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The Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM) at Brown University

Brendan Hassett
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The Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM) is a research institute at Brown University, with core funding from the Division of Mathematical Sciences of the National Science Foundation⁠Footnote1 and major support from the Simons Foundation. It was started in 2010 by Brown professors Jill Pipher (founding director), Jeffrey Brock (now at Yale), Jan Hesthaven (now at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne), Jeffrey Hoffstein, and Bjorn Sandstede.

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ICERM is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMS-1929284.

1. What is the Mission of Your Institute? What Makes it Unique?

The vision for ICERM is encapsulated in its mission statement:

The mission of the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM) is to support and broaden the relationship between mathematics and computation: specifically, to expand the use of computational and experimental methods in mathematics, support theoretical advances related to computation, and address problems posed by the existence and use of the computer through mathematical tools, research and innovation.

ICERM supports its mission by developing and hosting research programs and activities that:

Encourage the creation of new computational methods to advance mathematical understanding.

Foster a deeper understanding of algorithms and computational tools.

Expose program participants to the use of simulation, visualization, experiments, or computer-assisted proofs.

Catalyze new directions of mathematical research through synergistic collaborations across disciplinary areas and research communities.

Advance the training and mentoring of graduate students and early career postdoctoral researchers through exposure to new mathematical areas and computational methods.

ICERM is committed to disseminating the full range of mathematical sciences scholarship, including algorithms, code and software packages, computational methods, computer-assisted proofs, databases of mathematical objects, and examples and counterexamples. Our programs do include lectures on proofs of new theorems, but also demonstrations of software and algorithms. These activities offer students and early career researchers many avenues for participation in research.

Our programs address topics in both pure and applied mathematics, as well as applications of mathematical and statistical techniques to fields like computer science, physics, mathematical biology, climate modeling, neuroscience, etc. Some of our most publicly visible programs have focused on challenges outside STEM, like the Illustrating Mathematics semester in 2019 (focusing on design and the arts) and our program Data Science and Social Justice: Networks, Policy, and Education which ran in two parts over the summers of 2022 and 2023.

2. What Kinds of Programs are Run Each Year?

Our largest programs are the fall and spring semester programs. These occupy the full resources of the institute and run roughly in parallel with academic semesters. Examples of recent and upcoming events include:

Semester programs have many long-term visitors, including program organizers, postdocs hired for the duration of the term, research fellows designated by the organizers, and participants chosen based on applications to the program. Research fellows are typically established in the field; along with the organizers, they set scientific directions for the program and guide early career researchers. Graduate students and postdocs are welcome as long-term visitors; all are assigned mentors from the program.

There are also shorter-term visitors, including people in residence for one of the three embedded workshops associated with each semester program. In fall 2023, these included:

Recently we have introduced multi-week research programs during the summer. In addition to the Social Justice program mentioned above, we have offered pandemic-era semester programs the opportunity for summer reunions:

Historically, our longest summer research programs are our undergraduate research programs, called Summer@ICERM. Examples include:

ICERM also hosts free-standing workshops, not associated with longer programs. In summer 2023, these included:

Some of these are five-day Topical Workshops, scheduled well in advance to bring together leading experts or support collaborative networks. Others are short Hot Topics Workshops, running on short notice to highlight recent breakthroughs or emerging fields.

Finally, Collaborate@ICERM is a mechanism for small groups of researchers (3–6 people) to spend a week at the institute to develop or complete a collaborative research project aligned with institute missions.

3. Within Those Programs, What Types of Positions Can Early Career Mathematicians Apply for?

All ICERM programs are open to graduate students and postdocs! Most attend semester programs and workshops by applying. For shorter stays, these are handled through Cube, ICERM’s participant management system. However, postdoctoral positions for semester programs are advertised through MathJobs during the fall hiring season. ICERM has a handful of yearlong Institute Postdocs that permit a postdoc affiliated with one of our semester programs the opportunity to spend the full academic year in residence.

4. What Type of Support is Available (Including Childcare Support)?

Hired postdocs receive a stipend for the duration of their affiliation. Other long-term semester program visitors receive lodging and travel reimbursements. For workshops, applicants receive reimbursements for lodging and travel in most cases, although we cannot fully cover the expenses of every applicant, especially those traveling from outside the United States.

ICERM offers financial support for childcare and other dependent care expenses for selected programs. We cannot charge these costs to our grants but can use gifts from individuals and corporations for fellowships applicable to these expenses. However, we only have enough funding to offer these for a fraction of our programs.

5. Are There Any Particular Opportunities That You Want Early Career Readers to Know About?

Essentially all ICERM programs originate from proposals from the mathematical sciences community. We are always seeking innovative and creative programs that will support the growth of new collaborations and networks. Early career researchers, whose connections with collaborators and networks are growing most rapidly, are at the heart of most events we host.

Most Collaborate@ICERM groups involve early career researchers, including graduate students. This is a good “entry-level” institute proposal. Workshop organizing committees often include untenured faculty who are aware of recent developments made by their peers. Summer@ICERM organizing committees usually have a mix of tenured and tenure-track faculty, and sometimes postdoctoral researchers; we hire graduate students and postdocs each year as TAs to support the undergraduate research groups.

If you have an idea, contact ICERM’s directors!

Credits

Logo is courtesy of The Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics.