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News 2002

CMI Announces Presidential Search Committee

The Board of Directors of the Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) has formed a search committee to find a successor to Arthur Jaffe, the former President of CMI. The committee, chaired by Andrew Wiles of Princeton University, is seeking an interim and a long-term President for CMI and will begin an international search to fill the position beginning next month. In addition to Andrew Wiles, the Search Committee is comprised of: James Arthur of the University of Toronto, Brian Conrey, Director of the American Institute of Mathematics, David Eisenbud, Director of Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Philip Griffiths, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study, Joe Harris, Chair of Harvard University Math Department, and David Vogan, Chair of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Math Department. Interested persons should contact a member of the Committee. [Item posted 12/02]

Mandelbrot and Yorke Win 2003 Japan Prize

Benoit B. Mandelbrot, Sterling Professor of Mathematical Sciences at Yale University, and James A. Yorke, Distinguished University Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Maryland, have been named co-recipients of the 2003 Japan Prize for their work in complex systems. The award is made by the Science and Technology Foundation of Japan. Part of the citation reads, "Dr. Mandelbrot and Dr. Yorke found, respectively, that fractals and chaos are the universal structures existing in complex systems, and they elucidated their fundamental properties. They have furnished us with new frameworks for understanding complex phenomena, and they have contributed both by establishing fundamentals and by providing us with applications." The Japan Prize website has more information about the recipients and their work. Mandelbrot and Yorke will share the 50 million yen (over US$400,000) associated with the prize, which is awarded in a ceremony next April. [Item Posted 12/02]

Math Project Wins Top Prize in Siemens-Westinghouse Competition

Steven Byrnes, a senior at Roxbury Latin in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, recently received a US$100,000 scholarship for his project, "Poset-Game Periodicity." The scholarship is the top prize in the individual category of the 2002-2003 Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Joel Spencer of the Courant Institute was one of the judges and said, "What impressed us most was the sheer brain power and originality of thought that Mr. Byrnes displayed to prove a theorem - without using computers - that many mathematicians suspected but had never been able to prove." Byrnes plans to study mathematics at Harvard and hopes to become a professor. The Siemens-Foundation website has more information about Byrnes and the competition.[Item Posted 12/02]

Cryptologia sponsors Undergraduate Paper Competition

Editors of the journal Cryptologia announce the annual Undergraduate Paper Competition in Cryptology and the annual Greg Mellen Memorial Cryptology Scholarship Prize. Undergraduates are invited to submit a paper in any area of cryptology--technical, historical or literary--to be considered for the competition and/or for the scholarship award. First prize for each is US$300 and the winning paper will be published in Cryptologia. The deadline for papers is December 31, 2002. See Cryptologia for guidelines and more information.[Item Posted 11/2002]

René Thom, 1923-2002

René Thom, winner of a 1958 Fields Medal, died recently at the age of 79. Thom's early work was in algebraic topology, but he may be best known for founding catastrophe theory: an analysis of abrupt change in a system, from the continuous to the discontinuous (for example, the process of cell division). The Washington Post ran an obituary of Thom on November 17. His time at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques is dealt with in a March 1999 Notices article on the institute. [Item Posted 11/02]

Departments Coordinate Job Offer Deadlines

Departments of Mathematics in the U.S. have, for the fourth year in a row, formally adopted an agreement to coordinate deadlines for responding to postdoctoral job offers. See details, including a list of departments adhering to the agreement. [Item Posted 11/02]

Report on the May 2002 VIGRE Workshop

The Report of the AMS, ASA, MAA and SIAM Workshop on Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE), held May 3-4, 2002 in Reston, VA, has been posted. The workshop brought together representatives of more than 30 mathematical sciences departments that currently hold NSF VIGRE Grants and representatives of NSF's Division of Mathematical Sciences. The publication includes an Overview of the program; reports of the Exemplary Practices Session and of Breakout Sessions on mentoring, recruitment and retention; Experiences of VIGRE-supported Postdocs; and Perspectives on VIGRE from the Mathematical Sciences Community. The Workshop provided a forum for sharing information on the success and challenges of the initiative and on plans for the future.[Item Posted 11/02]

