Abstract:

The primary goal of most interdisciplinary projects involving mathematicians is not the creation of new mathematics. This leads mathematicians to ask the question ``What do mathematicians get out of interdisciplinary research?'' The short answer is, ``A lot.'' The long answer, to be discussed in the talk, will be explained in the context of a project whose goal is the design and fabrication of semi-conductor devices to store information in the spin of a single electron (a quantum bit).