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John Baez (Aug 19 2021 at 22:47):Just a heads-up: please start telling people who want to learn applied category theory that next summer, probably late May - early July, there will be a week-long "school" on applied category theory, run by the American Mathematical Society! They will pay for students' travel and lodging!
John Baez (Aug 19 2021 at 22:49):Here's the basic idea:
This MRC will provide a focused long-term agenda for early-career mathematicians in the US interested in applying category theoretic approaches to studying real-world problems. Applicants from academia and industry are welcome.
During the workshop, we intend to focus on three specific areas of application. John Baez (University of Riverside) will lead a study of chemical reaction networks using category theoretic methods. Valeria de Paiva (Topos Institute) will lead a study in the context of computer science by looking into indexed containers and partial compilers using lenses and Dialectica Categories. Nina Otter (Queen Mary University of London) will lead a study of social networks using simplicial complexes.
Applications will open on MathPrograms later this summer. Please check back for the link to the application portal. Application deadline will be February 15, 2022.
John Baez (Aug 19 2021 at 22:50):Participants will work on projects after the meeting, and get their way paid to the Joint Mathematics Meetings in January 2023.
John Baez (Aug 19 2021 at 22:51):I'll give more information once the dates are nailed down... that should be soon. But start telling potential students now!
Kale Evans (Aug 19 2021 at 22:55):I'm not a student, but I look so forward to doing this if they'll have me!
Jules Hedges (Aug 20 2021 at 09:20):Cool.... guess we're not obscure any more
Jules Hedges (Aug 20 2021 at 09:20):Do you know who's behind organising it?
Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Aug 20 2021 at 09:46):It says 'early-career mathematicians in the US', does it mean I can't apply if I'm not enrolled in a US university? :(
Jules Hedges (Aug 20 2021 at 09:47):That's the A in AMS. Maybe we should go and talk to the LMS...
Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Aug 20 2021 at 09:48):insert Bender meme here
Chad Nester (Aug 20 2021 at 11:50):If the school is in-person then everyone who attends will be "in the US" :D
John Baez (Aug 21 2021 at 07:36):Jules Hedges said:
Do you know who's behind organising it?
My former student Daniel Cicala, now at the University of New Haven, together with Simon Cho of Two Six Technologies.
John Baez (Aug 21 2021 at 07:39):Anyone - probably anyone who belongs to the AMS - can apply to the AMS to organize one of these math summer schools, or "Mathematics Research Communities" (usually called MRCs, thanks to the typical bureaucratic fondness for acronyms).
John Baez (Aug 21 2021 at 07:42):Matteo Capucci (he/him) said:
It says 'early-career mathematicians in the US', does it mean I can't apply if I'm not enrolled in a US university? :(
People outside the US can apply, but they'll only get in if you're lucky or you can pay your own way:
Applicants should be ready to engage in collaborative research and should be “early career”—either expecting to earn a PhD within two years or having completed a PhD within five years of the date of the summer conference. Exceptions to this limit on the career stage of an applicant may be made on a case-by-case basis. The MRC program is open to individuals who are US citizens as well as to those who are affiliated with US institutions and companies/organizations. A few international participants may be accepted. Depending on space and other factors, a small number of self-funded participants may be admitted. Individuals who have once previously been an MRC participant will be considered for admission, and their applications must include a rationale for repeating. Please note that individuals cannot participate in the MRC program more than twice: applications from individuals who have twice been MRC participants will not be considered.
John Baez (Aug 21 2021 at 14:03):Chad Nester said:
If the school is in-person then everyone who attends will be "in the US" :D
It'll be in-person unless some further worsening of the pandemic changes things.
John Baez (Sep 08 2021 at 19:15):Some news: the AMS Mathematics Research Community (or "MRC") on Applied Category Theory, organized by Simon Cho, Daniel Cicala, Nina Otter, Valeria de Paiva and me, will meet Sunday May 29 - Saturday June 4 2022, and here's where it will meet:
The 2022 summer conferences will be held at Beaver Hollow Conference Center, Java Center, NY, where everyone can enjoy a private, distraction free environment conductive to research. Beaver Hollow is located in Western New York, 45 minutes from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, one hour from Rochester or Niagara Falls. The property offers over 200 acres of lakes and scenic woodlands with state-of-the-art meeting facilities, comfortable guest rooms, and nutritious and creative cuisine using organic, locally grown farm-to-table ingredients. Participants have full access to an abundant range of recreational opportunities.
John Baez (Sep 08 2021 at 19:17):Creative cuisine with your categories! :fork_and_knife_with_plate:
John Baez (Sep 08 2021 at 19:20):It's possible you can already apply now, on this website. But I haven't heard any official announcement that they're taking applications yet, so maybe it's best to just look at this website and then wait a while.
