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 2024, MSRI-UP will focus on Mathematical Endocrinology. The research program will be led by Dr. Erica J. Graham, Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Bryn Mawr College.

ALCF Visualization and Data Analytics Team; Adam Burrows and the Princeton Supernova Theory Group, Princeton University

This summer school will give an accessible introduction to the mathematical study of general relativity, a field which in the past has had barriers to entry due to its interdisciplinary nature, and whose study has been concentrated at specific institutions, to a wider audience of students studying at institutions throughout the U.S., Europe and Greece. Another goal of the summer school will be to demonstrate the common underlying mathematical themes in many problems which traditionally have been studied by separate research communities.

This two week summer school, jointly organized by SLMath with OIST, will offer the following two mini-courses:

1. Measure-theoretical analysis, divergence-measure fields, and nonlinear PDEs of divergence form
   This course will present some recent developments in the theory of divergence-measure fields via measure-theoretic analysis and its applications to the analysis of nonlinear PDEs of conservative form – nonlinear conservation laws.
2. Perron’s method and Wiener-type criteria in the potential theory of elliptic and parabolic PDEs
   This course will present some recent developments precisely characterizing the regularity of the point at ∞ for second order elliptic and parabolic PDEs and broadly extending the role of the Wiener test in classical analysis.

Product of projective lines embedded in projective 3-space

This summer graduate school focuses on modern homological techniques in commutative algebra, specifically those involving multigraded and differential graded structures. These topics have a long and rich history, but neither is generally covered in graduate courses. Moreover, recent developments have exhibited exciting interplay between the two subjects. 

The purpose of the school is to introduce the participants to modern themes on these topics, including Koszul duality for toric varieties and differential graded algebra structures on resolutions. The school will consist of two lectures each day and carefully planned problem sessions designed to reinforce the foundational material, with an emphasis on using computational tools such as the symbolic algebra program Macaulay2. 

While their original aim was to explain the strange behavior of certain magnetic alloys, the study of spin glass models has led to a far-reaching and beautiful physical theory whose techniques have been applied to a myriad of problems in theoretical computer science, statistics, optimization and biology. As many of the physical predictions can be formulated as purely mathematical questions, often extremely hard, about large random systems in high dimensions, in recent decades a new area of research has emerged in probability theory around these problems.

Mathematically, a mean-field spin glass model is a Gaussian process (random function) on the discrete hypercube or the sphere in high dimensions. A fundamental challenge in their analysis is, roughly speaking, to understand the size and structure of their super-level sets as the dimension tends to infinity, which are often studied through smooth objects like the free energy and Gibbs measure whose origin is in statistical physics. The aim of the summer school is to introduce students to landmark results on the latter while emphasizing the techniques and ideas that were developed to obtain them, as well as exposing the students to some recent research topics.

Geosurface

This three-day workshop will consist of various talks given by prominent women mathematicians on topics of differential geometry and geometric analysis. These will be appropriate for graduate students, postdocs, and researchers in areas related to the two Fall 2024 programs at SLMath.  The workshop will also include activities to promote interaction and connection between participants. This workshop is open to all mathematicians.

The spatial Schwarzschild space with minimal surface boundary foliated by the inverse mean curvature flow

This workshop will include introductory lectures on each of the four main topics of the program: geometric flows, geometric problems in mathematical relativity, global Riemannian geometry, and minimal submanifolds. The workshop will also have semi-expository lectures on recent advances and breakthroughs involving interactions between the four main topics. This will set the stage and provide important context for the semester-long program itself. 

This workshop aims to prepare the participants for the main program: Special Geometric Structures and Analysis.
There will be introductory lectures to recent results in geometry and analysis; more precisely in Kähler geometry, special holonomy, microlocal analysis and geometric measure theory.

<p>The Hopf fibration of <span class="math-tex">\(S^3 \space by \space S^1\)</span></p>

This workshop will bring together researchers at the frontiers of geometric analysis and Riemannian geometry, with a focus on recent advances on geometric flows, geometric problems in mathematical relativity, global Riemannian geometry, and minimal submanifolds. These areas have shown highly intriguing interactions in recent years and we expect this workshop will provide a unique opportunity to facilitate these emerging links.

