The "Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems Workshop" will take place on April 3--6, 2014 in the Department of Mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The workshop has also received financial support from the Department of Mathematics and the College of Arts and Sciences. The workshop focuses on several key topics in ergodic theory: specifically ergodic theory applied to actions of non-amenable groups and a study of Lyapunov exponents. The keynote speaker is Professor Benjamin Weiss from Hebrew University who is an expert in the field of ergodic theory with a research portfolio spanning over 40 years.
The NSF funding for the workshop will provide support for younger researchers (graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and assistant professors), especially those from under-represented groups. Young researchers are given ample opportunities to speak, to talk and to participate in the conference activities. This workshop also strives to have a global impact in the mathematical community. Throughout the existence of the workshop, participants have come from around the world. The organizers have purposefully recruited participants and speakers from Africa and more recently from Latin America. Additionally, the workshop will continue to serve as a successful platform of recruitment at U.S. institutions for graduate students from developing countries.
" was held in the Department of Mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with funding from grant 1415154. While the NSF funds represented the bulk of the support, additional funding was provided by the Department of Mathematics and the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The workshop focused on several key topics in ergodic theory. The keynote speaker was Professor Benjamin Weiss from Hebrew University, a pillar in the field of ergodic theory with a research portfolio spanning over 40 years. He presented on the topic of ergodic theory applied to actions of non-amenable groups. The two other featured speakers were Marie-Claude Arnaud from Avignon University in France and Jairo Bochi from Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. They both presented work focused on the study of Lyapunov exponents. The NSF funding support for the workshop created a broader impact on the field of ergodic theory and dynamical systems by providing support for younger researchers (graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and assistant professors). Of the 36 attendees, 53% were classified as young researchers. 60% of the NSF funding went to support the travel, lodging and subsistence for the young researchers at the workshop. At the workshop, the young researchers were given ample opportunities to speak, to talk and to participate in the conference activities. In addition to the scheduled talks, the workshop held a problem session where the participants shared open questions and ideas for future study. This workshop also sought to have a global impact in the mathematical community. Throughout the existence of the workshop, participants have come from around the world. For the 2014 year, we purposefully recruited participants and speakers from Africa and Latin America. Three of the participants (two of whom presented and one of the co-organizers) were from Latin America. Funding from the workshop, enabled us to bring a young researcher, Sene Ndolane, from Dakar, Senegal to participate in the workshop. Alongside, the two objectives above was to provide support and opportunities for underrepresented groups as well. Of the 36 attendees, 19% were female and received 22% of the NSF support. Attendees from non-Caucasian race or ethnicity represented 39% of the attendees and 40% of the NSF funds. As for intellectual merit, the workshop was enhanced by the high quality of the keynote and featured speakers noted above: Benjamin Weiss, Marie-Claude Arnaud and Jairo Bochi. In addition to these talks, there were 16 other talks as a part of the workshop and the aforementioned problem session. Of the 19 total talks, 42% were from younger researchers, 21% were from female mathematicians, and 42% were from underrepresented groups. A proceedings from both the 2013 & 2014 workshops will be produced with works related to and inspired by talks from the workshops. At this point, we have received six submissions for the proceedings from eight different authors. We will continue to accept submissions for the proceedings through the end of the summer in 2015.
