Participant Testimonials
BIRS was my idea of mathematical heaven. Beautiful surroundings, plenty of time to think, and brilliant colleagues with whom to discuss my ideas.
mathematics department, University of Kentucky
This workshop brought together and facilitated discussions between harmonic and complex analysts and experts in geometric measure theory. This was a great initiative, since harmonic analysis, geometric measure theory and complex analysis (of a single variable) have traditionally and effectively worked in a harmonious fashion. The situation is very different when looking at a similar mix but with complex analysis of a single variable replaced by several complex variables. The workshop provided me with an opportunity to present to and discuss with leaders in the field how recent advances in harmonic analysis and geometric measure theory can impact and lead to a qualitative upgrade in the study of several complex variables, particularly for those aspects that make use of singular integral operators. This is a new direction which has been very little explored and where there is a great deal of work to be done. I regard the workshop as an important step in facilitating collaborations across these fields with the goal of closing the gap between what has been done in the case of a single complex variable and that of several complex variables. This is my second visit to BIRS and I have to say that (even though it may sound cliche) this is indeed a place which inspires creativity! I got again a lot of work done (made substantial progress on a research project and the corresponding paper on the workshop topic), and I had the opportunity to discuss about a future collaborative effort with one of the harmonic analysts in the audience. I also got to know some of the junior people in these fields and learn about their work. I think it is to soon to talk about job prospects and hiring decisions, but I am certainly going to pursue some of the junior people at the workshop to visit and give lectures at the relevant seminars, conferences I will be organizing in the near future.
My visit to BIRS last week was extremely productive. Besides learning the most recent developments from many interesting lectures and discussions, I came up with a few key ideas, during my stay (and on the way to Banff), which solved the problem I have been working on in the last six months. The problem, which has been open for a while, concerns the uniform bounds for gradients of solutions to elliptic equations with highly oscillatory coefficients and Neumann boundary conditions. The results will be published in a joint paper with Carlos Kenig and Fanghua Lin. I am very grateful to the BIRS for its support of my visit.
