Brett Smith, a Ph.D. candidate in mathematics, spoke during the first Graduate Speaker Series event Oct. 7 in Exley Science Center. More than 50 students, faculty and staff attended the event. Smith’s talk, titled “Mine, Yours and the Truth,” focused on American mobster Joe Massino, boss of the Bonanno crime family in New York from 1991 until 2004. “Big Joey” famously said, “there are three sides to every story — mine, yours and the truth.”By using a graph theory called the Robertson–Seymour theorem, Smith explored the competing questions, “What is the best way to organize a mafia so that you won’t be caught?” and “What is the best way to patrol a city to disrupt organized crime?” Smith explained how these questions are one and the same.
Three more graduate students will tentatively speak as part of the series this fall and next spring including Duminda Ranasinghe, a chemistry Ph.D. candidate; Katie Kaus, a molecular biology and biochemistry Ph.D. candidate and Peter Blasser, a graduate student in music. For more information, visit the Graduate Studies website.
Olivia Drake
James Sims
Editorial Staff
Ziba Kashef