Category: News Postings

MSRI is launching a new series of video productions, called “New Horizons in Undergraduate Mathematics”. As the MSRI site says, “These videos will showcase great lecturers speaking on topics from current research that are both important, accessible and ready to enter the undergraduate curriculum.”
We’re delighted to see that the first of these lecture series is Gröbner Bases with Bernd Sturmfels. It’s always nice to see commutative algebra and commutative algebraists taking the lead in educational projects like this.
update: You can order the DVD through the MSRI site, and a free downloadable version will be available soon.
update: We also recently learned of the passing of Serge Lang on 12 September 2005 at age 78.

On August 29, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States. Damage was especially severe in Louisiana; a majority of the New Orleans area is flooded, with some parts under 20 feet of water. Our colleagues in the affected areas, particularly those at Tulane University, could use our help. If you can offer a place to stay temporarily, or need a seminar speaker or two in the next couple of weeks, let us know (email at webmaster@commalg.org) and we’ll put you in touch.
Also, we’d like to collect reports of people who are ok, as well as those who could use a little help. We’re thinking of you.
update 1 Sept: We’ve heard from Tulane colleagues Christine Cumming and Brent Strunk (in Dallas), and Tai Ha and his wife (in Houston). Everyone is OK.
update 12 Sept: Tulane has cancelled classes for the fall semester.

Shunsuke Takagi has posted lots of photos from the “Kommutative Algebra” workshop in Oberwolfach in April.
update 6 July: Rachelle Bouchat has posted a number of photos from the Summer Research Conference on Commutative Algebra at Snowbird, Utah.
update 12 July: We’ve posted many more photos from the Oberwolfach workshop in April, the Nebraska Wiegandfest, and Snowbird. Enjoy!

The British newspaper The Independent published a half-page obituary of Professor Douglas G. Northcott, FRS, on Monday, May 2nd, 2005. Northcott passed away on April 11.
In other sad news, Saunders Mac Lane, one of the foremost algebraists of the 20th century, has passed away, age 95. In addition to an an obituary at University of Chicago, several mathematicians have written thoughtful tributes to Mac Lane’s life and work, including John Baez and Mac Lane’s student David Eisenbud (PDF link).

Bahman Engheta has posted lots of photos from the 30th Arkansas Spring Lecture Series in April. Thanks, Bahman! Go see!

The London Times of Monday April 11th announces the sad news that Professor Douglas Geoffrey Northcott FRS, who was Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Sheffield from 1952 until his retirement in 1982, and whose name is well known to many commutative algebraists, died on Friday April 8th, 2005, aged 88 years. Here is a link to the obituary in the Times. Thanks to Rodney Sharp for passing along this sad news.

We’ve posted photos from last fall’s meetings in Ithaca, Nashville, and Lawrence. Go see!

We’ve posted several photos from the recent International Symposium on Commutative Rings and Monoids that was held in Graz, Austria, back in October 2004. Thanks to Karl Kattchee for the great pictures. Go see!
Also, Adam Van Tuyl has posted a great number of photos that Leslie Roberts took at the recent Commutative Algebra Session at the Montreal meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Society. Thanks, Adam and Leslie! Go see!

John Abbott has posted many many photos of last summer’s CoCoA conference in Cadiz, Spain. Go see!
Also, we’ve posted some photos from the recent workshop in Banff, Canada. Go see!

We’ve posted some photographs from the recent summer school on “Interactions between Homotopy Theory and Algebra” at the University of Chicago. As always, we’d be happy to post any additional photos, and grateful for any corrections or additions. Also, lecture notes from the summer school have been posted.
Update. Lecture notes from the mini-course on “Classical Problems in Commutative Algebra” at the University of Utah have been posted. Enjoy!