AAUW Invites Fellowship Applications

American Association of University Women Educational Foundation (AAUW) is offering fellowships to women in M.S. degree programs in mathematics or statistics for the year July 1, 2003 - June 30, 2004. The awards are US$5,000-US$12,000, and the application POSTMARK deadline is January 10, 2003. See more information and applications for AAUW Educational Foundation Fellowships and Grants. [Item Posted 11/02]

Arthur Jaffe Steps Down as President of the Clay Mathematics Institute

Arthur Jaffe, former president of the AMS, has announced that he is stepping down as president of the Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI). Jaffe conceived of the CMI and guided its creation through the past four years, overseeing programs and events such as the Millennium Prize Problems and the closing ceremonies of the 2001 International Mathematical Olympiad. Both are examples of many successful efforts undertaken during his tenure to advance mathematics and increase its vitality. Jaffe has written a letter to the mathematics community about his resignation, which is effective immediately. [Item Posted 11/02]

Central European University Launches New Graduate Program

The Central European University [CEU] in Budapest Hungary has recently begun a new Graduate Program in Mathematics and Its Applications.

About 10 years ago the Soros Foundation founded the CEU, and began graduate programs primarily in the social sciences. This new mathematics program is a cooperative agreement with the Alfred Renyi Institute of Mathematics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, so their faculty and facilities are deeply involved in the program. The language of the program is English. It is focused (but not exclusively) at students in emerging countries, with particular emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe (including the former Soviet Union). Students who are admitted are given a reasonable stipend that covers all their academic and living expenses. For more information, see the web pages at www.ceu.hu/dep_mathematics. html and www.ceu.hu/math/, or email mathsphd@ceu.hu. [Item posted 11/02]

Call for Proposals: AMS-IMS-SIAM Summer Research Conferences in the Mathematical Sciences for 2004

The AMS-IMS-SIAM Summer Research Conferences Selection Committee invites mathematicians to serve as organizers of research conferences in the mathematical sciences. The deadline for receipt of all proposals for summer 2004 conferences at the Snowbird Resort in Utah is February 15, 2003 . Complete instructions on proposal requirements, how to submit a proposal, and sample proposals are available from AMS Meetings and Conferences. [Item posted 11/02]

Call for Proposals: 2004 NSF-CBMS Regional Research Conferences

The National Science Foundation (NSF) will support up to seven NSF-CBMS Regional Research Conferences in 2004. Each five day conference features a distinguished lecturer who delivers ten lectures on a topic of important current research in one focused area of the mathematical sciences. The lecturer subsequently prepares an expository monograph based upon these lectures. Depending upon the conference topic, the monograph is published by the American Mathematical Society, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, or jointly by the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. Support is provided for about 30 participants at each conference and the conference organizer invites both established researchers and interested newcomers, including postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, to attend. A panel chosen by the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS) will make the selections from among the submitted proposals. The CBMS website provides detailed information on the conferences --eligibility, review criteria, preparation of proposals, and an announcement about the five conferences to be held in 2003. Proposals for 2004 are due April 8, 2003 . [Item posted 11/02]

2002 Clay Research Award Winners Announced

The Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) presented the 2002 Clay Research Award at its Annual Meeting held on October 30, 2002, at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Award went to Oded Schramm (for his work on the Loewner equation) and to Manindra Agrawal (for his work on primality testing). CMI President Arthur Jaffe and Directors Landon Clay and Lavinia Clay gave the awards. This Research Award recognizes major recent breakthroughs in two mathematical directions, and represents the pinnacle of recognition of research achievement by CMI. Each prizewinner is made a Clay Institute Prize Fellow, and receives a bronze model of the CMI logo, an elegant sculpture "Figureight Knot Complement vii/ CMI" by sculptor Helaman Ferguson. Former winners are: Andrew Wiles, Laurent Lafforgue, Alain Connes, Stanislav Smirnov and Edward Witten. [Item posted 11/02]

