The analysis of problems modeled by large graphs is greatly hampered by a lack of efficient computational tools. The purpose of the workshop is to explore possibilities for designing appropriate computational methods that draw on recent advances in numerical methods and scientific computation. Specifically, the questions of how to form the matrices representing graph Laplacians, and how to compute the leading eigenvectors of such matrices will be addressed. It seems likely that these problems will be amenable to algorithms based on randomized projections that dramatically reduce the effective dimensionality of the underlying problems. Such techniques has recently proven highly effective for the related problems of how to find approximate lists of nearest neighbors for clouds of points in high dimensional spaces, and for constructing approximate low-rank factorizations of large matrices. In both cases, a key observation is that the problem of distortions of distances that is inherent to... (more)

Most systems targeted by mathematical modeling in modern science and engineering are fundamentally multi-physical and multi-scale in nature. As such, they involve solving complex coupled, generally nonlinear, systems of partial differential equations (PDEs) built from subsystems of PDEs that mathematically model very different physical processes, often at very different scales.

Recent advances in high-performance computer hardware and advanced numerical algorithms have made it feasible to construct realistic mathematical models and to build corresponding numerical simulation software for these types of complex multi-physics/multi-scale problems. However, developing robust, efficient, and practical numerical algorithms for such simulation software that are capable of tackling these complex mathematical models is still extremely challenging in a number of fundamental ways. For example, we do not yet have robust methods that can handle strong coupling between different physics and/or... (more)

Over the last two decades, algebraic and numerical techniques for nonlinear problems have begun a steady and relentless transition from mostly academic constructions, to widely used tools across the mathematical sciences, engineering and industrial applications. The workshop will bring together participants from many diverse fields including computer vision, cryptography, optimization and control, partial differential equations, robotics, and quantum computation, with the common interest in nonlinear algebraic computations. The main goal is to assess the state of the art, to stimulate further progress, and to accelerate developments by bringing together these diverse communities and have them share computational challenges and successes.

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 2014 program is designed for a select group of 12-14 undergraduate scholars. Students work in groups of two or three, supervised by faculty advisors and aided by teaching assistants. The faculty advisors... (more)

This workshop will focus on preparing each participant for a successful career as a mathematician at a college or university. Beginning with the hiring process, a thorough discussion of the various elements of the application packet will take place in the context of each participant's materials. Working individually with experienced faculty, participants will review and refine their cover letters, C.V., research, and teaching statements. This will be followed by activities related to the interview. The primary goals of the workshop are to develop an understanding of the hiring process from the institutions' perspective, to refine the application packet, to learn what to expect during the interview process (including the job talk), and to prepare for negotiating salary and start-up packages.

Additional time will be spent on aspects of the pre-tenure years including the development of a research program, writing grant proposals, and mentoring research students. The three-day workshop... (more)

The American Institute of Mathematics (AIM), co-sponsored by ICERM, invites applications for the Research Experiences for Undergraduate Faculty (REUF) workshop to be held at AIM in Palo Alto, CA.

This workshop, sponsored by AIM, ICERM, and the National Science Foundation, is one in a series of annual REUF workshops that bring together leading research mathematicians with faculty at undergraduate institutions who are interested in involving their students in areas of active research. The workshop can also serve as a research renewal opportunity for faculty who want to re--engage in research or are considering a change of research area.

The goals of the workshop are to promote undergraduate research in undergraduate institutions, and to forge lasting research collaborations among the participating faculty. The majority of the workshop will be spent working on problems in small research groups, reporting on progress, and formulating plans for future work. In addition to the workshop... (more)

GirlsGetMath is a weeklong mathematics summer day-program for 9th and 10th grade high school girls in the Providence, RI area.

GirlsGetMath occurs in an encouraging environment that builds young women's confidence in math and science.

GirlsGetMath expands participants' understanding and knowledge of mathematics through computations and experimentations.

GirlsGetMath provides expert mathematical training and mentoring.

GirlsGetMath@ICERM 2014 is the first of what will become a replicable national model of mathematical outreach for high school girls, with an emphasis on mathematical experimentation.

This five-day non-residential mathematics program is open to high school girls from the greater Providence, RI area who will have just completed either grade 9 or grade 10 by July 2014.

GirlsGetMath@ICERM will... (more)

Over the past 25 years, experimental mathematics has developed as an important additional arrow in the mathematical quiver. Many mathematical scientists now use powerful symbolic, numeric and graphic (sometimes abbreviated "SNAG") computing environments in their research, in a remarkable departure from tradition. While these tools collectively are quite effective, challenges remain in numerous areas, including: (a) rapid, high-precision computation of special functions and their derivatives; (b) user-customizable symbolic computing; (c) graphical computing; (d) data-intensive computing; and (e) large-scale computing on parallel and GPU architectures (including algorithm and software design for such systems).

This workshop will convene mathematical and computer scientists who create or exploit these tools, together with computational tool developers and commercial vendors of mathematical software, to exchange approaches and extend the state of the art in the field, both in the design... (more)

This workshop will focus on recent advances in combinatorial link homology theories (e.g., Heegaard-Floer homology and Khovanov homology), especially as they apply to questions about braids and, more generally, mapping class groups of surfaces. There will be short mini-courses on

1. Combinatorial knot Floer homology, with applications to contact geometry,
2. Braid foliations and the Jones conjecture,
3. Nielsen-Thurston theory, and
4. Garside theory and a linear order on the braid group,

along with a number of research and expository talks. The talks will emphasize the role that computation and experiment have thus far played in stating key conjectures and establishing key results. The workshop will culminate in a computational problem session, in which participants will discuss promising directions for future exploration and indicate which computations may be most useful in that exploration.

As the main goal of the workshop is to facilitate interaction... (more)

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?

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, and... (more)

This workshop focuses on certain kinds of discrete dynamical systems that are integrable and have interpretations in terms of cluster algebras. Some such systems, like the pentagram map and the octahedral recurrence, are motivated by concrete algebraic constructions (taking determinants) or geometric constructions based on specific configurations of points and lines in the projective plane. The systems of interest in this workshop have connections to Poisson and symplectic geometry, classical integrable PDE such as the KdV and Boussinesq equations and also to cluster algebras. The aim of the workshop is to explore geometric, algebraic, and computational facets of these systems, with a view towards uncovering new phenomena and unifying the work to date.

The fundamental problem of approximation theory is to resolve a possibly complicated function, called the target function, by simpler, easier to compute functions called approximants. Increasing the resolution of the target function can generally only be achieved by increasing the complexity of the approximants. The understanding of this trade-off between resolution and complexity is the main goal of approximation theory, a classical subject that goes back to the early results on Taylor's and Fourier's expansions of a function.

Modern problems in approximation, driven by applications in biology, medicine, and engineering, are being formulated in very high dimensions, which brings to the fore new phenomena. One aspect of the high-dimensional regime is a focus on sparse signals, motivated by the fact that many real world signals can be well approximated by sparse ones. The goal of compressed sensing is to reconstruct such signals from their incomplete linear information. Another aspect... (more)