Skip to content

49th John H. Barrett Memorial Lectures

Recent Developments in Number Theory

May 28-30, 2019

Plenary Speakers

Note: Alexandru Buium will be unable to attend.

Other Speakers

Note: Daniel Hast will be unable to attend.

History of the Barrett Lectures

The John Barrett Memorial Lectures began in 1970 as a tribute to Dr. John H. Barrett, an expert on oscillation and disconjugacy theory of linear ordinary differential equations and influential Mathematics Department Head at the University of Tennessee. Originally dedicated to topics in Barrett’s field, ordinary differential equations, the lectures have been held annually since 1970 (except in 1990 and 2004). Since the 1980’s, however, the lecture themes have traversed the mathematical landscape: from mathematics education through computational and applied mathematics, discrete mathematics and stochastics to general relativity, nonlinear partial differential equations and topological quantum field theory.

During their history, the Barrett Lectures have been graced by a succession of distinguished mathematicians, with lectures given by Garrett Birkoff (1972); Shreeram Abhyankar (1986); Sir Michael Atiyah, Isadore Singer and Karen Uhlenbeck (1989); Sir John Ball and Lawrence C. Evans (1991); Sergiu Klainerman, Fang-Hua Lin and Michael Struwe (1995); Alice Chang, Tobias Colding and Karsten Grove (2000); Yasutaka Ihara and Yujiro Kawamata (2003); John Baez (2006); Richard Schoen, Robert Wald and Igor Rodnianski (2011); and Fernando Marques and André Neves (2013), to name a few.

A list of past Barrett Lectures and speakers can be found at Barrett Lectures History.

Registration

Registration for all (including speakers) who would like to request financial support (see below) have to be completed by April 15. You can register here: Registration Page.

Anyone who wants to attend should register, even if after the deadline, but we cannot guarantee financial support in that case. If registering late, please also send us an e-mail, so that we can try make the proper adjustments to the budget and organization.

All participants will also have to register on site between 8am and 8:45am on the first day of the conference. See the Schedule page for more information.

Financial Support

This conference is sponsored by the University of Tennessee‘s Mathematics Department, as well as its College of Arts and Sciences, its Office of Research and Engagement.

This conference is also supported in part by:

Limited funds are available to help support participant lodging and travel costs, particularly to those who are graduate students, early-career researchers, and/or members of groups that are under-represented in mathematics.

Financial support can be requested in the registration page. The conference will pay for lodging (at the Hilton Knoxville — see Accommodations below) of participants who request it in their registration (and registered by the deadline of April 15). Some extra support for travel for those not giving talks might also be available, but cannot be guaranteed and the actual amounts will only be known after the conference.

Note that all invited speakers will have their travel expenses (plane tickets or mileage) reimbursed by the conference.

Travel

All participants, including invited speakers, are responsible for making their own travel arrangements.

The conference will be at University of Tennessee, located in Knoxville, TN. The closest major airport is McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS). The closest major hub for connections is the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).

Important: international airfare must be purchased through a U.S. flag carrier airline in order for the reimbursement to be paid (this is a stipulation of the NSF grant).

Under the Fly America Act, federal grant sponsors require that any participant wishing to receive travel reimbursement fly with a U.S. flag carrier airline. For international travelers, funding may be limited if airfare is not purchased through a U.S. flag air carrier (i.e., Delta, American, United) or through a foreign flag air carrier under an “Open Skies” agreement between the United States and the foreign government.

Accommodations

All participants who requested financial support from the conference, including speakers, will stay at the Hilton Knoxville, which is within walking distance from the conference site. (Here are directions. Google says 0.5 mile and a 12 minute walk.)

The reservations will be made directly by the math department and include parking. (If the reservation was not made by us, you might be charged for parking.)

Note that graduate students and post-docs might have to share rooms. You can request a roommate in the registration form. If you don’t have a request, we can assign you one.

Although we expect all participants to stay at the Hilton, those who do not need support for lodging and desire to make their own hotel reservations have also the following hotels within walking distance of the conference. Note that most of these charge extra for parking!

Parking

Participants staying at any of the above hotels are encouraged to walk to the conference location. On-campus hourly parking is available at Volunteer Hall Parking Garage at 1545 White Avenue. The cost is $1.00 for every half-hour. For more information, check UT’s Visitor Parking Page.

Note also that hourly parking is available at several parking garages in downtown Knoxville. For more information, check Downtown Knoxville Parking.

Location

The Barrett Lectures will be held at the Ken And Blaire Mossman Laboratory Building (map), room 212, at the UT campus. Note that this is not the math department building!

Walking directions to the conference (from the Hilton Hotel) can be found in the Points of Interest Map, as well as walking directions to on-site registration and the banquet. These directions do not give you the shortest path (which would be to take Cumberland Ave), but they avoid going up and down steep hills.

Here is the Campus Map.

Food

Coffee and light snacks will be served before the talks and during the breaks. They will be available in room 211, right beside the conference room (212).

Besides coffee and snacks, lunch will also be available (for free) to all participants at the atrium of the Mossman Building (where the talks will take place).

Please let us know in the Additional Comments of the registration form if you have any dietary restriction (e.g., vegetarian, vegan, allergies, gluten-free, etc.) and we will do our best to accommodate you for the lunches and banquet.

For other options for dinner, check the list of Restaurants Near Campus/Hotels.

Banquet

There will also be a (free) Conference Banquet on Wednesday 05/29 at Calhoun’s On the River (Map).

Calhoun’s is within walking distance from the Hilton, so transportation will not be provided. Here are walking directions. (Google estimates 0.4 miles and 9 minutes.) Keep in mind that the way is quite hilly, going up on the way back to the hotel. If there is interest in sharing cabs/Ubers, we can try to help organizing it.

Please let us know if you would like to attend the banquet in your registration.

WiFi

Participants can connect to the internet via eduroam if that is available from your home institution.

If you cannot connect with eduroam, you will be able to connect to UT’s WiFi as a guest. You will register as an “Sponsored Guest”. The username and password necessary to register will be given at the conference.

Links

Contact Information

Feel free to contact Luís Finotti or Marie Jameson (co-organizers) for more information or assistance.

The flagship campus of the University of Tennessee System and partner in the Tennessee Transfer Pathway.

Report an accessibility barrier