Algebraic geometry has a strong and broad representation at the research institutions of the Northeastern states. AGNES is a series of biannual workshops that intends to further the interaction and collaborations between the algebraic geometers in the area. Each workshop is held over a weekend at one of the participating institutions. The workshops include research talks by renowned experts and junior researchers, both from outside the area and within. Professional development sessions and introductory pre-talks are aimed particularly at graduate students. Every workshop culminates with an open problem session. This gives an opportunity to disseminate recent results and developments, and exchange ideas and views about future directions of algebraic geometry.
Algebraic geometry is the study of spaces defined by polynomial equations. Many of the spaces occurring in nature are of this type, and for this reason algebraic geometry has found diverse applications in the sciences. In particular, there are strong connections with recent work in theoretical physics (string theory). This grant will support a series of algebraic geometry conferences in the Northeastern states. The key aims of the series are to expose graduate students to a broad spectrum of research in the field and to improve communication between the many algebraic geometers in the northeast.
The main outcome of the grant was organizing an AGNES Conference at Boston College on October 25-27, 2013. The conference was originally scheduled to take place at University of Connecticut but due to two organizers moving from UConn it took place at Boston College. The conference was aimed at introducing young researchers and post-docs to the active research areas in Algebraic Geometry. There were eight one hour talks. Three talks were preceeded by a pre-talk in which only junior researchers could participate. There were 157 registered participants, more than 100 were students/postdocs. There was a graduate student poster session with more than 20 posters, and one poster was presented by an undergraduate student. The abstracts and posters of the talks are available at www.agneshome.org/boston-college-2013. Organizing such conferences is particularly useful in the area of Algebraic Geometry. The field is highly complex, and in order to work successfully in it a researcher must know a variety of techniques and background material. In this respect Algebraic Geometry is one of the most difficult fields of Mathematics. Thus organizing pretalks allows junior researchers to get familiar with the overview of a particular problem. The weekend format proved quite successfull so far. The number of registered participants increases.