John Baez (Sep 08 2021 at 19:20):Applications are due at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, February 15, 2022.
Steve Awodey (Sep 08 2021 at 20:33):That looks nice! Are there chalk boards? That's always the problem with using such conference centers for math meetings.
Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Sep 09 2021 at 08:19):John Baez said:
Some news: the AMS Mathematics Research Community (or "MRC") on Applied Category Theory, organized by Simon Cho, Daniel Cicala, Nina Otter, Valeria de Paiva and me, will meet Sunday May 29 - Saturday July 2, 2022
Just to make sure this is/isn't a typo --- is the end date June 4th as in the website (making it a week-long meeting) or July 2nd (making it a month long one)?
John Baez (Sep 09 2021 at 12:33):A week, not a month! My mistake is too complicated to explain... I'll just go back and fix that.
John Baez (Sep 09 2021 at 12:35):Steve Awodey said:
Are there chalk boards?
I don't know. I'll ask. (I am a mere bit player in this drama, but the people in charge may not have thought to ask... though they're folks at the AMS in charge of such math schools, so they should have.)
John Baez (Sep 09 2021 at 16:51):The person in charge of choosing this venue says:
White boards are included, as are unlimited amounts of those large sticky easel pads. In the past, these have been used a lot - see attached photo
John Baez (Sep 09 2021 at 16:53):This looks acceptable, though I told her mathematicians always want bigger whiteboards.
Steve Awodey (Sep 10 2021 at 00:23):well, the attached photo makes it pretty clear that lack of board space is in fact an issue. But one can of course always make do with what's available, it's just too bad that they don't take the needs of the participants more seriously.
I once spent a semester with a group of mathematicians at a (general) research institute with only a small white board for our use. After a few weeks of us requesting more than additional flip charts, the local administrators actually went out and got large white boards and had them installed for us - and the difference in our productivity was immediately noticeable. If only all organizers were as responsive! (And kudos to the folks at the Oslo Center for Advanced Studies!)
Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Sep 10 2021 at 09:35):yeah writing boards are such a productivity hack (especially when working in groups) it is astounding how poorly optimized (some, most of what I've been exposed to) spaces are for working with them
John Baez (Sep 10 2021 at 13:51):I think mathematicians use whiteboards more than anyone else... followed very closely by physicists... and then other scientists, though I haven't hung out with chemists and biologists enough to know exactly how they use whiteboards, and how much.
John Baez (Sep 10 2021 at 13:52):Oh, I left out computer scientists. I assume they're right up there with mathematicians?
Jules Hedges (Sep 10 2021 at 14:11):Yes. Any excuse to not go near a computer
John Baez (Oct 27 2021 at 21:10):Do you like the idea of learning applied category theory by working on a project, as part of a team led by an expert? If you're an early career researcher you can apply to do that now!
After working with your team online, you'll take an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference center in upstate New York for a week in the summer. There will be a pool, bocci, lakes with canoes, woods to hike around in, campfires at night... and also whiteboards, meeting rooms, and coffee available 24 hours a day to power your research!
More details here:
Spencer Breiner (Oct 28 2021 at 12:27):It's worth noting that Cliff Joslyn & Emilie Purvine, two of the organizers for week 2A on "Models and Methods for Sparse (Hyper)Network Science", also have a soft spot for categories, coming out of topological data analysis. That might also be a good option for anyone interested in network applications.
John Baez (Oct 28 2021 at 19:00):Good point!
John Baez (Jan 01 2022 at 00:52):If you're a grad student, check out this American Mathematical Society summer program on applied category theory where @Nina Otter, @Valeria de Paiva and I will be teaching! It's also available to early-career people inside and outside academia:
Applications are due fairly soon!
And if you know someone who could benefit, please tell them!
Sean Gloumeau (Jan 04 2022 at 00:30):Oh wow, thank you for sharing this opportunity with me -- this is new! I'll share within my communities
John Baez (Jan 04 2022 at 00:33):Good! I think this web page has strictly more information than the PDF I just linked to:
John Baez (Jan 04 2022 at 00:35):The stuff I already said in this discussion may also be worth reading:
John Baez said:
Some news: the AMS Mathematics Research Community (or "MRC") on Applied Category Theory, organized by Simon Cho, Daniel Cicala, Nina Otter, Valeria de Paiva and me, will meet Sunday May 29 - Saturday June 4 2022, and here's where it will meet:
The 2022 summer conferences will be held at Beaver Hollow Conference Center, Java Center, NY, where everyone can enjoy a private, distraction free environment conductive to research. Beaver Hollow is located in Western New York, 45 minutes from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, one hour from Rochester or Niagara Falls. The property offers over 200 acres of lakes and scenic woodlands with state-of-the-art meeting facilities, comfortable guest rooms, and nutritious and creative cuisine using organic, locally grown farm-to-table ingredients. Participants have full access to an abundant range of recreational opportunities.
