# Mathematical Sciences Research Institute

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1. # WorkshopAlgebraic Statistics

Serkan Hosten (SFSU), Lior Pachter (UCB), Bernd Sturmfels (UCB)

Algebraic statistics is a maturing discipline focused on the applications of algebraic geometry and its computational
tools in the study of statistical models. Initial results in the area were related to specific problems in categorial data analysis and experimental design, however
a flurry of activity during the past several years has greatly increased the scope of the subject. Areas of interest now include graphical models, maximum likelihood estimation and
Bayesian methods. Moreover, a strong connection has developed to applications in the physical and biological sciences. The field draws its tools not only from computational
algebraic geometry but also from tropical, convex, and information geometry. Moreover, research in algebraic statistics has led to new directions in those fields. The workshop
will be a meeting point for students and leaders in the field. It will present a focused activity parallel to the 2008-2009 program on Algebraic Methods in Systems Biology and Statistics being hosted by
the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute.

Dec 15, 2008
Monday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Conditional independence structures and polyhedra Milan Studeny 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Algebraic Statistics and Disclosure Limitation Problems Aleksandra Slavkovich 01:30 PM - 02:10 PM Non-commutative harmonic analysis in machine learning Risi Kondor 02:20 PM - 03:00 PM Markov basis for p1 random graph models Sonja Petrovic 03:30 PM - 04:10 PM Hierarchical models for random permutations Villo Csiszar 04:20 PM - 05:00 PM Algebraic models for higher-order correlations Lek-Heng Lim (University of Chicago)
Dec 16, 2008
Tuesday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Perturbation method for determining group of invariance of hierarchical models Akimichi takemura 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Phylogenetic invariants Marta Casanellas 01:30 PM - 02:10 PM Semi-algebraic description of conditional independence tree models for binary data Piotr Zwiernik 02:20 PM - 03:00 PM Towards the salmon conjecture Luke Oeding (University of California, Berkeley) 03:30 PM - 04:10 PM Markov bases of binary graph models Serguei Norine 04:20 PM - 05:00 PM "Equations for hidden Markov and related models" Alexander Schoenhuth
Dec 17, 2008
Wednesday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM On the natural geometry of exponential families Nihat Ay 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Algebraic Geometrical Method in Singular Statistical Estimation Sumio Watanabe 01:30 PM - 02:10 PM Asymptotic Approximation of Marginal Likelihood Integrals Shaowei Lin 02:20 PM - 03:00 PM Finiteness of small factor analysis models Han Xiao 03:30 PM - 04:10 PM Exactness in numerical algebraic computations Daniel Bates 04:20 PM - 05:00 PM Moment matrices and real root finding Philipp Rostalski
Dec 18, 2008
Thursday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM First steps toward the geometry of cophylogeny Ruriko Yoshida 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Algebraic statistics in non-parametric information geometry" Giovanni Pistone 01:30 PM - 02:10 PM Hypothesis Testing For The Wishart Distributions Over A Lorentz Cone Ahmad Yasamin 02:20 PM - 03:00 PM Commuting birth-and-death processes Caroline Uhler 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM Finiteness theorems in algebraic statistics Seth Sullivant (North Carolina State University)
2. # WorkshopUsing Partnerships to Strengthen Elementary Mathematics Teacher Education

Deborah Ball (University of Michigan), James Lewis (University of Nebraska), and William McCallum (University of Arizona)

A core problem – perhaps the central problem – for improving elementary school mathematics is the mathematical education of elementary teachers. The historic isolation of elementary teachers’ study of mathematics from their pedagogical preparation is increasingly seen to be both unnatural and ineffective. Indeed, the mathematical education of elementary teachers is inherently interdisciplinary as future teachers seek to gain the mathematical knowledge, the pedagogical knowledge and the knowledge of young students that is needed to become a successful mathematics teacher. Thus, it seems reasonable that an integrative learning approach to mathematical education of elementary teachers could yield substantial benefits.

