Lieman's proposal was one of four proposals funded from 34 submitted in the mathematical sciences section. It is the first CAREER grant for the department. Since his graduation, Lieman has been continually supported by the NSF.
The award is centered around research and education in the areas of number theory and computational mathematics. In his research in number theory, Lieman will study several conjectures about the average values of various families of L-series of arithmetic interest, including an "on average" version of the Lindelof hypothesis in n-aspect; a conjecture on the Whittaker-Fourier coefficients of metaplectic forms; and a conjecture on the average values of the L-series of the classical "sum of two cubes" family of elliptic curves.
The proposal includes an undergraduate summer research project in number theory that will involve undergraduates in active research and increase underrepresented minority participation in mathematics and science. Lieman expects the research to produce new courses for MU's mathematics department as well as a self-paced mathematical investigation series that will be available to the general online undergraduate community.
"I'm excited about the summer program," Lieman says. "In math, we often fail to tell our students how much we enjoy doing research and the process of discovery. The summer program will let us expose undergraduates to these rewards by actually letting them take part in this process.
"The work the undergraduates will undertake is legitimate mathematical research. Nobody knows what they'll find, and a lot of people are interested in the results."
He and Kent Neuerberg will teach mathematics in a traditional format for two weeks and will spend two weeks working on computational investigations in active research problems. They will work with 11 students, six undergraduates funded by NSF and five graduate students funded by the MU graduate program. The students receive a stipend, and the College of Arts & Science is funding their room and board.
The proposal includes the support of a graduate mathematics community by bringing in graduate students from other universities to deliver weekly seminars. Lieman also is attempting to secure private matching funds that would allow him to expand the summer program and bring in world-class lecturers and visitors.
Lieman has experience in student-oriented research programs. At Columbia University he created and taught a course on elliptic curves in the Science Honors Program, which invites the top 250 students within 50 miles of New York to take a series of free science or math classes on Saturday mornings. The course was aimed at students with math interest and aptitude but without much mathematical experience. Classes covered basic number theory and elliptic curves, as well as applications to cryptography, sphere packing and other computational problems.
Lieman initiated and co-developed the Sonya Kovalevskaya High School Math Days at Columbia University, a three-day program aimed at high school women who were college-bound but unaware of possible careers in science. Activities included computational mathematical investigations, field trips and close contact with female faculty and graduate students in the sciences.
His research interests include automorphic forms, number theory and cryptography. Lieman is the recipient of the 1991 President's Award for Excellence in Teaching at Brown University and the Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Missouri Men of Engineering. He joined the MU faculty in summer 1996, coming from New York, where he served as Ritt Assistant Professor at Columbia University.
"This is an exciting place to be a part of right now," Lieman says of the department that drew him to Missouri. "I'm really enjoying the atmosphere and the people."
Lieman earned his PhD from Brown University in 1992 and spent the following academic year and fall semester 1994 as a postdoctoral fellow at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, Calif.
