‘Fluid Adventures: Where Mathematics Meets Art’

The Gordon Lecture Series welcomes Rachel Levy, associate professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College, presenting “Fluid Adventures: Where Mathematics Meets Art.”

Levy’s research as a mathematician found new life in a course called “Fluidity,” that she co-taught with photographer Ken Fandell. The course introduced students to fundamental properties of fluids such as viscosity and Reynolds number in both art and mathematics, and then students created photographs and videos that communicated quantitative information. In this lecture-demonstration, Levy will use student work from the “Fluidity” course to introduce her own research on the dynamics of surface tension.

In addition to her work on fluid mechanics, Levy is the founder of the blog “Grandma got STEM.” She recently published a textbook “Differential Equations: Introduction to Theory and Applications” with coauthor Michael Shearer, and she serves as the vice president for education of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.