Dec 11, 2008
Thursday
 09:00 AM - 10:15 AM Introduction to the Workshop Deborah Ball (University of Michigan), William McCallum (University of Arizona) 10:40 AM - 12:20 PM The Mathematics Semester at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Ruth Heaton (University of Nebraska), Jim Lewis (University of Nebraska) 01:30 PM - 03:10 PM Mathematics for Future Teachers and Parents at Mills College Ruth Cossey (Mills College), Barbara Li Santi
Dec 12, 2008
Friday
 09:00 AM - 10:05 AM Forming Partnerships Across Institutional Boundaries (budgetary, departmental, college) Deborah Ball (University of Michigan), Jim Lewis (University of Nebraska), William McCallum (University of Arizona) 10:40 AM - 12:20 PM Math Courses for Elementary Teachers at Sonoma State University Ben Ford, Brigitte Lahme (Sonoma State University), Rick Marks, Edith Mendez, Kathy Morris 01:30 PM - 03:10 PM Learning Mathematics for Elementary Teaching at the University of Michigan Deborah Ball (University of Michigan), Hyman Bass (University of Michigan), Tim Boerst, Laurie Sleep 03:35 PM - 04:30 PM Collaborative Instruction in Middle/High School Teacher Education Rebecca McGraw 05:00 PM - 05:30 PM Closing Session Deborah Ball (University of Michigan)
3. # WorkshopDiscrete Rigidity Phenomena in Additive Combinatorics

Ben Green (University of Cambridge), Bryna Kra (Northwestern University), Emmanuel Lesigne (University of Tours), Anthony Quas (University of Victoria), Mate Wierdl (University of Memphis)

Nov 03, 2008
Monday
 09:00 AM - 09:45 AM Discrete Rigidity Phenomena Ben Green (University of Cambridge) 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM Uniform spectral gap bounds Alexander Gamburd (University of California, Santa Cruz) 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM How does one recognize a nilsequence? Bernard Host 02:15 PM - 03:00 PM Sum-Product and Character Sums in finite fields Mei-Chu Chang (University of California)
Nov 04, 2008
Tuesday
 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM A strong Tits Alternative and Arithmetic Heights Emmanuel Breuillard (Université Paris-Sud (Orsay)) 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM Growth in SL3 Harald Helfgott (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)) 01:45 PM - 02:30 PM Randomness Extractors Avi Wigderson 02:35 PM - 03:20 PM Freiman-type theorems in nonabelian groups Tom Sanders 03:45 PM - 04:30 PM Multiple recurrence along the shifted primes Tamar Ziegler (Hebrew University)
Nov 05, 2008
Wednesday
 09:00 AM - 09:45 AM Rigidity of unipotent joinings in positive characteristic Manfred Einsiedler (Eidgenössische TH Zürich-Hönggerberg) 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM Inverse Theorems and Inapproximability Ryan O'Donnell 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM On stationary measures and random walks on tori. Elon Lindenstrauss (Hebrew University)
Nov 06, 2008
Thursday
 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Eigenvalue multiplicity and growth of groups James Lee 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM The horocycle flow and primes Adrian Ubis 01:45 PM - 02:30 PM Extension of Selberg's theorem and sieving in Jean Bourgain (Institute for Advanced Study) 02:35 PM - 03:20 PM Uniform distribution and Hecke Operators Akshay Venkatesh (Stanford University) 04:00 PM - 04:45 PM Additive Combinatorics and Piecewise Bohr Subsets of N Hillel Furstenberg (Hebrew University)
Nov 07, 2008
Friday
 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Decompositions into polynomial phase functions Julia Wolf 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM A Boosting proof of the weak regularity lemma Luca Trevisan 01:45 PM - 02:30 PM Graph norms and Sidorenko's conjecture Hamed Hatami 02:35 PM - 03:20 PM Distribution of Orbits on NIlmanifolds Terence Tao (University of California, Los Angeles)
4. # WorkshopElliptic and Hyperbolic Equations on Singular Spaces

