Prepared for Interview with ARC Panel representatives at Macquarie University on 2 October 1996
Project: Applications of category theory to geometry, algebra, computer science and physics; 1995-7
Current Personnel in Australian Category Theory
Senior Staff: Macquarie Professor Ross Street, Dr Michael Johnson, Dr Murray Adelman
Sydney Emeritus Professor Max Kelly, Associate Professor Robert Walters
Assoc. Lecturers: Sydney Dr Shu Hao Sun, Dr William Unger, Amitavo Islam (P/T)
Assoc. Lecturers/Research Fellows: Macquarie Dr Sjoerd Crans Sydney Piergiulio Katis
Research Fellows: Macquarie Dr Michael Batanin, Dr Brian Day (P/T), Dr Hu Hung Bui (P/T)
Sydney Dr Steve Lack
Honorary Associates: Macquarie Dr Dominic Verity, Dr Margaret McIntyre, Dr George Ivanov
Graduate Students: Macquarie Richard Buckland, Carolyn Kennett, Paddy McCrudden, Andrew Solomon, Greg Baker, Louise Scott, Lee Flax, Ralph Melano, Mark Weber (Hons Year)
Sydney Robbie Gates, Rowan Kemp, Mark Leeming, Nick Verne, Henry Weld, Amitavo Islam, Michael Bush (Hons Year).
Visitors: Wood (Dalhousie), Rosebrugh (New Brunswick), Carboni (Milan), Crans (Utrecht), Tholen (Toronto), van der Planke (Louvain), Janelidze (Tbilisi), Johnstone (Cambridge), Joyal (Montréal), Burstall (Edinburgh), Bloom (Hoboken), Sabadini (Milan), Shammah (Milan), Subramanian (Tata Institute), Brown (Wales). Amongst future visitors will be Cockett (Calgary) and Berger (Nice).
Outcome Measures
1. High publication rate. For example, since January 1995,
Street has 8 papers appearing, 3 submitted, and several in progress;
Kelly has 1 to appear, 2 submitted, 1 being typed, and 6 in progress;
Walters has 5 appearing, 2 to appear, 1 submitted, and several in progress;
Johnson has 4 appearing, 1 to appear, and 6 in progress.
2. References and reviews by top researchers. For example,
* One third of Kassel's book "Quantum Groups" (Springer, 1995) based on the work of Joyal-Street,
* Giancarlo Rota's highly positive review of Walters' book "Categories and Computer Science" (Cambridge),
* Johnstone's strong review of Gordon-Power-Street "Coherence for tricategories" (Memoirs Amer Math Soc),
* Glowing referees' reports for Grant proposals,
* Many WWW links to our work by geometers, algebraicists, computer scientists and mathematical physicists.
3. International collaborations and influences. For example, Kelly's 95-96 visitors report a total of 16 articles and 1 PhD arising from their stays. There is an ongoing international demand to consult and visit our group. The historic Halifax CT'95 conference was attended by the Chief Investigators and a large group of our research associates and students: reports on our invited addresses and other talks were very complimentary. We continue to be invited to play major roles in the planning and activities of important conferences; for example, Street gave a series of 4 talks at Oberwolfach in September 1995. Outstanding postdoctoral candidates apply for our research positions.
4. Strong Postgraduates. These include university medallists. Some candidates become interested in our work through Vacation Scholarships in our departments. A Math Olympiad gold medallist is applying to begin in 1997. We currently supervise 15 graduate students. Another 10 graduate students recently completed; half of these PhD.
Generated Funding
1. Overseas institutions and grant agencies enhance the value of ARC and home institution support by significant contributions to our travel, accommodation, and living expenses.
2. The 1996 visit by Prof Ronnie Brown, inter alia, resulted in the donation of the mathematical sculpture "Journey" by John Robinson to Macquarie University. This $100000 contribution to Australian mathematical culture can be viewed on the WWW at <http://hydraulix.bangor.ac.uk/~mas007/> and is expected to be erected outside building E6A early in 1997.
3. A two-year collaborative program has been instituted between the School of Mathematics at Sydney and its counterpart at Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium, leading to visits in both directions by senior researchers and by research students. Each university put up about $9000 a year &endash; Kelly provided $2500 a year from his ARC grant as a pledge of the serious interest by Australian Category Theory, to which the School at Sydney added $2000 a year from its research funds, whereupon the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) found another $4000 a year for the two years. This outlay of our ARC funds thus led to our receiving the total Belgian contribution of $18000 over the two years. As it happens, the research exchanges arising from the collaboration have all been in Category Theory &endash; as the chief area in which the two schools have common research expertise.
4. ARC money helps attract students who then apply and receive postgraduate scholarships.
5. Our departments supplement our funding of research associates with some partial teaching positions.