About the Union

The International Mathematical Union (IMU), a member union of the International Council for Science (ICSU), serves to build global interaction among research communities and promote advances in the mathematical sciences at the international level.  The IMU is an international non-governmental and non-profit scientific organization, with the purpose of promoting international cooperation in the field of mathematics.  Learn more about the history, organization, and activities of the IMU.   
 

About the USNC

Activities & Events

 Volunteer Visiting Lecturer Series: Supporting International Mathematics

The volunteer Visiting Lecturer Program (VLP) fosters productive interaction between the mathematical community of the developed world and the vast, mostly untapped reservoir of talent in the developing world provides intensive courses at the advanced undergraduate level. 

Created in response to an appeal from French and Cambodian mathematicians for U.S. assistance in teaching short intensive courses at the advanced undergraduate level in a Masters degree program organized by the Centre International de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées (CIMPA) at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), VLP is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and American Mathematical Society (AMS).

USNC/Math contributes to and participates in this international scientific cooperation in order to:

• improve scientific contact between the United States the developing world in ways that are mutually beneficial;
• increase level of cooperation between U.S. mathematical community and colleagues as well as institutions abroad; and
• leverage U.S. activities in support of mathematics in the developing world by coordinating with the activities of other countries.
   

Learn more about the mission and history of the volunteer Visiting Lecturer Series.

 Volunteer Visiting Lecturer Series in Cambodia
The USNC/Math, with the support of AMS, SIAM, and NSF, enabled four U.S. mathematicians to teach courses in Cambodia as a component of the mathematics Masters program at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.  Thus far this year,  participants include William Murray (California State University), who lectured on "Partial Differential Equations," January 12-30, 2009 and Eduardo Cattani (University of Massachusetts), who taught "Introduction to Real Analysis," March 23-April 12, 2009.  Recent lectures include Jan Hannig (University of North Carolina), who taught "Introduction to Statistics" from May 7-29, 2009 and Angel Piñeda (California State University), who lectured on "Numerical Analysis" from May 25-June 12, 2009.

Associate Professor Helene Tyler (Manhattan College, New York) will be lecturing at RUPP from November 30-December 18, 2009.

The 2008 lecturers supported in Cambodia were:  John Lamperti (Dartmouth College), "Real Analysis," Jan Hannig (Colorado State University), "Statistics"; and Yontha Ath (Aerospace Corporation), "Numerical Analysis."      
 

PREVIOUS YEARS

 United States-Mexico Lecture Series (2007-2008)
Working closely with Ernesto Lupercio at the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Cinvestav) in Mexico, the USNC/Math organized a U.S.-Mexico Lecture Series.  Supported lecturers included: 

• Frederick Cohen and Dennis Sullivan participated in November 2007. 
• Bernd Sturmfels (University of California, Berkeley), “Algebraic Statistics for Computational Biology” and “The Algebraic Degree of Semidefinite Programming” on January 10-11, 2007.
• Kevin Costello (Northwestern University), "Topological Conformal Field Theories," March 26-28, 2008.
• Mark Mahowald (Northwestern University), “ The L_2 localization of the mod3 Moore Space," October 22, 2008.
• Michael Hopkins (Harvard University), “Topological Quantum Field Theories: Quantum Counting in Algebraic Topology” and “More on Topological Quantum Field Theories,” October 22 and 24, 2008.
• Thomas Nevins (Urbana-Champaigne University of Illinois-Urbana), “Integrable Systems in Algebraic Geometry, ”
  December 10-11, 2008.

Outcomes: This initiative has produced collaborations between students and participating scholars.  Two Mexican students have arranged collaborative visits in the United States with two of the lecturers for an extended period of time.  Currently, student Miguel Angel Maldonado is collaborating with Fred Cohen at the University of Rochester and Carlos Segovia plans to visit Ralph Cohen at Stanford University this year.

 Math Workshops in Colombia (2007-2008)
Held in the colonial town of Villa de Leyva, Colombia from March 28-30, 2007, the 2007 Visiting Lecturer Program was a workshop focused on Model Theory.  The workshop consisted of three coordinated three-hour tutorials on o-minimality offered by Professors David Marker (University of Illinois at Chicago), Sergei Starchenko (University of Notre Dame), and Charles Steinhorn (Vassar College), and two (voluntary) problem sessions based on the material covered in the tutorials.  Eight one-hour lectures were offered, and a research meeting followed the tutorial workshop on o-minimality on Saturday March 31st and Sunday, April 1st. 

The 2008 workshop, held March 28-29, 2008, focused on Dependent Theories, consisting of three coordinated three-hour tutorials offered by professors Lou van den Dries (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Anand Pillay (University of Leeds), and Alexander Usvyatsov (University of California, Los Angeles and Universidade de Lisboa), and two (voluntary) problem sessions based on the material covered in the tutorials.  Seven one-hour lectures were also offered.

 Math Lectures in Benin (2007) 
The USNC/Math coordinated a lecture visit by Lesley and Robert Sibner to the Institut de Mathematiques et de Sciences Physiques (IMSP) in Porto Novo, Benin on January 11-28, 2007.  Many of the lectures and classes dealt with harmonic forms.

 Workshops in Senegal (2007) 
The Committee, in partnership with the IMU and the African Mathematics Millennium Science Initiative (AMMSI), sponsored a week-long workshop in the area of Differential Equations and their Applications in Saint-Louis, Senegal, in 2007.  The purpose of this workshop was to cultivate long-term mentoring relations in a specific research area between individual mathematicians and students.

 Math Lectures in Turkey (2006-2007) 
Working with leaders at the Istanbul Center for Mathematical Sciences, the USNC/Math coordinated a short-term visit by Daniel Goldston from San Jose State University.  His primary lecture, held October 10, 2006, focused on recent work with Janos Pintz and Cem Yildirim on small gaps between primes.  In addition, Edris Titi presented in April 2007, and Charles Akemann in May 2007. 
 

Current Membership

RESOURCE LINKS

Sponsors

The USNC/Math is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. MPS-0650065.

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