Register Now for the 2003 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Baltimore

See detailed information about the  2003 Joint Mathematics Meetings registration deadlines, invited speakers, program, Employment Center, events and more. [Item Posted 10/02]

NSF Interdisciplinary Grants to Mathematicians

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is accepting applications for grants to support research by mathematical scientists in areas outside their discipline. View the full text of the announcement. Applications are due November 25, 2002. [Item Posted 10/02]

MSRI 20th Anniversary Celebration

The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute celebrates its twentieth anniversary this month with a series of public lectures and a film series, of interest to mathematicians and the general public. There will be lectures by Sir Michael Atiyah as well as a panel discussing the history of some the most important mathematical achievements of the 20th century. Also in celebration of its anniversary, MSRI and the Pacific Film Archive are cosponsoring "CineMath," a mathematics film festival with full-length features and short subjects. More information on the anniversary celebration is here. [Item Posted 10/02]

A Report of the IMU's 14th General Assembly

The International Mathematical Union (IMU) held its 14th General Assembly on August 17-18, 2002 in Shanghai, China. The Report, by Donald G. Saari, Chair of the U.S. delegation, includes 1) a listing of the American delegation and how they were selected, 2) a brief outline of IMU activities over the past four years (including the creation two new major international prizes in mathematics), 3) an outline of the legislation including a dues increase and the selection of the location of the 20006 ICM and General Assembly, 4) a description of the major resolutions passed, and 5) the newly elected officers and members of the Executive Council. [Item Posted 10/02]

AMS Election of Officers for 2003

AMS Election Information is available, including the list of candidates for 2003, the length of term for each position, replacement ballot policy, and biographies of the candidates, with a statement from each candidate on the AMS and what his or her role would be if elected. The candidates presented were recommended to the Council by the Nominating Committee or by petition from members, and the Secretary invites recommendations and self-nominations from those who wish to become involved in the Society. AMS members are urged to review the election material and to influence the policy and direction of the Society by voting in this election. The 2002 election ballot return deadline is November 9, 2002 . [Item Posted 10/02]

2002 Erdös Memorial Lecture

The Erdös Memorial Lecture is an annual invited address made possible by a fund created by Andrew Beal, a Dallas banker, and named for mathematician Paul Erdös, who died in 1996. This year the lecture will be given at Northeastern University at the Fall meeting of the Eastern Section of the AMS, which takes place October 5-6. Hillel Furstenberg of the Einstein Institute of Mathematics in Jerusalem will give the lecture, titled The conjecture of Erdös-Turan and its impact on ergodic theory, on the afternoon of the 6th from 1:00 to 1:50 in the Curry Student Center ballroom. More information about the meeting can be found here. [Item Posted 9/02]

AMS Journals Email Notification Program

The start of the academic year is a good time to remind students, authors, and researchers to use this free service that delivers weekly email notification of AMS journal articles. (You need not be a journal subscriber to register for this service.) You may choose to be notified when:
  • Articles are posted to a journal or set of journals that you select
  • Articles are posted containing a selected MSC subject area or group of areas
  • Articles are posted under any combination of journal(s) and subject area(s)
  • A full journal issue is posted
Enroll , or change your specifications for, or easily cancel the notification service yourself, and browse and search in current and back issues of AMS Journals.[Item Posted 9/02]

Lafforgue and Voevodsky Awarded Fields Medals

The 2002 Fields Medals and the 2002 Nevanlinna Prize were awarded on August 20 in Beijing, China, at the 2002 International Congress of Mathematicians.

The 2002 Fields Medalists are:

  • Laurent Lafforgue, Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, Bures-sur-Yvette, France. He is recognized for making a major advance in the Langlands Program, thereby providing new connections between number theory and analysis.
  • Vladimir Voevodsky, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey. He is recognized for developing new cohomology theories for algebraic varieties, thereby providing new insights into number theory and algebraic geometry.

