Annual Progress Report on the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute 2008-2009 Activities supported by NSF Grant DMS – 0441170 May 1, 2010 Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Annual Report for 2008-2009 1. Overview of Activities...........................................................................................................3 1.1 New Developments ......................................................................................................3 1.2 Summary of Demographic Data ..................................................................................7 1.3 Major Programs & Associated Workshops...................................................................9 1.4 Scientific Activities Directed at Underrepresented Groups in Mathematics..............19 1.5 Summer Graduate Workshops ....................................................................................20 1.6 Other Scientific Workshops ………………………………………………………...22 1.7 Educational & Outreach Activities .............................................................................24 1.8 Programs Consultant List ...........................................................................................27 2. Program and Workshop Participation ...........................................................................28 2.1 Program Participant List .............................................................................................28 2.2 Program Participant Summary....................................................................................35 2.3 Program Participant Demographic Data .....................................................................36 2.4 Workshop Participant List ..........................................................................................40 2.5 Workshop Participant Summary.................................................................................40 2.6 Workshop Participant Demographic Data ..................................................................41 2.7 Program Publication List ............................................................................................45 3. Postdoctoral Fellows .........................................................................................................55 3.1 Postdoctoral Fellow Placement List............................................................................72 3.2 Postdoctoral Fellow Placement Summary ..................................................................75 3.3 Postdoctoral Fellow Placement Demographic Data ...................................................76 3.4 Postdoctoral Research Member List ...........................................................................79 3.5 Postdoctoral Research Member Summary..................................................................81 4. Graduate Students ...............................................................................................................81 4.1 Summer Graduate Workshops ....................................................................................81 4.2 Program Associates ....................................................................................................85 4.3 Summer Graduate Workshops List.............................................................................87 4.4 Summer Graduate Workshops Summary....................................................................91 4.5 Summer Graduate Workshops Demographic Data.....................................................92 4.6 Program Associates List .............................................................................................95 4.7 Program Associates Summary ....................................................................................96 4.8 Program Associates Demographic Data .....................................................................97 4.9 Graduate Student List ...............................................................................................100 4.10Graduate Student Summary ......................................................................................100 5. Undergraduate Program...................................................................................................101 1 6.Appendix - Final Reports...................................................................................................105 Program Reports Analysis on Singular Spaces Ergodic Theory and Additive Combinatorics Algebraic Geometry Complementary Program Workshop Reports No. 447: CMI-MSRI Workshop: Modular Forms and Arithmetic No. 441: Low-Dimensional Topology No 438: Broader Connections Ergodic Theory and Additive Combinatorics No. 439: Introduction to Ergodic Theory and Additive Combinatorics No. 442: Broader Connections: Analysis on Singular Spaces No. 443: Introdctory Workshop Analysis of Singular Spaces No. 469: Topology of Stratified Spaces No. 444: Elliptic and Hyperbolic Equations on Singular Spaces No. 440: Discrete Rigidity Phenomena in Additive Combinatorics No 499: International Conference on Cluster Algebras and Related Topics No. 484: Algebraic Statistics No. 471: Connections for Women: Algebraic Geometry and Related Fields No. 470: Classical Algebraic Geometry Today No. 472: Modern Moduli No. 473: Combinatorial, Enumerative, and Toric Geometry No. 515: Economic Games and Mechanisms to Address Climate Change Summer Graduate Workshop Reports Geometry and Representation Theory of Tensors for Computer Science, Statistics, and other areas Climate Change - Summer Graduate Workshop and Summer School IAS/PCMI Summer Program: Analytic and Algebraic Geometry Toric Varieties 2004-2009 Members and Participants data Evaluating MSRI’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program Demographic Data of MSRI 5 Years Study 2 1. Overview of Activities This annual report covers MSRI projects and activities that occurred during the fourth year, 2008–09, of the NSF core grant DMS #0441170. 1.1 New Developments Singular spaces, ergodic theory, additive combinatorics, and algebraic geometry were the main research themes for the year 2009–10. It was a year rich in mathematical discoveries, as the programs’ reports demonstrate, and impressive in the high number of participants. All programs had stellar researchers in residence for long periods. One of the many memorable talks was that of Terence Tao, who lectured on Szemeredi’s Theorem as “the Rosetta stone between ergodic theory, combinatorics, and Fourier analysis”. At the other hand of the spectrum, a graduate student from Stanford University, Dean Baskin, made progress toward a detailed microlocal description of the singular and asymptotic structure of the fundamental solution of the wave kernel on a class of Lorentzian spaces that are perturbations of the classic de Sitter spacetime. A hallmark of the algebraic geometry program was its many collaborations across levels and subdisciplines. As the organizers wrote, “The efflorescence of research was inspiring to behold, involving literally hundreds of projects.” Research advancement and discoveries are described in detail in section 1.3 and in the organizers’ reports, which can be found in the Appendix. Note that all program and workshop organizers are asked to write a detailed report of their projects and activites. We are please to report that our success rate in obtaining those reports was 100%. 2008–09 was a year when MSRI deepened its commitment to Summer Graduate Workshops (SGWs). During the summer of 2009, MSRI fully funded 4 SGWs and partially funded another 2. The Toric Varieties workshop organized by David Cox and Hal Schenck was such a vibrant success that it will be repeated in Italy next summer (2011). The Mathematics of Climate Change workshop was an equally successful 3-week summer school in which graduate student were given some of the tools and training they need to react creatively to this world crisis. Detailed reports from the organizers for each of these activities can be found in the appendix. The year 2008–09 was also the year during which MSRI wrote its NSF 5-year grant renewal. While such an endeavor can be a daunting task, it was also a unique opportunity for MSRI to reflect on its mission and goals. In particular, judging by the consistent stream of overtly positive comments MSRI receives from mathematicians from around the globe, it has become clear that the research community benefits immensely from MSRI’s programs and activities. While this might be evident to researchers who spend some time in residence at MSRI, it also became clear that additional data evaluating the impact of MSRI’s programs would be quite useful. For this purpose, MSRI did a pilot survey of its 2004–09 postdoctoral fellows. Seventy percent (70%) of the 145 polled postdoctoral fellows responded to the survey. The detailed report can be found in the appendix. We now give a brief summary of the findings of this study. Evaluating MSRI’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program 2004–09: The survey addressed the current occupation of the fellows, the impact of the fellowship on fellows’ careers, and research outcomes based on the work fellows conducted at MSRI. 3 In summary, the study confirmed that the level of satisfaction among the postdoctoral fellows was very high and that their record of research productivity, measured using number of publications, number of presentations given, and the amount of funding obtained, was very impressive. For example, on average, the respondents estimated that they published 2 papers that resulted from work