Mathematics in Action: Launching the Loyola University Chicago SIAM Student Chapter

Loyola University Chicago (LUC) has officially launched a new SIAM student chapter that serves as an exciting platform for members to engage with applied mathematics and computational science. The chapter aims to foster collaboration, professional development, and research opportunities for students who are interested in real-world mathematical problems. To select the inaugural chapter leadership, faculty sponsors Xiang Wan and Tuyen Tran held elections that resulted in the appointment of Lily Ingram (economics major, class of 2025) as president, Anaum Chaudhry (data science major, class of 2027) as vice president, and Sarah Riaz (statistics major, class of 2026) as treasurer.

The LUC SIAM Student Chapter held several successful events during the 2024-2025 academic year and established a strong presence on campus. Its first activity was an informational meeting for interested students in October 2024 that highlighted the offerings of the new chapter, including access to conferences and industry resources. A few days later, students and faculty attended the 2024 SIAM Great Lakes Section Annual Meeting at Purdue University Northwest, where they enjoyed a variety of minisymposia, invited and contributed talks, and networking opportunities.

In late October, Sven Leyffer of Argonne National Laboratory (then-President of SIAM) visited the chapter and delivered a colloquium about his research on topological design problems that are formulated as massive mixed-integer partial differential equation (PDE)-constrained optimization (MIPDECO) problems. Leyffer demonstrated that one can efficiently solve MIPDECOs at a computational cost that is comparable to a single continuous PDE-constrained optimization solution. He also detailed two key classes of solution methods: rounding techniques that are asymptotically optimal and trust-region approaches that converge under mesh refinement.

The LUC SIAM Student Chapter kicked off the 2025 spring semester with a Pi Day celebration on March 14, in collaboration with the LUC Math & Stats Club. Attending students and faculty discussed the history and applications of \(\pi\), competed in brain games, and enjoyed complementary pie and refreshments.

On March 29, Leyffer hosted both the chapter and the LUC Physics Club at Argonne National Laboratory. Roughly 45 student and faculty participants visited the Advanced Photon Source, Aurora exascale supercomputer, and an exhibit on nuclear history. This successful excursion introduced chapter members to high-level research within a national laboratory setting and got them thinking about possible careers in research and development.

Two days after the Argonne visit, a seminar with Zeyu Zhou of Carl Zeiss X-ray Microscopy, Inc. marked the chapter’s final event for the 2024-2025 academic year. Zhou visited LUC and delivered a talk about computed tomography (CT) and its uses in medical diagnostics, industrial inspection, and scientific research. The audience received a comprehensive overview of CT and its scientific principles, mathematical foundations, and practical applications. Additionally, Zhou used concepts such as reconstruction algorithms, phantom calibration, and artifact removal to explore the acquisition and reconstruction of X-ray projections; he also described CT’s real-world applications in image denoising and defect analysis.

The LUC SIAM Student Chapter experienced a very successful first year of operation, having developed a prominent on-campus presence and pursued several high-impact visits to offsite conferences and laboratories. The chapter looks forward to its next set of activities in the 2025-2026 academic year, which will continue to provide avenues for students to explore diverse applications of applied mathematics and computational science in society.