The Math Department is pleased to welcome Dr. Barry Cipra, a freelance mathematics writer based in Northfield, Minnesota. The title of his lecture is "In Praise of Not Paying Attention."

Dr. Cipra will describe some mathematical puzzles, problems, and games he has dreamt up over the years while letting his mind wander during math lectures and other occasions.  If all goes well, the audience will find it a stimulating presentation…. All are welcome to attend in-person or via Zoom. 

Bio: Barry Cipra is a freelance mathematics writer based in Northfield, Minnesota.  He has reported on new developments in mathematics for Science magazine and SIAM News, the newsletter of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and wrote the first five volumes of What’s Happening in the Mathematical Sciences, published by the American Mathematical Society.  He received a PhD in mathematics from the University of Maryland in 1980, and taught mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Ohio State University, and St. Olaf College before turning to freelance writing in 1987.  He received the Merten M. Hasse Prize for expository writing from the Mathematical Association of American in 1991, for “An Introduction to the Ising Model,” published in the American Mathematical Monthly, and the Joint Policy Board in Mathematics’ Communications Award in 2005, for his “lucid explanations of complicated ideas at the frontiers of [mathematical] research.” He is also the author of "Misteaks, and how to find them before the teacher does (a calculus supplement).”