Professor of Mathematics Susan Loepp to Present Sigma Xi Lecture on Protecting Information

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., March 13, 2013—Susan Loepp, professor of mathematics, will present the Sigma Xi Research Lecture at Williams College on Friday, April 12. The talk, titled “Using Algebra to Protect Your Personal Information,” will take place at 4:15 p.m. in Wege Auditorium. A reception will follow in Schow Atrium. The event is free and open to the public.

Loepp’s talk will stress the importance of protecting against both eavesdropping and errors during the transmission of information. She will introduce sets of polynomials that are useful for both encryption and error-correction. No particular mathematics background will be assumed.

Loepp’s area of research is commutative algebra. She has advised the research of many undergraduate students in that field. Loepp is also the current principal investigator on the Williams College SMALL REU grant and has served as the program’s director three times. In 2012, she received the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching. Loepp and William Wootters, professor of physics, are co-authors of the book Protecting Information: From Classical Error Correction to Quantum Cryptography (Cambridge University Press, 2006). The two professors co-teach a course on the subject.

Loepp received a B.A. in mathematics and a B.S. in physics from Bethel College in 1989. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1994.

Sigma Xi is a national society that honors and encourages research in science. Each year, it sponsors lectures given by Williams College faculty members.

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