A JOURNAL FROM THE BRUALDI-FEST
please keep checking back for updates, corrections and additions! See SATURDAY talks and tributes*** Saturday Night Party*** SUNDAY talks
See also ****
"Madison is the best place to ..." ****
|
Linear Algebra, Graph Theory & Combinatorics Conference celebrating Richard Brualdi and his numerous contributions to mathematics. See also Richard's running results. Rick Wilson (Caltech) was honored to be the keynote speaker.
Madison, Wisconsin
April 30-May 1, 2005
University of Wisconsin-Madison
FEATURING
THE STUDENTS OF RICHARD BRUALDI
Since 1969, Richard Anthony Brualdi has had 34 graduate students, (each is given a RAB #) Many were present and spoke in tribute, as well as presenting lectures at this conference. Bryan Shader (#16) was the organizer, and presented a talk on Sunday. Others who gave talks during the conference were George Donolt RAB #2, Thomas Foregger RAB #3, John Goldwasser RAB #7, Dan Pritikin RAB #8, Jia-Yu Shao RAB #9, Suk-geun Hwang RAB #10, Han Hyuk Cho RAB #12, T.S. Michael RAB #13, Jennifer Quinn RAB #20, Nancy Neudauer RAB #26
(Some of the above numbers are suspected of being wrong. Research is ongoing on this topic.)
THE BRUALDI-FEST FIRST DAY
Saturday April 30, 2005
Here we are in Shanghai...well, we are really in Madison, but three years ago, we were in Shanghai with Richard Brualdi (we will be there again in two weeks). Here's a collage we made for the Brualdi-Fest. Most of the photos are ones we took in China. The one on the bottom left, however, was taken yesterday, at the opening of the Brualdi Fest in Madison, Wisconsin!
Here's where we are, on the edge of Lake Mendota.
The Brualdi-Fest logo is an edge coloring of a complete graph on 5 vertices, symbolizing one of Richard's specialties, graph theory.
Another is this matrix, which represents the incidence matrix of the Fano configuaration, normally containing zeros and ones. The letters of Richard's name have been substituted.
Rick's talk this afternoon concerned a topic of common interest with Richard Brualdi. Matrix theory has been a topic Rick has been interested in for years, and he had some new material to share.
Rick Wilson
Rick used our collage to end his presentation.
Other speakers today looked much better than their portraits, Kathy said.
Jim Propp
George Dinolt
Thomas Foregger
Sebastian Ciabo
John Goldwasser
Dan Pritikin
Ja-Yu Shao
Suk-qeun Hwang
Kevin Meulen
Jia Shen
Elliot Kropp
Ryan Martin
Richard Brualdi, and organizer Bryan Shader.
SATURDAY CONFERENCE TRIBUTE
An enthusiastic group of students enjoyed sharing their recollections of their work with Richard Brualdi, and all praised his great influence, voluminous research contributions, and generosity. It became clear that his good health and form may be due not only to his regular running schedule, but also that he has been giving half of his lunch to graduate students for more than 30 years.
A cheerful seesion of tributes ended the Saturday conference session.
Our friend Sung-Yell Song (Iowa State University) was an organizer and host of the conference we attended in Busan, Korea last year. It was a treat to be together with him and his wife Tai Hee again at the Brualdi-Fest.
Mona with her beautiful smile
A combinatorialist by day, a flute player by night.
Rick played some variations by Hoffmeister on a Mozart opera theme from the Magic Flute on a copy of a one-key flute made in Mozart's lifetime.
For an encore on demand, Rick played an antique 10 key Viennese flute, made in 1842.
Rick played Gabrielsky variations on a theme.
Happy listeners Sung-Yell and Tai Hee Song
Richard Brualdi Unfortunately, I could not take this photo fast enough, but seconds before, it was SNOWING!!
It didn't stick, but it was an amazing conference concluding sight, that lasted for about a minute. Before we left, we could not resist a big bag of freshly cooked Madison popcorn! (It comes in many flavors.)
Jump in the lake
Be a duck out of water
Find a good seat
Row your boat
Climb a tree
Pose in front of a museum
Meet old friends
Visit the Catacombs
Eat great East African Food
"Buraka" was our favorite restaurant in Madison. We first tasted their lunch menu at a "to go" cart on the University campus, but later, for dinner, we ate at their hidden away downstairs restaurant on State Street. We went back for several meals after that, unable to resist the spicy wonderful curries, warm friendly atmosphere, good prices, and delicious choices.
Have a "Capital Amber"
Have a Brualdi-Fest!
We were happy to see organizer of the conference, Bryan Shader, University of Wyoming, ready to board the same plane to Madison from our first stop in Chicago. Rick has our traditional box of Chicago popcorn in hand.
Our arrival in Madison. Richard Brualdi in person, center, met us at the airport and drove us into town. Our first glimpse of Lake Mendota, just a few blocks from the University where we are staying.
Richard and his wife Mona Wasow.
The six of us had dinner on State Sreet at a Turkish-Italian Restaurant. On the left is Shao Jia Yu. We will see him in a couple
of weeks again in Shanghai! Organizer Bryan Shader is a former student (1990) of Richard Brualdi.
We have recently been wanting to try "tilapia" so we were happy to find this delicious fish on the menu.
We could not resist trying a wonderful little cup of Turkish coffee
after dinner. Our waitress served it on this traditional Turkish carrying tray.
She said you can swing it quite wildly and the coffee still does not spill.
After a little rest, the pool was still open at our hotel. Quiet and wide, deep and cool in the night, this was a perfect relaxing transition after our plane trip.
A block from the University, and our hotel:
GO TO THE TOP OF THE BRUALDI-FEST PAGE
Go to Rick Wilson's Combinatorics Seminar at Caltech
Go to Kathy and Rick Home Page
SATURDAY NIGHT PARTY at Richard and Mona's home
April 30, 2005
welcoming guests
Rick gave a "keynote" performance this evening, after his lecture
during the day.
SUNDAY CONFERENCE SESSION
Paul Terwilliger
Dwight Bean
Bryan Shader
Jonathan Smith
Zhongshan Li
Han-Hyuk Cho
T.S.Michael
Jennifer Quinn
Nancy Neudauer
Our friend Han-Hyuk Shen (front, left) graciously took us all to lunch, before we left Madison. We are looking forward to seeing him again in Shanghai May 12! 
DAY TWO IN MADISON
April 29, 2005In which we learned that Madison is the best place to:
Remember, Madison is the best place to...
DAY ONE IN MADISON
April 28, 2005
State Street in Madison, Thursday night, April 25, 2005.
See the sparkling dome of the Capitol Building at the end of the street, in the background.
Richard Brualdi in a garden in Tehran, Iran,
2004
Go back to the beginning of the BRUALDI-FEST!
DELAWARE AND PHILADELPHIA
for a conference at the University of Delaware, Newark
Go toRick and Kathy (May 12-22, 2005)
May 12-18 at the 5th Combinatorics Conference in Shanghai; and May 18-22 in Taiwan.