The Western Algebraic Geometry Symposium is a regional conference in algebraic geometry that meets twice a year at various institutions in the Western United States. The next symposium will take place at Colorado State University in October 2016. Each symposium runs over a weekend in order not to create conflict with participants' teaching duties. During each meeting there are typically six or seven research talks. One of the talks, the "Mendelbaleko lecture", is typically given by a senior researcher and is intended to give a broad perspective on a particular problem in (or subfield of) algebraic geometry. During the Fall edition a poster session offers graduate students and postdocs the opportunity to showcase their research and interact with senior researchers.
The Western Algebraic Geometry Symposia provides an opportunity for algebraic geometers in this large geographical area to come together for a semester's worth of seminars, and equally important, meet at length with each other and with younger researchers. The symposia's speakers are conducting excellent up-to-date research and represent a broad spectrum research areas in the field of algebraic geometry and participating graduate students have the opportunity to meet senior faculty and to get a broad sense of the field. Special efforts are made to encourage the participation of women, minorities, and young researchers. The Western Algebraic Geometry Symposium mantains information about past and upcoming conferences on the website www.wagsymposium.org.
