Brown University has received an award of $15.5 million from the National Science Foundation for the purpose of creating a mathematics research institute, the eighth of its kind in the country. The Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics will be located on South Main Street and will be headed by mathematics professor Jill Pipher — a girl!

ICERM will leverage internationally recognized programs in applied and pure mathematics and computer science to create long-term research programs and scholarly conferences to attract the world’s best minds in computation and experimental math. It is another step forward in Rhode Island’s development of a knowledge economy.

Hooray, more smart people around town. The image here is the visual expression of a Mandelbrot set defined as,

. . .  the set of complex values of c for which the orbit of 0 under iteration of the complex quadratic polynomial zn+1 = zn2 + c remains bounded. That is, a complex number, c, is in the Mandelbrot set if, when starting with z0 = 0 and applying the iteration repeatedly, the absolute value of zn never exceeds a certain number (that number depends on c) however large n gets.

But you already knew that. Groovy Mandelbrot videos after the jump.

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Head over to the Main Green (between Waterman, Prospect, George Streets) of the Brown campus on Saturday for an all-day art installation thing. Let’s assume that it is free and open to the public.

GREEN SCREEN is a seven-hour exhibition/event of site-specific, interactive sculpture, installations and performances which will be held in the central hub of Brown University’s campus; the main green. GREEN SCREEN will explore how art can form a dialogue with the space it inhabits and how this dialogue can both reconfigure spatial interactions and create entirely new environments. Extending from early afternoon to evening, Green Screen will also feature a series of programs to complement the pieces, including but not limited to: artist talks, performances, video screenings, a reception and curator-led tours.

Apparently the Brown University Folk Festival will be held simultaneously below on Lincoln Field, closer to Thayer Street, and Sayles Hall.

2pm to 9pm, Saturday, May 1, info about works and artists at FB

Starting this weekend the Sock and Buskin theater group and TAPS kick off a series of events in conjunction with its production of The Cook written by Eduardo Machado and directed by Kym Moore.

The play runs Thursday, April 8th through the 11th, and again from the 15th through the 18th; shows start Thursday through Saturday at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm. On April 9th, immediately following that night’s performance of The Cook, director Kym Moore, dramaturge Patricia Ybarra, and Brown Professor of Comparative Literature Esther Whitfield will speak to the audience, answering questions and discussing the show. On April 10th, Ashamu Dance Studio, writer, actress, and performance artist Carmelita Tropicana will present her show Cabaret a la Cubana.

Full poster of events after the jump.  Tickets are only $7 for students, group discounts are available.  Contact the box office at 863.2838, or boxoffice@brown.edu. More info at TAPS.

Play run begins Thursday, Leeds Theatre, Lyman Hall, Brown Campus off Waterman Street

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“a student, a congressman, a professor and a dean

speak to health care reform”

On
Monday November 30 The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University will
host a roundtable discussion “Health Care Reform: What are the
Politics?” from 3-4:30 at Andrews Hall. Part of the 2009-2010 Paul
Levinger Health Care Reform Roundtable Series, this edition has a panel with
potential for interesting debate on health care reform.

Participants
include the Hon. Patrick Kennedy Cong. 1^st district, Edward Wing,
MD, Dean of the Warren Alpert Medical School, Professor of Community Health
Vincent Mor and Medical Student Erin Kelly ’11. Moderated by the Dean the
panel has a mix of the Past, Present and Future, with a dash of government,
academia and practicing doctors. This event also provides an opportunity for
the audience to engage the panelists as they express their views.

This
event is free and open to the public, for more info: http://med.brown.edu/news/levinger/

Somebody get this guy a more ergonomic bench. Brown University organist, Mark Steinbach, will perform works by Bach, Gounod, Schumann, and others on the school’s face-melting 1903 Hutchings-Votey organ in Sayles Hall. Come in costume and bring pillows or blankets in lieu of traditional seating.

(This image may or may not be Mr. Steinbach.)

11:55pm, Saturday, Sayles Hall, Brown University Main Green

Ah, modesty: a Providence Daily Dose co-founder avoiding mention of his appearance in a video (uploaded to YouTube by RI Future) of an anti-greed Brown protest that’s been lighting up my Facebook feed. Hide no more, Representative.

We can only hope that renowned architect Daniel Liebeskind will be able to offer some insight for the vacant lot at 110 Westminster. In any case, he will be at Brown tomorrow night to discuss his “architectural philosophy,” and other topics. Prof. Dietrich Neumann, an esteemed Providencephile, will lead the discussion.

