a random quasiconformal map obtained from Beltrami equation by randomly assigning the values of +-1/2 for the Beltrami coefficient on small squares subdividing the unit square

This Summer Graduate School will cover basic tools that are instrumental in Random Conformal Geometry (the investigation of analytic and geometric objects that arise from natural probabilistic constructions, often motivated by models in mathematical physics) and are at the foundation of the subsequent semester-long program  "The Analysis and Geometry of Random Spaces".  Specific topics are Conformal Field Theory, Brownian Loops and related processes, Quasiconformal Maps, as well as Loewner Energy and Teichmüller Theory.

Image by Nick Schmitt

Figure 1. A rotationally symmetric solution to the self-duality equations on an open and dense subset of the torus. Singularities appear where the surface intersects the ideal boundary at infinity of the hyperbolic 3-space visualized by the wireframe.

Gauge theory is a geometric language used to formulate many fundamental physical phenomena, which has also had profound impact on our understanding of topology. The main idea is to study the space of solutions to partial differential equations admitting a very large group of local symmetries. Starting in the late 1970s, mathematicians began to unravel surprising connections between gauge theory and many aspects of geometric analysis, algebraic geometry and low-dimensional topology. This influence of gauge theory in geometry and topology is pervasive nowadays, and new developments continue to emerge.

The goal of the summer school is to introduce students to the foundational aspects of gauge theory, and explore their relations to geometric analysis and low-dimensional topology. By the end of the two-week program, the students will understand the relevant analytic and geometric aspects of several partial differential equations of current interest (including the Yang-Mills ASD equations, the Seiberg-Witten equations, and the Hitchin equations) and some of their most impactful applications to problems in geometry and topology.

This summer school will introduce graduate students to sketching-based approaches to computational linear and multi-linear algebra. Sketching here refers to a set of techniques for compressing a matrix, to one with fewer rows, or columns, or entries, usually via various kinds of random linear maps. We will discuss matrix computations, tensor algebras, and such sketching techniques, together with their applications and analysis.

The MSRI-UP summer program is designed to serve a diverse group of undergraduate students who would like to conduct research in the mathematical sciences.

In 2021, MSRI-UP will focus on Parking Functions: Choose your own adventure. The research program will be led by Dr. Pamela E. Harris, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Williams College.

Mathematics and Racial Justice Workshop

The overarching goal of the Workshop on Mathematics and Racial Justice is to explore the role that mathematics plays in today’s movement for racial justice. For the purposes of this workshop, racial justice is the result of intentional, active and sustained anti-racist practices that identify and dismantle racist structures and policies that operate to oppress, disenfranchise, harm, and devalue Black people. This workshop will bring together mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, and STEM educators as well as members of the general public interested in using the tools of these disciplines to critically examine and eradicate racial disparities in society. Researchers with expertise or interest in problems at the intersection of mathematics, statistics and racial justice are encouraged to participate. This workshop will take place over two weeks and will include sessions on Bias in Algorithms and Technology; Fair Division, Allocation, and Representation; Public Health Disparities; and Racial Inequities in Mathematics Education.

The Corvaja-Zannier proof of Siegel's theorem using subspaces. Illustrated by Sofía Pastén Vásquez.

The theory of Diophantine equations is understood today as the study of algebraic points in algebraic varieties, and it is often the case that algebraic points of arithmetic relevance are expected to be sparse.

This summer school will introduce the participants to two of the main techniques in the subject: (i) the filtration method to prove algebraic degeneracy of integral points by means of the subspace theorem, leading to special cases of conjectures by Bombieri, Lang, and Vojta, and (ii) unlikely intersections through o-minimality and bi-algebraic geometry, leading to results in the context of the Manin-Mumford conjecture, the André-Oort conjecture, and generalizations. This SGS should provide an entry point to a very active research area in modern number theory.

The Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model, aka the randomly-weighted complete graph. Edge weights are indicated using grayscale. Six distinguished vertices have been randomly chosen; edges between those vertices are shaded black to form a "hidden signal".

The courses in this summer school focus on mathematical models of group dynamics, how to describe their dynamics and their scaling limits, and the connection to discrete and continuous optimization problems.

The phrase "group dynamics" is used loosely here -- it may refer to species migration, the spread of a virus, or the propagation of electrons through an inhomogeneous medium, to name a few examples. Very commonly, such systems can be described via stochastic processes which approximately behave like the solution of an appropriate partial differential equation in the large-population limit.

Microlocal analysis originated in the study of linear partial differential equations (PDEs) in the high-frequency regime, through a combination of ideas from Fourier analysis and classical Hamiltonian mechanics. In parallel, similar ideas and methods had been developed since the early times of quantum mechanics, the smallness of Planck’s constant allowing to use semiclassical methods. The junction between these two points of view (microlocal and semiclassical) only emerged in 1970s, and has taken its full place in the PDE community in the last 20 years. This methodology resulted in major advances in the understanding of linear and nonlinear PDEs in the last 50 years. Moreover, microlocal methods continue to find new applications in diverse areas of mathematical analysis, such as the spectral theory of nonselfadjoint operators, scattering theory, and inverse problems.

NOTE: The introductory sessions for this workshop will be held online the morning of April 29th.  Additional sessions will be held when it is once again possible to meet in person.  Times listed on schedule is in Pacfic Standard Time.