The analysis of solutions to nonlinear geometric PDEs with higher-dimensional singular sets has seen some notable recent advances, but many fundamental questions still remain open. This workshop will bring together a wide array of researchers working in differential geometry, gauge theory, nonlinear PDEs, microlocal analysis, the calculus of variations and geometric measure theory, with the goal of describing recent advances, advertising recent technical breakthroughs and forging new connections.

In June 2023, Burklund, Hahn, Levy, and Schlank surprised the homotopy theory community when they announced a disproof of Ravenel's Telescope Conjecture, a fundamental problem of homotopy theory which had been open for 40 years and was believed to be out of reach. The disproof of the Telescope Conjecture combines some of the most exciting recent developments in homotopy theory. This includes fundamental work on red-shift phenomena and descent in algebraic K-theory, trace methods based on a novel approach to topological Hochschild and cyclic homology, ambidexterity in chromatic homotopy theory, and more.

The workshop will explore this amazing body of work, culminating in its synthesis and ingenious application to disprove the Telescope Conjecture.

AI-generated interpretation of a random network

This two-day workshop will bring together researchers from discrete mathematics, probability theory, theoretical computer science, and statistics to explore topics at their interface. The focus will be on probability and statistics of random discrete structures, as well as their applications, including in computer science and physical systems. The workshop will celebrate academic and gender diversity, bringing together women and men at junior and senior levels of their careers from mathematics, physics, and computer science.

Visualization of a network constructed using simple probabilistic rules, showing the emergence of hubs and other macroscopic network phenomenon. From https://graph-tool.skewed.de

Networks, graph driven algorithms, and dynamics on graphs such as epidemics, random walks and centrality measures all play a major role, both in our daily lives as well as many scientific and engineering disciplines. This introductory workshop will bring together experts and junior researchers in combinatorics, probability, and statistics to share a broad vision of major challenges and objectives, with a primary focus on models of random graphs and their limits, network inference, dynamic processes on networks and algorithms and optimization on random structures. 

The purpose of this workshop is to bring together promising early-career researchers in extremal combinatorics who are women or from underrepresented minorities so that they can meet with, forge connections with, and be inspired by the leading figures in the area. The workshop will include lectures, time for collaborative research, and an informal panel discussion session among female and minority researchers on career issues.

This workshop will feature leading experts in several major areas of graph theory, including extremal, probabilistic and structural aspects of the field. Introductory lectures will form an important part of the program, providing background and motivation, and aimed at a general mathematical audience. Complementing these, research talks will share exciting recent developments in graph theory.

In recent years techniques from harmonic analysis viz. projection theorems have found striking applications in finitary analysis on homogenous spaces. Such quantitative results have many potential applications to analytic number theory. This workshop will bring together researchers in these areas to further explore these connections.

A degree 7 curve passing through 35 points in the plane

Many exciting breakthroughs in combinatorics involve innovative applications of techniques from a wide range of areas such as harmonic analysis, polynomial and linear algebraic methods, spectral graph theory, and representation theory. This workshop will present recent developments in this area and facilitate discussions of research problems.

Recovering communities in a network.

In a growing number of applications, one needs to analyze and interpret data coming from massive networks. The statistical problems arising from such applications lead to important mathematical challenges: building novel probabilistic models, understanding the possibilities and limitations for statistical detection and inference, designing efficient algorithms, and understanding the inherent limitations of fast algorithms. The workshop will bring together leading researchers in combinatorial statistics, machine learning, and random graphs in the hope of cross-fertilization of ideas.

The Summer Schools in Probability are a highlight of Canadian probability and are internationally significant.  Launched by PIMS in 2004, the school takes the form of two main 4-week courses along with three mini-courses. The schools have played a major role in the development of an exceptionally strong community of young probabilist in Canada, North America and overseas. This will be the 13th time this school has run.

