School of Science Hosts Distinguished Speaker on the Mathematics of Gerrymandering
The School of Science and Department of Mathematics & Statistics at TCNJ are honored to host Dr. Moon Duchin for our Spring 2018 Colloquium Series, on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 from 12:30-1:30 pm in the Education Building, room 212. The lecture — “Mathematics of Gerrymandering: Geometry, Algorithms, and Democracy” — will be followed by light lunch reception.
Professor Duchin is a mathematics faculty member and founding Director of the Science, Technology, and Society Program at Tufts University. She launched the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group, which coordinates a national network of mathematicians working to provide geometric and computational innovations for redistricting reform in the United States. This work has garnered significant national attention, and, among other efforts, Dr. Duchin is currently working with the State of Pennsylvania to evaluate the state’s redistricting maps.
“Mathematics of Gerrymandering: Geometry, Algorithms, and Democracy”
- Tuesday, February 27, 2018
- 12:30-1:30 pm
(Lunch served at 12:00 pm) - Education Building, Room 212
Presentation Overview
In this presentation, Professor Duchin will explain how to view redistricting as a math problem, with aspects governed by geometry and statistics. At the same time, it’s important not to lose sight of the stakes of political representation for people and communities. She will devote most of the presentation to describing a breakthrough in detecting and addressing gerrymandering, in which geometry and computing work together to decide when a districting map is an extreme outlier.
About Dr. Moon Duchin
Dr. Moon Duchin is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and the founding Director of the Science, Technology, and Society Program at Tufts University, an interdisciplinary program that studies the cultural interfaces of science. She launched the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group, which coordinates a national network of mathematicians working to provide geometric and computational innovations for redistricting reform in the United States.
Her research interests include geometric group theory and geometric topology; the history, philosophy, and culture of science; and gerrymandering and civil rights.
She is the recipient of a distinguished CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). She has also been named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and a Senior Fellow of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts.
Moon Duchin earned her BA in Mathematics and Women’s Studies from Harvard University, and her MS and PhD in Mathematics from the University of Chicago.
For More Information:
- Tufts professor gets geometrical about gerrymandering – TCNJ website news article
- Dr. Moon Duchin’s website
- Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group
- Meet the Math Professor Who’s Fighting Gerrymandering With Geometry – The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Tufts Mathematician to Aid in Pennsylvania Gerrymandering Case – Tufts Now
- Mathematicians Could Help In Gerrymandering Legal Cases – NPR, All Things Considered
- Gerrymandering vs. Geometry: Math Takes On Partisan Districts – NBC News, Meet the Press
- What I learned at Gerrymandering Summer Camp – Wired magazine
- A Summer School for Mathematicians Fed Up with Gerrymandering – The New Yorker
- Blazing a Trail for Women in Math: Moon Duchin – Scientific American
- Science Friday interviews