MATH AND INFLUENCE
VISUALIZING AND ANALYZING HUMAN COGNITION, DECISIONS, AND EMOTIONS
FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2025
1 PM – 2 PM
ALKEK TEACHING THEATER
Reception with speaker in attendance follows the presentation
Open and accessible to the general public
Abstract:
Thoughts, decisions, and emotions shape our everyday lives, influencing everything
from personal choices to societal trends. Yet, these processes are complex, often intangible, and difficult to measure. Dr. Rusnak will present his explorations of
the mathematics behind sentiment and emotional regulation. Through engaging
visuals and real-world examples, he will discuss applications of his approach across
psychology, crime pattern theory, epidemiology, voting behavior, business, education,
physics, and beyond.
For more about this presentation and to view the event photos, please visit MSAM 2025
Speaker: Dr. Lucas Rusnak
(click to expand) Dr. Rusnak has a PhD in Mathematics from Binghamton University and is Associate Professor of Mathematics at Texas State University.
He introduced oriented hypergraphs and hypergraphic balance theory, through which he provided a categorical unification of matrix algebra and hypergraphs. This allowed for exciting new generalizations for the Matrix-tree theorem, Kirchhoff’s Laws, and Laplacian dynamics. He also provided the first formula that calculates the solution to an 1893 conjecture for optimal matrices. The techniques to obtain these results also led to the discovery of sentiment-regulatory data science where Dr. Rusnak was a twice featured Innovator at South-by-Southwest (SXSW). He frequently collaborates with researchers at the NSA and has held a Health Research Fellowship. His contributions were recently featured in the book Higher Order Systems for motivating hypergraphic sentiment data analysis. Dr. Rusnak has supervised over 60 research students from the high school through the Doctoral level, and his research interests include anything that challenges the classical boundaries of mathematics, with a specific interest in graph theory, matrix theory, category theory and matroid theory.
Sponsored by: Department of Mathematics and Texas Mathworks.
PAST EVENTS
Here is a list of connections between mathematics and other areas that we have been exploring. Take a look by clicking on each year link under the image :
2025 – Math & Influence: Visualizing and Analyzing Human Cognition, Decisions, and Emotions
2024 – Math In Space And the Unbreakable Bonds of STEM
2023 – Math & Reality: Artistic mathematics: truth and beauty
2022 – Math & Ethics: Algorithms, Fairness, and Social Good
2021 – Math & Epidemics: Mathematics, Data & Disease
2020 – Math & Politics: Graphs, Geometry & Gerrymandering
2019 – Math & Music: Creativity & Innovation
2018 – Math & Art: How To Mathematically Immerse Yourself in the Work of Art