<p>A display of the evolution of an Erdos-Renyi random graph .&nbsp;</p>

Random graphs are ubiquitous in modern probability theory. Besides their intrinsic mathematical beauty, they are also used to model complex networks. In the early 2000’s, I. Benjamini and O. Schramm introduced a mathematical framework in which they endowed the set of locally finite rooted connected graphs with the structure of a Polish space, called the local topology. The goal of this summer school is to introduce the framework of local limits of random graphs, the concepts of Benjamini-Schramm (or unbiased) limits and unimodularity, as well as the most important applications. The lectures will be delivered by Nicolas Curien (Prof. Paris-Saclay University) and Justin Salez (Prof. Université Paris-Dauphine) and will be complemented by many problem sessions, where students will work in small groups under the guidance of teaching assistants, who are researchers in the field. 

<p>A minimal free resolution supported on a simplicial complex</p>

The 2025 SMS will allow graduate students to learn about a number of recent trends and advances in the field of commutative algebra. The aim of the SMS is to provide an “on-ramp” for graduate students interested in algebra, combinatorics, and/or algebraic combinatorics to learn more about commutative algebra’s interaction with these fields. The introductory courses will introduce fundamental skills in commutative algebra, the more intermediate courses will expose students to cutting-edge research in the field. The school will focus on four topics within commutative algebra: Combinatorial Methods, Homological Methods, Computational Methods, and Characteristic p Methods. The SMS will provide both a series of introductory lectures and intermediate/advanced lectures from leaders in one of the four areas. The lectures will include a series of problem sessions that will allow participants to develop and hone their skills in these areas, which will be especially helpful for new people to the field. Participants will be encouraged to work collaboratively, both to enhance their own mathematical networks as well as to promote future collaborations beyond the school.

This summer school offers an exceptional opportunity for participants to delve into the intricate realm of statistical optimal transport theory. This captivating field stands at the crossroads of multiple disciplines, drawing from a rich tapestry of mathematical insights from diverse subjects, including partial differential equations, stochastic analysis, convex geometry, statistics, and machine learning, crafting a vibrant and interdisciplinary landscape. The foremost objective of this summer school is to create a dynamic learning environment that unites students from diverse backgrounds such as PDE theory, probability, or optimal transport. 

<p>A plane partition and an hourglass plabic graph</p>

This school will introduce students to a range of powerful combinatorial tools used to understand algebraic objects ranging from the homogeneous coordinate ring of the Grassmannian to symmetric functions.   The summer school will center around two main lecture series "Webs and Plabic Graphs" and "Vertex Models and Applications".   While the exact applications differ, both courses will center on graphical models for algebraic problems closely related to Grassmannian and its generalizations.  This school will be accessible to a wide range of students.  Students will leave the school with a solid grasp of the combinatorics of webs, plabic graphs, and the six-vertex model, an understanding of their algebraic applications, and a taste of current research directions.

<p>The discriminant ∆ detects singular varieties. The picture shows three different scenarios: solutions of quadratic polynomials, cubic plane curves and cubic surfaces.</p>

This summer school will offer a hands-on introduction to discriminants, with a view towards modern applications. Starting from the basics of computational algebraic geometry and toric geometry, the school will gently introduce participants to the foundations of discriminants. A particular emphasis will be put on computing discriminants of polynomial systems using computer algebra software. Then, we will dive into three applications of discriminants: algebraic statistics, geometric modeling, and particle physics. Here, discriminants contribute to the study of maximum likelihood estimation, to finding practical parametrizations of geometric objects, and to computations of scattering amplitudes. We will explain recently discovered unexpected connections between these three applications. In addition to lectures, the summer school will have daily collaborative exercise sessions which will be guided by the teaching assistants and will include software demonstrations.

This two week school on Noncommutative Algebraic Geomery will be held at the University of Antwerp in Belgium.  The school will consist of two courses: Homological Mirror Symmetry and Algebraic Models for Spaces. These courses will be planned and taught by organisers with the help of teaching assistants for the problem sessions. The school will be aimed at a wide range of graduate students, from students with a Bachelor degree to beginning PhD students. The lectures and problem sessions will be complemented by a poster session in week one and a total of four introductory research talks on Friday afternoons. 

