RTG: Commutative Algebra at Nebraska

This project is jointly funded by the Algebra and Number Theory Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The Research Training Group (RTG) in Commutative Algebra at Nebraska will establish a number of activities for researchers at career stages ranging from undergraduate students to faculty. The training will provide opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to jumpstart their research programs and develop broad skills as professionals, and for undergraduates to cement their interest and confidence in mathematics. This training will increase participation of first-generation and Hispanic students and enhance the competitiveness of junior researchers in algebra overall. Training activities supported by this grant include a first-year Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) for first-generation college students, an international REU run in partnership with Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas in Guanajuato, Mexico, and a professional development workshop for early-career algebraists throughout the US. This grant will also create three postdoctoral positions and support numerous graduate students. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a decades-long reputation as an international center for commutative algebra. Our research group has made significant advances in the study of Betti numbers and free resolutions, symbolic powers, numerics and asymptotics of fat point schemes, interpolation problems, p-derivations in commutative algebra, prime characteristic commutative algebra, differential operators and singularities, among other topics of current interest. This grant will propel further advances in these areas by increasing the participation of postdocs and graduate students in our research program. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.