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

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

Simons Postdoctoral Fellows Meeting. April 11-13, 2012.

In 2009 the Simons Foundation initiated a program through which 46 universities have awarded a total of 70 Postdoctoral Fellowships in mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science. We have been delighted by the outstanding quality of the appointments made. In a three-day meeting beginning April 11, the Simons Foundation will bring together this remarkable … Read more