Mar 15, 2012 - Claremont, CA -

Professor Andrew Belmonte of Penn State University will present the fourth lecture in the Michael E. Moody Lecture Series at 7 p.m. March 23 in the Galileo McAlister Lecture Hall at Harvey Mudd College.

Entitled "The Mathematics of Strings, Spaghetti and Splashes," Belmonte's presentation will explore mathematical answers to everyday puzzles such as: Why is it hard to break dry spaghetti in half? Why do extension cords, shoelaces and earbuds always get tangled up in knots? How does a falling droplet splash onto the floor? Belmonte will show how each answer generates interesting, new questions.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Dessert and refreshments will follow the presentation.

An associate professor of mathematics and materials science and engineering, Belmonte has long worked at the intersection of mathematics and the world to which it can be applied. He received his doctorate in physics from Princeton University and was awarded two fellowships—a Chateaubriand Fellowship and a National Science Foundation (NSF) International Fellowship— to study at the Institut Non-Lineaire de Nice in France. In 1998, Belmonte joined the faculty at Penn State University, where he currently serves in the W.G. Pritchard Laboratories. He has also served as a visiting professor at Harvard University and the ESPCI in Paris.

The Moody Lecture Series was established by the HMC Mathematics Department in honor of Professor Michael Moody, who served as the department chair from 1996 to 2002. Under Moody's leadership, the department revised its curriculum, rejuvenated the senior-thesis program and tripled the number of math majors. He was also the guiding force that led to the department's receipt of the American Mathematical Society's inaugural award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department in 2006. Moody passed away in January 2010 after a long and difficult battle with lymphoma. He was posthumously named an Honorary Alumnus of Harvey Mudd College in 2010.

For more information about the lecture series, visit www.math.hmc.edu/moodylectures.