The 2002 Nevanlinna Prize winner is:

  • Madhu Sudan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is recognized for contributions to probabilistically checkable proofs, to non-approximability of optimization problems, and to error-correcting codes.

Click here for more information about the work of the awardees.

The Fields Medal is the world's highest award for achievement in mathematics. The Nevanlinna Prize is among the most prestigious international awards for achievement in theoretical computer science. Both are presented by the International Mathematical Union. "The achievements of the Fields Medalists and Nevanlinna Prize winner show great depth and originality," said Jacob Palis, President of the International Mathematical Union. "Their choice of problems, their methods, and their results are quite different from one another, and this diversity exemplifies the vitality of the whole of the mathematical sciences. The world mathematical community applauds their outstanding work." There is more information at the following websites: Fields Medals and Nevanlinna Prize, 2002 International Congress of Mathematicians in Beijing, and International Mathematical Union. [Item Posted 8/02]

New Director of NSF Division of Mathematical Sciences Announced

William Rundell of Texas A&M University has been named the new director of the Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) of the National Science Foundation. Rundell received his Ph.D. from Glasgow University (Scotland) and has been the Mathematics Department Head at Texas A&M for ten years. He is expected to replace Philippe Tondeur in mid-September. Tondeur is finishing his three-year tenure as the DMS director and will be returning to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a professor emeritus. [Item Posted 8/02]

AWM 2002 Essay Contest: Biographies of Contemporary Women in Mathematics

Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) invites entries for the 2002 Essay Contest: Biographies of Contemporary Women in Mathematics. To increase awareness of women's ongoing contributions to mathematical sciences, the AWM and Sandia National Labs are sponsoring an essay contest for biographies of women mathematicians and statisticians. The contest is open to all students from 6th grade through graduate school. The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2002 . For more information, see the AWM contest website or contact Dr. Victoria Howle (contest organizer) at vehowle@sandia.gov. [Item Posted 8/02]

Gromov Wins Kyoto Prize

The Inamori Foundation has announced that Mikhael Leonidovich Gromov, Professor at the Institute des Hautes Études Scientifiques, is one of three winners of the 2002 Kyoto Prizes, which are "presented to people who have contributed greatly to mankind's scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment." Gromov's award is in the area of basic sciences, selected from the field of the mathematical sciences. The Foundation's states that Gromov's "innovative ideas and establishment of a new geometry have had an immeasurable impact on all the mathematical sciences." Information about Gromov and the other two 2002 Kyoto Prize laureates can be found here. Each prize recipient receives 50 million yen (over US$400,000). The prize ceremony will be in Kyoto on November 10. [Item Posted 7/02]

CBMS Survey Published

A comprehensive survey of undergraduate mathematics and statistics programs, Statistical Abstract of Undergraduate Programs in the Mathematical Sciences in the United States, has just been released. The report contains information about mathematics and statistics majors, enrollments and faculty. Mathematical sciences departments will receive copies of the report, which is also available online here. Individuals may request a printed copy (while supplies last) from the AMS by phone, at 401-455-4107, or by email klb@ams.org. [Item Posted 7/02]

MathFest August 1-3

MathFest, the annual summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America, will be held in Burlington, Vermont from August 1-3. Complete information is at the website of the meeting.[Item Posted 7/02]

NSF Establishes Three New Mathematics Institutes

The National Science Foundation is establishing three new research institutes which will help strengthen the mathematical sciences. The institutes are the Mathematical Biosciences Institute at Ohio State University in Columbus; the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Science Institute in Research Triangle Park, NC; and the Research Conference Center of the American Institute of Mathematics in Palo Alto, CA.

