<< Monday, September 30, 2019 >>

## Monday, September 30, 2019

### Combinatorics Seminar: $(q,t,u)$-Catalan combinatorics and the Schiffmann algebra

Seminar | September 30 | 12:10-1 p.m. | 939 Evans Hall

Mark Haiman, UC Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

Some beautiful combinatorics discovered in the last decade or so revolves around two-parameter $(q,t)$ analogs of the Catalan numbers. The $(q,t)$ Catalan numbers and their various friends and relations come from an algebra of operators that act on symmetric functions in the theory of Macdonald polynomials. Thanks to work of Schiffmann–Vasserot and Feigin–Tsymbauliak it is now known that...   More >

### Connecting Developmental Science to Positive Social Impact: How Can IHD Promote Interdisciplinary Synergies?

Colloquium | September 30 | 12:10-1 p.m. | 1104 Berkeley Way West

Department of Psychology

Please join our 2019 Launch Meeting to discuss the vision, mission, goals, and progress of The Institute of Human Development (IHD). This discussion will focus on the goal of better integrating and synergizing across the disciplines represented in BWW: Psychology, Education, and Public Health.

The basic purpose of an Organized Research Unit (ORU) at UC Berkeley is to support important research...   More >

### GSPP Research Seminar

Seminar | September 30 | 12:10-1:30 p.m. | Goldman School of Public Policy, Room 105 (in 2607 Hearst St)

Jason Okonofua, UCB Psychology

Goldman School of Public Policy

Goldman School of Public Policy Research Seminar
Mondays 12:10-1:30
Pizza Served

### Political Economy Seminar: “Persuasion on Networks”

Seminar | September 30 | 12:30-2 p.m. | 223 Moses Hall

Konstantin Sonin, Professor, University of Chicago,

Department of Economics

The Political Economy Seminar focuses on formal and quantitative work in the political economy field, including formal political theory.

### Seminar 231, Public Finance: "The Distributional Consequences of Health Policy."

Seminar | September 30 | 2-3:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall

Jonathan Holmes, UCB

### String-Math Seminar: Extensions of Kac-Moody algebras and Calabi-Yau singularities

Seminar | September 30 | 2-3 p.m. | 402 LeConte Hall

Miroslav Rapcak, UC Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

We discuss a class of vertex operator algebras $\mathcal W_{m|n\times \infty }$ generated by a super-matrix of fields for each integral spin $1,2,3,\dots$. The algebras admit a large family of truncations that are in correspondence with holomorphic functions on the Calabi-Yau singularity given by solutions to $xy=z^mw^n$. We propose a free-field realization of such truncations generalizing the...   More >

### OPT Document Check Workshop

Workshop | September 30 | 2-3 p.m. | 136 Barrows Hall

Join Berkeley International Office as you prepare to put together your documents for your OPT application. This workshop will cover required documents, how to fill out the forms, and most common mistakes in the application. In addition, there will be a Q&A portion during which you can ask specific questions about your own application.

Please note that this workshop is specifically for OPT...   More >

### Seminar 211, Economic History: Blowing against the Wind? A Narrative Approach to Central Bank Foreign Exchange Intervention

Seminar | September 30 | 2-3:30 p.m. | 597 Evans Hall

Alain Naef, Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley

Department of Economics

### How to Write a Research Proposal Workshop

Workshop | September 30 | 2:30-3:30 p.m. | 9 Durant Hall

Leah Carroll, Haas Scholars Program Manager/Advisor, Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarships

Need to write a grant proposal? This workshop is for you! You'll get a head start on defining your research question, developing a lit review and project plan, presenting your qualifications, and creating a realistic budget.

Open to all UC Berkeley students.

### Differential Geometry Seminar: Handle attachment and the normalized first eigenvalue

Seminar | September 30 | 3-4 p.m. | 939 Evans Hall

Henrik Matthiesen, University of Chicago

Department of Mathematics

I will discuss asymptotic lower bounds of the first eigenvalue for two constructions of attaching degenerating handles to a given closed Riemannian surface. One of these constructions is relatively simple but often fails to strictly increase the first eigenvalue normalized by area. Motivated by this negative result, we then give a much more involved construction that always strictly increases the...   More >

### Probabilistic Operator Algebra Seminar: Free amalgamated graph products

Seminar | September 30 | 3-5 p.m. | 736 Evans Hall

Archit Kulkarni and Jorge Garza Vargas, UC Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

