3. Postdoctoral Program - MSRI

which establishes the relation between tropical curves and the Fukaya-Oh degenerations of
Lagrangian disks with the resulting tropical Fukaya category. Section 1.3 and the Appendix
contain the detailed reports of all of our scientific programs and workshops, including a plethora
of exciting discoveries and results.
Postdoctoral Program. In the spring of 2009, the impact of the economic downturn hit
academia hard, causing hiring freezes and cancelled job searches. For mathematics, this
represented a loss of some 400 positions for recent PhDs. The National Science Foundation,
through its seven mathematics institutes (including MSRI), responded by creating new
postdoctoral fellowships. This partnership resulted in the creation of 45 postdoctoral positions
for young, highly-trained mathematical scientists from across the country. MSRI awarded ten of
these fellowships. Of those exceptional mathematicians, four, Tristam Bogart, Chris Hillar, Eric
Katz, and Sikimeti Mau, participated in MSRI programs during the academic year of 2009–10
and continued on to their mentor‟s institution where they will be supported for another year.
Another six received one- and two-year fellowships allowing them to pursue their work at
several institutions: Vigleik Angeltveit is working with Peter May at the University of Chicago
and will continue to do so next year; Scott Crofts is at UC Santa Cruz for two years to work with
Martin Weissman; Anton Dochtermann was awarded a one–year (2010-11), fellowship to work
with Gunnar Carlsson at Stanford University; Karl Mahlburg is at Princeton University working
with Manjul Bhargava and Peter Sarnak (2009–11); Abraham Smith was awarded a 2-year
fellowship at McGill University to work with Niky Karman; and Jared Speck will be working
(2010–11) at Princeton University, with Sergiu Klainerman.
See details at http://www.msri.org/specials/nsfpostdocs, in Chapter 3, and in the Appendix.
Summer Graduate Schools. During the summer of 2009, MSRI funded 168 graduate students
to attend Summer Graduate workshops. Two were held at MSRI, and the others were held at the
University of Washington, Seattle; the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder; the
University of Victoria; and the Park City Mathematics Institute. For most of the summer
graduate workshops, enrollment is based on a first-come first-serve policy. The workshops are so
popular that some (very dedicated) graduate chairs wait until 12:01am of the first open
enrollment day to nominate their students. Detailed descriptions and reports for each of the SGS
can be found starting in Section 4.1 and in the Appendix.
MSRI-UP program. This undergraduate research program is targeted at underrepresented
minorities with the goal of increasing their interest and enrollment in mathematics graduate
programs. In the summer of 2010 the lead director was Duane Cooper and the primary instructor
was Professor Edray Goins. The subject was Elliptic Curves and Applications. It is fair to say
that over the years this program has drawn national praise for its scientific and mentoring
excellence. Two students from the 2007 MSRI UP summer program, Talea Layo and Gina
Pomann, have received 2010 NSF graduate research fellowships. A detailed report can be found
in Chapter 5 and in the Appendix. In addition, Ivelisse Rubio, (one of the 5 directors of MSRI
UP) won the Dr. Etta Z. Falconer Award for Mentoring and Commitment to Diversity. This
award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated a professional commitment to mentoring
and increasing diversity in the sciences, in particular, the mathematical sciences.
K–12 Mathematics Education: What Can Math Departments Do? Math departments have
both an opportunity and an obligation to help improve elementary and secondary mathematics
education. That was the consensus of leaders in mathematics education during the panel
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