The awards for the institutes are projected to total 24 million dollars over five years. An existing institute, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, received an award of nine million dollars, which represents a six-year renewal. See the NSF website or the Program Contact at NSF, Christopher Stark at cstark@nsf.gov for more information. [Item Posted 7/02]

SIAM 50th Anniversary Meeting, July 8-12

SIAM's 2002 annual meeting will offer special events and lectures to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The meeting will take place July 8-12 in Philadelphia, the site of SIAM's national headquarters. Highlights will include a retrospective on applied and computational mathematics; the I.E. Block Community Lecture "From Muybridge to Virtual Humans, the Mathematics of Motion Pictures," by Christoph Bregler; a keynote address by Rita R. Colwell, Director of the National Science Foundation; and the John von Neumann Lecture, "The Human Genome and Beyond," by Eric S. Lander. See SIAM's 50th anniversary meeting website for more information. [Item Posted 7/02]

Robert Devaney Receives NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award

Robert Devaney recently received the National Science Foundation Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars. The award was given June 19 at a reception at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC. The award honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to research in their discipline, as well as to education of undergraduate students, including those who are not majoring in the sciences. It is the highest honor bestowed by NSF for excellence in both teaching and research. Six awardees were honored this year. Among those presenting the awards and making remarks were Rita Colwell, NSF Director, John H. Marburger, III, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Elias A. Zerhouni, Director of the National Institutes of Health, and Joseph Bordogna, Deputy Director, NSF. The NSF website has more information about the recipients. [Item Posted 6/02]

Lehigh University Honors Everett Pitcher's 90th Birthday

On July 18, Lehigh University will host a lecture and reception honoring Everett Pitcher, who served in Lehigh's department of mathematics from 1938 until 1978. Prof. Joan Birman of Barnard College, Columbia University, will give a special lecture, "Recognizing the Unknot," and a reception will follow. For more information see the Everett Pitcher Lecture Series website of the Lehigh University department of mathematics. Pitcher also served as Secretary of the AMS from 1967 until 1988, and as historian authored A History of the Second Fifty Years, American Mathematical Society, 1939-1988 (AMS, 1988). [Item Posted 6/02]

Five Mathematicians Elected Royal Society Fellows

Five mathematicians are among the newly elected Fellows of the Royal Society: Terence John Lyons (University of Oxford), Eric Ronald Priest (University of St Andrews), Susan Mary Rees (University of Liverpool), Miles Anthony Reid (University of Warwick), and Peter Sarnak (Courant Institute). See the complete Royal Society news release about the 2002 Fellows for their election citations.

The Royal Society is an independent academy promoting the natural and applied sciences. Founded in 1660, the Society has three roles, as the UK academy of science, as a learned Society, and as a funding agency. Its Fellows are elected for their outstanding contributions to science. [Item Posted 6/02]

Women's International Science Collaboration Program

The Women's International Science Collaboration Program is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Directorate for International Programs. The program aims to increase the participation of women in international scientific research by helping establish new research partnerships with colleagues in Central/Eastern Europe, Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union, Near East, Middle East, Pacific, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Small grants (US$4,000-5,000) will provide travel and living support for a U.S. scientist and, when appropriate, a co-PI to visit a partner country to develop a research program. Funds can also be used to support a second visit to the partner country or for a foreign partner to travel to the U.S. Approximately 40 awards will be made. The application deadline is July 15, 2002. For further information, visit the NSF website. [Item Posted 6/02]

Elias Stein and C.R. Rao to be awarded National Medal of Science Mathematician

Elias Stein (Albert Baldwin Dod Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University and AMS member) and statistician C.R. Rao (Eberly Professor Emeritus of Statistics and Director of the Center for Multivariate Analysis at Pennsylvania State University) will be honored at the White House with the National Medal of Science on May 29, 2002. Stein will be recognized for his pioneering work in harmonic analysis, and Rao will be recognized for leading theoretical work on the foundations of statistics.

