Fall 2026
Jiwon Park (UMass Lowell): Shared genetic architecture across complex traits: Applications and Extensions
New Faculty Colloquium
- When: September 23, 11 a.m. - Noon
- Location: Southwick Hall, Room 350W
Abstract: Genetic variants may be associated with more than one complex trait, and identifying these shared associations can be challenging when trait-specific association statistics are correlated. PLACO+ is a composite-null testing framework that uses GWAS summary statistics to detect genetic variants associated with two traits while accounting for this dependence. This talk will focus on applications of PLACO+ to lipid traits and inflammatory bowel disease, including settings with correlated phenotypes and overlapping study samples. I will also compare the findings with commonly used approaches and discuss how the identified shared signals differ across methods. Ongoing extensions beyond two traits will be mentioned briefly at the end.
Matthew Badger (University of Connecticut): 3d Brownian motion and sets of dimension 2.999999
- When: September 30, 11 a.m. - noon
- Location: Southwick Hall, Room 350W
Abstract: As you breathe, air eventually reaches the alveoli in your lungs. You might wonder if a particle of air is equally likely to reach all parts of your lungs. The answer is emphatically no! Mathematically one explanation is a theorem of Bourgain, which states that for any closed set in space, there is always a subset of Hausdorff dimension less than 3, which contains all the points of the set where a randomly moving particle can land. In this talk, I will present explicit numerical bounds on the dimension of the subset in Bourgain's theorem, obtained in joint work with Michael Albert and Alyssa Genschaw. I will focus on the story of how we arrived at these results, the role of software and AI in mathematical exploration, and potential for future improvements.
Ke Huang (UMass Lowell):
New Faculty Colloquium
- When: October 28, 11 a.m. - noon
- Location: Southwick Hall, Room 350W
Abstract: to be announced.
Omar Hurtado (Georgia Tech):
- When: November 18, 11 a.m. - noon
- Location: Southwick Hall, Room 350W
Abstract: to be announced.
Caitlin Lienkaemper (MIT):
- When: December 2, 11 a.m. - noon
- Location: Southwick Hall, Room 350W
Abstract: to be announced.