Institute for Advanced Study Convenes Annual Program for Women and Mathematics

Focus on Introduction to Geometric Partial Differential Equations

Some fifty women mathematicians from throughout the United States will gather at the Institute for Advanced Study this June for the Program for Women and Mathematics. The 11-day residential program, sponsored by the Institute and Princeton University, will be held from June 8 to June 19, marking its 16th year on the Institute campus.

The research topic for 2009 is Geometric Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). The program will examine the use of analytic tools such as partial differential equations in solving problems in geometry. The beginning lecture course will provide a self-contained introduction for undergraduate students who are familiar with multivariable calculus into the area of global analysis/partial differential equations on manifolds. Two advanced lecture courses for graduate students will focus on nonlinear diffusion and PDEs in conformal geometry.

The Program for Women and Mathematics grew out of the Park City Mathematics Institute (PCMI), which the Institute began sponsorship of in 1993. It is designed to inspire talented women from undergraduate through postdoctoral levels to pursue and achieve their educational goals, as well as to address the isolation and lack of support faced by many women in mathematics.

Participants include undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral scholars and senior researchers. A variety of activities, both formal and informal, will be offered to encourage interaction among participants. In addition to undergraduate and graduate level lecture courses, there are research seminars, problem and review sessions, colloquia and Women-in-Science seminars. A day of activities on the Princeton University campus is planned for Monday, June 15.

The program is being organized by Sun-Yung Alice Chang and Ingrid Daubechies of Princeton; Antonella Grassi of the University of Pennsylvania; Tanya Khovanova of MIT; Chuu-Lian Terng of the University of California, Irvine; and Karen Uhlenbeck of the University of Texas at Austin.

Faculty members for the program include Irina Mitrea of the University of Virginia for the Beginning Lecture Course, and Sun-Yung Alice Chang of Princeton and Panagiota Daskalopoulos of Columbia University for the advanced lecture course.

In addition to the organizers, those serving on the Program Committee are Ruth Charney of Brandeis University; Cynthia Curtis and Nancy Hingston of The College of New Jersey; Rhonda Hughes and Lisa Traynor of Bryn Mawr College; Robert MacPherson and Peter Sarnak of the Institute’s School of Mathematics; and Janet Talvacchia of Swarthmore College.

Support for the program has been provided by the National Science Foundation and The Starr Foundation.

For information, visit http://www.ias.edu/math/womensprogram.