Welcome,

It is my honor to present to you today the next BMS newsletter in 2008. Furthermore, I welcome all the new students to the BMS. In the newsletter, you will find some of their first impressions of Berlin and the Berlin Mathematical School.

We are particularly proud that two of our students were awarded a scholarship from the “Telekom Stiftung”: Katja Krol and Benjamin Matschke. 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

Get your Math PhD in Berlin!

Applications for our PhD program are now being accepted via the online application. We encourage students worldwide to contribute to the open, multicultural, and diverse atmosphere at the BMS.

Applicants holding a bachelor’s degree, Vordiplom, or equivalent can enter the BMS Phase I, in which they will complete five basic courses and two advanced courses 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.

The application period for the 2009/10 academic year (winter semester 2009/10 and summer semester 2010) will end on May 31, 2009. Applicants interested in a scholarship must submit their application by December 31, 2008. After that date the allocation of scholarships is subject to availability.

Life in Berlin: Arrival of the New Students

Like every year, the new students arrived in Berlin in early October. 26 students from Berlin, Germany, and all over the world have now begun their PhD at the BMS. Here, they comment on the diverse course offers, their fellow students and their first experiences in the new city.

Mimi Tsuruga from the USA explains why she decided to be a part of the Berlin experience and if she is happy with her choice: “Of all places, why Berlin? I don't speak any German. I don't know anybody in Europe, let alone Germany. I've never even stepped foot on this continent until the BMS Days in February. That question is answered on a daily basis here in my new hometown. The city, the people, the math. I can really feel myself living my life to its fullest by exploring the city, speaking a new language, learning new customs, and, most importantly, seeing real math done by real mathematicians. I am so excited to take part in this great adventure with the Berlin Mathematical School.”

Eyal Ron from Israel comments on choosing his BMS courses: “Already in my first two months, I've learned that the academic aspect of BMS is unbelievably rich. My first, and most difficult, task thus far was to actually choose a course from the long list that was offered. My courses this semester are in three universities - variety is the spice of life”.

Jose Verschae from Chile is similarly impressed: “The program is just great, having the possibility of taking classes and working with people from three big universities really makes Berlin a great place for post-graduate studies."

Nicola Tarasca (Italy) is happy about the supportive measures that facilitated his start at the BMS: "I am one of the BMS newcomers, happily discovering all the offered possibilities! The BMS is perfectly designed to welcome the new students, they have helped me with all the bureaucratic steps, all the filling out of forms and queue standings have been over in record time, so nothing else is left to me than to work on my PhD project!”

Joscha Gedicke (Germany) found making contact with his fellow students quite simple during the introductory seminar and the guided tour of Berlin: “To get to know to each other was very easy due to the intercultural seminar, the first event for the new BMS students this term. The ice was broken within seconds and I learned a lot of interesting things from foreign students about their culture. During the guided Berlin tour I intensified contacts and felt already as part of BMS. “

Laura Hinsch (Germany) asserts her statement that she is very satisfied with the combination of mathematics and Berlin: “I am particularly glad to have entered BMS for various reasons. I think it is an extraordinary academic environment, broadening your horizon mathematically and personally. When I first arrived in Berlin I was a bit scared of the big city, of the new endeavour, starting my PhD, of all the new people. I found out on the first day that there had been no need for that. The mathematicians from all over the world are as keen to get to know new cultures and persons as I am, the support in everything from the One-Stop-Office is optimal, and the scientific side started well and is on a good way to get better. This is due to contacts beyond the research group, which is facilitated by the BMS Fridays, where you meet students not only from different fields, but also from a neighbouring field at a different institute. So all in all I can hardly imagine a better place to study.”

Berlin Attracts Foreing Academics

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has discovered Germany‘s most popular math departments. Among them are the math departments of the three Berlin universities.

In September the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation published a ranking analyzing the popularity of German research institutes for mathematics. In order to provide evidence of the most attractive conditions for their fellows, the Foundation evaluated the number of research stays in the field of mathematics from 1998 to 2007. The results show that the conditions in Berlin are particularly good with Berlin at the top of the ranking. Both the Humboldt Universität and Technische Universität, each with 14 long-term stays, landed on third place in the field of pure mathematics. In applied mathematics, HU was the front runner with 15 stays, followed by the Freie University and the Weierstraß Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics among the Top 10.

Inside BMS: “Young Woman with Extraordinary Capability”

We proudly announce that BMS student Julia Ruscher was awarded with the Victress Future Award 2008! Congratulations!

Every year the Victress Initiative presents the Victress Award in different categories to outstanding women in economics, politics and media. One of these prizes is given to young women under 21 years of age who demonstrate an extraordinary potential and “the ability to form our future”. Such an outstanding young woman is Julia Ruscher, student of the BMS since October 2008. While finishing her "Abitur" she also completed her "Vordiplom" in mathematics. After diverse prizes during the German mathematics Olympiads and various international research visits within her academic studies, she found her way to the BMS, where she will write her diploma thesis about "Fleming-Viot-Superprocesses".

Did You Know? Mathmatics and Cartoons...

For the fourth consecutive time, the Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung (DMV) awarded the Media Prize for outstanding achievement in the mediation and popularizing of math on November 7, 2008. Who won?

“The jury was quickly unanimous that with their choice of the academic journalist Christoph Drösser they had found a deserving prize winner. His uncontested sovereignty when choosing topics, developing them, and then reporting them in the spirit of mathematics is truly unique,” commented Prof. Günter M. Ziegler, President of the Deutsche Mathematiker Vereinigung and member of the jury. In his articles, Drösser brings topics to life, that are normally rather dry. Born in 1958, Christoph Drösser studied math and was director of the Ressort Wissen at the Hamburg weekly newpaper Die Zeit for many years. He gained fame among the readers with his column “Stimmt’s”, in which he explained and clarified everyday phenomena.

This was the first year in which the Cartoon Award was presented. Simultaneous to the naming of the award winners, an exhibition with further outstanding cartoons relating to math is also currently on display. Over 250 pictures from 159 applicants from all over the world were in the running for the Cartoon Award. The jury (with Stern journalist Til Mette, the cartoonist Jan-Michael Richter “Jamiri”, Prof. Rainer Schulze-Pillot and Prof. Günter M. Ziegler) awarded the first prize to the graphic designer “kittihawk”, Christiane Lokar, from Berlin. Oliver Weiss (Grassau) won second place and Jason Love (USA) won third place.

(Please see here the cartoon from Jason Love.)

The Upcoming BMS Fridays

There is a BMS colloquium every other Friday afternoon in the BMS Loft at Urania during the semester as well as tea and cookies before each talk.

The upcoming BMS Fridays are:

• November 28, 2008: Wolfgang Lück (Münster): "Topological Rigidity"
• December 12, 2008: Jay Jorgenson (City College of New York)
• January 9, 2009: Susanne Albers (Freiburg)
• January 23, 2009: Annette Werner (Frankfurt), Kovalevskaya Colloquium
• February 6, 2009: Gil Kalai (Hebrew University Jerusalem)

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.

In the Winter Semester 2008/09 the BMS Fridays will be followed by the "What is...?" seminars organized by students. To find out more about the What Is Seminars and to see the schedule of talks go to https://www.math.fu-berlin.de/w/Math/WhatIsSeminar .

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