The Workshop in Analysis and Probability at Texas A&M University aims to bring together senior and junior researchers and graduate students in analysis and probability and related fields in order to broaden the education of younger participants and to promote interaction among researchers working in different areas.
The Workshop is in session every summer from the beginning of July to early August. This is a period of intense activity that includes many seminars and peaks at the two Concentration Weeks and SUMIRFAS (Summer Informal Regional Functional Analysis Seminar). The Workshop also occasionally sponsors other conference events which may occur in the spring or fall.
The Concentration Weeks typically focus on interaction between distinct areas of mathematics. The Concentration Week programs are composed both of specialized talks and of introductory lecture series directed at graduate students, junior researchers, and non-experts. SUMIRFAS is a three-day general conference that is usually scheduled the weekend before or after one of the Concentration Weeks.
Many participants come only for one of the Concentration Weeks and/or SUMIRFAS. Others stay for longer periods during which they have an opportunity to report on recent research in seminars and engage in joint projects with faculty at Texas A&M or other Workshop participants.
Historically, the Workshop in Analysis and Probability grew out of the Workshop in Banach Space Theory at Texas A&M in the late 1980s. The original emphasis on the geometry of Banach spaces has greatly expanded to include convex geometry, metric geometry, descriptive set theory, ergodic theory, von Neumann algebras, C*-algebras, operator spaces, operator theory, nonlinear functional analysis, stochastic processes, wavelets, harmonic analysis, complex analysis, and geometric group theory. One of the main goals has been to break down barriers between different areas of analysis and to bridge to other disciplines like geometry and theoretical computer science.
The National Science Foundation has helped to fund the Workshop since the beginning, in particular through grants spanning the 00s and most of the 90s with William Johnson, David Larson, Gilles Pisier, and Joel Zinn as PIs and grants in the 10s with William Johnson, David Kerr, and Gilles Pisier as PIs.
The Workshop is currently headed by PIs Florent Baudier (Director), Irina Holmes, and William Johnson (Associate Director).