Report for the academic year - Libraries - Institute for Advanced Study

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR
focus to date has been the work of Debussy and the early 20' h century, and he is a pianist
and folk-guitarist. He began his period of residence at the Institute in June 2000, allow-
ing one year of overlap with Robert Taub before taking over responsibility for the concert
series and assuming his other duties as Artist-in-Residence.
From May 30 through June 9, the Institute for Advanced Study hosted the IAS/Park City
Mathematics Institute's annual Mentoring Program for Women in Mathematics,
organised by Chuu-Lian Terng of Northeastern University and Karen Uhlenbeck of the
University of Texas at Austin. Graduate students, undergraduates, postdoctoral scholars,
and senior researchers made up the 40 participants. The program emphasized the content
and culture of mathematics and included lectures, seminars, working problem
groups, mentoring and networking sessions and the opportunity to meet and interact with
leading mathematicians.
The Summer Session of the IAS/Park City Mathematics Institute (PCMI) was held this
year on the campus of the Institute for Advanced Study from July 16 through August 5.
Computational Complexity Theory was the research topic for PCMI's Graduate Summer
School and Research Program. Avi Wigderson, Faculty member in the Institute's School
of Mathematics, co-organized this program with Steven Rudich, Carnegie Mellon Uni-
versity. Over 200 participants attended six separate but overlapping programs for
researchers, high school teachers, undergraduate faculty, mathematics education
researchers, and undergraduate and graduate students. Once again, the support of IAS
Trustee Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. made it possible for PCMI to host a concert by Robert
Taub, and a talk, "Mathematics, Music, and the Sublime," by Robert Taub and Edward
Rothstein, Cultural Critic-at-Large for The New York Times.
Each year the Institute welcomes Director's Visitors, distinguished visitors whose inter-
ests often do not fall within the school structure of the Institute. These individuals con-
tribute a great deal to the Institute community. This year Director's Visitors included
Steve Batterson, Emory University; Melvyn Nathanson, Lehman College CUNY; and
Alexandre Vinogradov, the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and the University of
Salerno, Italy.
The Institute hosts regional gatherings every year in the United States and abroad for
AMIAS members and their guests. One such gathering this spring was a lecture and
reception at California Institute of Technology, at which Edward Witten, Professor in the
School of Natural Sciences, gave the lecture "Quest for Unification." Contributions
from AMIAS members support the scholarship of Members currently in residence at the
Institute: this past year AMIAS funded two Members, one in the School of Historical
Studies, and one in the School of Natural Sciences.
No account of the Institute's activities would be complete without recognizing the many-
individuals whose various contributions play such an essential part in building the Insti-
tute's strength and vitality. To the Faculty, Trustees, Members and former Members, the
Friends of the Institute, and our staff, I express my deepest gratitude.
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Phillip A. Griffiths
Director