Our research group was initiated in August 2003 under the Vertical Integration of Research and Education (VIGRE)
Program sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) at the Department of Mathematics at the University
of Georgia (UGA).  The group was initially led from 2003-05  by David Benson, Brian Boe and Daniel  Nakano.
The current faculty leaders (2005-  ) are Leonard Chastkofsky, Brian Boe and Daniel Nakano.

The VIGRE Algebra Group consists of faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduates. Our group
operates much like a laboratory in the physical and biological sciences by bringing individuals with varying backgrounds and expertise
to work on a common research project. One of our main educational objectives has been to develop innovative methods for conducting
mathematical research in a large group atmosphere.

During the 2003-04 academic year we focused our efforts on understanding conjugacy classes of nilpotent orbits
via the use of cohomology and representation theory. In 2004-05, our group studied support varieties for modules
over the symmetric group. Currently, we are investigating methods for computing cohomology  for  Lie algebras
and other related objects. Our group has completed three papers including one software package:

• Varieties for Nilpotent Matrices over Simple Lie Algebras I: Good Primes, J. Algebra 280, (2004), 719-737.
• Varieties for Nilpotent Matrices over Simple Lie Algebras II: Bad Primes, J. Algebra  292, (2005), 65-99.
  
• Support Varieties for Weyl Modules over Bad Primes, J. Algebra  312, (2007), 602-633. 
• On Kostant's Theorem for Lie Algebra Cohomology, in preparation.
  
• GAP program UGA3 (gzipped tar or zip format) to determine support varieties of induced modules for exceptional groups over bad primes.