The ADM is proud to share our vast array of events that have occured this year and in past years; feel free to browse to see what the ADM has to offer. Furthermore, view our Gallery to see all the pictures we have of these events. Additionally, you can find there our initiatives we have made to enrich the lives of UCL Students!
The ADM have had a long, but very successful year. We have had social events, academic events, wellbeing initiatives and so much more. And to top it all off, we would like to extend a hand for you to come to the ADM Ball, where we can celebrate after the weight of exams have been lifted off our shoulders.
Details to be confirmed!
The last of our subjects in our series was with Professor Graham Worth, a theoretical chemist who regularly works with quantum physics! This talk gave everyone the opportunity to get an insight in how mathematics interacts with chemistry.
Solving the Time-Dependent Schroedinger Equation: Methods and Algorithms.
To understand the fundamental time-dependent behavior of particles, we need to solve the time-dependent Schroedinger equation (TDSE). This is a significant challenge as the standard methods used scale exponentially with system size, preventing the study of many systems of interest to chemists and physicists. In this talk, the methods and approximations we use to solve the TDSE, focusing on the case of distinguishable particles (nuclei), will be presented [1,2]. The mathematics underlying the general approach will be highlighted, along with areas, particularly numerical analysis where mathematicians have a role to play in helping us develop robust, accurate and useful algorithms [3,4].
[1] Beck et al. Phys. Rep. (00) 324: 1
[2] Kulander. "Time-Dependent Methods for Quantum Dynamics" (91) Elsevier
[3] Lubich "From Quantum to Classical Molecular Dynamics: Reduced Models and Numerical
Analysis", (08) Springer
[4] Lasser and Su. J. Math Phys. (22) 63: 172107
You can view a recording here!
The ADM have hosted another chess competition following on from last year's success. After 10 gruelling rounds in a round robin tournament we found first place tied between Ioannis and Arya, having both won 8 games, and lost one; and curiously having made the only tie in the tournament. Following behind them in 2nd place was Jeffery, with Antonio and Arseny ties in 3rd place! Thank you all who took part; we would also like to show gratitude for Ioannis, the Philosophy Department, and the Greek and Latin Department for generously provinding boards for the event. Well done to all involved!
The ADM were glad to be able to fund a fascinating trip to Bletchley Park, for students to see Bletchley Park, the location at which British Cryptologists, including Turing and Welchman, cracked the German Enigma-Machine(s) encypted secret messages! Usually entry tickets cost around £17.50, but the ADM gave all an opportunity to come along for tickets only for 5 pounds, whilst arranging travel at only £14! The trip was an inspiring opportunity for people to not only appreciate the work of Allen Turing, but the work of the hundreds of men and women (over 3 quarters were in fact women) who took part in the breaking of both the German and Japanese codes!
The IOE pub quiz was hosted in par with the ADM this term, where we offered a section on riddles! The pub quiz was an opportunity for mathematicians and non-mathematicians to relax towards the end of what has been for some, a very long term.
The third of our subjects in our series was with Professor Elsa Arcaute, a member of the Centre of Spatial Analysis; an interdisciplinary department of the Bartlett that combines multiple areas to analyse the structure of cities. This was an awe-inspiring talk promoting career areas people may not have ever been privy to.
Fractals in urban systems
Cities stem from a myriad of interactions, resulting in a diverse array of structures shaped by reinforced patterns, influenced by both slow and fast dynamics. This presentation examines how these collective heterogeneities culminate in fractal structures. Moreover, it discusses how multifractal analysis serves as a valuable tool in dissecting spatial and distribution variation.
Watch the recording here!
We've had mental maths, integration, and countdown, and to top off our ADM academic competition series we are hosting a coding competition. Mathematicians use code all the time to compute problems, and some algorithms are more efficient than others. What code can calculate π most accurately? How many circular primes can you generate in 5 minutes? Jennifer Wang won by computing an 8-superpermutation 76,000 digits long, and computing Landau's function up to the 95th value, earning her a free trip to Bletchley Park! However, I must also congratulate Arseny on doing such a fantastic job; having gotten closest to a value for the Feigenbaum constant!
