Lectures on Probability and Stochastic processes (LPS), an annual workshop for early-career young researchers in India, begins in the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) Delhi today. The workshop, in its fourteenth year, focuses on the latest advancements in the field of Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes. Held between the 2nd of December to the 6th of December, 2019, the workshop has mini-courses and invited talks, and provides ample networking opportunities for those interested in this field of mathematics.
The annual workshop was started in 2006 by Dr Antar Bandhopadhyay from ISI Delhi, Dr Krishnanu Maulik, ISI Kolkata and Dr Siva Athreya, ISI Bangalore.
“The workshop is primarily aimed towards graduate students so that the students can learn about a few topics over a period of days,” explains Professor Arjit Chakrabarthy, from ISI Kolkata, who is one of the organisers of the workshop. “One speaker gets 400 minutes of lectures and an additional 90 minutes of discussions, which is different from what conferences offer. This helps the students learn the subject from scratch,” he says.
Every year, two mini-courses on recent topics are taught by experts during the workshop. This year, Dr Srikanth Iyer from IISc Bangalore and Dr Ron Peled from Tel Aviv University, are teaching courses on Geometric Random Graphs and Statistical Physics respectively. Along with the two mini-courses, eight invited speakers will provide a peek into their specific fields of research in short talks delivered over the span of four days.
Sharing his experience as an attendant of the workshop years ago, Professor Rajat Subhra Hazra says, “I was a student at the second LPS workshop that took place.” Today, he works at ISI Kolkata and is an organiser of this year’s workshop. “The number of probabilists in India right now has increased exponentially and LPS definitely played a role in this,” he says, talking about the significance of this workshop.
If you are interested in knowing more about the happenings at the workshop, the details are available on the workshop website.