The Department of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted the Fall Meeting of the Central Section of the American Mathematical Society on October 12 & 13, 2002. Approximately 400 mathematicians from 34 states and 16 countries gathered for this meeting,
Madison faculty were very active in organizing special sessions, and we hosted high quality sessions in the following areas:
Arithmetic Algebraic Geometry Several Complex Variables Harmonic Analysis Partial Differential Equations and Geometry Arrangements of Hyperplanes Group Cohomology and Homotopy Theory Lie Theory and Differential Equations Effectiveness Questions in Model Theory Hyperbolic Differential Equations and Kinetic Theory Ring Theory and Related Topics Lie Algebras and Related Topics Dynamical Systems Probability Biological Computation and Learning in Intelligent Systems
There were also four plenary addresses, most notably our colleague Eleny Ionel delivered a beautiful lecture on the topic of `Relations between Gromov-Witten Invariants'.
According to Susan Friedlander, AMS Associate Secretary, our meeting was extremely successful, with a level of participation rarely seen at a sectional meeting. Participants were particularly pleased with the reception offered at the Tripps Common in the UW Memorial Union, on the first day of the conference.
As usual, Math Department staff provided crucial help in running this large meeting, in particular Peggy Conklin did a magnificent job as a local coordinator, receiving rave reviews from the folks at AMS. Vicky Whelan and Diane Reppert also provided much needed help.
Contributed by Alejandro Adem (local organizer).