This grant will support six meetings of Appalachian Set Theory (AST) workshop series, with the first one planned for December 2014. These are two-day conferences focuses primarily at graduate students and aiming at presenting cutting edge developments in the discipline.
The Appalachian Set Theory (AST) workshop series ran initially for the period 2006-2012, supported by NSF grants DMS-0631446 and DMS-0903845. We propose to continue this innovative workshop series. We will hold two workshops per year, each devoted to a single topic such as a broadly applicable method, a complex seminal paper or a significant unpublished theorem. Faculty and students who are not experts will be immersed in the subject for one or two intensive days and get the tools they need to continue on their own. Each workshop will be led by one or two experts. NSF funds will be used to cover the workshop leaders' expenses, and to provide support for those wishing to attend who do not have other sources of funding. After each workshop graduate student assistants will be paid to prepare typed notes, with help from the workshop leader or leaders: these notes will be promptly disseminated online. Most of the workshop notes for the period 2006-2012 are collected in the volume "Appalachian Set Theory 2006-2012" (Cambridge University Press). In planning these workshops, special emphasis will be given to encouraging participation by young mathematicians and mathematicians from underrepresented groups.
