MSCS receives Research Training Group grant in algebraic geometry
The Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science has received a prestigious NSF Research and Training Group (RTG) grant. The 5-year $2,489,045 grant is primarily for training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in algebraic geometry and related fields such as number theory, model theory and complex dynamics. The PI of the grant is the head of the department Lawrence Ein and the co-PIs are Izzet Coskun, Laura DeMarco, Dave Marker, Mihnea Popa and Ramin Takloo-Bighash. The grant will support 40 graduate students with an amount of more than $1 million in stipends and tuition waivers and 6 postdoctoral fellows. Moreover, the grant allocates $80,000 for undergraduate research projects and is expected to significantly impact the number of students who do summer research in mathematics. In addition, the group will teach a research-focused undergraduate algebraic geometry topics course which should increase the competitiveness of undergraduates who are applying for graduate school in mathematics.
Using the grant, the department was already able to recruit some top graduate students for this academic year, including Samuel Shiedeler from Princeton University, Christopher Perez from the California Institute of Technology, Kevin Vissuet from the University of California San Diego and Trevor Leslie from Indiana University. The head of MSCS Lawrence Ein said that "UIC is already one of the leading research centers in algebraic geometry and related fields in the US. The RTG grant should help cement MSCS's place as one of the top mathematics departments in the country by helping attract the most brilliant graduate students and postdocs."