African Diaspora Joint Mathematics Workshops (ADJOINT)

Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project is to support the African Diaspora Joint Mathematics Workshops (ADJOINT) program whose goal is to strengthen the mathematical sciences by facilitating research among African-American mathematicians as well as increasing their visibility and inclusion in the mathematical community. This program will host several extended workshops of small groups of mathematicians at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley, California during the summer of 2019. Each group will be predominantly made up of African-American researchers, will be led by an established African-American researcher and will include mathematicians at various stages in their careers. The goal of each workshop will be to develop and extend a focused research project. Funds will also be available for participants to further interact or travel to focused workshops in the 2019-20 academic year. Having core, productive and visible groups of African-American mathematicians in various mathematical fields will stimulate further participation by this community in these fields. Each of the groups will have an outline of possible research directions and problems before they arrive. This plan will be refined and implemented while participating in the workshop at MSRI and a plan to continue will be drawn up before the researchers leave. The participants will be made aware of future research programs at the NSF Mathematics Institutes and be encouraged to apply to appropriate programs as well as to organize Special Sessions at AMS or other meetings. While in residence at MSRI, the members of each group will also interact with students at the Graduate Summer Schools which are held at the Institute each summer as well as with the students in MSRI-UP, MSRI's long-running and successful REU program for students belonging to underrepresented populations. The presence of these role models will further enhance the experience of the graduate and undergraduate students. Concurrent residency of some of the groups will also allow for development of further tools to support research in this community. 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.