Abstract:
A surprising number of writers of The Simpsons and its sibling Futurama have advanced degrees in math and science, and over the years they've included a lot math and science jokes that appeal to math and science aficionados. During the talk, we'll take a look at some of them, and ask: what do proving theorems and writing cartoons have in common? Is it possible to interest kids in STEM by showing them network television?

Bio:
Jeff Westbrook is a writer and co-executive producer for The Simpsons. After earning a Ph.D in computer science from Princeton, he taught at Yale before moving to AT&T Research. In 1999 he took a job as a staff writer for the animated sci-fi comedy Futurama. He continued writing for television, and in 2005 he joined The Simpsons, at a time when the show was expected to soon die due to its declining standards.Ten years later the show is still going strong. He holds two patents, has over thirty published computer science papers and has won several television honors, including three Writer’s Guild awards for animation writing.