Supporting the Conference Series: NSF/CBMS Regional Research Conferences in the Mathematical Sciences

American Mathematical Society, Providence RI

Investigators

Abstract

The NSF/CBMS series of Regional Research Conferences in the Mathematical Sciences is an ongoing project administered by the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS) and supported continuously by NSF for the past 41 years. Each conference features a distinguished lecturer who delivers a sequence of ten lectures on a topic of important current research in one sharply focused area of the mathematical sciences. This award to the American Mathematical Society, with subcontract to CBMS, supports CBMS in its efforts to publicize conferences and administer the resulting publications, fostering greater dissemination of material related to cutting edge-topics and increasing the impact of the conferences in the community. The individual conferences are supported on separate NSF awards to host institutions. The purpose of the NSF/CBMS conference series is to promote research in areas of the mathematical sciences which have recently seen significant new results and which hold promise for continued significant development. A conference achieves that purpose by having the principal lecturer, who is both a major researcher in the area of the conference and a good expositor, deliver 10 lectures over a five day period to the participants. The lectures typically cover the recent development of the field and chart the possible new directions and open problems. Thus the format of the conferences is primarily educational, but at the research level. Approximately one-half of the participants at these conferences are graduate students and postdocs and the conferences give them a good perspective on both the current research and the interesting open problems in an important area of the mathematical sciences. The lecturer promises to prepare a substantial expository monograph based upon his or her lectures. The resulting monograph reaches a broader audience and provides an introduction to readers who wish to begin research in the field. Moreover, the conferences are typically held at institutions that are not yet among the top research institutions, but which are interested in enhancing their local research activity.