The National Science Foundation administers the National Medal of Science award established by Congress in 1959 for individuals "deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences." [Item Posted 5/02]

IMU Endorses "Best Practices" in Electronic Scholarly Publishing

The Executive of the International Mathematical Union has endorsed a broad ranging set of recommendations on Electronic Information Communication. These recommendations, written by its Committee on Electronic Information and Communication, suggest ways in which mathematicians, librarians, and publishers can help shape the future of scholarly communication. The common principle used to formulate the recommendations is that those who write, disseminate, and store mathematical literature should act in ways that serve the interests of mathematics, first and foremost. The 15 specific recommendations will be updated in the future, and more detailed information will be added for each. More information about the IMU endorsement is here. [Item Posted 5/02]

MathML Conference Early Registration Deadline Near

The deadline for early registration for MathML International Conference 2002 is May 24. The aim of this conference, which will be held in Chicago June 28-30, is to bring together those involved in defining the future of mathematics on the web. Wolfram Research is hosting the conference; the AMS is one of the co-sponsors, along with Waterloo Maple, Design Science and the World Wide Web Consortium. Leslie Lamport (of LaTex fame), David Carlisle (The Numerical Algorithms Group Ltd.) and Roger Sidje (lead developer of the MathML support in Mozilla) will give invited talks. There are introductory and advanced tutorials on the Friday preceding the weekend program. Full information can be found at the conference's website. [Item Posted 5/02]

Student from Guam Wins National Calculus Award

Jennifer Balakrishnan of Harvest Christian Academy in Barrigada, Guam, has been awarded the US$1000 National High School Calculus Student Award by calculus.org, an organization based at the University of California at Davis, Wake Forest University and Williams College. Frank Morgan of Williams College awarded Balakrishnan the prize on May 4 during a special ceremony at the 2002 American Math Olympiad in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Runners-up were Zachary John Abernathy (West Forsyth High School, Clemmons, N.C.), Brandon Batista (Monmouth Regional High School, Tinton Falls, N.J.), Siva Kalyan (Littlebrook Elementary School, Princeton, N.J.), and April Tam (Miami Springs Senior High School, Miami Springs, Fla.). The runners-up received Scientific Notebook software donated by MacKichan Software. More information about the award is at www.calculus.org. [Item Posted 5/02]

National Academy of Sciences Announces Election of Mathematicians

The National Academy of Sciences announced on April 30 the election of new members and associates in recognition of their achievements in original research. Among them are six mathematicians: David W. McLaughlin (professor of mathematics and director of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University); David P. Ruelle (professor, Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, France); Peter Sarnak (professor of mathematics, New York University); Peter W. Shor (member and fellow, AT&T Laboratories, Florham Park, NJ); David O. Siegmund (professor of statistics, Stanford University); and Yum-Tong Siu (professor of mathematics, Harvard University).[Item Posted 5//02]

Who Wants To Be A Mathematician at Annual NCTM meeting

On April 22, AMS Public Awareness Officer Mike Breen and Bill Butterworth (Barat College) presented the AMS game Who Wants To Be A Mathematician to a standing room only crowd at the 80th Annual Meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in Las Vegas. For this presentation of the game, teachers were the contestants. All three teachers who played--Jeff Downin from Massachusetts, Sandra Draper from Florida, and Kevin Barhorst from Ohio--made it to the final question in their round. Both Draper and Barhorst got their question correct to win the grand prize. The prizes were donated by the AMS and by the game's co-creator Bill Butterworth. [Item Posted 4/02]

PBS's American Experience Presents A Brilliant Madness

A Brilliant Madness: The story of Nobel Prize winning mathematician John Nash, will air on PBS Sunday, April 28, 2002 at 9:00 p.m. (check your local listings), and will feature Nash himself. PBS Online has extensive details about the documentary, a timeline, an explanation of game theory, people and events, a Q&A on mental illness, a teacher's guide, and excerpts from the in-depth interviews with Nash. [Item Posted 4/02]

