Louis Boguchwal ’12 and Dan Kamenetsky ’11 presented posters detailing the results of research they conducted last summer, at the Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) held Jan. 6-9, in New Orleans.
Boguchwal’s poster titled “Predator Prey Network Optimization” described methods of finding the best paths along a network, or set of multiple paths from one start place to one finish place, using differential equations. In his research, Boguchwal used migrating animal populations in a predator/prey setting as the context and developed a procedure to determine the path that would maximize the predator population by the end of the migration.
Kamenetsky’s poster, “Bilinear Programming and Protein Structure Alignment,” presented the results research conducted during an eight-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He worked with students Noah Levine of Haverford College, who co-presented the poster, and Jon Cain of the University of Arizona to address problems related to mapping data about protein structure alignment. The alignment data is used to help determine the biological function of a protein by comparing it with proteins whose functions are known.
The annual meetings of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the American Mathematical Society (AMS) make up the Joint Mathematics Meetings. According to the JMM website it is the largest annual mathematics meeting in the world. The meeting features student and faculty presentations, courses led by leaders in the field of mathematics and exhibitions by professional organizations, publishers and vendors.
