Conference: Northeast Probability Seminar

This award supports the 25th Northeast Probability Seminar, to be held November 19-20, 2026, at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. It is a long-standing regional meeting, held annually since 2002 and hosted on a 3-year cycle by the City University of New York, Columbia University, and New York University. The Northeast Probability Seminar promotes progress in science by bringing together researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students from across the Northeast and beyond to share current developments in probability theory, an area of mathematics that studies randomness and uncertainty, with applications in machine learning and artificial intelligence, and plays an increasing role in science, engineering, and society. A primary purpose of the meeting is the training and professional development of the next generation of probabilists. NSF funding will support the four plenary speakers and the participation of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early career investigators from the U.S. without their own funding, broadening access to the meeting and to the professional networks that form there. The scientific program features four plenary lectures by leading probabilists, complemented by informal afternoon sessions in which approximately twenty-five early career researchers give ten-minute presentations of their recent work and discuss open problems. Research directions of the plenary speakers reflect some of the most recent advances in probability theory together with its growing interactions with data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, statistical physics, and the theory of computing. In particular, they bring expertise in random matrix theory and spectra of random graphs, with applications to clustering, community detection, and the mathematical foundations of learning algorithms; high-dimensional probability and statistical physics, including spin glasses; the asymptotic behavior of stochastic partial differential equations, including the KPZ and stochastic heat equations; and Markov chain mixing and discrete probability, with connections to sampling algorithms, theoretical computer science, and computer-aided reasoning in mathematics. The conference webpage is available at https://probability.commons.gc.cuny.edu/25th-northeast-probability-seminar/. 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.