The world is changing, along with perceptions. Many call for the improvement of mathematics teaching and learning, for both citizenry and STEM preparation. To achieve sustainable change, though, the focus needs to extend from individuals to systems. It is not enough to change one classroom or one course. Transformation requires change at all levels: in teaching, programmatic practices, and institutions. This workshop will bring together teachers and researchers from universities, community colleges, and K-12 schools to explore the reasons for and processes by which change in university mathematics departments is initiated, promoted, and sustained and lessons learned from change efforts in K-12. It will review what we know about change at all levels and reflect on stories of failure and success.

Speaker Abstracts

The advent of reliable computing machines, computer algebra systems, and multiple precision computational packages diminished the need for tables of reference values for computing function values by interpolation, but today's numerical analysts, scientific researchers, and software developers still need a way to confirm the accuracy of numerical algorithms that compute mathematical function values. The field of validated computation of mathematical functions explores the development of multiple precision codes that compute certifiably accurate function values that can be used to test the accuracy of function data from personal, commercial, or publicly available codes. We discuss the analysis used to obtain reliable error bounds for floating point approximations and describe the implementation of the work in a publicly available beta site. 

In the context of several key states in the U.S.A, we will review the basics of COVID-19 and consider the post-lockdown dynamics.  In particular we will discuss the main drivers of the disease and the drawbacks to a natural herd immunity strategy. This talk represents joint work with Kamal Barley, Keisha Cook and Abba Gumel.

The largest multidisciplinary and multicultural STEM diversity event in the country, the SACNAS conference serves to equip, empower, and energize participants for their academic and professional paths in STEM.

For more information, click HERE.

Overturning wave, artistic drawing by E. Ifrim

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this summer school will be held online.

The purpose of this two weeks school is to introduce graduate students to the state of the art methods and results in the study of incompressible Euler’s equations in general, and water waves in particular. This is a research area which is highly relevant to many real life problems, and in which substantial progress has been made in the last decade.

The goal is to present the main current research directions in water waves. We will begin with the physical derivation of the equations, and present some of the analytic tools needed in study. The final goal will be two-fold, namely (i) to understand the local solvability of the Cauchy problem for water waves, as well as (ii) to describe the long time behavior of solutions.

Through the lectures and associated problem sessions, students will learn about a number of new analysis tools which are not routinely taught in a graduate school curriculum. The goal is to help students acquire the knowledge needed in order to start research in water waves and Euler equations.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this summer school will be held online.

Probability theory, statistics as well as mathematical physics have increasingly been used in computer science. The goal of this school is to provide a unique opportunity for graduate students and young researchers to developed multi-disciplinary skills in a rapidly evolving area of mathematics.

The topics would include spin glasses, constraint satisfiability, randomized algorithms, Monte-Carlo Markov chains and high-dimensional statistics, sparse and random graphs, computational complexity, estimation and approximation algorithms. Those topics will fall into two main categories, on the one hand problems related to spin glasses and on the other hand random algorithms.

The part of the summer school dedicated to spin glasses will be split into three parts: an introductory course about traditional spin glasses followed by two more advanced courses where spin glasses meet computer science in addition to a talk on dynamics of spin glasses. The part of the summer school on random algorithms will consist of an introductory course on phase transitions in large random structures, followed by advanced courses on theoretical bounds for computational complexity in reconstruction and inference, and on understanding rare events in random graphs and models of statistical mechanics.

The two introductory courses on spin glasses and on random algorithms will be accompanied by three exercises sessions of one hour. A one hour exercises session will follow each of the three sessions of a course for both the introductory course on spin glasses and the introductory course on random algorithms. Exercises sessions will be led by an assistant, but will primarily focus on participation of the students.

The MSRI-UP summer program is designed to serve a diverse group of undergraduate students who would like to conduct research in the mathematical sciences.

In 2020, MSRI-Up will focus on Branched Covers of Curves. The research program will be led by Dr. Edray Goins, Professor of Mathematics at Pomona College.

Due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak, the Critical Issues in Mathematics Education 2020 workshop was held online. The full workshop description and list of talks can be found HERE.

On May 22 portions of the Critical Issues in Mathematics Education 2020: Today’s Mathematics, Social Justice, and Implications for Schools workshop will be streamed online via Zoom.

Friday 5/22: 12pm PST (3pm eastern time)

12:00 - 1:00
Rico Gutstein, Preparing Students Today for Whatever Tomorrow Brings

Due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak, the Critical Issues in Mathematics Education 2020 workshop was held online. The full workshop description and list of talks can be found HERE.

On May 15 portions of the Critical Issues in Mathematics Education 2020: Today’s Mathematics, Social Justice, and Implications for Schools workshop will be streamed online via Zoom.

Friday 5/15: 12pm PST (3pm eastern time)

12:00 - 1:00
Dan Reinholz, Preparing teachers to notice, name, and disrupt racial and gender inequity

Due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak, the Critical Issues in Mathematics Education 2020 workshop was held online. The full workshop description and list of talks can be found HERE.

Friday 5/8: 12pm PST (3pm eastern time)

12:00 - 1:00
Nathan Alexander, Mathematical Models in the Sociological Imagination
Lincoln Chandler, Pursuing Racial Equity within Schools 

Due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak, the Critical Issues in Mathematics Education 2020 workshop was held online. The full workshop description and list of talks can be found HERE.

Friday 5/01: 12pm PST (3pm eastern time)

12:00 - 1:00 Hyman Bass, 'Mathematics and Social Justice': An undergraduate course. What could this be?

Due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak, the Critical Issues in Mathematics Education 2020 workshop was held online. The full workshop description and list of talks can be found HERE.

Friday 4/24: 12pm PST (3pm eastern time)

12:00 - 1:00 Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, K-12 to Post-Secondary Viewpoint Critical Issues in Mathematics Education