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Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
National Mathematics Awareness Month

Mathematics and Biology is the theme for Mathematics Awareness Month, which is being observed during April 1999.  Here at ASU, we're celebrating with the First Annual ASU/MAM Distinguished Lecture:
The Mathematics of Sudden Cardiac Death
or
Heart Attacks can give you Mathematics

Professor James P. Keener
University of Utah

Monday April 12, 1999 @ 7:30pm
MUR 101 (Murdock Hall)
Northwest Corner of Palm Walk and 
Orange Mall
[ campus map | parking map ]

This lecture is free and open to the public, and will provide an entertaining and informative introduction to the Mathematics of Biology for audiences of all levels.  Here is the abstract of Dr. Keener's talk:

    Heart attacks kill hundreds of people daily in the United States -- many more than are killed by math anxiety!
    A heart attack occurs when there is an occlusion of a coronary artery, leading to tissue damage.  A heart attack is fatal when there is a subsequent disruption of the normal electrical signal of the heart, leading to fibrillation.  There is very little understanding of why this occurs, and there are essentially no reliable predictors of the onset of fibrillation.
    In this talk, I will give an overview of some of the ways that mathematics can help our understanding of cardiac arrhythmias, how they occur, what they are, and how they can be eliminated.  The main emphasis will be on how mathematics can be used to give us insight that could not be found without mathematics.
The 1999 Mathematics Awareness Month color poster, Vital Rhythms: Mathematics in the Heart  -- and the image above -- highlight the contribution mathematical modeling makes in understanding heart function and malfunction. These images are visualizations of mathematical models that help us "see" how the heart is excited. They result when mathematics is used (as no other science can) to depict physical processes or physical activity. These particular models/images demonstrate normal electrical activity in the heart and help researchers understand more about fatal heart attacks. Dr. Keener and Professor A.V. Panfilov of the University of Utrecht provided the poster images.

Mathematics is an essential element of scientific advancement in many other biological areas, including brain research, the human genome, modeling blood flow, epidemiology and many other bio-technical fields.

During Mathematics Awareness Month, celebrations and other special events take place at colleges, universities, and research laboratories across the country.  Extensive information about Mathematics Awareness Month -- including the theme poster and other visuals, an annotated essay with links to many other related sites, and news of MAM celebrations talking place around the country -- can be found on the MAM website at http://forum.swarthmore.edu/mam. For MAM events closer to Tempe, check out the UA Math Awareness site.