Representation theory covers fast range of research in mathematics, and has close relationships with geometry, number theory, topology, combinatorics as well as mathematical physics. In order to survey current research and bring in new blood into the field, the International Conference series on Representation Theory was initiated in 1998 in Shanghai by a group of mathematicians from China and the US, since then American mathematicians have actively participated in each of the ICRT.
This award provides partial support for American mathematicians to attend the 5th International Conference of Representation Theory (ICRT) during August 9--14, 2010, in Xian, China where specialists from Asia, Europe and United States will gather chart future research directions. Xian, China has been the cross point of cultural exchanges for more than 2000 years. The current award contributes to new scientific exchanges between mathematicians from three continents and also promotes deeper mathematical research in representation theory. The conference offers a great opportunity for young researchers to follow the current stage of active research in representation theory.
The NSF proposal provided partial support for more than 10 US mathematicians to attend the 5th International Conference on Representation Theory held in Xian China, 9th-14th Auguest, 2010. This conference is one of the major international conference series held in the Pacific rim. The history of the series of the international conferences on representations started in 1998 in Shanghai. The second one was held at Kunming in 2001, the third one was held at Chengdu in 2004 and the fourth one held at Lhasa in 2007. American scientists have always played leading role in organizing the conference from the very beginning. The PI was one of the initiators at the first Shanghai conference in 1998. The subjects of the conference include but not limit to: Representations of Algebraic Groups and Quantum Groups, Hecke Algebras and Their Representations, Representations of Lie Groups and Lie Algebras, Representations of Algebras, etc.. These are very important active research areas in main stream mathematics. This year we have made extra efforts to take a few American gradaute students to the conference and also included female students. The supported US participants include many mathematicians without NSF grants. In short, with modest budget the PI was able to maximize the support level of NSF grants with help of local support from Chinese institutions and Chinese funding agencies.
