2024 Parsons Lecture – Wednesday, November 13 – 7:00 pm

The Geometry of Privacy, Dr. Francis Su

Differential Privacy is a new area of computer science that studies ways to protect the privacy of individual data in a database when queried. Since a user like me might be able to discover information about you by asking a database a question that is sufficiently targeted, the privacy of a query answer can be accomplished by injecting a little randomness into it. Such “differentially private” mechanisms are now in use by Apple, Google, Uber, and the US Census Bureau. I’ll describe how such algorithms work, and then discuss recent efforts by me and collaborators to quantify how much randomness is needed to guarantee privacy but still give accurate answers. Surprisingly, this involves the geometry of sets positioned in space in clever ways.

About Francis Su

Francis Su is the Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and a former president of the Mathematical Association of America. In 2013, he received the Haimo Award, a nationwide teaching prize for college math faculty, and in 2018 he won the Halmos-Ford writing award. His research is in geometric combinatorics and applications to the social sciences. His work has been featured in Quanta Magazine, Wired, and the New York Times. His book Mathematics for Human Flourishing (2020), winner of the 2021 Euler Book Prize, has been translated into 8 languages. It offers an inclusive vision of what math is, who it’s for, and why anyone should learn it.

Register Here

Join Us: Wednesday, November 13, 7:00 PM,

No Cost for Admission, Belk Auditorium Mars Hill Campus

Click here for the Mars Hill Campus Map

About the Parsons Lecture

In 1998 a Mathematics alumnus from UNC Asheville provided an endowment, in honor of Joe Parsons, to fund this annual lecture series. The goal of the Parsons Lecture is to provide the UNC Asheville community with the ability to attend locally a presentation by a nationally renowned mathematician speaking on a topic accessible to the general audience. Speakers for the lecture series are invited to present a lecture not just because of their renown as mathematicians, but also for their skills as educators and orators. The endowment is used to fund travel and other expenses incurred by the speaker and department. Find information on the Parsons scholarship here.

About Joe Parsons

Joe Parsons grew up on a farm in western Tennessee and graduated from high school at 15 in 1931. In order that he might get a teaching certificate, a friend gave Joe enough money to attend his first year of college. He completed his undergraduate work and went on to the University of Tennessee for his graduate degree.

When Joe started at Asheville-Biltmore College (what is now UNC Asheville), he was the entire Math Department, and through much of the 1970’s he was the chair of the department. Other roles he filled at UNC Asheville include Dean of Students and Academic Dean. Joe also helped formulate the current plan of the UNC Asheville campus including the choice for the library to face Mt. Pisgah. The view from the library steps is admired on campus. He also was instrumental in the development of the first 4-year curriculum when UNC Asheville joined the UNC system.

Joe matched his dedication to this institution with his dedication to his students. Joe was known to students at UNC Asheville as a wonderful teacher with a good sense of humor. He personally founded an endowment for student scholarships in mathematics. Even in retirement he could not stay away from the classroom, reading for elementary students at Claxton school here in Asheville. Until his death on Sunday ,September 24, 2006, Joe continued to contribute to education in his community. He will be missed.

In 1998 one of Joe’s former students provided an endowment for the Parsons Lecture series to honor the dedication of this great educator and continue his legacy.

Past Parson Lectures

2024 – “It’s No Puzzle Why I Love Math, Or Maybe It Is?” by Dr. Steven Klontz, Professor of Mathematics at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama
2021 – “Atari and the Multiverse of Doughnuts” by Dr. Autumn Kent, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin – Madison
2020 – “Gerrymandering, Mathematics and Fairness” by Dr. Moon Duchin, at Tufts University
2019 – “The Patterns of Play: A Recreational View of Mathematics” by Dr. Ronald D. Taylor, Professor of Mathematics at Berry College
2018 – “From Monroe to NASA” by Dr. Christine Darden. Darden’s character was featured in the 2016 book “Hidden Figures.”
2017 – “Playing from a Laptop: Sports Analytics” by Dr. Tim Chartier, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Davidson College
2016 – “Chaos Games and Fractal Images” by Dr. Bob Devaney, Professor of Mathematics at Boston University
2015 – “The Shape of Space” by Dr. Jeffrey Weeks, Middlebury College
2014 – “The Right Treatment for the Right Patient at the Right Time: Personalized Medicine and Statistics” By Dr. Marie Davidian, NC State University
2013 – “The Great Pi vs. e Debate” by Drs. Thomas Garrity and Colin Adams, Williams College
2012 – “Codes are Everywhere!” Dr. Judy Walker, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
2011 – “Monkeys, Mathematics, and Mischief: What are the Lifelong Lessons of Education?” Dr. Edward B. Burger, Williams College
2010 – “This Is So Wrong!” Dr. Stan Wagon, Macalester College
2009 – “From Flatland to Hypergraphics Geometry and Art in the 4th Dimension” Dr. Thomas Banchoff, Brown University
2008 – “Mathematical Modeling in Biology: What is it? And how is it useful?” Dr. Mary Lou Zeeman, Bowdoin College and Cornell
2007 – “We vote, but do we elect whom we really want?” Dr. Donald Saari, University of California, Irvine
2006 – “Breaking Drivers’ License Codes” Dr. Joseph Gallian, University of Minnesota-Duluth
2005 – “Ingenious Mathematical Amateurs: M.C. Escher & Marjorie Rice” Dr. Doris Schattschneider, Moravian College
2004 – “On the Number of Groups of a Given Order” Dr. John Conway, Princeton University
2003 – “Newton and Leibniz: Mathematicians at War” Dr. William Dunham, Muhlenberg College
2002 – “The Chaos Game and Fractal Images” Dr. Robert L. Devaney, Boston University