions? Contact Undergraduate.Research@Dartmouth.edu.

Professor Orellana's research published in Journal of Combinatorial Theory

April 10, 2019

Professor Rosa Orellana's research on symmetric functions was recently published in the Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series A. The paper Products of symmetric group characters is co-authored by Professor Orellana and Mike Zabrocki.

Celebrating the 2019 Math Essay Contest

April 09, 2019

The department celebrated our Math Essay Contest, Biographies of Contemporary Women in Mathematics, with a reception and prize ceremony. Two of this year's winning essays received national awards.

Professor Sutton to speak at Indiana University

April 03, 2019

Professor Craig Sutton, whose research interests in differential geometry include Riemannian geometry, spectral geometry, and homogeneous spaces, will speak at the 2019 Bloomington Geometry Workshop at Indiana University. His talk, titled Geometric Structures and the Laplace Spectrum, is based on collaborative work with Instructor Samuel Lin.

Noncommutative Geometry Festival 2019

March 28, 2019

Professors Jody Trout and Erik van Erp are featured speakers at this year’s Noncommutative Geometry Festival. The festival will highlight some of the most significant recent advances in noncommutative geometry and identify promising new research directions. Our own department will host NCG 2020.

Geometry activities at the National Math Festival

March 27, 2019

Instructor Bjoern Muetzel and student volunteers will be leading geometric games and activities for children and visitors at the National Math Festival in Washington, D.C. this May. The festival hopes to “inspire and challenge all ages to see math in new and unexpected ways.”

Essay Contest winners announced

March 26, 2019

View the winning essays in the department-sponsored 2019 Essay Contest, Biographies of Contemporary Women in Mathematics. Edel Galgon ’22 is the undergraduate winner, and two middle school contestants won national awards.

Celebrating the end of winter

March 14, 2019

Graduate students Emma Hartman and Melanie Dennis enjoy pizza, conversation, and a break from thesis-writing at the department's end-of-term party, held in Fall, Winter, and Spring terms.

Shikhin Sethi ’19 receives 2019 Byrne prize

March 06, 2019

The John J. Byrne Jr. Prize is awarded to the top Dartmouth graduating mathematics major interested in continuing mathematics at the graduate level. The award will cover Shikhin’s tuition for the first year of graduate school at Princeton University. Congratulations to Shikhin!

Combinatorics Through Guided Discovery

January 31, 2019

The work of Ken Bogart (1943–2005) on an inquiry-based learning approach for undergraduate combinatorics, Combinatorics Through Guided Discovery, is now available in an interactive web version, a new print edition, and pdf.
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Instructor Muetzel presents at MoMath

December 12, 2018

Geometer and John Wesley Young Research Instructor Bjoern Muetzel presents “Reach Out and Touch Space!” at MoMath's Family Fridays series. According to the museum, the series is “designed to bring families together to enjoy a diverse array of engaging mathematical activities, promoting interest and enthusiasm among kids and adults alike. The activities are designed so that all attendees, regardless of age, can participate on an equal footing.”

Verifying an anonymously posted proof of a permutation problem

November 25, 2018

Former instructor Jay Pantone co-authored the paper A lower bound on the length of the shortest superpattern, which verifies a proof posted by an anonymous 4chan user in 2011. A recent Quanta article sheds some light on this mathematical problem.

Professor Voight co-authors paper challenging long-held assumption in number theory

November 16, 2018

Professor John Voight co-authored the paper A heuristic for boundedness of ranks of elliptic curves, soon to be published in The Journal of the European Mathematical Society. Read more in the Quanta article Without a Proof, Mathematicians Wonder How Much Evidence Is Enough.

Will Kaufman ’20 receives the Francis L. Town Scientific Prize

November 16, 2018

Congratulations to Will Kaufman ’20 for being selected to receive the Francis L. Town Scientific Prize for his achievement in Mathematics.

Annual Holt's Ledge hike at the department's Fall party

November 01, 2018

After hiking Holt’s Ledge near the Dartmouth Skiway, the Math extended family takes a well-earned break in anticipation of dinner and good cheer at the department’s annual Fall Party.

Professor Rockmore organizes film series exploring STEM themes

November 01, 2018

What’s the science and math behind these films? Professor Dan Rockmore organized the STEM @ The Nugget series to spark discussion among local school students. Colleagues from Dartmouth's departments of Computer Science, Physics, History, and Earth Sciences will bring their expertise. The films will run on Monday school holidays during this year.

Joint faculty and undergrad research published in Royal Society Open Science

November 01, 2018

Math major Tucker Evans ’19 and Professor Feng Fu co-authored the paper Opinion formation on dynamic networks: identifying conditions for the emergence of partisan echo chambers, recently published in Royal Society Open Science. “I would like to express my gratitude to the college and the mathematics department in particular for their support,” says Evans. “This project has been a wonderful learning experience.”

