Please stop by Ruffner 356 between 4:00 and 5:20pm on April 24th to hear Dr. Celestine Woodruff, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at James Madison University, discuss how studying curvature can help identify sinkholes during the Mathematics and Computer Science Colloquium.
In addition, the Longwood Mathematical Modeling Team (Nicole Marzolf, Daniel Millson, Heather Switzer) recently participated in a mathematical modeling contest and will discuss their results and details about the contest!
4:00 – 4:15: Longwood Mathematical Modeling Team
4:20 – 5:20: Dr. Celestine Woodruff, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, James Madison University- Identifying Sinkholes with Curvature
Abstract: High resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from airborne LiDAR have proven useful to map geomorphic features indicative of past geologic hazards. Sinkholes are one type of such features affecting karst areas and therefore mapping them is necessary for city planning and studying factors controlling their development. Although sinkholes are easily discernible on high resolution DEMs, due to their large number, automated mapping techniques have been investigated. ArcGIS allows automated mapping of all surface depressions which in most cases are not all sinkholes. The purpose of this work is to filter out sinkholes, which in most cases are characterized by their rounded outlines. Therefore, we have investigated methods of identifying sinkholes based on the curvature of their boundaries. This talk should be accessible to students, even if they have not yet taken Calculus 3.
#LUSpringSymposium