ORAU sponsors leading students, researchers at Heidelberg Laureate Forum

Part of the ORAU campus in central Oak Ridge is pictured above on May 29, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

ORAU and the National Science Foundation sponsored 21 top U.S. students and postdoctoral researchers in the fields of mathematics and computer science at the 2017 Heidelberg Laureate Forum in Heidelberg, Germany.

Similar to the Lindau Laureate Meetings for Physics, Chemistry, and Life Sciences, students and postdoctoral researchers attended the week-long Heidelberg Forum to network with Laureates in their STEM fields, as well as with international colleagues. (STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.)

Laureates who are invited to attend the meeting are recipients of the Abel Prize, the Fields Medal (including the Nevanlinna Prize for contributions in “Mathematical Aspects of Information Science”), the ACM A.M. Turing Award, and the ACM Prize in Computing.

“The Heidelberg Forum allows young researchers to exchange ideas with experts and colleagues in math and computer science disciplines about what the future holds in their fields,” said Michelle Goodson, who manages the program for ORAU. “During the week, students and researchers get the invaluable opportunity to network with STEM leaders, which will continue to inspire them as they pursue STEM careers.”

Approximately 200 students and early-career researchers participated in the forum this year. Throughout the week, students attended formal lectures presented by the Laureates, and the remainder of their time was spent in workshops networking with mathematicians and computer scientists from around the world.

“The Laureates were warm and actively engaged with young researchers on a whole range of subjects—everything from career and research advice to philosophizing about the key questions in the fields they created,” said Sam Gutekunst from Cornell University. “The young researchers were equally interesting to engage with and quickly became an international network of new friends and potential collaborators.”

For more information regarding the Fifth Annual Heidelberg Laureates Forum, visit the Heidelberg Laureate Forum website.

The 21 students and postdoctoral researchers are:

ORAU is a nonprofit corporation and federal contractor. ORAU manages the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education for the U.S. Department of Energy.

This press release was submitted by Amanda Freuler.