Palmetto Number Theory Series/SouthEast Regional Meeting On Numbers

Clemson University, Clemson SC

Investigators

Abstract

The Palmetto Number Theory Series (PANTS) is a series of number theory meetings managed jointly by Clemson University and University of South Carolina, the two flagship research institutions in South Carolina, the Palmetto State. The Southeast Regional Meeting on Numbers (SERMON) is an annual number theory meeting that has been in existence since 1988. While PANTS has been predominantly held at institutions in South Carolina, SERMON has always rotated around institutions in the Southeast. Starting in 2011 there will be one PANTS meeting held in the fall and one in December along with one SERMON meeting in the spring. The December PANTS meeting will rotate annually between Clemson University and the University of South Carolina. The fall PANTS meeting will be held at another Southeastern school. The fall PANTS meeting is one or one and one-half days and features two plenary talks, while the December meeting is two days and features four plenary talks. Leading number theorists from outside the Southeast give the hour-long plenary talks. The annual SERMON meeting will be held over one and one-half days with one plenary speaker that will deliver a public lecture on the Friday before the conference begins and then an hour-long plenary address during the conference. The meetings also have 20 minute contributed talks from Southeastern participants. The primary goal of PANTS/SERMON is to provide the number theory community in the Southeast with an opportunity to hear about recent research in number theory, pure and applied. PANTS/SERMON meetings attract prominent number theorists. They also provide regional mathematicians, particularly graduate students and junior faculty, with an opportunity to speak. PANTS/SERMON participants come from Ph.D. granting institutions, institutions whose highest degree awarded is a master's degree, and from institutions granting only baccalaureate degrees. Students and faculty at some of these schools do not have access to travel funds nor to research seminars, so PANTS/SERMON funding is especially crucial to them. The organizers will also continue to try to attract a demographically diverse participant base, including women and other underrepresented groups.