Spring/Fall 2003 Emissary Mathematical Sciences Research Institute www.msri.org Notes from the Director David Eisenbud One of the pleasures of any University is the renewal that takes place every fall — all those bright, expectant youngsters. With MSRI’s ever-changing scientific hori- zons we have the same thing, but more so; the analogue might be a University where even the faculty changes! Of course some stability is necessary — that’s the func- tion of our Advisory Committees and Directorate. The model has worked well. As we go into our twenty-first fall, I feel the pleasure and excitement once again. Our new programs are Differential Geometry and Discrete and Computational Geometry — matters classical and modern, “pure” and “applied” intimately mixed. We have a mix of interdisciplinary workshops coming up too, with Genetics of Complex Diseases and Mathemat- ical Neuroscience in the Spring. As usual, you can find more information on our web site. I returned last July from my semi-sabbatical year. I had lots of fun being a member at MSRI, taking part in the David Eisenbud, William R. Hearst and project architect Bill Glass Commutative Algebra year, while involved in fundrais- Building Campaign Predicts Success ing for the building extension (see on the right). Michael Singer held the fort as Acting Director, with Bob Meg- Three significant commitments from individuals to MSRI’s $7.3 million cam- ginson as Deputy. Many people told me that I wouldn’t paign will help the Institute announce Campaign success soon. In addition be able to enjoy a sabbatical unless I left town, and ap- to a generous early grant from founding director Shiing-Shen Chern, major parently they also told Michael that he would have a grants have also been received from MSRI trustee and campaign co-chair hard time with me hanging around in the house. I’m James H. Simons and from MSRI trustee William R. Hearst. Mr. Simons’ happy to report that it wasn’t so — Michael and Bob generosity will be recognized by the naming of the Simons Auditorium. managed things wonderfully, and protected my time for Mr. Hearst’s major commitment will be recognized by the naming of the In- research; and (Michael tells me, anyway) he never felt stitute library for his mother, Austine McDonnell Hearst. Professor Chern’s that I encroached on his turf. gift and his crucial role as founder of the Institute will be recognized by des- ignating the entire expanded and renovated Institute building Chern Hall. As has often happened to me at the end of a vacation, I felt a happy anticipation about returning to the job of (continued on page 9) director when the time came. Because I’ll be somewhat distracted from MSRI this year by being AMS Presi- dent, and because there are some big new projects afoot, Contents Motivic Integration 11 the Trustees decided to increase the directorate a little, Director’s Notes 1 Corporate Affiliates 11 and MSRI will have the privilege of two enormously ca- Building Campaign 1 MSRI Goes Wireless 13 pable Deputies this year: Bob Megginson is continuing, Heavy Metal 3 Osserman Gets Award 14 and Hugo Rossi will join us, returning to MSRI after Inverse Problems 5 Forthcoming Workshops 14 four years back in Utah. Quantum Chaos 7 Recent Workshops 15 Academic Sponsors 9 Sponsoring Publishers 15 So much for the cast of characters; let me tell you about Puzzles 10 Book Series 15 some things I find exciting and new in what’s going on. Sturmfels is HP Professor 11 Staff Roster 16 (continued on page 2) 1 Notes from the Director ² Hyman Bass (Professor of Education and Mathematics, Uni- (continued from page 1) versity of Michigan, past President of the American Mathe- matical Society) Our building campaign is going extremely well. We have firm plans to break ground in May 2004, and should be occupy- ² Jim Lewis (Professor and former Chair, Dept. of Mathe- ing the new space by September 2005. Many mathematicians matics and Statistics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1998 have contributed the thousand dollars necessary to have a named recipient of a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, brick in our new garden (where, of course, there’ll be an out- Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring) door blackboard). It’s not too late to join their ranks! — go to ² Robert Moses (Educator and Civil Rights Activist, Founder www.msri.org/development/index.html if you’re interested. See and President, The Algebra Project Inc.) page 1 for the announcement of some larger gifts. ² Alan H. Schoenfeld (Professor of Education, UC Berkeley, We had two very lively summer graduate programs, one of them Vice President of the National Academy of Education, and a in Portland, Oregon. One reason it’s fun to be MSRI’s director Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of is that there is such