One of the core elements of applied mathematics is mathematical modeling consisting of nonlinear equations such as ODEs, and PDEs. A fundamental difficulty which arises is that most nonlinear models cannot be solved in closed form. Computer assisted proofs are at the forefront of modern mathematics and have led to many important recent mathematical advances. They provide a way of melding analytical techniques with numerical methods, in order to provide rigorous statements for mathematical models that could not be treated by either method alone. In this summer school, students will review standard computational and analytical techniques, learn to combine these techniques with more specialized methods of interval arithmetic, and apply these methods to establish rigorous results in otherwise intractable problems

<p>The traditional scientific method cycle, with Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes, its concievers in the center, alongside formal and statistical AI machinary, as a propsective evolution of the method.&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</p>

The summer school aims to expose participants to formal methods that can facilitate principled scientific discovery. The school will cover some of the basic automated statistical inference (in the form of machine learning techniques) and reasoning methods that are commonly used in scientific discovery, as well as novel techniques developed to tackle open questions and issues. This summer school will address novel computational methods for scientific discovery and focus on fusing axiomatic knowledge and experimental data to enable principled derivations of models of natural phenomena along with certificates of the consistency of these models with background knowledge specified as axioms.

<p>Flats and hyperbolic planes in a higher rank symmetric space</p> Drawn by Steve Trettel.

Lie groups are central objects in modern mathematics; they arise as the automorphism groups of many homogeneous spaces, such as flag manifolds and Riemannian symmetric spaces. Often, one can construct manifolds locally modelled on these homogeneous spaces by taking quotients of their subsets by discrete subgroups of their automorphism groups. Studying such discrete subgroups of Lie groups is an active and growing area of mathematical research. The objective of this summer school is to introduce young researchers to a class of discrete subgroups of Lie groups, called Anosov subgroups.

<p>Laminations arise naturally in hyperbolic geometry and (pseudo-) Anosov flows [Image by Jeffrey Brock]</p>

This school will serve as an introduction to the SLMath semester “Topological and Geometric Structures in Low-Dimensions”.  The school consists of two mini-courses: one on Teichmüller Theory and Hyperbolic 3-Manifolds and the other on Anosov Flows on Geometric 3-Manifolds.  Both topics lie at the interface of low-dimensional geometric topology (specifically, surfaces, foliations, and 3-manifolds) and low-dimensional dynamics.  The first course will be targeted towards students who have completed the standard first year graduate courses in geometry, topology, and analysis while the second course will geared towards more advanced students who are closer to beginning research. However, we expect that all students will benefit from both courses.

The Connections workshop will bring together leading experts working at the intersection of kinetic theory and stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs).

The joint introductory workshop for the programs in Geometry and Dynamics for Discrete Subgroups of Higher Rank Lie Groups and Topological and Geometric Structures in Low Dimensions will feature lectures introducing subjects of interest to both programs, including Teichmuller Theory, geometry in higher rank, foliations and flows, Anosov groups and thermodynamic formalism,  mapping class groups, counting and equidistribution, and related topics. Minicourses will be targeted at early career researchers as well as specialists looking to find connections between the different subjects.

Foliations around a pseudo-Anosov singularity (Image credit: Chi Cheuk Tsang)

This workshop will bring together ideas from diverse areas of mathematics that meet in the setting of geometry and topology in low dimensions.  This includes the study of flows, foliations, and fibrations of three-manifolds and the related study of geometry (e.g. hyperbolic or conformal structures) of the manifolds and of the leaves or fibers, and their mapping class groups.  This is a rich and interconnected area and many adjacent topics will also be featured.

This workshop will focus on recent advances on geometric and dynamical approaches to the study of discrete subgroups of higher rank Lie groups and their deformation spaces. The goal will be to present results and exchange ideas from different areas of mathematics, and we hope to create bonds between several different mathematical communities.

In the last few years, there have been extraordinary developments in many aspects of curve theory. Beginning with many examples in low genus, this summer school will introduce the participants to the background behind these developments in the following areas:

1. moduli spaces of stable curves
2. Brill–Noether theory
3. the extrinsic geometry of the curves in projective space

We will also include an introduction to some open problems at the forefront of these active areas.

