Programs & Events
Topology, Geometry and Group Theory, Informed by Experiment
Oct 21 - 25, 2013
The mathematical focus of this workshop will include all aspects of the topology and geometry of low-dimensional manifolds and geometric group theory. It has been understood for over a century that these subjects are tightly connected, but the connections have become even deeper as the subjects have matured. Recent advances have given dramatic evidence of this. The workshop aims to further extend the interplay between these subjects.
Algorithms have been an important and consistent feature of all of these mathematical areas from the beginning. This includes both questions about the existence of algorithms and the development of practical algorithms for computing natural invariants. More recently, computer experiments and rigorous computer-assisted proofs have had a significant impact. It is natural to expect experimental and computational methods to play an expanding role in the theory of low dimensional spaces. Additional goals of the workshop are to explore the development of new... (more)
Organizing Committee
- Danny Calegari
- Marc Culler
- David Gabai
- Joel Hass
- Robert Lipshitz
- Karen Vogtmann
- Genevieve Walsh
Public Lecture: An Encounter with Cutting-Edge Molecular Biology and Cancer Researchers
Oct 7, 2013
We are all familiar with Wigner's Principle - the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the physical sciences. It is in a sharp contrast with what some people call Gelfand's Principle - the unreasonable ineffectiveness of mathematics in the biological sciences. I. M. Gelfand, an eminent mathematician of the 20th century, ran a biology seminar where mathematicians strived to find a common language with biologists.
One of the principle participants of Gelfand's Biology Seminar was Andrei Gudkov, now the Senior Vice President of Basic Science at Roswell Park Cancer Institute at Buffalo, NY (see http://www.roswellpark.edu/andrei-gudkov). In 2008, A. Gudkov was named "one of the top five biologist of the post-Soviet scientific diaspora" by the Russian "Newsweek" (for comparison, a similar list of mathematicians contained Kontsevich, Okounkov and Sinai).
We are organizing a "high risk - high yield" event. Dr.... (more)
Modern Math Workshop 2013
Oct 2 - 3, 2013
As part of the Mathematical Sciences Collaborative Diversity Initiatives, nine mathematics institutes (including ICERM) are pleased to host their annual pre-conference event, the 2013 Modern Math Workshop. This event precedes the SACNAS National Conference.
The Modern Math Workshop is intended to re-invigorate the focus of mathematics students and faculty at minority-serving institutions and the research careers of minority mathematicians.
Organizing Committee
- Jeffrey Brock
- Ricardo Cortez
- Ruth Crane
- Snehalata Huzurbazar
- Jill Pipher
- Ivelisse Rubio
MPE2013 Simons Public Lecture by L. Mahadevan - On Growth and Form: Mathematics, Physics and Biology
Sep 24, 2013
The diversity of living forms led Darwin to state that it is "enough to drive the sanest man mad". How can we describe this variety? How can we understand the origin and evolution of these "endless forms most beautiful?" And how do these forms link to function and physiology at the organismic level and beyond?
Mathematics, and geometry in particular, provides a natural language to express these questions and answer them. Motivated by biological observations on different scales from molecules to organisms to swarms, I will show how a combination of quantitative experiments, physical analogies, mathematical theories and computational models allow us to begin to unravel the mechanistic basis for aspects of morphogenesis and thence towards physiology, pathophysiology and biomimetics.
Exotic Geometric Structures
Sep 15 - 20, 2013
This workshop will focus on recent advances in the study of geometric structures and their associated group representations. As well as featuring hyperbolic structures, the workshop will also consider more exotic structures, such as projective structures, complex hyperbolic and spherical CR-structures and locally homogeneous space-times. A related focus includes aspects of coarse or non-positively curved geometry such as Gromov hyperbolic spaces and CAT(0) complexes. We will explore the interaction between experimental evidence and rigorous proof.
Organizing Committee
- William Goldman
- John Parker
- Richard Schwartz
- Caroline Series
- Genevieve Walsh
Low-dimensional Topology, Geometry, and Dynamics
Sep 9 - Dec 6, 2013
The program focuses on the recent impact of computation and experiment on the study of the pure mathematics sides of topology, geometry, and dynamics. Specific areas include 3-dimensional topology, the study of locally symmetric spaces, low-dimensional dynamics, and geometric group theory. Included are areas where computation has not yet had an impact, but might do so in the near future.
Organizing Committee
- Marc Culler
- Nathan Dunfield
- Walter Neumann
- Richard Schwartz
- Caroline Series
- Dylan Thurston
- Genevieve Walsh
- Anton Zorich
Research Experiences for Undergraduate Faculty (REUF)
Jul 22 - 26, 2013
This workshop, sponsored by AIM, ICERM, and the NSF, will introduce undergraduate faculty to research opportunities in several fields of mathematics that will equip them with the tools to mentor students in undergraduate research in mathematics. Lectures at the workshop will provide background information and introduce open problems. The majority of the workshop will be spent working on problems, reporting on progress, and formulating plans for future work.
