Harvey Mudd College Mathematics Conference Series

Harvey Mudd College, Claremont CA

Investigators

Abstract

The mathematics department at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA has been organizing a series of annual mathematics conferences since 1999. These conferences, unusual because the topics vary from year to year, have been designed to expose faculty, recent post-docs, graduate students and undergraduates to cutting-edge mathematics, and to enhance the Harvey Mudd College research environment by fostering interactions between its students and faculty and the participants of the conference. Since 2004, these conferences have benefitted from NSF grants which have permitted the conference to grow and attract a national audience. This award will continue to provide support for four plenary speakers and a contributed poster session. It will also further broaden the geographic participation in the conferences by providing travel support for graduate students and recent Ph.D.'s, with preference given to members of under-represented groups. By bringing topflight researchers to Harvey Mudd College each fall, the conferences expose participants to a wide range of mathematics. Past topics have included analysis; applied mathematics; differential geometry; applied algebra and combinatorics; mathematical biology; geometry, algebra and phylogenetic trees; scientific computing; and enumerative combinatorics. The planned topics for the conferences covered by this award are public sector operations research, nonlinear analysis, and fluid mechanics. The conferences give rise to activities and projects in mathematics courses taught at Harvey Mudd College, and many Harvey Mudd College undergraduates are in attendance. They also serve as a convenient gathering place for mathematicians and mathematics students in Southern California, fostering interaction and collaboration in several mathematical communities. With community-wide pre-conference talks that emphasize the impact and beauty of mathematics, these conferences will annually influence nearly 200 people, encouraging mathematical research while also strengthening public awareness of mathematics.