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Welcome,  It is my pleasure to present to you today the third BMS newsletter in 2009. The BMS students had a very successful summer: Phase II student Carla Cederbaum and her team won the competition for Interactive Public Display of Science and three Phase I students participated in the 16th International Mathematics Competition (IMC) in Budapest. While Irina-Mihaela Mustata won the second prize, Olga Heismann und Felix Günther shared the third prize. Congratulations! Enjoy and please feel free to forward this to anyone interested in Mathematics. Sincerely yours,
Professor Jürg Kramer
Chair of the Berlin Mathematical School 1. Get Your Math Ph.D. in Berlin! Interested in Mathematics? Would you like to study in Germany’s capital city together with students from all over the world? At the BMS you will find it both! If you like to begin your graduate studies in October 2010 please read on.  The new application period started on September 1 and will end on May 31, 2010 for the 2010/11 academic year (winter semester 2010/11 and summer semester 2011). Applicants who are interested in a scholarship must submit their application by December 31, 2009. After that date allocation of funding is subject to availability. As the BMS aims to have 50% female students we especially encourage women to apply! Applicants holding a bachelor’s degree or equivalent can enter the BMS Phase I, in which they will complete five courses on a master’s level within 3 to 4 semesters. For students who are more advanced, part of the Phase I course requirements may be waived. Supervisors will be allocated according to the areas of interest given in the application. Applicants seeking to start their Ph.D. project immediately by entering the BMS Phase II are expected to hold a master’s degree or equivalent, or must pass the BMS Qualifying Exams and meet the regular admission requirements of the Berlin universities' Ph.D. programs. Phase II applicants are expected to name a supervisor in their application. Please use our online submission form to apply for the BMS program. Note that in order to access the application form, you have to first register: This is a very simple procedure - see the login form on the main page: www.math-berlin.de 2. Inside BMS: Phase II Student is Part of Winning Team With their exhibition "From Newton to Einstein: Traveling through Space and Time", BMS Phase II student Carla Cederbaum and her colleague, scientific coordinator Elke Müller, won the competition "Wissenschaft interaktiv" in this year's "Wissenschaftssommer".  The team from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute, AEI) was chosen by the visitors of the science fair which took place in June in Saarbrücken. One peculiarity of the project definitively contributed to its success: High school and first year university students specifically trained by Cederbaum and Mueller provided guidance to the young and old experimenters, helping them to understand the concepts and connections behind and between the different experiments. “We are very happy that we managed to enthuse the visitors for mathematical ideas” says BMS Ph.D. student Carla Cederbaum, currently investigating the connections between Einstein's and Newton's theories in her Ph.D. work. At the booth of the AEI, visitors could explore various concepts, for example, what a curved space(-time) feels like, use balloons to find out what curvature does to angles, and look at specifically designed clocks to see what is relative in Einstein's theory of relativity. In that way they were able to sensually grasp basic ideas of this mathematically very involved theory. The award of 10,000 € is donated by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft together with Wissenschaft im Dialog and it is to be used for further science outreach projects. The booth will be rebuilt for the Open House of the AEI on Saturday, September 19, 2009, to which everybody is cordially invited. 3. Life in Berlin: "Berlin Math Soccer" at German Championship in Dortmund Far-off the turbulences of the Bundesliga season, German mathematicians determine the true soccer champion among them on a single weekend every summer. Phase II student Jannik Matuschke was part of the BMS team "Berlin Math Soccer" and reports:  This year, the German Football Championship of Mathematicians 2009 took place at the University of Dortmund, home of last year's winning team "Killing Formation". From July 3-5, eight players of BMS - in this case Berlin Math Soccer - joined with thirty-five other teams from universities all over Germany to enjoy the fun of the game, feel the community spirit, and, of course, compete for the title. In accordance with the traditional rules of the tournament, matches were carried out six-on-six on small fields. Between matches, the football crazy mathematicians could refresh themselves with beverages and food from the organization team. Yet, many of them could not get enough of the game and some even played under flood lights before finally returning to the camping site late at night. The non-football related highlight of the weekend was clearly the huge party on Saturday night. This was such a success that some players had real trouble getting out of their tents early on Sunday morning when the playoffs commenced. Unfortunately, the brave BMS players were ultimately eliminated in a close playoff fight against μnamo Dresden, and the title of Germany's best kicking mathematicians was ultimately achieved by team "Hausdorff" from the University of Bonn. Nevertheless, everybody agrees that this great experience was definitely worth the journey and the Berlin Math Soccers have already started practicing for next year's competition. They invite everybody who is interested in participating in their team to join them.