In the last two decades, tools from noncommutative probability theory have successfully been applied to study the spectra of graphs. In this direction, it has been shown that noncommutative notions of independence (classical, free, monotone and Boolean) correspond to previously studied graph products (Cartesian, free, comb and star, respectively). In this ongoing work, we introduce a new graph...   More >

### Nez Perce Word for Shark

Colloquium | September 30 | 3:10-5 p.m. | 370 Dwinelle Hall

Beth Piatote, University of California, Berkeley

Department of Linguistics

In this talk Prof. Piatote will share some pieces of an essay collection that she is working on that deals with translation and language revitalization. The title of the manuscript (and the talk) is Nez Perce Word for Shark. She will also share excerpts from her forthcoming short story collection, The Beadworkers: Stories (Counterpoint 2019), that engage Nez Perce language and aesthetics, and...   More >

### Anti-government Protests in Hong Kong: Causes and Implications

Colloquium | September 30 | 4-6 p.m. | Institute of East Asian Studies (Golden Bear Center, 1995 University Ave., 5th floor), IEAS Conference Room

Ming Sing, Associate Professor, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Center for Chinese Studies (CCS)

Hong Kong has experienced its greatest political crisis in decades during this summer of discontents. This lecture will explore questions such as: What are the root causes of Hong Kong’s largest mass movement in history? Why has this extradition bill generated such intense and widespread reactions from the public? How did the situation deteriorate to this point and, if continued to intensify,...   More >

### Seminar 271, Development: Credit and attention in the adoption of profitable energy efficient technologies in Kenya

Seminar | September 30 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall

Susanna Berkouwer, UC Berkeley, ARE

Department of Economics

### What’s up with Elective Selection?

Colloquium | September 30 | 4-5:30 p.m. | Berkeley Way West, Room 1102, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720

Mitchell L Stevens, Stanford University

Students’ freedom to choose majors and courses of study — elective selection — is a fundamental feature of undergraduate education in the United States. Researchers and policymakers take it for granted, and we shouldn’t. Elective selection is intellectually and politically convenient, but also creates wicked management problems. It empowers students to forge their own academic programs but also...   More >

### Looking to the future by modeling the past: Design and characterization of engineered metalloenzymes for small molecule activation

Seminar | September 30 | 4-5 p.m. | 106 Stanley Hall

Hannah Shafaat, The Ohio State University

College of Chemistry

### Seminar 208, Microeconomic Theory (joint with Political Economy Seminar): "Persuasion on Networks"

Seminar | September 30 | 4:10-5:30 p.m. | 223 Moses Hall

Konstantin Sonin, University of Chicago

Department of Economics

### New States in Complex Systems

Colloquium | September 30 | 4:15 p.m. | LeConte Hall, 1 LeConte Hall

Dr. Adilson E. Motter, Northwestern University

Department of Physics

Complex systems are often described by simple equations that nevertheless can lead to a rich variety of disparate solutions. Discovering and understanding the full spectrum of solutions that correspond to stable states is at the forefront of current research on the network modeling of complex systems. Recent work by our group and others has revealed a myriad of stable and metastable states with...   More >

### Addressing Stress and Mental Health in (Chemistry) Graduate Education: SLAM Seminar Series

Seminar | September 30 | 5:30-6:30 p.m. | 106 Stanley Hall

Phil Buhlmann, Director of Graduate Studies, University of Minnesota

Graduate school is a great place to gain scientific and research expertise – but that’s hardly the only thing you’ll need in your future as a Ph.D. Are you ready to lead a group? Manage your coworkers? Mentor budding scientists?

To address the many interpersonal issues that arise in a scientific workplace, graduate students from Chemistry, Physics, and Molecular & Cell Biology founded SLAM:...   More >

### What Is Strange? Rabih Alameddine and Lawrence Rinder in Conversation

Presentation | September 30 | 6:30 p.m. |  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Beirut- and Bay Area–based, internationally acclaimed author Rabih Alameddine joins BAMPFA Director and Chief Curator Lawrence Rinder for a conversation on concepts of “strangeness” in relation to the exhibition Strange, which Rinder organized.

Alameddine’s most recent novel is the multi-award-winning The Angel of History. Other books include I, The Divine; Koolaids; The Perv; and the...   More >

### Heart Chan Meditation

Course | September 23 – November 11, 2019 every Monday | 7-8:30 p.m. |  Anthony Hall

Heart Chan, Heart Chan at Berkeley

Heart Chan

Start the journey for Heart Chan Meditation
seeking harmony of mind, body, spirit
gain true wisdom and joy from your inner self
make meditation part of your modern daily life.