The image of a large sphere isometrically embedded into a small space through a C^1 embedding. (Attributions: E. Bartzos, V. Borrelli, R. Denis, F. Lazarus, D. Rohmer, B. Thibert)

This two week summer school, jointly organized by SLMath with RIKEN, will introduce graduate students to the theory of h-principles.  After building up the theory from basic smooth topology, we will focus on more recent developments of the theory, particularly applications to symplectic and contact geometry, fluid dynamics, and foliation theory.

h-principles in smooth topology (Emmy Murphy)
Riemannian geometry and applications to fluid dynamics (Dominik Inauen)
Contact and symplectic flexibility (Emmy Murphy)
Foliation theory and diffeomorphism groups (Takashi Tsuboi)

This summer school provides the mathematical background to recognize Koszul duality in representation theory. The school is especially oriented toward applications in the local Langlands program, with an emphasis on real groups. As Koszul duality patterns have been initially observed in the context of Hecke algebras, our school will also introduce the students to Hecke algebras and their categorifications.

This summer school will familiarize students with the basic problems of the mathematical theory of Euclidean quantum fields. The lectures will introduce some of its prominent models and analyze them via the so called “stochastic quantization” methods, involving recently developed stochastic and PDE techniques. This is an area which is highly interdisciplinary combining ideas ranging from the theory of partial differential equations, to stochastic analysis, to mathematical physics. Our goal is to bring together students who are perhaps familiar with some but not all of these subjects and teach them how to integrate these different tools to solve cutting-edge problems of Euclidean quantum field theory.

This two week summer school, jointly organized by SLMath with IBM Zurich, will introduce students to the mathematics and algorithms used in the design and analysis of quantum-safe cryptosystems. Each week will be dedicated to two of the four families of quantum-safe schemes.

This summer school will focus on the introductory notions related to the passage of Newtonian and quantum many-body dynamics to kinetic collisional models of Boltzmann flow models arising in statistical sciences in connection to model reductions when continuum macro dynamics arises; and their numerical schemes associated to transport of kinetic processes in classical and data driven mean field dynamics incorporating recent tools from computational kinetics and data science tools. There will be two sets of lectures: “From Newton to Boltzmann to Fluid dynamics”, and “Kinetic collisional theory in mean field regimes: analysis, discrete approximations, and applications”. Each lecture series will be accompanied by a collaboration session, led by the lecturer and teaching assistants. The purpose of the collaboration sessions is to encourage and strengthen higher-level thinking of the materials taught in the lectures and to direct further reading for interested students. Interactive learning activities will be conducted. For example, students will be given problem sets associated with the lectures and will work in small groups to discuss concepts and/or find solutions to assigned problems. The students will also be encouraged to give oral or poster presentations on their solutions or other materials relevant to the course.

a Calabi-Yau manifold

This summer school will serve as an introduction to the SLMath program "Special geometric structures and analysis". There will be two mini-courses: one in Geometric Measure theory and the other in Microlocal Analysis. The aim is to give the basic notions of two subjects also treated during the program.

This school will present various developments in Riemannian and Kähler geometry around the notion of curvature seen as a tool to describe and understand the geometry of the objects. The school will give graduate students the opportunity to learn key ideas and techniques of the field, with an emphasis on solidifying foundations in view of potential future research. The first week will be centered around the question of the existence of Kähler metrics with special curvature properties and the famous Yau-Tian-Donaldson conjecture. The second week will focus on geometric flows in Riemannian and complex geometry. 

"May 12 Initiative" Annual Workshop

The Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath) celebrates the "May 12 Initiative" with a panel discussion and social event open to all on the topic "Being a Woman in Mathematics". This is a hybrid event taking place on Zoom and in person at SLMath. This event is free and open to worldwide participation.

If you plan to participate online, please connect using this LINK.  

This workshop will have a view to the future of a broad spectrum of topics including

• structure and classification of finite dimensional Lie algebras and superalgebras in characteristic p
• structure of infinite dimensional Lie algebras and their representations
• deformation theory of algebras, double constructions and elemental Lie algebras
• diagram algebras and combinatorial representation theory
• algebraic combinatorics of groups of Lie type:characters, Schur-Weyl duality, Bratteli diagrams, and McKay correspondences
• quantum groups and crystal bases, particularly for superalgebras and affine algebras
• examples of fusion categories arising from representations of Drinfeld doubles and other algebras
• cohomology for finite tensor categories with applications to its underlying geometry

This meeting will feature principal contributors in these areas in a celebration of the work of Georgia Benkart. With the same focus and tenacity that Georgia always had, we will strive to provide a conference full of beautiful mathematics, incredible inspiration, and the warmth of Georgia’s welcoming personality to our field and our community.

