Dr Eugenia Cheng will describe her journey from "normal" apolitical mathematician, to mathematician-artist-musician. Previously shying away from discussing political and social issues, she now does the opposite and uses her math, music, and art in intertwined ways to address these topics head on. During this multi-disciplinary presentation she will present abstract mathematics that she uses to discuss social issues with art students; she will also show some of her mathematical art installations with social themes, and perform some of her songs. No mathematical background is needed. There will be free pizza for the first 50 attendees! 

Dr Eugenia Cheng is a mathematician, educator, author, public speaker, columnist, concert pianist, artist and composer. She is Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, won tenure in Pure Mathematics at the University in Sheffield, and holds a PhD in pure mathematics from the University of Cambridge. She was an early pioneer of math on YouTube and her videos have been viewed over 20 million times to date. She is the author of eight popular math books including "How to Bake Pi", and "x+y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender" and two children's books. Her books have been translated into twenty languages so far. She has given talks and interviews around the world including for the BBC, NPR, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Dr Cheng is the founder of the Liederstube, an intimate oasis for art song based in Chicago, writes the Everyday Math column for the Wall Street Journal, and has completed several art commissions and song commissions. Her song "The Mother Who Died, Too" was commissioned for Laura Strickling's 40@40 project, the recording of which has been nominated for a GRAMMY award.