January 28, 2010
Vandeveer Speaker Series opens on Friday
The spring line-up for the Vandeveer Speaker Series, hosted by the Department of Economics at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, kicks off at 3 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 29, with a visit from Justin Smith, a representative of Wolfram Research, Inc.
Smith’s lecture, scheduled for Faner Hall, Room 4135, covers “An Overview of Mathematica for Education.”
Wolfram Research, Inc. is a private company that created “Mathematica,” a software program used in scientific and engineering research as well as in mathematical fields, including such economics-based fields as finance, statistics, and business analysis. Smith will discuss benefits and applications of Mathematica in the environment of higher education.
The speaker series, sponsored by the endowed Vandeveer Chair at SIUC, held by Sajal Lahiri, brings economists and those in related fields to campus to discuss specific issues pertaining to economics, including topics generally of interest to those studying the humanities.
Here is the rest of the spring Vandeveer Speaker Series schedule. Unless otherwise noted, all lectures begin at 3 p.m. in Faner Hall, Room 4135.
• Feb. 12, Sajal Lahiri, Vandeveer Chair Professor at SIUC, “Blood Diamond: International Policy Options for Conflict Resolution.”
• Feb. 19, Cletus C. Coughlin, vice president and deputy director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, “IS the International Border Effect Larger than the Domestic Border Effect? Evidence from U. S. Trade.”
• March 19, 1 p.m. at the University Museum auditorium, Faner Hall, Professor Tapen Sinha, ING Commercial America Chair Professor of Risk Management and Insurance at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Georgia State University, “Public Policy Response to a Pandemic: The Case of A(H1N1).”
• March 26, Silvio Contessi, Research Division at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, “Commercial Banks and Thrifts’ Propensity to Lend During the Financial Crisis.”
• April 9, Alison Watts, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, “Fund-Raising and Donation Games Played on a Network.”
• April 16, Parkash Chander, National University of Singapore and Vanderbilt University, topic to be announced.
• April 23, Ariel Belasen, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, “When Oceans Attack: The Impact of Hurricanes on Taxable Sales in Florida.”
For more information on the Department of Economics at SIUC, visit www.economics.siuc.edu/.