This grants provides support for a number of new training activities hosted by the Department of Mathematics of the University of Utah. There will be 5 courses on Modern Mathematics addressed to undergraduate students: 2 of them will be two-week long summer courses, the other 3 will be semester long classes offered during the Fall semester. Undergraduate students will also have the opportunity to work on independent research projects during the Spring semester. At the graduate level, there will be 3 advanced summer mini-courses, each 2 weeks long, with speakers coming from around the country and abroad. Other activities include various types of seminars. There will be vertical integration in these activities among faculty, postdocs and students. Activities will cover the span of the 5 academic years during the funding period, plus a total of 10 summer weeks. The grant will support directly 6 undergraduate students in one-semester long independent research projects, 25 eleven-month graduate student stipends, and 9 postdoctoral fellows to be partially supported by the grant with the remaining support coming from the department. The grant will also provide support for about 50 undergraduates and 60 graduate students during the summers schools, and cover tuition for the semester-long courses in Modern Mathematics for 30 undergraduate students.
This research training is designed to provide students and postdocs a high level of mathematical training. The faculty in the Algebraic Geometry and Topology groups at the University of Utah has a prominent research record, and the grant will support bringing the graduate and postdoctoral program to the same level. The grant will also strengthen the already close connections between the two groups. The various activities, especially the summer mini-courses, will serve to attract talented students to come to Utah, either as graduate students or as postdoctoral associates. This program will impact young mathematical scientists at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels, and will provide an environment which will stimulate collaboration across levels and across fields. The program will have a deep impact also in the training of our senior graduate students and postdocs into becoming effective, motivated teachers and mentors. As they grow into mature mathematicians, this will have a long-lasting effect well beyond our local environment and the duration of the grant.