Many long-standing conjectures in commutative algebra have been solved in recent years, often through the introduction of new methods that are quickly becoming central to the field.  This workshop will bring together a wide array of researchers in commutative algebra and related fields, with the goal of forging new connections among topics, and with a particular emphasis on transformative new methods.

Optical illusion staircase

This workshop will give an overview of recent developments in non-commutative algebraic geometry, including NC projective AG, NC resolutions, semiorthogonal decompositions, enhancements of derived categories, and connections to homological mirror symmetry, to enumerative AG, to moduli spaces and to birational geometry. It will in particular focus on speakers who have built new bridges between these topics.

The undergraduate mathematics education system remains a huge barrier to college completion and to equity in higher education. The problem in entry level mathematics courses is not a lack of innovation. Numerous projects and institutions have created, piloted, and occasionally replicated effective reform efforts that overcame particular challenges, like the need to improve pedagogical practices or attend to gender equity. The biggest barrier to systemic reform – implementing many of these research-backed innovations at scale – is a structural one, particularly at large research-focused institutions. This workshop will bring together a group of stakeholders to explore a new avenue for change, the rise of teaching-focused faculty at research-intensive institutions who increasingly influence introductory coursework. By creating a network that connects these faculty across institutions, change at scale across 50, 100, or even more institutions becomes possible – on issues ranging from pedagogy to equity to curricular innovation. Creating such structures would also allow for bringing future innovations to scale much more quickly than is currently possible.

The affine line arrangement of type C with different lattices and toric arrangements arising from it.

This workshop brings together experts from different areas to discuss and foster collaboration on several topics of current interest related to Artin groups such as the K(π, 1) conjecture, hyperplane arrangements and abelian arrangements, combinatorial structures associated with dual Coxeter systems, and complexes of nonpositive curvature.

A paper fortune teller illustrating the Atiyah flop.

This introductory workshop will consist of a combination of minicourses addressing core topics in noncommutative algebraic geometry and research lectures describing recent developments in the field.  The workshop will focus on subjects connected to algebraic geometry, category theory, and mirror symmetry such as categorical and noncommutative resolutions, deformation theory, derived categories in algebraic geometry, derived algebraic geometry, infinity categories, and enumerative geometry.

This two-day workshop will feature the work of mathematicians in noncommutative geometry who identify as women or another marginalized gender. The talks will be appropriate for graduate students, post-docs, and researchers in areas related to the program. This meeting aims to support young researchers.

The workshop will focus on recent developments in noncommutative algebraic geometry including Derived Algebraic Geometry, Categorical and Noncommutative Resolutions, Deformation Theory, and Enumerative Geometry.

The format will include plenary talks, a poster session, panel discussions, as well as the opportunity for informal discussions and connections in noncommutative geometry. The workshop is open to all mathematicians, and members of historically excluded groups and identities are especially encouraged to attend.

Fractal behavior of local cohomology. For details, see arXiv:2210.03656 by Gao and Raicu

The Introductory Workshop will feature lecture series devoted to some recent breakthrough results in commutative algebra, and to new developments in core areas of the field.  It will also highlight links to other areas such as arithmetic geometry, representation theory, noncommutative geometry, and singularity theory.

This two-day workshop will feature the work of mathematicians in commutative algebra who identify as women or another marginalized gender. The talks will be appropriate for graduate students, post-docs, and researchers in areas related to the program. This meeting aims to support young researchers. The format will include plenary talks, poster sessions, panel discussions, as well as the opportunity for informal discussions and connections.  The workshop is open to all mathematicians, and members of historically excluded groups and identities are especially encouraged to attend.

Blood flow and structure displacement in an Aortic Abdominal Aneurysm

This workshop will focus on the coupled dynamical interaction between fluids and elastic/poroelastic structures, with an emphasis on the most recent and cutting-edge mathematical advances in deterministic and stochastic fluid-structure interaction. The goal of this workshop is to bring together a diverse group of mathematicians in the fields of analysis, modeling, numerics, stochastics, and real-world applications in order to showcase an interdisciplinary approach to the study of coupled fluid-structure systems. A major component of this workshop will be to encourage active participation of early career researchers, such as graduate students and postdocs, and foster synergistic collaboration with established leaders in the field.

