Over the last two semesters the graduate students have been running a regular weekly seminar. The aim of this seminar is to give graduate students the opportunity to speak in front of an audience in an informal and friendly setting. This experience is particularly useful to those students who are nervous about speaking at one of the research seminars for the first time. People are encouraged to talk about anything that interests them, the only restriction being that the talk should be accessible to all graduate students.

Since September there have been over fifteen talks. Some people have spoken about their own research, giving beginning students an excellent opportunity to learn about the current research interests of the department. Others spoke on topics from a range of areas including algebra, complex analysis, topology, geometry, pdes and relativity. The sessions were certainly both informal and lively with plenty of interaction between the audience and speaker.

The seminar will begin again in the Fall. We hope to convince the incoming first year students to attend and eventually make presentations. Members of faculty may also wish to use this seminar as a opportunity to speak about research projects that they have for graduate students. If you wish to speak in the Fall or have any comments or suggestions then please contact Andrew Marsh ajm22@pitt.edu.