Summer research internships in Germany

October 04, 2018

Byrne scholars Anuraag Bukkuri, Megan Green, and Kyle Bensink did summer research internships at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, working in the genetic diversity, bioinformatics, and genome research groups. From left: Kyle Bensink, Anuraag Bukkuri, Bjoern Muetzel, Ben Peter, and Kay Pruefer.

Academic Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (ASURE)

September 27, 2018

Professor Rosa Orellana supervised three students for eight weeks as part of the ASURE summer program at Dartmouth. The three students, all from UPR, were supported by the PR-LSAMP funded by NSF. From left: Fermin Arraiza Truust, Andres Ramos-Rodriguez, and Dylan Cruz Fonseca. Their research was in algebraic combinatorics.

Professor Elizalde receives Outstanding Mentoring and Advising award

September 20, 2018

Professor Sergi Elizalde has received the Dean of the Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentoring and Advising. “I enjoy mentoring research, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, and I love teaching smart and motivated Dartmouth students who are eager to learn,” says Professor Elizalde, whose main field of research is enumerative combinatorics.
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Professor Pauls is the new director of DCAL

September 10, 2018

Mathematics Professor Scott Pauls will be the new director of the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL), announced Interim Provost David Kotz. 'Scott is ideally suited to carry on the important and innovative work that flourished at DCAL thanks to Lisa Baldez and the center’s talented staff,' says Kotz.

Professor Trout's research published in European Journal of Mathematics

September 07, 2018

Math Professor Jody Trout co-authored the paper $K_0$-theory of n-potents in rings and algebras, recently published in the European Journal of Mathematics. Professor Trout’s research interests include functional analysis, operator algebras, $K$-theory, noncommutative geometry, and quantum theory.

Dartmouth Mathematics REU

August 17, 2018

Professors Feng Fu and Anne Gelb organized the Dartmouth Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, which brought eight students from all over the United States to Dartmouth for seven weeks this summer for collaborative research on “The Mathematics of Misinformation”.

Department hosts international combinatorics conference

August 05, 2018

Participants enjoy a talk during FPSAC 2018, hosted by the Math Department this summer. “Everybody who works in combinatorics anywhere in the world knows about this conference,” says Professor Sergi Elizalde, chair of the organizing committee. “Each talk is eye opening.”
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Graduate students and professor receive Selfridge Prize in Number Theory

July 30, 2018

The Number Theory Foundation’s 2018 Selfridge Prize in Number Theory has been awarded to Michael Musty, Sam Schiavone, Jeroen Sijsling, and John Voight for their paper A Database of Belyi Maps. The prize is awarded to the best paper submitted to the Algorithmic Number Theory Symposium (ANTS) conference proceedings.

Undergraduate poster session

July 17, 2018

View our gallery of undergraduate research posters presented at this year's undergraduate poster session. Matthew Yung ’18, Hailey Jiang ’19, Ray Guo ’19, and Eva Wang ’19 authored the poster shown here, which was the first place winner in applied mathematics.

Instructor Muetzel organizes geometry exhibitions at local schools

July 12, 2018

Bjoern Muetzel, a John Wesley Young Research Instructor in Mathematics, recently organized an exhibition of geometry games and puzzles at several local schools. The K-5 students learned about geometric shapes such as the platonic solids, projections, and tessellations.

Daryl DeFord PhD ’18 receives Dartmouth's Hannah Croasdale Award

June 17, 2018

Congratulations to Daryl DeFord PhD ’18 as he receives Dartmouth's Hannah Croasdale Award! Daryl is currently a postdoc in the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group at MIT and Tufts.
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Professor Winkler appointed to Advisory Board for the National Museum of Mathematics

June 07, 2018

Prof. Peter Winkler, the William Morrill Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, has been appointed to the Mathematics Advisory Board for National Museum of Mathematics, an award-winning museum located in Manhattan. “The museum highlights the role of mathematics in illuminating the patterns and structures all around us. Its dynamic exhibits, gallery, and programs are designed to stimulate inquiry, spark curiosity, and reveal the wonders of mathematics,” says the museum’s website. “The museum’s innovative exhibits will engage folks from 105 to 5 years old—and even younger.”

Sonia Kovalevsky Math Day

May 16, 2018

Faculty, graduate students, and undergrads gather while hosting seventy middle and high school students at Sonia Kovalevsky Math Day, a fun-filled day of mathematics with hands-on workshops and talks for middle and high school female students and their teachers.

Graduate Student Ben Breen receives the Kenneth P. Bogart Teaching Award

May 09, 2018

Congratulations to Ph.D. student Ben Breen, winner of this year's Kenneth P. Bogart Teaching Award for his dedication to and excellence in advancing the educational mission of the department. In Fall term Ben taught an accelerated version of multivariable calculus for first-year students.