Gilles Carron, Eugenie Hunsicker, Richard Melrose, Michael Taylor, Andras Vasy and Jared Wunsch

Oct 27, 2008
Monday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM A Probabilistic Viewpoint Giles Lebeau 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Restriction theorems on asymptotically conic manifolds Andrew Hassell 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM Inverse hyperbolic problems and optical(acoustic)black holes. Gregory Eskin 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM The Cauchy problem for the homogeneous Monge Ampere geodesic equation Steven Zelditch (Northwestern University)
Oct 28, 2008
Tuesday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Global parametrices and decay for wave and Schroedinger evolutions on asymptotically flat backgrounds Daniel Tataru (University of California, Berkeley) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM "The resonant Hermite-Schr\"odinger equation on the sphere" Nicolas Burq (Université Paris-Sud (Orsay)) 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM Minimal Energy Yang-Mills connections and interpolating instantons. Mark Stern 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM "The scattering matrix, sojourn times, and an inverse problem for planar waveguide Tanya Christiansen (University of Missouri)
Oct 29, 2008
Wednesday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Millson formula for infinite volume case, and the odd zeta Selberg function. Colin Guillarmou 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM "Flexibility of singular Einstein metrics'' Rafe Mazzeo (Stanford University)
Oct 30, 2008
Thursday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Boundary Problems for the Laplacian in Convex Domains Marius Mitrea 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM 11 dimensional supergravity and asymptotically hyperbolic scattering Robin Graham 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM "The Iterative Structure of Corner Operators" Bert-Wolfgang Schulze
Oct 31, 2008
Friday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM "Wave propagation and high energy resolvent estimates for De Sitter - Schwarzchild space András Vasy 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Quantization on fractal trapped sets in scattering by convex obstacles Maciej Zworski (University of California, Berkeley) 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM Dynamics and Spectral Asymptotics Victor Ivrii
5. # WorkshopPromoting Diversity at the Graduate Level in Mathematics: a National Forum

Sylvia Bozeman (Spelman College), Rhonda Hughes (Bryn Mawr College), Abbe Herzig (SUNY, University at Albany), Duane Cooper (Morehouse College), Ellen Kirkman(Wake Forest University), Ivelisse Rubio (University of Puerto Rico), and Olivia Scriven (Spelman College). Honorary organizers include: Dusa McDuff ( SUNY Stonybrook and Barnard College), Fern Hunt (NIST), and Karen Uhlenbeck (U of Texas at Austin).

Cultivating diversity and broadening participation of historically underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences are national goals that are identified by the National Science Foundation as "essential components of the innovation engine that drives the Nation's economy." The goal of this three-day conference is to stimulate, identify, and disseminate successful models that imporve retention of underrepresented groups in graduate programs in mathematics.

Oct 15, 2008
Wednesday
 09:00 AM - 09:30 AM Welcome, Overview, Articulation of Goals Sylvia Bozeman (Spelman College) 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Plenary Talk Trachette Jackson (University of Michigan) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM "Framing the Issues: What the Data Show, and What We Know" Abbe Herzig 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM "The Students' Perspective - Navigating through Critical Transition Points" Rachelle DeCoste, Leona Harris 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM Deanna Haunsperger (Carleton College), Cora Sadosky
Oct 16, 2008
Thursday
 09:15 AM - 09:30 AM "Why a diverse community matters, NSF initative on Broadening Participation." Deborah Lockhart 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Women and Math Program at the Institute for Advanced Study Karen Uhlenbeck (University of Texas) 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM "Mathematics Faculty, Mathematics Students: Why Do They Look so Different?" Shirley Malcom 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM "Framing the Issues: What the Data Show, and What We Know about Diversity in the Mathematics Community" Ellen Kirkman (Wake Forest University) 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM "What Can Be Done to Broaden Participation in the Mathematical Sciences?" David Manderscheid 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM What Can be Done to Broaden Participation in the Mathematical Sciences? David Manderscheid 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM The Students Speak Teresa Edwards, Dusa McDuff (Barnard College)
Oct 17, 2008
Friday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM "A Diversity of Careers in Mathematics" Garikai Campbell, Alina Cojocaru, Emille Davie, Laura DeMarco, Trachette Jackson (University of Michigan), Beatrice Riviere 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Low numbers: stereotype threat and the performance of women and minorities Joshua Aronson 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM "A Tale of Two Cultures" Duane Cooper (Morehouse College), Edray Goins (Purdue University), Ruth Haas, Yi Liu, John Meakin, Janis Oldham, Thomas Scanlon (University of California, Berkeley)
6. # WorkshopTopology of Stratified Spaces

