Advancing the Northeast Combinatorics Network

Saint Michael'S College, Colchester VT

Investigators

Abstract

The North East Combinatorics Network (NCN) will host several events: A spring Discrete Math Days (DMD) conference at the University of New England (Maine) in May 2018, Summer Combo at Saint Michael's College (Vermont) in July 2018, a fall DMD at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts) in October 2018, and a monthly (academic year) Virtual Colloquium Series commencing February 2018. This project aims to further cultivate and enhance a network of students, post-doctoral researchers, faculty and industry mathematicians spread across the institutions in New England and New York working in the area of combinatorics (discrete mathematics), which is a thriving and rapidly advancing mathematical discipline. Motivated by applications to computer science, data science, cybersecurity, bioinformatics and more, combinatorialists have developed powerful new tools in recent years and have identified fundamental mathematical problems that, if solved, will have far-reaching impact in these applied areas. Connections to other areas of mathematics abound as well. This project puts particular emphasis on service to students and faculty, particularly women and members of other groups under-represented in STEM disciplines, at small, more remote institutions, a cohort that has made significant contributions to the field. With three one-day meetings as anchor activities, the project envisions an intentional infrastructure that facilitates ongoing interactions among researchers throughout the year. The PIs, together with the rest of the NCN leadership (meeting hosts and Steering Committee) will advance a set of activities that, while low in cost, provide key resources to researchers in the region. These activities include: a central NCN website to improve communication and collaboration, piloting a virtual colloquium series that allows remote viewing and interaction, a series of "New Directions" presentations of accessible problem areas to foster undergraduate research and also engage early career faculty, and an on-line discussion forum that extends collaborative interactions that may start at any one of the regular meetings. These activities, taken as a whole, will both advance fundamental science and enhance outreach beyond the traditional research university community. The event websites are https://sites.google.com/site/summercombo2017/ (Summer Combo) and for DMD the most recent are: https://www.smcvt.edu/academics/majors-minors-and-curriculum/mathematics/discrete-math-day.aspx and https://math.dartmouth.edu/~orellana/DMDS2017 . The overarching NCN website will be hosted at WPI. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.