Vii. Communication of the Mathematical Sciences 135 Viii
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¡ ¢£¡ ¡ ¤ ¤ ¥ ¦ ¡ The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences Our Mission Our Community The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences PIMS is a partnership between the following organi- (PIMS) was created in 1996 by the community zations and people: of mathematical scientists in Alberta and British Columbia and in 2000, they were joined in their en- The six participating universities (Simon Fraser deavour by their colleagues in the State of Washing- University, University of Alberta, University of ton. PIMS is dedicated to: British Columbia, University of Calgary, Univer- sity of Victoria, University of Washington) and af- Promoting innovation and excellence in research filiated Institutions (University of Lethbridge and in all areas encompassed by the mathematical sci- University of Northern British Columbia). ences; The Government of British Columbia through the Initiating collaborations and strengthening ties be- Ministry of Competition, Science and Enterprise, tween the mathematical scientists in the academic The Government of Alberta through the Alberta community and those in the industrial, business and government sectors; Ministry of Innovation and Science, and The Gov- ernment of Canada through the Natural Sciences Training highly qualified personnel for academic and Engineering Research Council of Canada. and industrial employment and creating new op- portunities for developing scientists; Over 350 scientists in its member universities who are actively working towards the Institute’s Developing new technologies to support research, mandate. Their disciplines include pure and ap- communication and training in the mathematical plied mathematics, statistics, computer science, sciences. physical, chemical and life sciences, medical sci- Building on the strength and vitality of its pro- ence, finance, management, and several engineer- grammes, PIMS is able to serve the mathematical ing fields. sciences community as a catalyst in other areas of great importance: Scientists, practitioners and government re- searchers using mathematical ideas in dozens of The communication and dissemination of mathe- companies across Canada and the U.S. matical ideas; public outreach, mathematical edu- cation and training at all school levels; A large and rapidly growing group of high school and elementary school teachers and educators in The creation of strong mathematical partnerships Alberta, British Columbia and Washington State. and links within Canada and organizations in other countries, with a focus on the nations of the Pacific Rim. From the Chair of the Board Hugh Morris, FRSC My association supported by PIMS during 2001–02, together with with the Pa- a glimpse at the planned busy programme ahead. cific Institute for PIMS not only strives to be a world-class research the Mathemat- institute in the mathematical sciences, but also to be ical Sciences prominent in the application of mathematics to in- (PIMS) contin- dustry and in mathematics education at all levels. ues to be an ex- Through its Industrial Problem Solving Pro- citing and re- gramme and its Industrial Math Training Pro- warding expe- gramme, PIMS has played a key role in bringing rience. I am mathematical scientists in academia together with as fascinated their counterparts in the private sector. This year’s by the energy, the Industrial Problem Solving Workshop and the the vitality and Graduate Industrial Mathematics Modelling Camp the pace that continued the highly successful format of previous the mathemat- years. Hugh Morris, Chair of the PIMS Board ical scientists This year PIMS has continued its involvement in of Directors. of PIMS are mathematics education, in the Sky magazine is now putting into their task as I was when I became Chair distributed to more schools, and as you will see there of the PIMS Board of Directors back in 1998. are many education activities taking place in British The reallocation results of NSERC echo my faith Columbia and Alberta. PIMS is certainly doing a lot in PIMS as one of the most innovative and promising to reveal to students of all levels how much fun math- research institutes in the mathematical sciences. ematics can be. The opening of the Banff International Research The development of the PIMS Collaborative Re- Station (BIRS) is just weeks away. BIRS is des- search Groups is something to truly be proud of. I tined to provide a tremendous boost for research in look forward to seeing what these multi-university the mathematical sciences all over the world, and it groups of mathematical scientists achieve in 2003. will be exciting to see BIRS actually open its doors My warmest congratulations to the director, Dr. after all the hard work. Nassif Ghoussoub and to all mathematical scientists This annual report represents a compendium of and staff of PIMS for their wonderful accomplish- the various activities and programmes organized and ments. ii Director’s Notes Nassif Ghoussoub, FRSC NSERC’s reallocations results