Posted on May 10, 2007

Some mathematicians study pi, but for Julius B. Barbanel, the challenge is pie – and it’s no cut-and-dry matter.

“Cutting a Pie is Not a Piece of Cake” according to a recent headline in Science News for a story that describes research by Barbanel, professor of Mathematics, and New York University political scientist Steven J. Brams.  

The two collaborators, who have turned their skills toward cake-cutting in the past, are now getting a taste for the intricacies of cutting a decorated pie. Both desserts work as a metaphor for dividing things, be they land borders or homes in settlement disputes.

Julie J. Rehmeyer’s article highlights the professors’ work in detail. The two wanted to find a way to slice a pie that is envy-free, equitable and efficient.

Their original paper can be found at http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/politics/faculty/brams/pie-cutting.pdf.

Barbanel is quick to point out that while Science News focuses on his research, there are actually three Union faculty members who’ve done work in this field. The other two are Alan Taylor, the Marie Louise Bailey Professor of Mathematics, and William Zwicker, the William D. Williams Professor of Mathematics.

“Alan was the first here to get interested, and he introduced Bill and me to the area,” Barbanel said. “I’ve enjoyed working on this and have a book that came out on fair division last year (‘The Geometry of Efficient Fair Division,’ Cambridge University Press,featuring an introduction by Taylor). Most of my work is different from, but related to, that described in the article. Most of it involves what mathematicians would call abstract existence results. By contrast, much of Alan’s work is directly applicable and is accessible to non-specialists.”

Taylor and NYU’s Brams have worked on fair division problems in the context of divorce settlements and inheritance disputes. The two are the authors of “The Win-Win Solution: Guaranteeing Fair Shares to Everybody.” The book espouses a procedure called “adjusted winner” as a solution for fairly dividing assets between people.

Posted on May 10, 2007

The acclaimed Emerson String Quartet will perform at Memorial Chapel Thursday, May 10 at 8 p.m., the final performance in the College’s 35th International Festival of Chamber Music Concert Series.

The Grammy-winning New York City-based quartet performed “All-Beethoven, Part I” in February, and it now completes its two-concert recital with Beethoven’s “String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132” and “String Quartet in B flat, Op. 130 with Grosse Fuge, Op. 133.”

The New York Times has called Emerson “technically resourceful, musically insightful, cohesive, full of character and always interesting.”

Formed in 1976, the group features violinists and co-founding members Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer. Lawrence Dutton, viola, joined the group in 1977, and cellist David Finckel joined in 1979.

The concert is free for the Union community, $25 for general admission and $10 for area students. For tickets, call ext. 6080; for information, call 372-3651 or visit http://www.union.edu/ConcertSeries/.

Posted on May 10, 2007

Thursday, May 10, 7 p.m. / Richmond Hall basement lounge / Resident advisors’ “30 Days of Tolerance” discussion program features Anti-Aging  

Thursday, May 10, 7 p.m. / F. W. Olin Center 115 / Ethics Across the Curriculum speaker: Michael Pinsky, professor of Literature and Popular Culture, University of South Florida, discusses “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrows: A Century of Theme Park Utopias”

Thursday, May 10, 7 p.m. / Arts 215 / Lecture for Visual Culture, Race and Gender Seminar: Mary Ann Calo, professor of Art and Art History, Colgate University, will speak on “The Harlem Renaissance, Alan Locke and the Criticism of African American Art”

Thursday, May 10, 8 p.m. / Memorial Chapel / Chamber Concert Series: Emerson String Quartet

Thursday, May 10, 8 p.m. / Breazzano House / Movie: West Bank Story

Friday, May 11, noon / Old Chapel / Café Ozone

Friday, May 11, 12:55 p.m. / F. W. Olin Center / Lecture by David Daegling, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, “Evolutionary Significance of the Human Chin”

Friday, May 11 – Monday, May 14, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Movie: Hannibal Rising

Monday, May 14, 7 p.m., / F.W. Olin Center 115 / “When Religion Compromises Health Care,” panel discussion by the Coalition for the Protection of Reproductive Health in Schenectady

Tuesday, May 15, 5:15 p.m. / Reamer Auditorium / Ethics Across the Curriculum speaker: Bonnie TuSmith of Northeastern University will present “Humor, Pathos and the Face of Difference,” co-sponsored with COT and UNITAS

Tuesday, May 15, 7 p.m. / West 2^nd floor south lounge / Resident advisors’ “30 Days of Tolerance” discussion program features Minimum Wage

Wednesday, May 16, 6 p.m. / Arts 215 / Feminist Film Series presents: The Official Story (1985), directed by Luis Puenzo

Thursday, May 17, noon / College Park Hall / U-Start’s May Lunch and Learn presents “Business Valuations” with Steve Egna

Friday, May 18, noon / Old Chapel / Café Ozone

Friday, May 18, 5 p.m. / Mandeville Gallery and various downtown venues / Art Night Schenectady

Posted on May 10, 2007

Randi Cerini ’08 has received the College’s Edward Villella Fellowship for Dance. 

As part of her fellowship, Cerini traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico, where she studied with a salsa dance company called Fusion.

“I decided that pursuing a Mexican dance experience would be an appropriate use of my Villella Fellowship,” she said. “I learned that salsa has a very precise technique, much like classical ballet and jazz. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to travel abroad and learn a different dance style that reflected the new culture in which I was immersed.”

An acclaimed American male ballet star and former New York City Ballet principal dancer who heads Miami City Ballet, Villella received an honorary doctorate from Union in 1991. Three years later, the Villella Fellowship was created from the gifts of Charles D. Lothridge ’44.

The yearly award is designed to expand a student’s study of dance beyond the Union experience.

Posted on May 10, 2007

Through June 17

The Humanities Gallery

Humanities Building (2nd floor)

A Ojos Vistas – Photographs by Ondra Vrzal ’07

Vrzal is an exchange student from the Czech Republic who is majoring in Cybernetics and measurement. This exhibit features 16 digital photographs made during winter break 2006 while he traveled for three weeks through Mexico, Guatemala and Belize.