Wednesday, 4pm, Salomon Center for Teaching, DiCiccio Family Auditorium. Booksigning to follow at Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage, 357 Benefit St.

Officials at Brown will neither confirm nor deny the rumor, but according to The Providence Journal actress Emma Watson will be attending Brown University this fall (perhaps she has confused the Black Arts with Black Studies). No matter, at Brown she can create her own curriculum, maybe some post-racial geek-friendly amalgam.

Visit www.brownser.org

Join Brown University’s Students for Education Reform and SIGN OUR PETITION to END TEACHER “BUMPING” in Providence public schools. The Rhode Island Department of Education has ordered the Providence school district to fill teacher vacancies based on TEACHER QUALITY and STUDENT NEED, not just seniority.

Teacher “bumping” forces QUALITY teachers out of the classroom. Research has shown that principals need the authority to hire teachers based on TEACHER QUALITY and STUDENT NEED to help students succeed.

The Providence Teachers Union will likely sue to protect seniority. SIGN OUR PETITION to send a message to the Providence Public School Department that we support any effort they take to END TEACHER “BUMPING,” and that we will hold them accountable for doing so.

Join the debate over elitism at Brown, Obama’s earmark-laden spending bill, and John Edwards’ snoozefest of a speech…

Visit www.browncontemporary.org to stream and download the latest Brown Contemporary PODCASTS! Our Political Roundtable podcasts feature the Contemporary staff and guests commenting on the latest campus, local, and national news.

The Brown Contemporary, Brown University’s only progressive political magazine, publishes twice a semester. Look out for our March/April issue!

Join us as we view this 55-minute documentary portrait of the Hmong community from 1982 followed by a talk and discussion with co-director Peter O’Neil as he explains his recent work documenting his subjects over 20 years later.

The film explores the challenges of several Hmong individuals and shows some of their involvement with the local community. It documents how weddings, funerals, shamanic ceremonies, rock bands and soccer games were done during the early phase of Hmong settlement in the United States.

This is week two of a four-week series called, “Common Threads: From Vietnam to Iraq”, co-sponsored by The Office of Public Engagement of RISD and The Swearer Center of Brown University. The event is hosted by The Genesis Center. Click here to see photos from last week’s pandau exhibit at RISD. For more info contact Mike Ritz at mike@gencenter.org

Free screening and discussion, 6:30pm to 8:30 pm, Thursday, Jan. 29th, Center for Integrative Technology, 169 Weybosset Street

Most Biggest Snowman: Kat and Katie provide scale, and cuteness. (Lincoln Field off Thayer, Brown.)

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To open the student-curated exhibition Jews and American Comics: The New Generations, noted comic artist and director of the Center for Cartoon Studies, James Sturm, will give a keynote address and participate in a panel discussion that will explore Jewish themes in comics strips and comic books, and the ways that Jews have shaped this popular American art form. The panel will also include Jason Lutes, a 1991 RISD graduate and artist of the renowned “Berlin Series,” and Sara Rosenbaum* class of 2000, comic artist and former Providence Journal staff writer.

5 pm, Thursday, Salomon Center, room 001. Reception and exhibit opening follows immediately at 6:30 pm at the John Nicholas Brown Center, 357 Benefit Street

*Sara and I went to see the Darkness at Lupo’s four years ago, and despite the fact that I was nearly crushed to death, and nobody cared, and I almost totally died, it was a lot of fun.  She dashed off this piece to memorialize the physical challenges she faced that night.

Are we cool with this?  I am always suspicious when Brown University starts making alterations to the landscape.  Why are they cutting down perfectly healthy trees on Arlington Avenue?  Is this to give residents a better view of the eye-poaching Kleig lights that go nova for sporting events? Do they have evil designs on this side of the historic Dexter Asylum wall since their plans to destroy the Hope Street side were foiled?  I am particularly suspicious since they have recently planted some 10-foot trees in the area and they will say they have ‘replaced’ the mature trees they are cutting down.  How far down the wall are they going? Aren’t we trying to increase the tree canopy in the city?

(Update: City Councilman Cliff Wood has looked into this and put my fears to rest (this was just a couple of trees). He has spoken with City Forester Doug Still who speaks highly of the Brown University tree program, so that is reassuring.  My thanks to both Mr. Still and Mr. Wood for the quick response.)