3. Postdoctoral Program - MSRI

MSRI-UP peers promoted mathematical discussions and enhanced the collaborative and
intellectual environment of MSRI-UP.
Table 1
2010 Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI-UP)
Student Data
Undergraduate Institution and State Gender
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA 1 Male 10
Loyola Marymount University, CA 1 Female 8
University of Northern Colorado, CO 1
Florida A&M University, FL 1
Morehouse College, GA 1
Spelman College, GA 2 Major
University of Kansas, KS 1 Mathematics 17
University of Massachusetts, MA 1 Economics 1
Michigan State University, MI 1
Carleton College, MN 1
Union College, NJ 1
Oklahoma State University, OK 1 Ethnicity
Lewis & Clark College, OR 1 Latino 7
Reed College, OR 1 African American 7
University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, PR 1 Native American 1
Brown University, RI 1 Asian American 1
Sewanee: University of the South, TN 1 White/Caucasian 2
6. Pre-Research Seminar
During the first two weeks of MSRI-UP, students participated in a pre-research seminar
consisting of lectures, tutorials, and problem-solving sessions. Professor Goins planned the
seminar so that he could familiarize students with the motivation and fundamental concepts of
the field of elliptic curves and also the main techniques that they would need to work on their
research topics.
The pre-research phase was conducted in the Baker Board Room, an excellent classroomtype
facility at MSRI. Attached, as an appendix to this report, is the program calendar,
describing the structure of these first two weeks of the program and the subsequent four weeks.
Some homework assignments during the pre-research seminar were computational in
nature. Most students had their own laptop computers; the one who did not was able to borrow
one from the MSRI for the duration of the program for use before and during the research
5