Georgia Tech Mathematician Dana Randall to Present 2022 Maxson Lectures

Texas A&M Academic Building Dome, viewed from a distance through trees — Texas A&M Academic Building. | Image: Texas A&M University

Dr. Dana Randall, ADVANCE Professor of Computing and Adjunct Professor of Mathematics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, will visit the Texas A&M University campus next week to present two public lectures in conjunction with the Dr. Carl “C.J.” Maxson Endowed Lecture Series, sponsored by the Department of Mathematics.

Randall, who also serves as co-executive director of the Institute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEAS) at Georgia Tech, will present “Phase transitions in sampling algorithms and applications” on Monday (Apr. 25), followed by “Emergent phenomena in programmable matter” on Tuesday (Apr. 26). Both lectures are scheduled for 4 p.m. in Room 117 of the John R. Blocker Building. (See abstracts for both presentations.)

Randall received her A.B. in mathematics from Harvard University in 1988 and her Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994. Her research in randomized algorithms and stochastic processes bridges computer science, discrete mathematics and statistical physics.

A fellow of the American Mathematical Society and a National Associate of the National Academies, Randall is a former Sloan fellow and National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award recipient. She has been the program chair for the SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms in 2011 as well as the SIAM Conference on Discrete Mathematics in 2016. In addition, she previously served as director of the Algorithms and Randomness Center at Georgia Tech.

The Maxson Lecture Series honors Texas A&M Professor Emeritus Carl “C.J.” Maxson, a member of the Texas A&M Mathematics faculty from 1969 until his retirement in 2002. The annual event was established in October 2005 through a generous endowment from Dr. Ponnammal Natarajan ’74, an eminent faculty member at Rajalakshmi Engineering College in Chennai, India, who earned her doctorate in mathematics from Texas A&M in 1974. In addition to being Dr. Maxson’s first doctoral student, Natarajan is the first female to ever receive a Ph.D. in mathematics from Texas A&M, which was an all-male university until 1963. Each year, the series features experts in areas of current interest in algebra, combinatorics, number theory and theoretical computer science.

For more information on either event, contact the Department of Mathematics at (979) 845-7554.