Supporting the Conference Series: NSF/CBMS Regional Research Conferences in the Mathematical Sciences

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The NSF/CBMS Regional Research Conference series is an ongoing cooperative project which is administered by the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (CBMS) and which has been continuously supported by NSF since 1969. The goal of the series is to promote research in areas of the mathematical sciences which have recently seen significant new results and which hold promise for continued significant development. Each individual conference features a distinguished lecturer who is both a major researcher in the area of the conference and a good expositor The lecturer delivers ten lectures over a five day period on a topic of important current research in one sharply focused area of the mathematical sciences. The lectures typically cover the recent development of the field and chart the possible new directions and open problems. Thus the format of the conferences is primarily educational, but at the research level. The local organizer of each conference invites other established researchers in the field and interested newcomers, including graduate students and post doctoral fellows, to participate in the conference. The lecturer also promises, in the year following the conference, to prepare a substantial expository monograph based upon his or her lectures. The monograph is then published by one of the following CBMS member societies: the American Mathematical Society, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, or jointly, the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. The monographs reach a much broader audience than the conferences alone can provide. They are often used as background reading for graduate students beginning thesis research or by established researchers seeking to learn a new field. Many of the monographs have become the classic introduction to the field. Through 2005, a total of 302 such conferences have been held and 190 monographs have been published. It is expected that an average of five or six conferences will be held in each of the next three years. Under its agreement with NSF, CBMS promotes, administers, and provides support services for the series. Each year CBMS issues and publicizes the call for proposals. Proposals for individual conferences are made by prospective host institutions directly to NSF. CBMS organizes a review panel to evaluate the proposals received and to make funding recommendations to NSF. Following the conferences, CBMS maintains contact with the lecturers and the publishers, encouraging completion of the monograph based on the conference lectures.