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Annual Progress Report on the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute 2012–2013 Activities supported by NSF Grant DMS-0932078 May, 2014 Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Annual Report for 2012–2013 1. Overview of Activities ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 New Developments ............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Summary of Demographic Data for 2012–13 Activities .................................................... 7 1.3 Scientific Programs and their Associated Workshops ........................................................ 9 1.4 Scientific Activities Directed at Underrepresented Groups in Mathematics .................... 11 a. Modern Math Workshop (NSF Supplement Grant DMS-1126721) .................... 12 b. Blackwell-Tapia Conference (NSF Supplement Grant DMS-1126721) ............. 12 1.5 Summer Graduate Schools (Summer 2012)……………………………………….. ……12 1.6 Other Scientific Workshops .............................................................................................. 13 1.7 Education & Outreach Activities ...................................................................................... 13 a. Critical Issues in Mathematics Education 2013: Assessment of Mathematical Proficiencies in the Age of the Common Core (NSF Supplement Grant DMS- 1118532) ................................................................................................................... 14 b. Circle on the Road Spring 2013 (NSF Supplement Grant DMS-1118532) ......... 14 1.8 Programs Consultant List .................................................................................................. 15 2. Program and Workshop Data................................................................................................ 15 2.1 Program Participant List ................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Program Participant Summary .......................................................................................... 15 2.3 Program Participant Demographic Data ........................................................................... 16 2.4 Workshop Participant List ................................................................................................ 18 2.5 Workshop Participant Summary ....................................................................................... 18 2.6 Workshop Participant Demographic Data ........................................................................ 19 2.7 Program Publication List .................................................................................................. 22 2.8 Program Publication Work-In-Progress List .................................................................... 22 3. Postdoctoral Program ............................................................................................................. 22 3.1 Description of Activities ................................................................................................... 22 3.2 Postdoctoral Fellow Placement List.................................................................................. 48 3.3 Postdoctoral Fellow Participant Summary........................................................................ 49 3.4 Postdoctoral Fellow Demographic Data ........................................................................... 50 3.5 Postdoctoral Research Member Placement List ............................................................... 52 3.6 Postdoctoral Research Member Summary ........................................................................ 52 4. Graduate Program .................................................................................................................. 52 4.1 Summer Graduate Schools (SGS) ..................................................................................... 52 4.2 Summer Graduate School Data ......................................................................................... 54 4.3 Program Associate ............................................................................................................ 57 4.4 Program Associate Data .................................................................................................... 58 4.5 Graduate Student List ....................................................................................................... 60 4.6 Graduate Student Data ...................................................................................................... 60 5. Undergraduate Program (MSRI-UP) (NSF Grant DMS-1156499) ..................................... 61 6. Brief Report of Activities in 2013–14 .................................................................................... 61 7. Appendix – Final Reports of Activities in 2012–13 .............................................................. 80 Program Reports No. 267: Commutative Algebra (COMMA) No. 270: Cluster Algebra (CA) No. 271: Noncommutative Algebraic Geometry and Representative Theory (NAGRT) No. 285: Complementary Program 2012–13 Workshop Reports No. 594: Joint Connections for Women: COMMA & CA No. 595: Joint Introductory Workshop: COMMA & CA No. 609: Cluster Algebras in Combinatorics Algebra and Geometry No. 610: Combinatorial Commutative Algebra and Applications No. 638: Representation Theory Homological Algebra Free Resolutions No. 639: Commutative Algebra of Singularities No. 641: Connection for Women: NAGRT No. 642: Introductory Workshop: NAGRT No. 643: Interaction between NAGRT No. 696: Critical Issues in Mathematics Education 2013: Assessment of Mathematical Proficiencies in the Age of the Common Core No. 721: Circle on the Road Spring 2013 No. 723: Hot Topics: Surface Subgroups and Cube Complexes Summer Graduate School Reports No. 634: Model Theory No. 648: Noncommutative Algebraic Geometry No. 649: Seminaire de Mathematiques Superieures 2012: Probabilistic Combinatorics No. 650: IAS-PCMI Summer School on Geometric Group Theory No. 657: Mathematical General Relativity 1. Overview of Activities This annual report covers MSRI projects and activities that occurred during the third year, 2012– 13, of the NSF core grant DMS #0932078. 1.1 New Developments The year 2012–13, was a busy and exciting year. We held one yearlong program together with two (2) one-semester programs: Commutative Algebra, Cluster Algebras, and Noncommutative Algebraic Geometry and Representation Theory. These three programs were very popular, and their workshops well attended. All programs had stellar researchers. Four (4) of them, Karen Smith, Claudio Procesi, Corrado De Concini, and Toby Stafford were funded by the Clay Mathematics Institute ($33,000). Karen Smith is a Keeler Professor in the department of mathematics at the University of Michigan. Among the many awards she received are the AMS Satter prize in recognition of her work in Commutative Algebra, a Fullbright Fellowship, and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship. Claudio Procesi, an internationally renowned researcher is a Professor Ordinario at La Sapienza (University di Roma). In the early 1980s he received the Medal of the Accademia dei Mathematics Lincei, of which he is now a member; he also received the Feltrinelli Prize in mathematics. De Concini, an equally renowned professor Ordinario at La Sapienza, is a member of the two Italian Academy of Sciences, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (since 2009) and Socio dell'Accademia Italiana delle Scienze detta dei XL (2010). Toby Stafford is a professor of mathematics at Manchester University. From 2007-2012 he held the prestigious Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award, and in 2013, he became a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. Another ten (10) researchers, Luchezar Avramov, Bill Crawley-Boevey, Alicia Dickenstein, Craig Huneke, Bernhard Keller, Idun Reiten, Frank-Olaf Schreyer, Michel Van den Bergh, Jerzy Weyman, and Andrei Zelevinsky, were funded by MSRI’s Eisenbud Endowment and by a grant from the Simons Foundation. The synergy between the long program and the two partner programs was particularly fruitful. The academic year started with two joint workshops: Connections for Women and Introductory Workshop: Cluster Algebras and Commutative Algebra. All three programs had striking results to report. (See the program reports in the Appendix for more details.) Here are three such results, one from each program. In Fall 2012, K. Lee, L. Li, and A. Zelevinsky settled, in the negative, an old question posed by V. Fock and A. Goncharov: Do the extremal rays of the positive cone of a cluster algebra A (i.e., the cone of elements represented as positive Laurent polynomials in terms of any cluster) yield a basis in A? The authors show that in rank 2, the answer is no whenever A is not tame. This work was one of A. Zelevinsky's last research projects completed before his untimely death in April 2013. The results were posted on the [arXiv:1303.5806]. Among the many results obtained during the yearlong Commutative Algebra program the striking result of Herzog and Huneke on Golod rings (which are of interest as every module over a Golod ring has rational Poincar´e series) stands out. Here is how Huneke described the work and results: “I was very pleased about several things I was able to do with colleagues during the 1 year, but one stands out in the sense that without the MSRI program, there was probably