Current Developments in Mathematics Conference, November 21-22, 2014

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

The award provides support for participants to the Current Developments in Mathematics Conference series that will take place at the Science Center of Harvard University on the following dates: November 21-22, 2014 November 20-21, 2015 November 18-19, 2016. The Current Developments in Mathematics conference has been taking place yearly since 1995 at Harvard University and brings together mathematicians from all over the world during the weekend preceding Thanksgiving. The speakers of the Current Developments in Mathematics conference are invited to report on recent breakthroughs in various fields of mathematics and closely related disciplines, which are expected to impact mathematical research. The timeliness and importance of the conference is particularly manifest this year, 2014, since two of the confirmed invited speakers have very recently been awarded the Fields Medal, the most prestigious distinction in mathematics. This conference provides an opportunity for a large audience of young students, researchers and specialists to get familiar with recent mathematical achievements, to obtain new ideas, to interact with each other and forge new collaborations. The conference has been further very successful in hosting the participants in the Boston mathematics community; allowing them to further their careers, get to know experts in their fields and foster new collaborations in an informal atmosphere. The conference provides the participants with a broader research overview, which should be of significance for their own mathematical work. The conference is advertised widely so that many students and young researchers can attend it. The format of the conference has been very successful. The speakers are usually asked to divide their lectures into two parts, one of which is intended to be accessible to a broader audience and giving a general idea of the recent work and the other part containing more details. This endeavor is a challenge that the speakers have mastered very well in the past. In a time where research in mathematics and other fields becomes more and more specialized it is of great importance to make the effort to maintain an overview of the grand scheme of things. The conference can be thus regarded as an intensive two-day colloquium style overview of many exciting developments. The results presented at the conference are collected in manuscripts beforehand and are distributed to the participants during the conference. The proceedings are later published. More details on the 2014 conference can be found at http://www.math.harvard.edu/cdm/.