This award will support participation in a weekend conference to be held at the University of Arizona, Tucson on May 4 - 5. The aim of the conference is to establish a solid basis for contacts and collaborations among researchers in Commutative Algebra and Algebraic Geometry located in Arizona and its neighboring states. Its main purposes are to stimulate new directions of research, to provide opportunities to junior researchers to share their work, and to provide a venue for networking and collaboration in the southwest. Its other aim is to expand the network of algebraic and arithmetic geometers by providing an algebro-geometric complement of the Arizona Winter School.<br/><br/>The conference plans to host four leading researchers from Arizona and its neighboring states working in Commutative Algebra and Algebraic Geometry, who will give colloquium-style one-hour lectures on their respective areas of expertise. These hour-long lectures are expected to provide surveys of the current state of the research in these areas, and to provide suggestions for new avenues of research. There will be five or six 30-minute talks given by young researchers, as well as six to eight contributed short 20-minute talks and a poster session. Priority for these contributed talks and posters will be given to recent PhD recipients and members of groups underrepresented in mathematics. Further information is available at the conference website: https://sites.google.com/math.arizona.edu/caagtus/home<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.