This RTG project involves the members of topology and geometry group at UCSB, with PIs Daryl Cooper, Xianzhe Dai, Darren Long, Marty Scharlemann, Guofang Wei, and Dave Morrison (senior personnel), and with additional training and internship opportunity provided by Microsoft Station Q headed by Mike Freedman, including Matt Hastings, Kevin Walker and Zhenghan Wang. The project aims to offer an enriched training experience in geometry and topology at the post-doctoral and graduate student levels in Santa Barbara. The program will fund three graduate students and two post-doctoral fellows as well as three undergraduate students throughout most of the academic year. In addition, the PIs will put in place an enriched curriculum which includes a program of minicourses as well as the opportunity for this group to participate in a summer REU in topics in geometry and topology which will be open to undergraduates across the country. The group has made great efforts over the years with its emphasis upon advising and mentoring to build a supportive, intellectually stimulating environment for graduate students and post-docs; they hope to use the RTG program to improve the program still further.
With the RTG funds the PIs will be able to offer an enriched academic more broadly based research and teaching experience at both the graduate and post-doctoral levels. It will be used for new PhDs to establish themselves as reseachers and educators and for graduate students to broaden their education in geometry and topology through a research program augmented by establishing new mini-courses and internship opportunities. Talented and motivated undergraduates will be recruited to the program through the REU program, with special emphasis directed towards enhancing the group's already excellent record with women, as well as drawing on students from a culturally diverse area, namely Southern California.