The second of our subjects in our series was with Professor Robert Insall, a wet biologist with a strong background in mathematics. Here is a little about it:
Self-generated chemotaxis, a feedback-laden way that cells explore their environments; and how we combine mathematical modelling and microscopes to understand it.
My group mixes mathematical modelling with wet experiments to find out what makes cells choose where to move. We are interested in chemotaxis - the process by which cells read chemical gradients then migrate up them. Our strongest interest in conditions where cells generate the gradients themselves, while responding to them. This leads to unexpected, emergent results that are almost impossible to understand using experiments alone. I will muse on how biologists and mathematicians can collaborate productively, and suggest areas of biology that are in desperate need of mathematicians and modellers.
The inspiring talk emphasised the importance of collaboration between subjects and how mathematical models not only produce accurate results, but results that can amaze. You can view the talk here
The ADM hosted an event with AmplifyMe!
AmplifyMe Simulation is a 2 hour session during which you will be able to learn about the financial industry and its different spheres. The programme will focus on Asset Management and Sales and Trading. During the first half the participants will be taught the basics of the two roles, to make sure that everyone, whether new to the finance world or not, is on the same level. Afterward, you will be able to apply your knowledge and gain practical experience by completing a simulation (for which a laptop is required). At the end your performance will be evaluated and the top performers will be fast-tracked directly to further training and internship opportunities with Morgan Stanley. Every participant will also be awarded a certificate.
Students took part in a fantastic opportunity to understand what it's like to do finance in the real world. Thank you to the AmplifyME team!
As part of our aim to show that mathematics touches upon a vast range of subjects, and to shed light on the use of mathematics in lesser known areas, we have organised a series of talks. For our first talk we are collaborating with the Philosophy society, and had Professor Tim Button presenting:
Stories about mathematical objects
Here's a little story we might tell, about mathematical objects. There are certain objects, sets, also known as collections. Sets are identical just in case they have exactly the same members. Also – and this is important – sets are arranged in stages. Every set is found at some stage. At any stage S: for any sets found before S, we find a set whose members are exactly those sets. We find nothing else at S.
Thank you all for coming and thank you to Professor Tim Button for presenting his talk! We would like to highlight how large our turnout was; this certainly won't be the last of ADM's endeavours to pay homage to the variety of areas mathematics plays a role in! You can view the talk on our youtube channel here
The ADM had a blast with the variety of questions in our pub quiz, and the friendly competition that we enganged with. The winners, Teren, Jennifer and Isaac managed to best the rest, and took home 4 prizes! We would like to emphasise the large number of non-maths students, and are proud to have made such a vast outreach from students across the university. Thank you all to coming, we wish you all the best in your reading week!
The ADM hosted a viewing of the Imitation Game, an inspiring film about the efforts made to crack the enigma code. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, this film explored the values we have as a society, and the importance of collaboration within mathematics; thank you all who showed up!
For our third academic competition the ADM decided to run a competition based on the famous UK game show Countdown! However, this time there was a twist. Contestants not only worked in integers, but with 3 dimensional vectors and gaussian integers, topped off with a prime factorisation as a conundrum. After a gruelling number of rounds, Maïlys came out with the most points and won the game!
The Board game Social worked so well last term, that we decided to kick it off again this term! We had a range of students attending from 1st to 4th year. It served not only as an enjoyable activity before we get into the full swing of things for the year, but also as a way for the year 1 students to have a fun and relaxing break between their term 1 exams and their term 2 studies!
To wrap what has been a long 11 weeks of term, The ADM has teamed up with the other STEM societies to hold a ball to celebrate the achievements and hard work of all students in the field of STEM. We hope all involved have a relaxing break and enjoy the holidays. Thank you to all the societies that came together to make this event happen, to all the students who made the day that one bit more exciting.