IMU Launches Math-Net for Mathematics Institutions

The International Mathematical Union (IMU) has just released Math-Net, a worldwide electronic information and communication system for mathematics departments and research institutes that offer their information on the Web. Math-Net has been designed to facilitate access to high quality mathematical information worldwide, both by human users and search engines. The Math-Net Page, a web portal for mathematics departments and institutes, enables presentation of information in a standardized, well-structured, and easy-to-use format. See the IMU news release about Math-Net for more information. [Item Posted 4/02]

Visiting Opportunity at the Mittag-Leffler Institute

US-Sweden Workshop on Partial Differential Equations and Spectral Theory This fall (2002) there will be a US-Sweden workshop for young investigators at the Mittag-Leffler Institute in Djursholm, Sweden. The workshop is part of a special semester on partial differential equations and spectral theory. The National Science Foundation (funding recommended) and the Mittag-Leffler Institute will support five or six young researchers from U.S. institutions for one to three months of stay, including travel, during the semester. Applications are sought from advanced doctoral students and new PhD's (within five years of the degree) for this unique opportunity. Interested mathematicians should submit:
  • current curriculum vita, including a publication list;
  • copies of publications;
  • statement of research activities;
  • statement as to the relevance of the program to their research and
  • two letters of recommendation
to Peter Hislop, Mathematics Department, University of Kentucky, Lexington KY 40506-0027, hislop@ms.uky.edu. Application deadline is 1 May 2002. Awards will be announced by 1 June 2002. See Mittag-Leffler Institute's website for more information on the program.

ICM2002 in Beijing: Reduced Registration Fee Until April 30th

From the General Secretary, ICM2002:

 Dear Colleagues,

The International Congress of Mathematicians 2002 will be held from August 20 to August 28, in Beijing, China. The deadline for reduced registration fees is April 30, 2002 . We hope very much that you will come to this first ICM in the 21st Century. If you have not registered, you can do so now online at http://www.icm2002.org.cn/I/Register.htm. More details about the Congress can be found at http://www.icm2002.org.cn. I look forward to seeing you in Beijing.

Yours sincerely,
Ya-xiang Yuan, General Secretary, ICM2002

Unicode Version 3.2 Released for Mathematics and Technical Publishing

From the Unicode® Consortium news release, April 2, 2002: The Unicode Consortium announced today a new version of the Unicode Standard, Version 3.2, which includes the most extensive set of characters for mathematical and technical publishing yet defined. The Unicode Technical Committee and the Scientific and Technical Information eXchange (STIX) Project of the Scientific and Technical Publishers (STIPub) Consortium worked together over the past 5 years to identify over 1,600 new mathematical symbols and alphanumeric characters, more than doubling the number of characters with mathematical usage previously available. Barbara Beeton, Composition Systems Staff Specialist at the American Mathematical Society, played a pivotal role in the project.

Read the full news release for more information about Unicode 3.2--its importance and and features--and about the Unicode Consortium.[item Posted 4/02]

Nash Talks to 60 Minutes

Nobel-Prize-winning mathematician John Nash will speak about the film A Beautiful Mind for the first time in an interview with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes , Sunday, March 17, at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT. [Item Posted 3/02]

AMS Epsilon Fund Makes Awards

The AMS has chosen eight summer mathematics programs to receive Epsilon grants for activities in the summer of 2002: All Girls/All Math (University of Nebraska); Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics (Amherst, MA); Mathcamp (Mathematics Foundation of America); Michigan Math and Science Scholars (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor); PROMYS (Boston University); Ross Mathematics Program (The Ohio State University); SWT Honor Summer Math Camp (Southwest Texas State University); and University of Chicago Young Scholars Program. The grants will support program expenses and scholarships for mathematically talented high school students.

