Attending the two day symposium is free to attend and open to all. However, certain aspects of the program have capacity limitations. Advance registration for lunch on both days and the drawing workshop will ensure your place is reserved.

Day 1: Friday, October 11

  • 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.: Breakfast and Check-in (Muffins, OJ, Coffee, Tea, Water) | Commons at Weitz Center, 320 Third Street E, Northfield, MN 55057.
  • 10:50 to 11:50 a.m.: Keynote Convocation address: “Seeing the Unseen: the Enchantment of Mathematical Beauty” by Francis Su, the Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and a former president of the Mathematical Association of America. For those who have never glimpsed mathematical beauty, Su will describe what experiences of mathematical beauty feel like. As beauty comes in many forms, and experiences of beauty contribute to a flourishing life, mathematics holds something for all of us, even those who have not seen ourselves as “math people.” | Skinner Memorial Chapel, 405 1st St E, Northfield, MN 55057.
  • 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.: Welcome Lunch and Post-Convocation Q&A with Francis Su | Room 236 at Weitz Center, 320 Third Street E, Northfield, MN 55057.
  • 1:00 to 1:30 p.m.: Sara Cluggish on “Teaching and Learning with Museum Exhibitions.” Director and Curator of the Perlman Teaching Museum, Lecturer in Art History | Room 236 at Weitz Center
  • 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.: Gillian Turnham, Artist and Teacher at the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts on “The Significance of Mathematics in Islamic Geometric Art.” Turnham’s talk will explore histories of Islamic geometric patterning, defining the art form and locating mathematical and religious concepts within it. In the same way poets play with the rules of grammar, Islamic artists experiment with the conventions of geometric tiling. Her talk will take attendees on a journey through the Quran and end with contemporary artistic examples, including her own work. | Room 236 at Weitz Center
  • 2:30 to 3:00 p.m.: Coffee and Pastry Break. Optional exhibition tour of Bank Job | Perlman Teaching Museum, Weitz Commons
  • 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.: Workshop: ‘Drawing Islamic Patterns with a Ruler and Compass’, led by Gillian Turnham | Room 236 at Weitz Center

Day 2: Saturday, October 12

  • 9:00 to 9:45 a.m.: Breakfast and Check-in (Bagels, Cream cheese, Fruit, OJ, Coffee, Tea, Water) | Commons at Weitz Center, 320 Third Street E, Northfield, MN 55057.
  • 9:45 to 10:00 a.m.: Welcome with MurphyKate Montee, Clare Booth Luce Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Carleton College | Room 236 at Weitz Center, 320 Third Street E, Northfield, MN 55057.
  • 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.: Craig S. Kaplan, Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada on “The Role of the Amateur in Tiling Theory.” His talk will highlight valuable and notable contributions of artists and hobbyists to tiling theory, particularly David Smith’s recent discovery of the hat, the world’s first aperiodic monotile. | Room 236 at Weitz Center, 320 Third Street E, Northfield, MN 55057.
  • 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: Devin Kenny, interdisciplinary artist, writer, musician, and curator on “Ciphers as a Metaphor in Cryptography, Hip-hop, and the Nation of Islam.” Kenny will share sections of his newly released film, which traces the etymology of the word cipher through Latin, Arabic, and Hindi, and connects it to the history of zero. | Room 236 at Weitz Center, 320 Third Street E, Northfield, MN 55057.
  • 12:00 to 12:45 p.m.: Lunch | Room 236 at Weitz Center
  • 12:45 to 2:00 p.m.: Hidetoshi Fukagawa, Japanese Mathematician and Educator on “Sacred Mathematics: Japanese Temple Geometry.” During the Edo period of Japanese isolationism a unique brand of homegrown mathematics flourished. People from all walks of life — samurai, farmers, and merchants — inscribed geometry problems on wooden tablets called sangaku and hung them in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines throughout Japan. Fukagawa is one of the foremost experts on sangaku, dedicating his career to their study. | Room 236 at Weitz Center
  • 2:00 to 2:15 p.m.: Museum Practicum Student presentation on the artwork of Chilean poet and artist Cecilia Vicuña and her longstanding engagement with Quipu, an Incan communication device consisting of colorful woven thread knotted at specific points in order to communicate information. | Room 236 at Weitz Center
  • 2:15 to 2:30 p.m.: Museum Practicum Student presentation on Palestinian-Saudi artist Dana Awartani whose interdisciplinary artwork engages in contemporary reinterpretations of the forms, techniques, concepts, and spatial constructs that shape Middle Eastern culture. | Room 236 at Weitz Center
  • 2:30 to 3:00 p.m.: Coffee and Pastry Break. Optional origami session led by Hidetoshi Fukagawa.
  • 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.: Rachel Seligman, Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs and Malloy Curator at the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College on “Math in the Museum.” | Room 236 at Weitz Center
  • 4:00 to 4:10 p.m.: Sara Cluggish, closing remarks | Room 236 at Weitz Center