In this issue of the Newsletter

Milestones and Prizes

Congratulations to John Pardon on winning the New Horizons in Mathematics Prize for important results in geometry and topology, particularly in the field of symplectic geometry and pseudo-holomorphic curves, which are certain types of smooth surfaces in manifolds.

From Billiard Dynamics to Riemann Surfaces

From Billiard Dynamics to Riemann Surfaces. By Samuel Grushevsky Teichmuller Dynamics via Algebraic Geometry

Random Paths and Purpose: A Conversation with Scott Sheffield

Random Paths and Purpose: A Conversation with Scott Sheffield. Interview by Evita Nestoridi

Random Paths to Quantum Field Theory

Random Paths to Quantum Field Theory. By Antti Kupiainen

The SCGP Cafe Hosts a Transit of Venus Wine and Cheese Event – June 2012

  Transit of Venus  Wine and Cheese Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 5:30pm Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony Brook University Enjoy fine wines from Jamesport vineyard expertly paired with locally sourced cheeses by Chef Paolo while gazing at Venus from the Cafe’s outdoor eating area. $55 per person, cash and credit accepted at the door. … Read more

Algebraic Topology, Field Theory and Strings 5/21/12 – 5/25/12

Organized by Dan Freed, Constantin Teleman and Greg Moore This final workshop of the Algebraic Topology with Applications to Physics  program presents recent ideas at the interfaces of topology, higher algebraic structures, representation theory, quantum field theory, and integrable systems.              

String Theory for Mathematicians 5/14/12 – 5/18/12

“In this workshop, we will bring algebraic geometers and string theorists together to discuss these topics and identify new topics of common interest.  We particularly hope to attract algebraic geometers who have not actively worked on string-related topics before, and to this end the workshop will include a series of introductory lectures for mathematicians, one … Read more

Ari Pakman – Fast Penalized State-space Methods for Inferring Dendritic Synaptic Connectivity, 05/01/2012

Speaker: Ari Pakman (Columbia University) Title: Fast Penalized State-space Methods for Inferring Dendritic Synaptic Connectivity When: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 Time: 11:30 am Where: Simons Center, Lecture Hall 102 Abstract: We present fast methods for filtering voltage measurements and performing optimal inference of the location and strength of synaptic connections in large dendritic trees. Given noisy, subsampled … Read more

When Physics meets Biology

William Bialek, Princeton University, is one of the pioneers in the field of Biophysics. His achievements span from Computational Biology to Neuroscience and Information Theory. As the speaker for the second Della Pietra Lecture Series he explains to a packed crowd what this cross-cutting discipline is about.

String Phenomenology, April 23rd – 27th, 2012

Organized by Mike Douglas, Gordon Kane and Dave Morrison String phenomenology is the field which attempts to make contact between string theory and “real world” physics such as experiments at particle colliders, cosmology and astroparticle physics.  Especially after the duality revolution of the 90’s, major progress has been made towards constructing string models which reproduce … Read more

A Staged Reading of QED by Peter Parnell. Thursday, April 26th 7pm

The Simons Center for Geometry and Physics Art Program along with Stony Brook University’s Department of Theater Arts is pleased to host a staged reading of Peter Parnell’s QED, a play about the life and work of renowned Physicist Richard Feynman. Seating is general, admission is free and open to the public. For dramaturgy and … Read more