Greg Friedman, Eugénie Hunsicker, Anatoly Libgober, and Laurentiu Maxim

This workshop will bring together researchers interested in the topology of stratified spaces. It will focus roughly on four topics: topology of complex varieties, signature theory on singular spaces, L2 and intersection cohomology, and mixed Hodge theory and singularities. Aside from talks on current research, there will be a series of introductory lectures on these themes. These talks will be aimed at strengthening the connections among the various topology research groups and the connections between topology researchers and researchers at the program on Analysis of Singular Spaces, running concurrently.

Sep 08, 2008
Monday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM An introduction to L^2 cohomology Xianzhe Dai (University of California, Santa Barbara) 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM L2 cohomology of QALE space Gilles Carron (Université de Nantes) 01:15 PM - 02:15 PM Cohomology of compactifications of locally symmetric spaces Les Saper 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM The signature operator on Witt spaces (joint work with Pierre Albin, Eric Leichtnam and Rafe Mazzeo) Paolo Piazza
Sep 09, 2008
Tuesday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM The Signature of Singular Spaces and its Refinements to Generalized Homology Theories. Markus Banagl 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Replacement of fixed points of group actions Sylvain Cappell 01:15 PM - 02:15 PM Stratified Surgery and Functoriality Shmuel Weinberger 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM The weight filtration for real algebraic varieties Clinton McCrory (University of Georgia) 04:00 PM - 04:30 PM Lattices with torsion and rational homology manifolds Jim Fowler 04:30 PM - 05:00 PM The (intersection) homology groups of a fibre bundle over a sphere Filipp Levikov
Sep 10, 2008
Wednesday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM Elliptic genus of singular varieties Anatoly Libgober (University of Illinois) 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM Cohomology of complements to algebraic plane curves Daniel Matei 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM Monodromy of curves and quasi-ordinary surfaces Lee McEwan (The Ohio State University-Mansfield) 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM Leray-type Operators for Stratified Spaces and the Parshin's Reciprocity Law for Residues Mikhail Mazin
Sep 11, 2008
Thursday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM Singular Elliptic Genus of Normal Surfaces Robert Waelder 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Singularities in the Minimal Model Program Sandor Kovacs (University of Washington) 01:15 PM - 02:15 PM Motivic Characteristic classes of singulare varieties Shoji Yokura 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM The perverse filtration and the Lefschetz Hyperplane Theorem Mark de Cataldo
Sep 12, 2008
Friday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM Hodge Structures and Homological Mirror Symmetry Ludmil Katzarkov (University of Miami) 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Singularities of Normal Functions Gregory Pearlstein 01:15 PM - 02:15 PM Characteristic classes of mixed Hodge modules Joerg Schuermann 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM Hodge theory of Calabi-Yau fibrations Matt Kerr
7. # WorkshopIntroductory Workshop on Analysis on Singular Spaces

Gilles Carron, Eugenie Hunsicker, Richard Melrose, Michael Taylor, Andras Vasy and Jared Wunsch

This four-day program will be an introduction to the main themes of the Analysis on Singular Spaces program, geared toward graduate students and postdocs. It will consist of several minicourses, covering topics in
spectral and scattering theory, index theory, and $L²$-cohomology, as well as developing the technical tools needed as background.

