25/07/2023

Ardila cites Brazilian composers at the 2nd CBM plenary session.

Mathematician, educator, musician and football player. This is how the researcher from the University of San Francisco (USA) Federico Ardila introduced himself to the students and researchers who filled the IMPA auditorium, on the afternoon of this Tuesday (25), to attend the lecture “The geometry of geometries: matroid theory, old and new”.

Ardila, who holds a PhD in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is also a DJ and uses music as a tool for inclusion in the classroom. This was no different at the plenary session of the 34th Brazilian Mathematics Colloquium. Ardila made a point of mentioning Roberto Mendes and Mateus Aleluia, Brazilian composers, when explaining his connection to the country.

“I don’t know how to explain what the music of Mateus Aleluia, from Ilê Aiye (Brazil’s first Afro bloc), and his educational projects mean to me. The music of Roberto Mendes, based on an old Sudanese saying, which says ‘I will learn to read, to teach my comrades.’ Music, education, transformation. What influenced me was Paulo Freire and his school,” said the researcher in Portuguese at the opening of the lecture.

Ardila also highlighted that participating in a Latin American mathematical meeting is an inspiration. "World-class mathematics is being done here. It's something that many countries still need to learn," he stated.

In the lecture, the researcher spoke about the profound connections between matroid theory and other areas such as field theory, correspondence theory, Lie combinatorics, among others.

For Kevyan Uehara de Moraes, a student at the Federal University of Paraná, the plenary session was surprising: “I think the matroids show fundamental relationships, and seeing them as a logical future is an incredible thing to see. The notion of independence presented is something I hadn't thought of. Placing logic on the same level as the matroid is beautiful,” the student assessed.

Award-winning career

A researcher at the University of San Francisco (USA), Ardila has previously worked alongside Field Medalist June Huh on matroid theory – the topic of his lecture at the Colloquium. Also known as DJ, the professor is famous for using music to optimize mathematics learning. This initiative has earned the Colombian several awards, including one from the American Mathematical Association (MAA) "for inspiring students inside and outside the classrooms of San Francisco State University" in 2020. On his website, the mathematician also presents himself as the author of four axioms on education and the discipline.