Brown math center seen providing $500K boost

DO THE MATH: A rendering of Brown University’s Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, which opens in the fall. /
DO THE MATH: A rendering of Brown University’s Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, which opens in the fall. /

The first conference is still months away, but Jill Pipher’s staff is already busy booking hotel rooms. Pipher oversees Brown University’s Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, which opens for business next fall thanks to a $15.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
More than just researchers tackling the world’s emerging math challenges, Brown says the institute will deliver an economic boost to a city and state in need of a pick-me-up.
“I think there will be a not-negligible economic impact,” Pipher said during a launch for the center last week.
Like good mathematicians, Brown staff put a number on that impact: $495,920 annually. The center expects invited speakers to stay a combined 1,080 nights and deliver $144,720 to local hotels. They are likely to spend another $97,200 on food, said Ruth Crane, the assistant director of the institute.
Day-trippers attending workshops are expected to spend some $54,000 on parking, food and the like. Meanwhile, visitors spending a semester or year at the institute will pump an additional $200,000 into the economy in the form of rents, entertainment and food.
All those numbers, Crane said, are expected to increase as the institute ramps up its programming.
The institute will also host nine staff positions, eight of which the university plans to fill from outside the school’s ranks. There will be four associate directors splitting their time between the institute and other university departments. The institute will also support up to 40 researchers in residence and up to 12 postdoctoral researchers annually.
They will work from the top two floors at 121 South Main St., a glittering glass building along the Providence River. With offices, a 90-seat lecture hall and common areas, the university said the location would serve as a magnet for pre-eminent researchers tackling problems from environmental computer modeling to cyber security. And in good news for a cash-strapped city, the university does not plan to remove the building from the property tax roles.
Contractors have been busy tearing down interior walls on the two floors to make room for offices, workshop space and the lecture hall. Brown was unable to provide a cost for the outfitting of the two floors that once housed the law firm Brown Rudnick.
Brown was one of 11 applicants seeking to host a National Science Foundation-funded mathematics institute, the foundation said. The foundation awarded five grants, including four renewals for existing institutes.
The Brown institute, besides becoming the only new center, also becomes the only such institute in New England. The eighth NSF mathematics institute in the nation, the Brown facility will be the only one charged with studying the convergence of mathematics and computation.
Pipher said the unique combination of computers and math place it in an exclusive position to host one-of-a-kind events and research projects found in few other places.
The institute has already laid out a schedule with a dozen events for next academic year. Over time, Pipher expects attendance at them to reach upwards of about 90 people each.
Some of those people will likely carry big names in mathematical circles. Others could be important players in major corporations. Executives from Google, IBM and Microsoft serve on the institute’s Scientific Advisory Board.
Those could prove important connections for a city looking to build a knowledge-based economy. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras called Brown University and its new institute “an integral part” of building a district centered on research in the health-sciences fields.
Similar institutes funded by the National Science Foundation create a visible research presence, said Sastry Pantula, the director of the foundation’s mathematical sciences division. He said conferences at other centers routinely attract hundreds of visitors. Researchers will often spend a semester or full academic year at an institute tackling the specific problem at hand.
He was not aware that any of the existing seven institutes served as the catalyst for a company to open an office nearby. However, he said other centers often see existing local companies turn to them for expertise.
The research stemming from such centers holds international significance, Pantula said. Global positioning systems, heart stents and cell phones are all devices with an underpinning of math.
At Brown, combining math with computers holds promise for everything from medical imagery to analyzing hordes of electronic data and creating better graphics for Hollywood movies, Pipher said.
The research will, according to a host of elected officials at the March 7 launch, help out-educate and out-innovate the rest of the world. The institute, as U.S. Rep. James Langevin put it, delivers America an edge.
“This edge supports that American workers are the best in the world,” he said.
Langevin said the center would also contribute to American efforts to protect itself from the emerging threat of cyber warfare where guns and bullets are traded for computers and software.
A potentially lucrative market exists for those institutions ready to work on defense strategies. U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse expects the Senate to introduce a comprehensive cyber-security bill this year.
Rhode Island, he said, stands poised to gain from the legislation, assuming Congress passes it and Brown, the University of Rhode Island and the Naval War College can coordinate their efforts.
The trio, Whitehouse said, has “an enormous amount to contribute in what is going to be an area of explosive growth.” &#8226

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