Conference: CA+ An Upper Midwest Commutative Algebra Conference

This award funds participation in two 2-day algebra conferences to take place on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa in 2025 (March 1-2) and 2026 (dates to be determined). The CA+ conference series was held six times previously on the campuses of the host institutions: the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin, and Iowa State University.

The format of the conference series allows for 50 minute talks by 7 experts in commutative algebra and related fields, but also structured professional development sessions and short talks by graduate students. While many speakers and participants will come from the upper Midwest, the organizers will strive to gather a diverse audience, both mathematically and demographically.

The CA+ Conference series was conceived to build a community of researchers in commutative algebra and to forge connections with mathematicians in related fields, such as combinatorics, algebraic geometry, and topology. This is partly achieved by inviting speakers from these fields and allowing time for them to interact with students and postdocs in the region.

The next two meetings will continue the practice of matching speakers with students during lunch to discuss career opportunities and research ideas. A new aspect of these meetings will be a follow-up discussion in which the groups can share with all participants the best advice from the small group discussions. Information is available on our conference website: https://www-users.cse.umn.edu/~cberkesc/CA/CA.html

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.