AIM research activities

AIM Workshops

The AIM Research Conference Center (ARCC) hosts focused workshops in all areas of the mathematical sciences. ARCC focused workshops are distinguished by their emphasis on a specific mathematical goal, such as making progress on a significant unsolved problem, understanding the proof of an important new result, or examining the convergence of two distinct areas of mathematics.

ARCC focused workshops provide an ideal forum for a team of researchers working together to map out strategies, set priorities, work toward a solution, and set in place a framework for progress on important mathematical problems. The leaders in each field are involved in the planning of the workshops, and junior scientists and graduate students are active participants. Special attention is devoted to facilitate collaborations which include women, minorities, and researchers at primarily undergraduate institutions.

ARCC Principles:

1. Mathematics is becoming increasingly collaborative. Single author papers are now in the minority, and papers with three or more authors are increasingly common.
2. Solutions to the important problems of mathematics frequently require techniques from several areas of mathematics. Of necessity, these solutions can only occur with input from a diverse group of researchers, and rapid progress will require an organized collaborative effort.
3. Mathematics is a source of powerful techniques which can be of significant use to all areas of science and technology, and all areas of science and technology are sources of interesting mathematical problems. However, at present the communication between mathematics and the other sciences, and indeed between the different areas of mathematics, is not sufficiently developed to exploit these possibilities.
4. The nation is underutilizing its mathematical resources. Each year universities in the U.S. grant approximately 1000 PhDs in the mathematical sciences. The graduates are highly trained mathematicians, yet many do not maintain an active research program after graduation. By assisting these mathematicians in maintaining an active research program, the overall mathematical productivity of the nation will be increased.
5. The World Wide Web is a valuable resource for research mathematics which at present is not fully utilized. Publicizing the status of important problems, and the most promising avenues for future efforts, will greatly facilitate progress on these problems.

ARCC Goals:

1. Offer highly focused workshops, with each workshop organized around a specific important mathematical goal.
2. Use the workshops as a means of bringing together mathematicians to work collaboratively on important mathematical problems.
3. Increase the number of mathematicians actively involved in research by facilitating collaborations which include women, under-represented minorities, and researchers at primarily undergraduate institutions.
4. Facilitate the creation of an interconnected series of websites detailing the current status of important problems and outlining likely venues for making progress on those problems.
5. Use the workshops and the associated websites as a means of facilitating communication between different areas of mathematics, and between mathematics and the other sciences. In particular, to promote the exchange of information concerning mathematical and mathematically related problems.

ARCC Policies and Procedures:

1. Funding for participation in ARCC workshops is limited, generally to 32 people/workshop. This is to ensure that the group is able to focus and work collaboratively on the specific workshop goal.
2. ARCC workshops have no registration fees.
3. Workshop participants will include a mixture of people in the following (not mutually exclusive) categories:
1. Leading experts in the specialty areas(s) of the workshop goal.
2. Mathematicians with knowledge in areas which might have useful applications to the workshop goal.
3. Junior mathematicians (graduate students, postdocs, and junior faculty).
4. Mathematicians active in the specialty areas of the workshop goal, who are interested in forming collaborations with mathematicians who wish to become more active in those areas.
5. Mathematicians who wish to become more active in the specialty areas of the workshop goal, and who are interested in forming collaborations with people who are active in those areas.
4. Workshops will include survey talks, problem sessions, and time for discussions among the participants.
5. Workshop organizers will propose an initial invitation list of approximately 24 participants. This list will be in keeping with the goals of ARCC. The remaining positions will be open to all applicants. The workshop organizers and ARCC administrators will select the remaining participants from the submitted applications, in keeping with the ARCC goals. This will ensure that participation is open to the wider mathematical community.
6. Prior to the workshop, the organizers will create a website outlining the scope and important issues related to the workshop goal. Immediately following the workshop, the website will be expanded to serve as a record of the workshop and as a definitive resource on the topics surrounding the workshop goal.