What Happens in Glasgow Stays in Glasgow

I am off to Glasgow for the 2024 World Science-Fiction Convention (i.e., WorldCon). I am involved in a talk and some panels.

What Happens in Tokyo Stays in Tokyo

Today I am off to Tokyo, where I will be participating in the ICIAM 2023 conference.

I'll be giving a talk on Monday.

"How to Move a SIAM Minisymposium Online from the Comfort of your Home"

Several of us wrote a paper, from the perspective of both organizers and speakers, for DSWeb about our efforts to move a SIAM minisymposium online.

Authors: Heather Z. Brooks, Yuxin Chen, Michelle Feng, Yacoub H. Kureh, Mason A. Porter, Alexandria Volkening

What Happens in Oxford Stays in Oxford

I arrived in Oxford last Sunday and will be here for a while, staying in Somerville and hanging out with my peeps (including some of my former students) from College as well as the Mathematical Institute. It's great to still be part of the extended family!

I'll also be participating and speaking at Howison-fest, a workshop in honor of Sam Howison's 60th birthday.

Walk-Up Music for Keynote Talks by Scientists

I've expressed this sentiment before, but let me reiterate it before the year is over.

When scientists give keynote talks at conferences, we ought to play personal walk-up music (a la professional wrestling) to set the mood.

(On days that I particularly want to empathize with the audience, I might choose "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" by the Pet Shop Boys.)

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) December 31, 2017

"Bullshit and the Art of Crap Detection" (1969 Speech)

Take a look at this speech by Neil Postman from 1969. It is called "Bullshit and the Art of Crap Detection".

I had heard of this before, and I found it today through the Twitter post below, where again note that it was uttered in 1969.

Oh Neil, if you'd only lived to see Facebook and Twitter. pic.twitter.com/USZozDmZTE

— Calling Bullshit (@callin_bull) September 2, 2017

What Happens at the March Meeting Stays at the March Meeting (2016 Edition)

I am heading to Baltimore to go to the 2016 APS March Meeting along with 10000 or so of my best friends. I haven't been to this conference since 2010.

Tomorrow I'll be giving an invited talk on localized modes in granular crystals, and on Wednesday I'll be chairing one of the networks sessions.

Update (3/17/16): You can now download the slides of my talk, which is about one-dimensional granular crystals.

What Happens in Regensburg Stays in Regensburg

I am off the Regensburg for the Spring Meeting of the German Physical Society.

What Happens in Wroclaw Stays in Wroclaw (2016 Edition)

Tomorrow, I'll be flying to Network Science X 2016. I'll be giving one of the invited talks.

Apparently, there is going to be some free ice skating at the conference venue. This deserves a Mel-Brooksian "SEE NetSci on Ice!"

Also, this leads to the obvious hashtag ‪#‎NetSciOnIce‬ , which isn't cool yet but hopefully will be.

What Happens in London Stays in London

I just made it to London for a Mathematics and Social Sciences Workshop. When I was first invited to speak at this workshop, it had the tentative name of a "Socio-math Workshop", and Google gave me a nice surprise when I tried to find a website for the workshop.

Thank you, Google. (Context: I will be a plenary speaker at a workshop on "Socio-mathematics" in November.) pic.twitter.com/ZpWUWXWwjd

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) April 9, 2015

Public Lectures on M. C. Escher

A couple of weeks ago, we had really nice public lectures on M. C. Escher in the Mathematical Institute. Now, you can watch them online. Watch for the modernized version of one of Escher's famous paintings that plays a role in one of the talks.

What Happens in Brighton Stays in Brighton

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be heading on the train to "Bright"on to attend the "Sun"belt conference on social network analysis! As you can see from the program, I helped organize a three-part session on multilayer networks.

Time to hang out with some of my sociologist peeps!

Here is an appropriate theme song for my trip.

What Happens in Pittsburgh Stays in Pittsburgh (2015 Edition)

I am slightly late with this post, given that I just returned to Oxford this morning on a red-eye flight. But I was just at Carnegie Mellon University for a workshop on groups and interactions in data, networks, and biology. This workshop was on the mathematical side of things.

Sociomath Workshop: Best. Google Search. Ever.

I am going to be a plenary speaker at a workshop on "Socio-mathematics" at Imperial College in November. I was curious to see if there is a website, but Google seems to think that other words might be more appropriate.

Thank you, Google.

What Happens in Pittsburgh Stays in Pittsburgh

I am now in the proverbial (and dreaded) phase two of my northeast swing. Today, I made it to Pittsburgh for the workshop Advances in Discrete Networks. I was thinking about saying something about continuous networks --- possibly in an indiscreet way --- but I only will sort of do that. I did, however, create a special slide for my talk just for this occasion. My talk is the first scientific presentation of the conference, so I figure I should set the right tone. :)

Update 12/12/14: Here is my special slide, which I created specifically for the occasion.

What Happens in Southern California Stays in Southern California

I flew into LA this morning, and my early flight led to a way-too-damn-early pick-up by Supershuttle, so I am exhausted and extremely sleep-deprived at the moment --- which, I suppose is fitting, because I am visiting Caltech tonight to be a dinner guest in Lloyd House (my undergraduate House). I last was a dinner guest there around 2006 when I was still a postdoc at Caltech. This is the second time since graduating that I'll be dinner-guesting in Lloyd, although I have visited Lloyd on numerous other occasions for various events over the years. (When I first graduated, I visited a lot, though now I have even't entered the House since I was a postdoc.)

Unsurprisingly, two of the people behind the counter at Red Door Cafe on campus who have been working there for many years recognize me. Jeff Kimble also gave me a brief nod. Soon I'm going to walk over to the theoretical condensed matter group just to see if any of the people I know are around.

Tomorrow, I will head over to Westwood, as I'll be visiting Andrea Bertozzi's group at UCLA. I'll be giving an applied math talk on Wednesday late afternoon and then heading for the airport to return to the Bay Area.

What Happens in Goleta Stays in Goleta

I flew into Santa Barbara yesterday to give a talk called Cascades and Social Influence on Networks at UCSB yesterday. It's been a fun visit!

Tales from the ArXiv: Predicting Talk Attendance at Conferences

This paper discusses the predictability of talk attendance at conferences.

I think it depends: Is the conference in Snowbird or Maui? :)

The one time we had a SIAM dynamical systems conference in Maui, the attendance as a function of time was, in one word, "impressive". I did make an important connection that I am pretty sure led to my postdoc job at Georgia Tech. The lesson here is clear: attend conferences in Maui.

What Happens at NetSci Stays at NetSci (2014 Edition)

Tomorrow I'll be flying off to the US to head over to Berkeley for NetSci 2014, where I will be giving way too many talks. It promises to be the best NetSci ever!

Nomenclature of Academic Events

Jorge forgot "journal club" in this handy flowchart for naming academic events.

(Tip of the cap to Amir Zarrinpar.)