New Mexico State University will host Jay Bagga for the third annual Frank Harary Memorial Lecture at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, at the New Mexico State University campus in Science Hall Room 107.

The third annual Frank Harary Memorial Lecture will feature Jay S. Bagga, professor of computer science at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, at the New Mexico State University campus in Science Hall Room 107.

Bagga will discuss Harary’s research on graph theory, graph algorithms and their applications that form one of the fastest growing areas of research in computer science. He will talk about how these applications in games, tournaments and social networks have gained importance over the last few decades, for example the World Wide Web (Internet).

He joined Ball State University in 1989 and served as the department chair for computer science from 2003 to 2006. He has held visiting positions at Texas State University at San Marcos and at University of Zimbabwe. Bagga has helped lead and organize several national and international conferences and workshops in graph theory and software verification techniques, including those in India, the U.S. and Zimbabwe. He directs international exchange programs between Ball State University and educational and research institutions in India and China.

He has also served on panels of reviewers for the National Science Foundation and Council for International Exchange of Scholars Fulbright Awards.

The lecture hosted by NMSU’s computer science department is held in honor of Harary who was a distinguished NMSU professor from 1987 until he passed away in 2005. Harary was recognized as one of the pioneers of modern graph theory, a discipline of mathematics he helped found, popularize and revitalize.

A 5 p.m. reception in Science Hall Room 123 will follow the lecture, and refreshments will be served. Both the lecture and reception are free and open to the public.