are out and PIMS and the 3 institutes the Canadian mathematical community have every with the Statis- reason to be proud of the accomplishments of the tics Grant Se- last 5 years. The site visit report had much to say lection Com- about the institute’s contributions: “PIMS activi- mittee (GSC ties have broken through discipline and geographical 14) for a 4- boundaries”. They echoed the referees comments: year “National “PIMS has become in a very short time a model Programme for the research institute of the twenty first century” on Complex and “PIMS has moved from an “idea” to a lead- Data Struc- ing international institute”. One anonymous ref- tures” has also eree wrote about the international leadership shown been funded Nassif Ghoussoub, Director of PIMS by the Canadian mathematical community adding: at the rate of “Here, PIMS seems to be in the driver’s seat with $172K/year. incredible results for the world’s mathematical com- munity”. Another referee concurred: “Although NSERC Increases its Funding for the [PIMS] is the youngest of the three, I believe that Mathematics Grant Selection Committees its reputation is rapidly on the rise, so I find the in- cremental funding which is requested in the PIMS The synergies between the math community and the proposal to be compelling. I believe that the lead- institutes have again played a major role, even as the ership of PIMS is energetic and creative, and PIMS institutes carry on with their outreach efforts to other is perhaps the most ambitious of the three Canadian disciplines. Indeed, mathematics is one of only six Institutes”. submissions (out of 19 GSCs) that ended up with a budget increase: A major change from the dynamic of the first NSERC re-allocation exercise in 1994. PIMS: A Model for the Research Institute of the ¢¡¤£¦¥ The reallocations committee first recognized the Century importance of increased funding to new applicants The site visit committee also stated that “PIMS has by returning $805K/year to the GSC 336/337. In ad- been successful at multiplying the opportunities pro- dition, the committee allocated $270K/year to pro- vided by NSERC funds. However, it is also partic- mote structured initiatives by recognized leaders. In- ularly underfunded compared to the other two insti- deed, this innovative approach was well received by tutes.” NSERC’s reallocations committee agreed by the Committee which noted that “initiatives that are awarding PIMS a 60% increase in its budget. Each built around a leader have been a recognized model one of the 3 Institutes (PIMS, Fields and CRM) will for success in mathematics and other disciplines. receive a grant of approximately $1 million/year for The institutes are also using this model quite exten- the period 2003–07. In addition, a joint proposal of sively”. iii iv All are encouraged to take a look at the NSERC purpose of completing the National Network for Re- webpage, www.nserc.ca, so as to be aware of the search in the Mathematical Sciences (A first attempt new opportunities created by this result. Congrat- at an NSERC’s RPP research network had failed in ulations to all involved, especially to Richard Kane 1997!). The 3 institutes funding for AARMS (At- and Robert V. Moody who led this year’s exercise lantic Association for Research in the Mathematical for mathematics with exemplary judgment, skill, and Sciences) has been matched by the Memorial Uni- patience. versity of Newfoundland in St. John’s, the Uni- versity of Nova Scotia at Dalhousie and the Uni- Referees’ Unanimity on the Banff International versity of New Brunswick at Fredericton. In addi- Research Station (BIRS) tion, MITACS has committed substantial funds for seed projects subject to appropriate matching from BIRS has been referred to as a major coup for the the provincial governments and local industries. The Canadian community. The annual budget of BIRS is $600K/year package should provide a great boost to about $2M ($500K from each of NSF, ASRA, and Atlantic Canada research in the mathematical sci- NSERC’s MFA program; $100K from MITACS and ences. Here Hermann Brunner is to be heartily con- $400K from PIMS). In addition $1.1M have finally gratulated for his efforts and leadership. been secured to renovate and upgrade the facilities ($300K from the PIMS universities and $800K from the Alberta government). We are looking forward to an outstanding inaugural programme for 2003 and The National Programme Committee to be we anticipate that our recently approved 2004 pro- Restructured gramme will be of an equally high calibre. Many thanks to Robert V. Moody for the incredible amount of work and energy he is investing to help set up this The National Programme Committee of the 3 in- great continental resource. stitutes will be restructured soon so that it can ef- fectively deal with the developing picture across the country. Every active Canadian researcher The MITACS Network up for Renewal should/will have access to the infrastructural re- The MITACS Network of Centres of Excellence de- sources and to the research opportunities, new and veloped by the 3 institutes has been a great boost old.