The College of Wooster was recently fortunate enough to host the 34th annual Summer Symposium in Real Analysis, a conference that attracted some of the world’s top mathematicians. Attendees ranged in origin from Botswana, India, Brazil, the Czech Republic, the Russian Federation and several other countries.
The goal of the conference was to bring together some of the top scholars in the field of Real Analysis with the hope that discussion and demonstration will further future research. The symposium was supported by a grant received by Pam Pierce, professor of mathematics and computer science at the College. Pierce applied for the† grant through the National Science Foundation and ended up receiving $15,700 in order to help pay for the conference costs.
When asked what the general topics of conversation were at the conference, Pierce said, “most of the participants gave a talk describing their recent research, so it provides a nice forum in which to present your results.” Titles of different presentations included “Fuzzy Topological Vector Spaces,” “Irregular Recurrence in Compact Metric Spaces,” and “Local and Global Curvatures of Self-Similar Sets.” In addition, more than 25 other presentations were given throughout the symposium.
Along with the presentations were group discussions amongst scholars in order to interact face-to-face. Pierce said that “mathematicians also [had] the opportunity to work together on open problems and share ideas based on the talks that are presented.” This allowed for attendees to† grapple with problems and search for ways to solve them.
Although the majority of the attendees were advanced scholars in their field, David Freundë13, worked as a student assistant to† Pierce and also was able to participate in the lectures. Freund is incredibly grateful for the experience he had during the conference, saying that, “when I agreed to help Dr. Pierce with the conference, I didn’t dream that I would have [such] an amazing of an experience.” Freund was able to meet a variety of people, including the director of the Budapest semesters in Mathematics program. Freund hopes to attend the semester during his junior year as a study abroad program. Freund said that one of the best parts of being able to attend the symposium was the overall feeling of welcome he got from the other attendes. He said, “even though I’m an undergraduate, I felt included outside of the lectures and some attendees were simply thrilled that I’m interested in mathematics.” He hopes he is able to keep in contact with them and see them again in the future.
Even though the conference covered some complicated and intense topics, the attendees still managed to have some fun while visiting Wooster.† They were able to experience life in Wooster by taking a† bus tour of Amish Country, with assistance from Professors David McConnell and Chuck Hurst from the Sociology/Anthropology department who helped with narration. In addition, there was an opening reception and a closing banquet for everyone who participated.
Pierce said, “I always find it interesting to hear what other mathematicians in my field are working on.” However, the diversity of people at the conference made a lasting impact and was one of the most interesting aspects for her. She added, “The people are really the most interesting part of the conference. It is always fascinating talking with people from many different places, whether about mathematics or about other parts of their lives.”