This award supports the research of Professors Goss and Shu to work in the area of function fields. Professor Goss will continue his research on L-series of Drinfeld modules over more general Dedekind rings of characteristic p and on Mellin and Fourier transforms. Professor Shu will work on the arithmetic of Drinfeld modules and associated eta values. This is research in the field of number theory. Number theory starts with the whole numbers and questions such as the divisibility of one whole number by another. It is among the oldest fields of mathematics and it was originally pursued for purely aesthetic reasons. However, within the last half century, it has become an essential tool in developing new algorithms for computer science and new error correcting codes for electronics.