This year, ADM decided to switch things up and host the ADM Christmas quiz in UCL's Phineas Bar; Jai, Ezekiel, Sophie and Reka's team, Christmas Tree(3), won after a series of 4 tantalisingly difficult rounds with our biggest prize yet, a series of advent calanders and a light up snowman. We would also like to thank Professor Helen Wilson, Dr Ruth Reynolds and Dr Niki Kalaydzhieva with Veronica and Zsofi (mind you with a brilliant name '3 Brown 1 Blue') for coming along amd joining in on the fun. Congratulations to the winners, and thank you all for taking part.
The ADM are proud to announce that UCL has performed outstandingly in the national integration bee's first round; with a total of 18 students making 6 teams which have all scored higher than the lowest quartile of all competitors. Our highest team are one of only 2 teams to be on par with the top quartile of Cambridge. We are so proud of all the teams that took part, and wish those who have made it all the best for round 2 next term. Thank you all, and thank you to the Integration Bee team for providing us with this opportunity.
The second of series of ADM academic competitions, the integration bee saw many students taking part in a challenging 2 and a half hour exam of integrals. We are glad to say students made a vast array of creative solutions which even we did not consider; and are excited to see what UCL has to offer for the National competition the week after. Thank you all for taking part, and congratulations to Travor Liu for scoring the top score, a whopping 79%.
After returning from reading week, ADM and the UCl maths wellbeing team wanted to keep the momentum going with the Year 1 students; in our very own common room we hosted a social event for students to play board games such as chess, coupled with biscuits and other treats. We would like to thank all those who joined, and to thank Eimear, for orchestrating the session with the ADM.
This Halloween, the ADM celebrated by encouraging students to go to lectures in their best halloween costumes. The students came to UCL in costumes ranging from Luigi (also names Luigi) to Femboy maids. Students had blast taking pictures with each other. The year 2 students capped off their day by asking their lecturer to judge the best costume.
This was the first of four of ADM's academic competitions; after 14 rounds of challenging mental mathematics our starting group of 16 students was whittled down to just two finalists. After a final that lasted half an hour, Jai Regen became the champion. Thank you all who took part; we had a smashing time organising this for you all, and are glad that you had fun taking part.
This term, ADM held a postgraduate panel for undergraduate students to learn of the opportunities available for students to further their academic enrichment. The event held a panel of brilliant UCL postgraduate students, ranging from PhD students to students taking a fourth year!
This year, UCL joined a long list of universities around the world through the ADM to compete in the Simon Marais Mathematics Competition. With a sizeable number of sign-ups, UCL maths students from almost all years worked hard for a gruelling 6 hours to complete a series of challenging questions; we are proud to announce that 'Franciszek Kobus' came out on top with a whopping score of 17; and their name sits proudly on the Simon Marais Website linked here.
The ADM Society are proud to kick off this academic year with a night of board games for all to enjoy! Students spent their time playing Family Fortunes, Chess, Pictionary and so much more! With a large turnout, this has been an excellent start, and a good omen for the events to come. Thank you all for taking part; we are so glad for the reception and the engangement from maths students and non-maths students alike.
As a precursor for the start of the year, the ADM hosted a social at UCL's very own Huntley, where students met and engaged, giving advice for the year ahead and catching up on each other's Summers. It was an event where students relaxed, kicked back and had a last hoorah before starting the year up again.
The 2023 ADM Ball was held in collaboration with the UCL Physics Society, at our very own UCL Institute Bar! This annual event is a great opportunity to celebrate our achievements at the end of the year with a night of music, food and entertainment!
The ADM Society hosted a chess competition in the later weeks of term 2, which saw several
students from the university's maths society competing against each other in six rounds of intense
play.
Peter Koiza emerged as the undefeated champion, demonstrating exceptional skill and speed
throughout the tournament. Congratulations to Peter for his impressive performance throughout the
competition!
ADM hosted its annual Christmas Quiz; challenging students to light-hearted trivia and christmas themed
knowledge.
The ADM would like to thank Ben for being such a great Quiz-Master, and for putting
together a vast array of imaginative and interesting questions.
After a brutal 4 rounds and a nerve-wracking tie-breaker, congratulations to Ivan and his team
for coming in first.