News and Events

Press Releases

Pepperdine Hosts Pacific Coast Undergraduate Mathematics Conference 

On Saturday, Mar. 31, Pepperdine will host the 2nd annual Pacific Coast Undergraduate Mathematics Conference on the University's Malibu campus. Intended primarily for undergraduates majoring in mathematics, the conference will begin at 8 a.m. and will finish at 4 p.m. Activities include panel discussions, student addresses, guest speakers, and a prize session. 

Conference registration begins on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. in Elkins Auditorium.  Immediately following registration at 9 a.m., Don Schmidt and Joshua Schpok of Dreamworks Animation will lead a discussion titled “Solving the Rendering Equation for Fun and Profit.” At 10 a.m., students will take to the podium to speak their minds in Appleby Center. A number of students will each give a fifteen-minute address.

Two panel discussions in Elkins Auditorium will follow the student presentations. One panel, intended mainly for freshmen and sophomores, will address the topic of summer and career opportunities for math majors. The second panel, aimed primarily at juniors and seniors, will speak about the benefits of graduate school for a math major. At 12:15 p.m., there will be a one-hour catered lunch break for all pre-registered participants, followed immediately by a second set of student addresses in Appleby Center. Featured speaker Dylan Kohler of Electronic Arts will address the attendees to close the conference.

Winner of an Academy Award, Kohler has worked in computer animation for more than twenty years. He serves as a technical producer at Electronic Arts, where he strives to create advanced tools and techniques to make characters in games more authentic. His lecture, titled “Getting a Head in the Game,” will discuss the challenges in creating realistic game characters and the advanced mathematics that come with it. Following his address, the day will conclude with a prize session at 3:30 p.m. in which awards will go out to student speakers, and attendees can win raffle contests.

For more information, please see the Pacific Coast Undergraduate Mathematics Conference Web site.