The workshop is aimed at exploring core subjects in the field of market and mechanism design, such as the design of non-convex auction markets, the design of matching markets with preferences, algorithmic mechanism design, and learning in games. These topics are interrelated and deeply rooted in mathematics and computer science. Each day of the 4-day workshop is devoted to one of these topics with talks by leading scholars in the field and panel discussions on major open problems.

This workshop will look at the idea of fairness and neutrality in algorithms and decision-making. How it relates to the idea of randomization and how randomization can be employed in the pursuit of neutrality and fairness. The goal is both to bring together state-of-the-art research and explore the implications and limitations of the deployment in the real world.

Drawing by Tina Zhang.

This workshop is about the recent MIP*=RE result from quantum computational complexity, and the resulting resolution of the Connes embedding problem from the theory of von Neumann algebras. MIP*=RE connects the disparate areas of computational complexity theory, quantum information, operator algebras, and approximate representation theory. The aim of this workshop is to bridge this divide, by giving an in-depth exposition of the techniques used in the proof of MIP*=RE, and highlighting perspectives on the MIP*=RE result from operator algebras and approximate representation theory. In particular, this workshop will highlight connections with group stability, something that has not been covered in previous workshops. In addition to increasing understanding of the MIP*=RE proof, we hope that this will open up further applications of the ideas behind MIP*=RE in operator algebras.

This workshop is multifaceted. In addition to familiarizing graduate students and other junior participants to the topics of the program, the workshop will also reinforce common ground and language among computer scientists and economists and provide an on-ramp introduction for interested mathematicians.

The Connections Workshop will consist of invited talks from leading researchers at all career stages in the field of market design.  Particular attention will be paid to real-world applications.  There will also be an AMA focused on career paths with highly visible individuals in the field, and a social event intended to help workshop attendees network with each other.

Image generated by an AI process.

In this workshop, we will bring together speakers who are engaged in the active areas of scholarship around algorithmic fairness, the disparate impacts of facially impartial systems, and the ways that algorithms can be enmeshed in governance and decisionmaking—for better and worse.  The speakers will introduce themes that will be picked up throughout the semester program on "Algorithms, Fairness, and Equity."

The Connections Workshop will welcome participants of all genders and identities, with the scope of fostering a sense of community, amplifying voices of those who identify as women, and providing avenues to allies to be helpful. The workshop particularly aims to increase visibility among junior women in fields adjacent to the topics of the general program, including but not limited to game-theoretic fairness, mechanism design, partition, networks, redistricting, and fairness in machine learning. This two-day workshop will include keynote speakers, lightning talks from participants, panel discussions on career advancement, breakout sessions by research areas, opportunities for networking, and other mentoring activities.

Several executions of a 3-dimensional sumcheck protocol with a random order of directions (thanks to Dev Ojha for creating the diagram)

Proofs are at the foundations of mathematics. Viewed through the lens of theoretical computer science, verifying the correctness of a mathematical proof is a fundamental computational task. Indeed, the P versus NP problem, which deals precisely with the complexity of proof verification, is one of the most important open problems in all of mathematics.

The complexity-theoretic study of proof verification has led to exciting reenvisionings of mathematical proofs. For example, probabilistically checkable proofs (PCPs) admit local-to-global structure that allows verifying a proof by reading only a minuscule portion of it. As another example, interactive proofs allow for verification via a conversation between a prover and a verifier, instead of the traditional static sequence of logical statements. The study of such proof systems has drawn upon deep mathematical tools to derive numerous applications to the theory of computation and beyond.

In recent years, such probabilistic proofs received much attention due to a new motivation, delegation of computation, which is the emphasis of this summer school. This paradigm admits ultra-fast protocols that allow one party to check the correctness of the computation performed by another, untrusted, party. These protocols have even been realized within recently-deployed technology, for example, as part of cryptographic constructions known as succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge (SNARKs).

This summer school will provide an introduction to the field of probabilistic proofs and the beautiful mathematics behind it, as well as prepare students for conducting cutting-edge research in this area.