Jared Duker Lichtman ’18 named Churchill Scholar

February 28, 2018

Jared Duker Lichtman ’18 has received a Churchill Scholarship, which annually funds 15 American students nominated from 110 participating U.S. institutions for a year of master's-level study in a STEM field.
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Mathematical Oncology off-campus program in Tampa

February 14, 2018

When not working hard at modeling cancer processes, students in our new off-campus program at the Moffitt Cancer Research Center relax by swimming with manatees. From left: Lawrence Abu-Hammour '19, Alice Hsu '19, Shannon Fee '18, and Jade Yen '19.

At the 2018 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego

January 17, 2018

Anirudh Udutha ’18 and Jared Duker Lichtman ’18 join Professor Emeritus Carl Pomerance at the 2018 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego. Jared and Professor Pomerance spoke in the AMS Special Session on Computational Combinatorics and Number Theory.

At the 2018 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego

January 17, 2018

Dartmouth Math undergraduate students Tucker Evans '19, Jonathan Meng '18, and Herbert Ho-Chun Chang '18 (from left) are invited to present their research work with Professor Feng Fu at the 2018 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego.

AWM recognizes Professor Carolyn Gordon

November 22, 2017

Professor Carolyn Gordon is a member of the inaugural class of the Association for Women in Mathematics Fellows Program. This program recognizes Professor Gordon and other mathematicians for their “unwavering commitment to promoting and supporting women in mathematics”, honoring their sustained work in support of the AWM mission.

Shikhin Sethi ’19 receives prize for achievement in Mathematics

November 22, 2017

Congratulations to Math major Shikhin Sethi ’19, who received the Francis L. Town Scientific Prize for his achievement in Mathematics. Shikhin works with Professor Peter Doyle on projects involving topology, algorithms, and probability. He plans to go to graduate school and eventually do research in mathematics or computer science.

Professor Rockmore on the Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards

November 03, 2017

Professor Dan Rockmore speaks with VPR on the new Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards and what he sees as an opportunity for the arts to provide an important pause for reflection which is often overlooked in an age of accelerating digital technologies.

Yixuan He ’18 gives talk at SIAM Annual Meeting

September 21, 2017

Yixuan He '18 was one of twelve undergraduate students invited to give a talk at the 2017 SIAM Annual Meeting, where she presented on her research with Professor Dorothy Wallace on a model of cancer tumor growth.

Faculty and grad student research featured in SIAM News Online

September 08, 2017

SIAM News Online features graduate student Xingru Chen’s research on vaccine compliance joint with Professor Feng Fu.

Professor Pomerance on his collaboration with Paul Erdős

August 29, 2017

In this Numberphile video, Professor Emeritus Carl Pomerance recounts how a “joke” article in the Journal of Recreational Mathematics led to a career-changing collaboration with Paul Erdős — and to a meeting between Erdős and baseball legend Hank Aaron.

Professor Rockmore named Associate Dean for the Sciences

August 17, 2017

Prof. Dan Rockmore has been named associate dean of the sciences in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “It’s important for scientists and mathematicians to talk to each other on college campuses,” says Rockmore, “but we should not let that conversation become too hermetic. Our ideas need to be out in the world.”

What makes a number “Goldbachy”?

August 17, 2017

Professor Emeritus Carl Pomerance explains what makes 210 especially interesting with regard to Golbach’s Conjecture. How can a number be very “Goldbachy”? Watch the Numberphile video to find out.

Professor Wallace receives Dean of the Faculty Mentoring Award

July 19, 2017

Professor Dorothy Wallace has received the Dean of the Faculty Mentoring Award for 2016-17. Professor Wallace has previously earned an award for Graduate Faculty Mentoring.

Simons Collaboration on Arithmetic Geometry, Number Theory and Computation

July 17, 2017

Professor John Voight is a Principal Investigator on the newly announced Simons Foundation Collaboration on Arithmetic Geometry, Number Theory and Computation. The collaboration seeks to accelerate research in these fields through the computational realization of deep theory and to use the computational tools to probe our conceptual understanding of complex arithmetic objects.

FPSAC 2018 coming to Dartmouth this summer

July 06, 2017

Coming in 2018: the The 30th International Conference on Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics. The Math Department is hosting this conference which will take place July 16-20, 2018.

2017 graduating Ph.D. students

July 04, 2017

Our graduate students have many talents. Everett Sullivan won a Dartmouth College Libary Book Arts Prize this year, receiving an Honorable Mention in Letterpress Printing. From left are Everett, Tim Dwyer, and Seth Harris.