The grants for summer 2002 are paid for by the Society's AMS Epsilon Fund for Young Scholars (supplemented by the AMS Program Development Fund). Read more about the Epsilon Fund for Young Scholars, how to apply for Epsilon grants, and how to make a donation to the Epsilon Fund. [Item Posted 3/02]

"Hundred-dollar, Hundred-digit Challenge"

Nick Trefethen's "Hundred-dollar, Hundred-digit Challenge" was recently announced in SIAM News and in Science. Trefethen, a numerical analyst at Oxford University, is offering US$100 to the individual or team that delivers the most accurate set of numerical answers to ten problems before May 20, 2002. See the problems and more details about the challenge. [Item Posted 2/02]

2001 Annual Survey of the Mathematical Sciences PublishedThe 2001 First Report on new doctoral recipients presents a statistical profile of new doctoral recipients from U.S. mathematical sciences departments from July 1, 2000 through June 20, 2001. It includes a preliminary analysis of their employment and a demographic profile of their citizenship status, gender and racial/ethnic group. [Item Posted 2/02]

NSF invites applications for Director, Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS)

Position description from the NSF website : "Serves as a member of the MPS Directorate leadership team and as the Foundation’s principal spokesperson in the area of mathematics research and education. Directs activities of the Division of Mathematical Sciences, assessing needs and trends in mathematics research and education, implementing overall strategic planning and policy setting, providing leadership and guidance to Division staff members, determining funding requirements, preparing and justifying budget estimates, balancing program needs, allocating resources, overseeing the evaluation of proposals and recommendations for awards and declinations, and representing NSF to relevant external groups. Fosters partnerships with other Divisions, Directorates, Federal agencies, scientific organizations and the academic community."

Location: Arlington, Virginia. The application due date is May 15, 2002. For more information on qualifications and position description see the NSF website. [Item posted 2/02]

Math exhibit opens at National Museum of American History

Slates, Slide Rules, and Software: Teaching Math in America exhibit opens Feb. 8 at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. "Although mathematical concepts are abstract, teachers and parents have used a wide range of objects to help students learn. These artifacts range from the familiar blackboard and textbook to special game and charts, geometric models, various forms of the abacus, graph paper, special slide rules and calculators, and more recently, computer software". (Smithsonian Calendar of Events exhibit description.) The exhibit will last about six months, and the museum plans to post a web version of the exhibit as well. [Item Posted 2/02]

National High School Calculus Award Nominations

Nominations are being accepted until February 28 for the third annual National High School Calculus award. A teacher may nominate any U.S. junior high or high school student for this US$1000 award. See http://www.calculus.org/ for more information.[Item posted 01/02]

AWM Announces Essay Contest Winners

The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) announces the winners of the Biographies of Contemporary Women in Mathematics essay contest. The first prize and honorable mention essays were selected from submissions by middle school, high school, college and graduate students. The grand prize winner is Alexandra McKinney for her essay Women In Mathematical Sciences: To Infinity and Beyond! A Biographical Essay on Dr. Toni Galvin. [Item posted 1/02]

Mathematics Awareness Month 2002

This year's Mathematics Awareness Month theme is Mathematics and the Genome . The website provides resources to scientists, educators, and policy makers for exploring the role of the mathematical sciences in understanding the human genome and its role in medicine and biology. Browse the website to download the electronic version of the poster and linking icons, order copies of the printed poster, read the theme essays, learn about related resources, copy the press release, get ideas on how to promote awareness of Mathematics Awareness Month, contact the Advisory Committee, and more. [Item Posted 01/02]

Prizes Awarded at Joint Meetings, January 7, 2002

On Monday, January 7, 2002, the AMS, MAA, AWM and JPBM awarded a number of prizes for outstanding achievements in mathematics. The Prize Booklet contains information and statements from the winners. Click here for further information about the AMS prizes. [Item Posted 01/02]

Summer 2002 Fellowship Opportunity for Graduate Students

The AMS invites graduate students in mathematics to submit applications for a Mass Media Fellowship for summer 2002. The AMS-AAAS Mass Media Fellows Program sponsors 10-week fellowships for graduate students in mathematics to work full-time as reporters, researchers and production assistants in U.S. mass media organizations. The deadline for submitting applications is January 15, 2002. [Item Posted 01/02]

 

News Archive 2001

News Archive Prior to 2001