This Research Training Group award, "RTG: Algebra, Geometry, and Topology at the University of Utah" will train a new generation of researchers by engaging and supporting undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars in research. The grant particularly aims to encourage students at transitional moments of their educations, through programs targeted at early-career undergraduate and graduate students, and with a common goal of both recruiting and training a diverse workforce of researchers in mathematics. The new summer pre-REU (research experience for undergraduates) will recruit talented students, particularly those who might not otherwise be "plugged in" to the possibilities of the math major, out of their introductory courses, and introduce them early in their undergraduate careers to the depths of modern mathematics. Research training seminars will organize focused groups of early-career graduate students, and occasionally advanced undergraduates, to study a topic and then transition to working collaboratively on a research project. The award will also support several conferences, including three organized in collaboration with the University of Utah chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), as another aspect of the grant's efforts to identify and encourage traditionally under-supported mathematical talent.
The University of Utah has an active group of researchers in algebra, geometry, and topology, including such areas as algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, geometric group theory, number theory, representation theory, and topology. This array of research interests will feed into the grant's programs at all levels, as the pre-REU, research training seminar, and conferences all are organized around rotating subjects within the faculty's areas of expertise. Finally, this RTG grant will vertically integrate its training programs, with graduate students assisting with the pre-REU, post-docs engaging with the research training seminars, and a full range, from undergraduate to post-doc, of young researchers participating in conferences.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
