Award Abstract # 1745396
International Congress of Mathematicians 2018: Administration of Travel Grants for US Participants

NSF Org: DMS
Division Of Mathematical Sciences
Recipient: AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY
Initial Amendment Date: October 24, 2017
Latest Amendment Date: October 24, 2017
Award Number: 1745396
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Swatee Naik
snaik@nsf.gov
 (703)292-4876
DMS
 Division Of Mathematical Sciences
MPS
 Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Start Date: November 1, 2017
End Date: June 30, 2019 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $297,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $297,000.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2018 = $297,000.00
History of Investigator:
  • Thomas Barr (Principal Investigator)
    thb@ams.org
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: American Mathematical Society
201 CHARLES ST
PROVIDENCE
RI  US  02904-2213
(401)455-4150
Sponsor Congressional District: 01
Primary Place of Performance: American Mathematical Society
201 Charles Street
Providence
RI  US  02904-2294
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
01
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): LKHPGEDCJW34
Parent UEI: LKHPGEDCJW34
NSF Program(s): INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM
Primary Program Source: 01001819DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 7556, 9150
Program Element Code(s): 126000
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.049

ABSTRACT

The quadrennial International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 1-9, 2018. Between 5,000 and 6,000 mathematical scientists, teachers, students, and others from around the world will share new results of research, directions of future investigation, applications, ideas for pedagogy, and methodologies for disseminating and archiving mathematical knowledge. Participants from the United States, who will contribute to the activities through presentation of their research to the worldwide mathematical community, and they will also enrich the nation's STEM infrastructure through activities at the Congress with their counterparts from abroad. As a world leader in mathematical research, the US sustains this position by supporting basic research, fostering activities that disseminate the results of this work, and enabling researchers to benefit from ideas and collaborations with researchers in other countries. In the mathematical sciences, research is reliant on in-person interactions, the work is increasingly collaborative, and the efforts are often international in scope. Activities of US participants at ICM 2018 contribute directly to the vitality of the US's knowledge-based economy, and from a technical and diplomatic point of view they support national security. This National Science Foundation award would enable the American mathematical Society to provide substantial support for approximately ninety US-based mathematicians to participate in the Congress. Recommendations for awards will be made by a panel of mathematicians drawn from among the members of several US-based professional organizations focused in the mathematical sciences. Mathematicians of all career stages are welcome to apply, women and members of underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply, and early-career applicants will receive priority for funding.

Since the 1950s, the ICM has been held under the auspices of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a consortium of mathematics societies from more than eighty member nations, including the US. For the 2018 Congress the IMU's Program Committee has set nineteen sections on topics of current research: Logic and Foundations, Algebra, Number Theory, Algebraic and Complex Geometry, Geometry, Topology, Lie Theory and Generalizations, Analysis and Operator Algebras, Dynamical Systems and Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equations, Mathematical Physics, Probability and Statistics, Combinatorics, Mathematical Aspects of Computer Science, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Control Theory and Optimization, Mathematics in Science and Technology, Mathematics Education and Popularization of Mathematics, and History of Mathematics. Participants in the Congress will have opportunities in these sections to hear many invited lectures, visit poster sessions, and interact with mathematicians engaged in similar research. A number of the invited speakers will have support from the ICM travel grant program. In addition to section lectures, the ICM incorporates the Emmy Noether and Abel Lectures and twenty stand-alone plenary lectures on recent major developments. The Congress is also the occasion for conferring some of the most prestigious awards in the mathematical sciences: the Fields Medal, Nevanlinna Prize, Gauss Prize, Chern Medal Award, and Leelavati Prize. All of these recognize singular achievements of individuals involved in in the forefront of mathematical research. Since its inception in 1897 in Zurich, the ICM has been a significant impetus to international cooperation in mathematical research, and it is often a historic occasion for the mathematical community and the wider world. Information about ICM 2018 can be found at http://www.icm2018.org/portal/en/home/.

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

The quadrennial International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the preeminent international gathering of mathematicians in the world. New results, directions of future research, applications, ideas for pedagogy, and methodologies for disseminating and archiving mathematical knowledge are all shared at these congresses, and many of them have historic significance well beyond the mathematical community. ICM 2018 was held on the days August 1 - 9 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and over three thousand individuals from around the world registered to attend. Participation by individuals from the United States serves two principal purposes: contribution to the activities and outcomes of the Congress and hence to worldwide mathematical community, and enrichment of the nation's knowledge infrastructure in STEM. The travel grant program administered by the American Mathematical Society under this grant provided supported 95 US-based mathematicians' travel to ICM 2018. The awardees came from 32 states; approximately 62% were early-career; twenty-five werewomen. Most were affiliated with PhD-granting programs, but roughly twenty-percent were at non-PhD-granting universities or four-year colleges.

Intellectual Merit

The Congress was organized around nineteen topical sections: Logic and Foundations, Algebra, Number Theory, Algebraic and Complex Geometry, Geometry, Topology, Lie Theory and Generalizations, Analysis and Operator Algebras, Dynamical Systems and Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equations, Mathematical Physics, Probability and Statistics, Combinatorics, Mathematical Aspects of Computer Science, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Control Theory and Optimization, Mathematics in Science and Technology, Mathematics Education and Popularization of Mathematics, and History of Mathematics. The schedule included several invited lectures, poster sessions, and informal opportunities for participants to exchange ideas. Also, the ICM incorporated the Emmy Noether and Abel Lectures, and twenty-one stand-alone plenary lectures (eight by US mathematicians) on recent major developments. The ICM is also the occasion for some of the most prestigious awards in the mathematical sciences: the Fields Medal, Nevanlinna Prize, Gauss Prize, Chern Medal Award, and Leelavati Prize.

Broader Impact

As evidenced by reporting by the organizers of ICM 2018 and by feedback from most of the travel grant recipients, this program contributed directly to US-based mathematicians' realization of new discoveries, dissemination of the results of their research to a world audience, and inspiration for new ideas and collaborations. Especially in mathematics, research is reliant on in-person interactions, increasingly collaborative, and international in scope. Travel support for such gatherings as the ICM is a highly-effective way to foster these basic interactions of mathematical research, promote the creation of new knowledge, and strengthen international cooperation. In the large, these activities contribute directly to the vitality of the US's knowledge-based economy, international cooperation and learning, and national security.


Last Modified: 10/29/2019
Modified by: Thomas H Barr

Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.

Print this page

Back to Top of page