a strong expression of interest and approval Science) of MSRI from the mathematical community. One of the concrete ways this is registered is through the Academic Sponsors organiza- ² Lee Shulman (President, The Carnegie Foundation for tion. There are now 72 Academic Sponsors. One of the main direct the Advancement of Teaching, Fellow of The American membership benefits is to be able to send two graduate students (or Academy of Arts and Sciences) three, if at least one is female or minority) to our summer graduate programs. These two-week events can be extremely exciting and One of the first of these Education Conferences will deal with the motivating, and are one reason why so many departments are able opportunities and costs in the assessment of students’ mathemati- to get help with the cost of being an academic sponsor ($3000/year) cal knowledge. Plenty of dollars are spent on standardized testing from their Deans of Graduate Studies as well as Deans of Science. today, but real information on what’s being learned is surprisingly Next year’s lineup of programs and main organizers is: subtle and hard to get. There’s no question that testing influences what is taught, for better or worse. It also makes change and reform ² Hyperplane Arrangements (Sergey Yuzvinsky) hard — one reason why some favor testing and others oppose it! MSRI’s conference will bring together mathematicians, teachers, ² Knot Theory and Three-manifolds (Dale Rolfsen) Education School Faculty and policy makers to discuss the issues ² Analysis of Algorithms (Gadiel Seroussi) and perhaps to agree on elements of a white paper and research agenda in this area. If your university is not yet in the ranks of our Academic Spon- sors, it’s not too late to change that and take advantage of these Of course, we continue our involvement with the Bay Area Math programs. Olympiad (BAMO) and Math Circles (BAMC). These initiatives, founded by Zvezdelina Stankova (an MSRI postdoc at the time), Many things are happening on the education front! MSRI can’t fix Paul Zeitz (UCSF) and Hugo Rossi (then and now MSRI Deputy the troubles that everyone sees in mathematics education, but there Director) have brought kids in grades 7–12 and their teachers to- are things we can do that will have a positive, perhaps important gether for Sunday sessions through the year with University mathe- effect. Front-line mathematical research will always be MSRI’s maticians; once a year a three-hour olympiad with five essay-proof first priority; but the strength of this research depends on enough questions (very different from the thin multiple choice exams that talented kids learning that mathematics exists and can be fascinat- form the lower levels of the USA Math Olympiad) brings in nearly ing and fun. Much depends, too, on all children learning good 300 kids from junior high and high schools, rich and poor, around mathematical skills and learning to think mathematically. the Bay Area. So one new MSRI initiative this year is to begin the organization BAMO and BAMC are now in their fifth year, and have been mod- of a series of high-level conferences on crucial education issues, els for similar programs in San Jose, Palo Alto, Utah and other where scientific problems mix with problems of policy and reform. places. What’s different in the picture is that we’ve been able to be- To this end, we have formed an Education Advisory Committee, a gin an endowment for this program with a generous grant from the remarkable group of educators: Clowes Foundation; and we’ve obtained new support, on a scale that will allow more systematic outreach to underprivileged kids ² Bruce Alberts (President, National Academy of Sciences, and make these proven programs much more successful and sta- Chair of the National Research Council) ble, from the Hilde Mosse Foundation. ² Michele Artigue (Professor of Mathematics, Université We hope to leverage this support, in the years to come, to help this Paris, Vice-President of the International Commission on Mathematical Circles movement become much more widespread. Mathematical Instruction) Wish there were a Circle near you? Consider joining with others to ² Deborah Loewenberg Ball, EAC Chair (Professor, School start one! We’re planning a meeting to help and coordinate those of Education, University of Michigan, former elementary who are doing it, and those who’d like to start. We’ll announce a school teacher, and MSRI Trustee) date as soon as possible. 2 Heavy Metal to let loose and follow my passion for artwork, experimentation and mathematics. Failing repeatedly at first, I finally began to cre- Josef Sifuentes – Rice University ’04 ate simulations perfectly suited for “Heavy Metal”. Soon after my freshman year, Dr. Richard Tapia approached me XNS is a finite element solver of the incompressible Navier–Stokes with a challenge.