John Baez (Jan 20 2022 at 23:51):Hi! This is a reminder to everyone to either apply to the AMS summer school on applied category theory or get someone you know - like a student or postdoc - to apply!
You can work with me on categories and chemistry, work with Valeria de Paiva on categories and computer science, or work with Nina Otter on categories and the study of social networks.
The deadline is February 15th, and there's a lot more information in my blog article:
John Baez (Jan 20 2022 at 23:51):Ask me if you have any questions!
John Baez (Jan 25 2022 at 17:44):Check out this article in the February AMS Notices:
Besides being an ad for the AMS school on applied category theory, it's a quick explanation of a bunch of ideas in applied category theory - like lenses.
Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Jan 31 2022 at 10:06):Sorry for the maybe silly question, but I'm a bit lost in the AMS applications system. I filled the application for the program, where it only requested to indicate a name for the reccomendation letter, and then I have these in my 'Portfolio' page
image.png
Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Jan 31 2022 at 10:07):Do I need any of these? It's not mentioned here, but I want to be extra sure
John Baez (Feb 01 2022 at 03:26):It's best to email someone like Sophie Libkind and/or David Jaz-Myers and/or actadjointschool@gmail.com if you want a quick answer to this.
Sophie Libkind (Feb 01 2022 at 04:49):Actually I believe this question is about the application for the MRC program! Not for the Adjoint School
Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Feb 01 2022 at 10:11):Sophie Libkind said:
Actually I believe this question is about the application for the MRC program! Not for the Adjoint School
Indeed :D
John Baez (Feb 01 2022 at 23:13):Oh, duh.
John Baez (Feb 01 2022 at 23:18):I don't think any of that extra stuff is required, but I'll ask.
John Baez (Feb 01 2022 at 23:27):I'll get back to you. Sorry for my slow-wittedness.
Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Feb 02 2022 at 13:33):John Baez said:
I'll get back to you. Sorry for my slow-wittedness.
No worries!
Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Feb 02 2022 at 13:33):Thanks for the help
John Baez (Feb 02 2022 at 20:07):I wrote to
and asked your question, and Kim Kuda replied:
That is correct – those items are not required on the MRC application. This page is the ‘portfolio’ section of MathPrograms, where applicants can upload and store these materials for use on other applications that do require these files.
Applicants to the MRC just need to complete that entire first page (the link you provided), which is the standard coversheet and they need to complete the questions on the actual MRC application form. Once all of that is submitted, their application is complete.
If they need any help with completing the application, they can contact us at any time.
John Baez (Feb 02 2022 at 20:08):Kim is the one in charge of these things.
Matteo Capucci (he/him) (Feb 03 2022 at 09:18):Oh, thanks! I missed that email address
John Baez (Feb 19 2022 at 01:52):We got 71 applications for the AMS MRC program. 10 were incomplete and were instantly thrown out, so now we're down to 61.
John Baez (Feb 20 2022 at 00:41):We will be choosing 40 people for the three teams - so, two teams of 13 and one of 14. 40/61 is pretty good odds. But it seems we can only accept 6 people from outside the US. (I need to find out the precise rules on this.)
John Baez (Mar 03 2022 at 17:11):Yesterday Valeria de Pavia, Daniel Cicala, Simon Cho and I chose a list of 40 people who should get into the AMS Mathematical Research Community. (Nina Otter is sick with coronavirus, apparently not too bad though.)
It'll take a while before we can announce this since the AMS has to contact these people first and there are some little issues to resolve.
It's a great gang of folks!
John Baez (Mar 20 2022 at 15:32):People who are accepting offers to be students in the AMS school - it's called a "Mathematical Research Community", or "MRC" - are showing up on a Zulip-like thing called PBWorks. Or at least their names are showing up! I wish the AMS had let this discussion happen here on Zulip.
John Baez (Mar 20 2022 at 15:35):We haven't definitively settled which students work with which mentors; the students get to vote on this. I'm eager to find out for sure who my students are, and start talking to them!
Morgan Rogers (he/him) (Mar 20 2022 at 16:26):Do encourage them to join and make use of Zulip @John Baez :big_smile:
John Baez (Mar 20 2022 at 16:32):Alas, they already have people working to populate their chosen forum with lots of information, and are doing this for 3 different MRCs, of which ours is just one.
John Baez (Mar 20 2022 at 16:33):Their forum is probably technically better for what they're doing, and they probably want the privacy. But I may try to carry out some work on my project here.
John Baez (Apr 29 2022 at 16:40):I'm now talking with my AMS MRC students on #practice: chemistry.
