The American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) was founded in 1994 by John Fry and is located in Palo Alto, California. Privately funded by Fry at inception, in 2002, AIM became one of eight NSF-funded mathematical institutes.
Brian Conrey has been director of the institute since 1997.
The Institute was founded with the primary goal of identifying and solving important mathematical problems. Originally, very small groups of top mathematicians would be assembled to solve a major problem, such as the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture. Now the Institute also runs an extensive program of week-long workshops on current topics in mathematical research. These workshops rely strongly on interactive problem sessions.
AIM annually awards a prestigious five-year fellowship to an "outstanding new PhD pursuing research in an area of pure mathematics". The fellowship is currently worth US$4,000 per month for 60 months. AIM also sponsors local mathematics competitions and a yearly meeting for women mathematicians.
The Institute will eventually move to Morgan Hill, California, about 39 miles (63 km) to the southeast, when its new facility there is completed. Plans for the new facility were started about 2000, but construction work was delayed by regulatory and engineering issues into mid-2011. The facility will be built as a facsimile of The Alhambra, a 14th century Moorish palace and fortress in Spain.
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The American Institute of Mathematics has sponsored fundamental research for high-profile problems in several mathematical areas. Among them are: