Annual Meeting Luncheon - 11:30 AM Saturday March 29, 2025 Stonebridge Country Club (2100 Winding Oaks Way, Naples FL 34109) Our Luncheon Speaker will be Wellesley Professor of Mathematics, Ismar Volić, |
Professor Volić completed his undergraduate degree at Boston University in 1998 and his Ph.D. in mathematics at Brown University in 2003. He has been teaching at Wellesley College since 2006. He was the department chair from 2022 to 2025. In 2019, he co-founded the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy to "promote a deeper understanding of mathematics as a pivotal force in creating a democracy where people make informed political decisions and enact change based on objective and rigorous quantitatiive criteria." Professor Volic's discussion willl highlight how some of the basic democratic processes such as voting, districting, and apportionment of legislative seats are essentially mathematical. But are we using the best possible math to ensure the democratic ideal of equity and representation holds for everyone? (Spoiler: We're Not) From the mathematics point of view, it is clear that practices like plurality voting, single member districts and partisan gerrymandering amplify disenfranchisement, exacerbate political polarization, and facilitate authoritarianism.
|