Discrete Mathematics

Nick Wormald is one of the 21 new fellows elected to the Australian Academy of Science. Congratulations Nick!

The citation: Nicholas Wormald is one of an elite group of mathematicians globally who combine the most advanced probability theory, combinatorics and theoretical computer science to produce deep insights into the nature of random and complex networks. He specialises in random graphs and probabilistic combinatorics, graph theory, enumeration, the analysis of graph algorithms, Steiner trees, the analysis of real-life networks, and other areas in combinatorics, as well as the optimisation of underground mine access networks. Wormald is responsible for an impressive number of major breakthroughs in these areas and many standard methods used today were his invention.

Graham Farr has just had an article
Remembering Bill Tutte: another brilliant codebreaker from World War II
published in The Conversation, timed to coincide with the centenary of Tutte’s birth this Sunday 14th May.

Michael Brand’s novel Valkyries is published today.

“A masterfully crafted tapestry of ideas, plot and characters, interwoven into a daring, expansive and horizon-broadening read. Brand serves up a creation that links myth and science, the human and the universal. The reader is left feeling that the events he relates are simultaneously beyond all imagining and right around the corner. One of the most impressive and thought-provoking books I have ever read.”

— Idan Ben-Barak, author of “Small Wonders: How Microbes Rule our World”

Congratulations Rosie Hoyte on submitting her PhD Thesis entitled “Generalisations of the Doyen-Wilson Theorem”, supervised by Daniel Horsley. Great work!

Update 10 April 2017: Rosie’s thesis has officially been accepted. Congratulations Dr Rosie Hoyte! In September, Rosie will start a 2-year AARMS postdoctoral fellowship at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Darcy Best recently coached two Monash teams in the regional finals of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC).

One team, Monash Epsilon (Daniel Anderson, Xin Wei Chow, Peter Whalan) has advanced to the ICPC World Finals 2017 as one of the top 130 teams in the world! The ICPC World Finals is the most prestigious and largest programming competition worldwide.

The second Monash team, Monash Omicron (Michael Cui, Ryan Hechenberger, Shizhe Zhao), finished in 7th place, solving 4 problems, including solving one problem in only 5 minutes–the fastest time in the contest!

Congratulations to former members of the group, Rebecca Stones (now at Nankai University, China) and Xiande Zhang (now at the University of Science and Technology of China), on being awarded Kirkman Medals by the Institute for Combinatorics and its Applications. The medal is a worldwide award for outstanding discoveries by early career researchers in combinatorics. Previous winners include former member Nick Cavenagh (now at Waikato) and current members Daniel Horsley and Ian Wanless.

In the recent worldwide IEEEXtreme 10.0 programming contest two Monash teams placed 4th and 5th out of the more than 2000 teams that competed. Both teams were coached by our very own Darcy Best. Darcy is a PhD student and veteran of several world finals in programming competitions.

In today’s announcement of ARC grants, Daniel Horsley received a future fellowship, while Jane Gao and Anita Liebenau received DECRAs. Congratulations to all!

Ian Wanless gave a most entertaining talk at The Laborastory today, as part of their annual villains edition.

Michael Brand has just had an article, “Can Facebook influence an election result?“, published in The Conversation. It has attracted a lot of interest, including an ABC TV interview, three radio interviews, and a quotation in the Washington Post.