It is a great honor for me to speak in the Marjorie Lee Browne Colloquium series and to help celebrate her legacy this Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In my talk, I will discuss a favorite topic of mine: shapes of constant width. In the plane, they are closed convex curves which have the property that any two parallel supporting lines are the same distance apart in all directions. A fundamental problem involving these curves is to find one which encloses the smallest amount of area. This was resolved long ago, and I'll explain a few ways to address this problem. I'll also mention what is known in three dimensions, including that the least volume shape has yet to be found.

Zoom Link: https://umich.zoom.us/j/94360517246

Pass code: 314668 Speaker(s): Ryan Hynd (University of Pennsylvania)