David Freund receives Kenneth P. Bogart Teaching Award

June 13, 2017

Fourth year Ph.D. student David Freund received this year's Kenneth P. Bogart Teaching Award. The Dartmouth Mathematics Department gives this award annually to the final year graduate student who best exemplifies outstanding dedication to and excellence in advancing the educational mission of the department. Congratulations, David!

Daryl DeFord receives Dartmouth Graduate Teaching Award

June 13, 2017

Fourth year Ph.D. student Daryl DeFord, pictured here coaching at NHSPE Mathcounts, received this year's Dartmouth Graduate Teaching Award. This award recognizes dedication, commitment, creativity, innovation, and overall excellence in teaching. Congratulations to Daryl!

New book explores the question “What Are the Arts and Sciences?”

May 25, 2017

Professor Dan Rockmore is the editor of the new book What Are the Arts and Sciences? A Guide for the Curious (Dartmouth College Press/University Press of New England), in which his colleagues explain their fields and what it is that they do. Professor Rockmore wrote the chapter on mathematics.

Math department hosts Discrete Math Day

May 16, 2017

On May 6, the Math department hosted Discrete Math Day. It was co-organized by Sergi Elizalde, Rosa Orellana, Jay Pantone and Peter Winkler. Discrete Math Days in the Northeast is a conference series that seeks to bring together a community of combinatorists in the northeast, providing a relaxed atmosphere and a friendly environment conducive to fostering collaboration accross institutions and disciplines.

AMS publishes new text by Professor Shemanske

May 08, 2017

Modern Cryptography and Elliptic Curves: A Beginner’s Guide by Professor Thomas Shemanske will soon be published by the American Mathematical Society.

Congratulations to Dartmouth’s 2017 Putnam team

May 02, 2017

The Dartmouth Putnam team ranked 26th nationally in the prestigious William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. Congratulations to team members James Drain '17, Jared Duker Lichtman '18, and Dong Won Kang '17!

Professor Wallace gives talk in Iceland

April 25, 2017

A group of Dartmouth alumni, parents and friends visit Iceland in April 2017, accompanied by Professor Dorothy Wallace who gave a talk on the probability of eruption of the volcano Katla. This photo is taken at the place where the mid-Atlantic ridge rises out of the sea.

Jared Duker Lichtman ’18 wins Goldwater Scholarship

April 13, 2017

Jared Duker Lichtman '18 was recently selected as a Barry Goldwater Scholar.

Jared is among three Dartmouth undergraduates who received the prestigious scholarship this year.

Caren Diefenderfer, 1952 – 2017

April 03, 2017

Caren Diefenderfer '73, among the first class of women at Dartmouth, an active member of the MAA and NNN, and recent recipient of the Haimo Award for Distinguished Teaching died on March 31, a significant loss to the community.

Research talks at JMM

March 28, 2017

Prof. Dorothy Wallace gave a talk at the Joint Mathematics Meetings 2017 in Atlanta on the consequences of rising temperatures for malaria vector abundance. Her work is joint with several authors, two of which are Dartmouth undergraduates Jacob Savos and Ann Dunham.

Research talks at JMM

March 28, 2017

Prof. Dorothy Wallace gave a talk at the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Atlanta on a model of cancer tumor growth. Among her many collaborators are numerous undergraduates: Paula Chen, Michelle Chen, Milan Huynh, Evan Rheingold, Ann Dunham, Sophia Jiang, Celeste Rodriguez, Molly Carpenter, Rachel Chang and Yixuan He.

Research talks at JMM

March 28, 2017

Prof. Dorothy Wallace gave a talk at the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Atlanta on the extensive preparation for teaching that is part of the graduate program in Mathematics.

Professor Wallace participates in panel on diversity in math

March 22, 2017

Professor Dorothy Wallace participated in a panel at the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Atlanta on "Women and scholarly publishing in mathematics".

Climate Mirror at Dartmouth

March 10, 2017

Professor Dan Rockmore and Sarunas Burdulis have joined volunteer efforts at Climate Mirror and ArchiveTeam to backup all U.S. government data, including climate datasets. Climate Mirror at Dartmouth

Mathematics meets art: Concinnitas series at the Met

February 15, 2017

Professor Dan Rockmore has helped to curate “Picturing Math,” an exhibit of aquatints on display in the Metropolitan Museum. The title of the collection is Concinnitas, a word used by the Renaissance philosopher Leon Battista Alberti to describe the balance of number, outline, and position he thought characterized a beautiful work of art.

Professor Fu's research featured in The Dartmouth

January 02, 2017

The Dartmouth writes about Professor Feng Fu’s research on combining evolutionary game theory models with empirical data to improve our understanding of real-world cooperation problems, such as climate change, vaccine compliance and antibiotics overuse.