The workshop will be hosted at ICERM.
Preference will be given to faculty who teach and advise substantial numbers of minority students.
If you would like to participate, please apply by filling out the on-line form no later than March 22, 2013. Applications are open to all, and we especially encourage women, underrepresented minorities, junior mathematicians, and researchers from primarily undergraduate institutions to... (more)
Organizing Committee
- Leslie Hogben
- Roselyn Williams
- Ulrica Wilson
IdeaLab 2013: Program for Early Career Researchers
Jul 15 - 19, 2013
Interested in discussing cutting edge research ideas with both peers and leaders in their field?
Interested in broadening your professional network across the mathematical sciences?
Interested in the opportunity to present your ideas and hear about funding opportunities from program officers?
The Idea-Lab invites 20 early career researchers (postdoctoral candidates and assistant professors) to ICERM for a week during the summer. The program will start with brief participant presentations on their research interests in order to build a common understanding of the breadth and depth of expertise. Throughout the week, organizers or visiting researchers will give comprehensive overviews of their research topics. Organizers will create smaller teams of participants who will discuss, in depth, these research questions, obstacles,... (more)
Organizing Committee
- Henry Cohn
- Jeffrey Hoffstein
- Christopher Jones
- Pamela Martin
- Bjorn Sandstede
- Joseph Silverman
Summer@ICERM 2013: Geometry and Dynamics
Jun 17 - Aug 9, 2013
Imagine spending eight-weeks on the beautiful Brown University campus in historic Providence, RI, working in a small team setting to solve mathematical research problems developed by faculty experts in their fields.
Imagine creating career-building connections between peers, near peers (graduate students and postdocs), and academic professionals.
Imagine spending your summer in a fun, memorable, and intellectually stimulating environment.
Now, imagine having this experience with support for travel within the U.S., room and board paid, plus a $3,000 stipend*.
The Summer@ICERM 2013 program is designed for a select group of 10-12 undergraduate scholars. Students will work in small groups of two or three, supervised by faculty advisors and aided by teaching assistants.
The faculty... (more)
Organizing Committee
- Chaim Goodman-Strauss
- Sergei Tabachnikov
Issues in Solving the Boltzmann Equation for Aerospace Applications
Jun 3 - 7, 2013
Being central to gas dynamics, the Boltzmann equation describes gas flows at the microscopic level in regimes from free molecular to continuum. Its descriptive power makes it indispensable for predicting non-continuum phenomena in gases when experimental data is limited or not available. The Boltzmann equation is used in a wide range of applications, from external aerodynamics and thruster plume flows to vacuum facilities and microscale devices. Accurate solution of the Boltzmann equation for modeling gas flows arising in aerospace applications continues to be a challenge. Existing numerical capabilities fall short of capturing the complexities of engineering design. Reasons for this range from the absence of mathematical models that capture the physics properly to higher dimensionality of kinetic models and the resulting high cost of computations to the failure of mathematical theories to handle complex geometries of real life applications.
The goal of this workshop is to facilitate... (more)
Organizing Committee
- Alexander Alekseenko
- Jose Camberos
- Irene Gamba
- Sergey Gimelshein
- Prakash Vedula
- Ingrid Wysong
Combinatorics, Multiple Dirichlet Series and Analytic Number Theory
Apr 15 - 19, 2013
Recent years have seen a flurry of activity in the field of Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series. Surprising and unexpected connections between these multiple Dirichlet series and several different fields of mathematics have emerged. This workshop will survey recent results and set the stage for future developments which further interrelate analytic number theory, automorphic forms and combinatorial representation theory.
Particular focus will be given to applications of Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series to the following areas:
- Average value and nonvanishing results for families of L-functions
- Periods of automorphic forms
- Connections between characters sums over function fields and characters of affine root systems
- Metaplectic Casselman-Shalika formulae and deformations of the Weyl character formula
Organizing Committee
- Gautam Chinta
- Adrian Diaconu
- Dorian Goldfeld
- Özlem Imamoglu
Public Lecture: Scratching the Surface in Dynamic Visual Effects
Mar 11, 2013
Computational physics now underlies some of the most amazing and most routine of visual effects work, using numerical models to simulate reality and more on the computer. Natural-looking water, smoke, fire, and clothing effects in film are often handled best by understanding and solving the physics of how they move in nature. Making simulations efficient and artist-friendly remains a huge challenge.
Dr. Bridson will discuss both the general context of physics-based animation in graphics, but then focus particularly on the advent of new geometric and numerical algorithms for exploiting surface meshes in simulation - both the obvious like clothing and the more surprising like smoke.