3. Postdoctoral Program - MSRI

Zharkov Ilia Tropical pryms and conic bundles
An introduction to moduli spaces of curves and its
Katzarkov rough/draft
Zvonkine Dimitri intersection theory rough/draft
Zvonkine Dimitri
Universal cohomological expressions for
singularities in M_{0,n}(CP^1)
3. Postdoctoral Program
3.1 Description of Activities
Sergey Lando,
Maxim Kazarian rough/draft
The postdoctoral program at MSRI is central to MSRI‟s mission of continued excellence in
mathematics research. The semester-long and year-long programs MSRI organizes and hosts
produce the leading research in that field of study. MSRI‟s postdocs engage with fellow
mathematicians from all over the world to develop their interests and contribute to the Science
community. During the 2009–10 academic year, MSRI selected 31 postdoctoral scholars with
research interests in the programs that MSRI offers. Of those postdocs, 22 were funded by the
NSF Core Grant, 4 by the NSF Supplemental Grant, 3 by the NSA Grant, and 2 by the Viterbi
Endowment.
There were many more excellent postdoc applicants than we could fund with our NSF
Postdoctoral Fellowship (PD) budget line. The program organizers used additional funds from
their allocated NSF budget to support an additional 12 members who had earned their PhDs no
more than five years ago. Those members were called “Postdoc Research Members” (PD/RMs
as opposed to NSF Postdoctoral Fellows) and received a per diem of $2,400 per month. While
they were not monetarily compensated at the same level as the NSF Postdoctoral Fellows, they
received all other privileges. That is, all Postdocs were assigned a mentor upon their arrival,
participated in a weekly Postdoc seminar, and were a vibrant part of the research community.
They also had the same logistic privileges (office, library access, bus pass, etc…).
Of the 31 Postdoctoral Fellows at MSRI, 7 (23%) were female, 14 (45%) were a U.S. Citizen or
Permanent Resident, and 18 (58%) came from a US institution. The program organizers were
extremely satisfied with the Postdoctoral program and believed that it was by all accounts an
enormous success. Looking at the Institution Placement list below, one sees that, of the 20 NSF
Postdocs who stayed in the U.S., 12 (60%) obtained a research position at a Group I University,
6 at a Group II University, and 2 at a Group M University. Of the postdocs who were not U.S.
Citizens or Permanent Residents, most obtained research positions at prestigious institutions,
such as The Max Planck Institute, Université de Neuchatel, and Université de Montreal.
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