Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Berkeley, California (Q792990)

After a long period of gestation, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute began full scientific operation in September 1982 with funding from the National Science Foundation. Planning and preparation was undertaken by Professors Shiing-shen Chern, Calvin C. Moore, and I. M. Singer of the U. C. Berkeley mathematics faculty. The Institute was organized as a regional one (rather than just as a local one), as an entity separate from the University of California. Each year two special programs provide a focus of a large part of the Institute's scientific activities. The Institute has an average of about 50 people in residence at any given time throughout the year. It seeks to bring together leading, established scientists to interact and work with the most promising young scholars in an environment where these scholars can devote their full energy to research in an exciting and stimulating atmosphere, free of other academic duties. Activity at the Institute covers the whole spectrum of mathematical sciences, pure and applied. During the 1982--83 year the two special programs were Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations (connections with geometry, theoretical physics, numerical methods and scientific computing) and Mathematical Statistics (with significant applications). For the year 1983--84 the two programs were Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems, as well as Kac Moody Algebras. The two special programs for 1984--85 are devoted to Low Dimensional Topology and to the topic K-Theory, Index Theory, and Operator Algebras. Programs for 1985--86 have also been selected (computational complexity and mathematical economics). The directorships of the Institute and its scientific and administrative organization are described in great detail, as well as its library and publications. The published series will be entitled Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Publications (Springer-Verlag), and by the time this article appears in print, the first three volumes should be in press.