Southwest Local Algebra Meeting 2011

New Mexico State University, Las Cruces NM

Investigators

Abstract

The meeting will facilitate interactions between students and faculty---with interests in ring theory, broadly interpreted---from institutions in the Southwest. It takes place at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces in the first weekend of March 2011. Six speakers will deliver hour long talks on topics within their specialty. Five speakers will be local to the Southwest region, and one will be a prominent algebraist from outside the region. The lectures will be accessible to graduate students. The meeting also features three hour-long poster sessions in which the participating students will present their research. The study of rings, in the broadest sense, is crucial to many branches of mathematics---commutative and non-commutative geometry, group representations, number theory, coding theory, and cryptography to name a few---and touches on even more---combinatorics, homotopy theory, and statistics, for example. Algebraists in the Southwest region pursue research on a variety of topics under the umbrella of pure and applied ring theory. The geographical distances in the region are such that interactions between people at different institutions rarely happen spontaneously. The meeting will bring together students and faculty from a variety of institutions for inspiring talks and ample time for scientific interaction. One can expect that new collaborations and discoveries may result from such a meeting. About 50 participants are expected: students, young and senior faculty from New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and neighboring states. Participation of students from underrepresented minority groups, women, untenured faculty, and faculty at non-Ph.D. granting institutions is particularly encouraged.