Sep 02, 2008
Tuesday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pseudodifferential Operators on Singular Spaces I Michael Taylor (University of North Carolina) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Real Blow-ups I Richard Melrose (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM Spectral and Scattering Theory I Maciej Zworski (University of California, Berkeley) 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM Pseudodifferential Operators on Singular Spaces II Michael Taylor (University of North Carolina) 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM Introduction to Index Theory Gerd Grubb
Sep 03, 2008
Wednesday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pseudodifferential Operators on Singular Spaces III Michael Taylor (University of North Carolina) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Real Blow-ups II Richard Melrose (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM Spectral and Scattering theory, II Tanya Christiansen (University of Missouri) 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM Cohomology, I Gilles Carron (Université de Nantes) 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM Introduction to Index Theory II Gerd Grubb
Sep 04, 2008
Thursday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pseudodifferential Operators on Singular Spaces Michael Taylor (University of North Carolina) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Real Blow-ups III Richard Melrose (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM Cohomology, II Gilles Carron (Université de Nantes) 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM Introduction to Index Theory III Gerd Grubb
Sep 05, 2008
Friday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM Spectral and Scattering theory, III Maciej Zworski (University of California, Berkeley) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Index Theory on Singular Spaces, I Paul Loya 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM Spectral and Scattering theory, IV Tanya Christiansen (University of Missouri) 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM Cohomology, III Gilles Carron (Université de Nantes) 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM Index Theory on Singular Spaces, II Paul Loya
8. # WorkshopBroader Connections: Analysis on Singular Spaces

Gilles Carron, Eugenie Hunsicker, Richard Melrose, Michael Taylor, Andras Vasy, and Jared Wunsch

This two-day program will consist of a "crash course" in topics in PDE relevant to the Analysis on Singular Spaces main program, and in particular will attempt to get graduate students, postdocs, and even advanced
undergraduates ready for the Introductory Workshop the following week. The focus will be topics in analysis on smooth manifolds whose generalizations to singular spaces will be the focus of the main program.

Aug 28, 2008
Thursday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM Differential operators Thalia Jeffres 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Differential operators Thalia Jeffres 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Introduction to pseudodifferential operators Eugenie Hunsicker (Loughborough University) 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM Index theory I Paul Loya
Aug 29, 2008
Friday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM Index theory II Paul Loya 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM Scattering theory Tanya Christiansen (University of Missouri) 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM Hodge theory Eugenie Hunsicker (Loughborough University)
9. # WorkshopIntroduction to Ergodic Theory and Additive Combinatorics

Ben Green (University of Cambridge), Bryna Kra (Northwestern University), Emmanuel Lesigne (University of Tours), Anthony Quas (University of Victoria), and Mate Wierdl (University of Memphis)

Aug 25, 2008
Monday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Nilmanifolds in ergodic theory, I Bernard Host 11:10 AM - 12:00 PM On the sumsets of infinite sequences Endre Szemeredi 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM Nilmanifolds in ergodic theory, II Bernard Host 04:10 PM - 05:00 PM Szemeredi's theorem and Hardy fields Nikos Frantzikinakis
Aug 26, 2008
Tuesday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM An Introduction to Diophantine Dynamics Vitaly Bergelson 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Nilmanifolds in ergodic theory, III Bernard Host 02:00 PM - 02:50 PM Arithmetic progressions in sets of fractional dimension Izabella Laba 04:10 PM - 05:00 PM Random Fibonacci sequences Thierry de la Rue
Aug 27, 2008
Wednesday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Progressions in primes, I Ben Green (University of Cambridge) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Ergodic Ramsey theory and amenable groups Vitaly Bergelson
Aug 28, 2008
Thursday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Correspondence principle and finitary ergodic theory, I Terence Tao (University of California, Los Angeles) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Progressions in primes, II Ben Green (University of Cambridge) 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM Correspondence principle and finitary ergodic theory, II Terence Tao (University of California, Los Angeles) 04:10 PM - 05:00 PM Roth's theorem in additive combinatorics Tom Sanders
Aug 29, 2008
Friday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Progressions in primes, III Ben Green (University of Cambridge) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Correspondence principle and finitary ergodic theory, III Terence Tao (University of California, Los Angeles) 02:00 PM - 02:50 PM An inverse theorem for the uniformity seminorms associated with the action of \F_p^\infty. Tamar Ziegler (Hebrew University) 04:10 PM - 05:00 PM Connections between Ramsey theory for trees and Markov processes Benjamin Weiss
10. # WorkshopBroader Connections: Ergodic Theory and Additive Combinatorics

