[fvc-wat-announce] UofW Bridges Lecture on Mathematics and Democracy, 7:30pm on 27 Feb 2015

[Bob Jonkman]

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Hi Waterloo Fair Voters: This coming Friday, 27 February 2015 there's
an interesting lecture on "Mathematics and Democracy" at the
University of Waterloo that may interest some of you.

Sometimes I get carried away, and pay more attention to the mechanics
of voting systems than the political change we're trying to effect. I
think this lecture will satisfy that craving!

Please note that this is NOT a Fair Vote event.

Here's the blurb from the University of Waterloo website:

http://sju.ca/news-events/public-events/bridges-lecture-series/mathematics-and-democracy

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Bridges Lecture – Mathematics and Democracy

Friday, February 27, 2015 – 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Bridges lectures aim to overcome the gap between Mathematics and the
Arts. Join Steven J. Brams (Politics) and D. Marc Kilgour (Math) for
"Mathematics and Democracy."

A multitude of election systems have been proposed for choosing both
single winners (for mayor, governor, or president) or multiple winners
(to a council or committee). Those based on approval voting, which
allows voters to vote for more than one candidate or party, are
especially appealing. We look at the mathematics behind these systems,
and how well they satisfy properties considered important in a
democracy. We also analyze the usage of approval voting in electing,
among other officials, Catholic popes and UN secretaries general. More
recently, approval voting has been adopted by several major
professional societies to elect their presidents and advisory
councils. Based on this experience, we offer several recommendations
for the use of approval voting in public elections.

Steven J. Brams is Professor of Politics at New York University and
the author, co-author, or co-editor of 18 books and about 300
articles. His most recent book is Game Theory and the Humanities:
Bridging Two Worlds (MIT, 2011).

Brams has applied game theory and social-choice theory to voting and
elections, bargaining and fairness, international relations, and the
Bible, theology, and literature. He is a former president of the Peace
Science Society (1990-91) and of the Public Choice Society
(2004-2006). He is a Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (1986), a Guggenheim Fellow (1986-87), and was
a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation (1998-99).

Affiliation: Department of Politics, NYU

D. Marc Kilgour is Professor of Mathematics at Wilfrid Laurier
University, Research Director: Conflict Analysis for the Laurier
Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, and Adjunct
Professor of Systems Design Engineering at University of Waterloo. His
publications include 6 books and nearly 400 articles in journals,
conference proceedings, and edited books.

Kilgour’s research lies at the intersection of mathematics,
engineering, and social science. He has contributed in arms control,
environmental management, negotiation, arbitration, voting, fair
division, and coalition formation, and pioneered decision support
systems for strategic conflict. President of the Peace Science Society
in 2012-13, he is now President of the INFORMS Section on Group
Decision and Negotiation.

Affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Wilfrid Laurier

Everyone is welcome to this free public lecture, followed by a
reception. Free parking will be available at St. Paul’s.
Host

St. Jerome’s University
Event website
Bridges Lecture- Mathematics and Democracy
Cost

Free
Location

STJ – St. Jerome’s University
Siegfried Hall
290 Westmount Road North
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G3
Canada

More info: Bridges Lecture – Mathematics and Democracy:
http://sju.ca/news-events/public-events/bridges-lecture-series/mathematics-and-democracy

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Bob Jonkman <bjonkman at sobac.com>          Phone: +1-519-669-0388
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