4. Special Feature: BMS Team Successful in Budapest Between July 25 and 30, 2009 the 16th International Mathematics Competition (IMC) took place in Budapest, Hungary. Together with students from over 170 universities in 43 countries three BMS Phase I students tested their problem-solving skills. While Irina-Mihaela Mustata won the second prize, Olga Heismann and Felix Günther shared the third prize. Read the reports of BMS Phase II student and team leader Nicola and Phase I student and second-prize winner Irina.
 Nicola Tarasca: For the first time a BMS team participated to the International Mathematics Competition! This year the event has seen the participation of 347 students divided in 65 teams. The competition is held yearly and it is open to students in their first four years of universitary studies. It consisted in two sessions of five problems each, ranging from Algebra to Analysis, from Geometry to Combinatorics. After the good results reported, we are looking forward to the next competition, willing to enlarge the team and to consolidate the training sessions. Irina-Mihaela Mustata: The IMC is a pretty “young”, but established competition, which in the past years managed to gather interested students from various universities around the world. Therefore, we, three Phase I students, thought it would be nice if this time we could be the first BMS team ever, hopefully starting a tradition to be continued by future Phase I students. Some of us had participated before, some of us were there for the first time, nevertheless, we were all captivated by the beauty of the city, and eager to meet the challenge of the contest problems. Prior to the contest, while in Berlin, we had regular training sessions under the supervision of Nicola Tarasca, to whom we want to thank for this, as well as for being our team leader and supporting us while in Budapest. For a first participation, the BMS team held the second score on average among German teams, obtaining two third prizes and a second prize. Apart from the competition itself, this event enabled us to meet other equally motivated students from other universities, and also enjoy our surroundings. We hope that next year, some of us could participate again, or, if not, help with the training of students who are inspired by the competition spirit. 5. FU and HU Berlin Receive 1.5m from Deutsche Telekom Stiftung Freie Universität and Humboldt-Universität Berlin have been honored for their innovative concepts concerning the education of teachers in the STEM-subjects (or MINT in German). In the forthcoming winter semester they will receive financial support amounting to 1.5m Euros p.a. for three academic years.  Deutsche Telekom Stiftung initiated the competition in response to recent studies revealing a lack of German teachers in STEM-subjects, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. After two rounds of competition, four winners were named: Universität Dortmund, TU Munich, Humboldt-Universität, and the Freie Universität of Berlin. The four winner universities will received a total of 4.5m Euros in three installments to realize their projects presented during the competition. The Freie Universität convinced the jury with their concept of recreating the initial phase of studies in a subject. A student must pass specific introduction-level courses before he or she may take higher-level courses. In the future, they will enforce the practical elements by cooperating with the "Schülerlabore" (high school labs). The Humboldt-Universität impressed the jury with their idea of an intensified cooperation with the Science Park Adlershof in Berlin. The institutions and companies located in the park will offer internships to students in teaching degrees. Furthermore, the HU will create a so-called ProMINT-School which will connect the works of students in teaching degrees, teachers, representatives of the university, and representatives of industry. Choosing both HU and FU, Deutsche Telekom Stiftung hopes to further enhance the collaboration between the two universities of Berlin in the field of the education of future teachers. All in all the Deutsche Telekom Stiftung wants to send a signal: "The winnung universities will hopefully serve as role models for other German universities", said Professor Margret Wintermantel, President of the German Rector's Conference (HRK) and member of the Board of Trustees of the Deutsche Telekom Stiftung.
6. The Upcoming BMS Fridays  The BMS Colloquia will kick-off in the winter semester with Professor Andreas Griewank (HU Berlin) answering to Margaret Wright's colloquium presentation from the last semester with his talk: "Derivative based Optimization" on October 23. Typically, there is a BMS Colloquium every other Friday afternoon in the BMS Loft at Urania during term time. BMS Friday Colloquia start at 2:00 pm.
For further seminars and colloquia, see also the Berlin-Potsdam Mathematics Calendar. Directions on how to get to the BMS Loft at Urania can be downloaded here. _________________________________ Imprint Berlin Mathematical School
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Tel.: + 49 (0)30 314 78610 www.math-berlin.de
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