Ben Green (University of Cambridge), Bryna Kra (Northwestern University), Emmanuel Lesigne (University of Tours), Anthony Quas (University of Victoria), Mate Wierdl (University of Memphis)

Aug 21, 2008
Thursday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM An Introduction to Ideas and Methods of Ergodic Ramsey Theory Vitaly Bergelson 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Harmonic Analysis and Additive Combinatorics Izabella Laba 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM An introduction to characteristic factors in ergodic theory Tamar Ziegler (Hebrew University) 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM An introduction to homogeneous dynamics Akshay Venkatesh (Stanford University)
Aug 22, 2008
Friday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM An Introduction to Ideas and Methods of Ergodic Ramsey Theory Vitaly Bergelson 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Harmonic Analysis and Additive Combinatorics Izabella Laba 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM An introduction to characteristic factors in ergodic theory Tamar Ziegler (Hebrew University) 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM An introduction to homogeneous dynamics Akshay Venkatesh (Stanford University)
11. # WorkshopLow Dimensional Topology

Elisenda Grigsby, Rob Schneiderman, Peter Teichner and Kevin Walker

In recent years, there has been lots of exciting progress in many branches of low-dimensional topology, including Heegard Floer and Khovanov Homology, small 4-Manifolds, TQFT, knot concordance and Lefschetz fibrations. These are the main themes of this workshop whose format will be three one-hour lectures every day, two in the morning and one survey lecture in the afternoon (except for Friday). This survey lecture will be followed by a panel for experts, lead by the afternoon speaker and some other leaders of the field. The panel will discuss current developments and open problems and it can be extended into the late afternoon if so desired by the panelists.

Aug 11, 2008
Monday
 09:00 AM - 09:30 AM Michael Freedman (University of California, San Diego) 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Towards Quantum Characteristic Classes Michael Freedman (University of California, San Diego) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Twisted Alexander Polynomials and Fibrations of 3-manifolds Stefano Vidussi 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM 4-manifolds, Big and Small Ronald Stern (University of California, Irvine)
Aug 12, 2008
Tuesday
 09:30 AM - 10:40 AM Knot Homologies via Instanton Counting Sergei Gukov (California Institute of Technology) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Projectivization, W-Knots, Kashiwara-Vergne and Alekseev-Torossian Dror Bar-Natan 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM Broken Lefschetz fibrations on smooth 4-manifolds Denis Auroux (University of California, Berkeley)
Aug 13, 2008
Wednesday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Contact structures, Heegaard Floer homology and triangulated categories Ko Honda 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Unified Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants of rational homology 3-spheres Anna Beliakova 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM The origin of the calculus (not Newton's) Robion Kirby (UC Berkeley Math Faculty)
Aug 14, 2008
Thursday
 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM Categorification of quantum groups Mikhail Khovanov (Columbia University) 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Sutured Floer homology and Seifert surfaces Andras Juhasz 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM Heegaard Floer homology Peter Ozsvath
Aug 15, 2008
Friday
 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM 4-manifolds and the A-B slice problem Slava Krushkal 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM Knot Concordance and Higher-Order Blanchfield Duality Constance Leidy 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM The Seiberg-Witten equations and dynamics of vector fields in dimension 3 Clifford Taubes (Harvard University)