The Centre de Recherches Mathematiques (CRM) will mount an intensive 13 months program on "Probabilistic Methods in Mathematical Physics" during the period June 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009. The program has been approved by the CRM Scientific Advisory Panel to receive funding $484,000 CAD. A large number of researchers and postdoctoral fellows will be in residence at CRM during this period, and more will visit the program's 10 workshops. Two preparatory schools relating to the themes of the workshops are planned, aimed at graduate students and junior researchers. There will also be three Aisenstadt Chair lecture series, coordinated with the workshops. The Aisenstadt Chair lecture series will be given by Andrei Okounkov (Princeton), Wendelin Werner (Paris VI), and Craig Tracy (UC Davis). This application seeks funding of $60,000 US from the NSF to support participation of young American researchers in six out of ten workshops of the program. The support will substantially increase the number of young American researchers gaining access to and participating in this program. To support young American researchers in the other four workshops, with a more pronounced physics orientation, another grant application is being submitted to the Program in Mathematical Physics of the Division of Physics. This program is meant to represent the state of the art in a number of currently active areas of research in mathematical physics, with special emphasis on those in which probability theory plays a central role. Besides providing a vehicle for communicating the most significant new research results in these domains, the principal objectives include: 1) giving an opportunity for cross-fertilization between the different domains represented, 2) stimulating new ideas through such cross-fertilization and 3) providing an environment in which young researchers may learn about and be encouraged to contribute to the exciting new developments in these domains.
