2003{04 Participant Testimonials The Community in support of The Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS) March 8, 2005 1 Foreword Our event connects two nations, the United States Since then, over 500 scientists from all over the and Canada, exemplary neighbours who have always world wrote compelling testimonials on the impact cherished peace between each other. In that tradition, on their research of their participation in BIRS activ- today we inaugurate an enterprise that represents the ities. The letters {collected in this book{ are candid best of the human spirit. and specific at the impact of BIRS on their pro- fessional lives. Graduate students told us how BIRS With these words from the former NSF director, contributed to their first theorems, their first contacts Rita Colwell, the Banff International Research Sta- and their first jobs. Established mathematicians told tion was inaugurated in 2003. Since then, BIRS us about their collaborative breakthroughs at BIRS, has developed, through a unique bi-national scien- the theorems they proved brick by brick, and the con- tific partnership, into a tremendous resource for the jectures they dispelled in \two minutes". Scientists world's international scientific community. In two from smaller universities told us about the access short years, the station has hosted over 4000 re- BIRS gave them to their peers from more prominent searchers from 49 countries that participated in over institutions, and private sector researchers told us 120 different programs spanning almost every as- about their rewarding contacts with their academic pect of pure, applied, computational and industrial peers. All in all, the book of testimonials represents mathematics, statistics, computer science, but also a remarkably uplifting experience to all individuals in physics and astronomy, biology, and engineering. and organizations who made BIRS a reality. The hallmark of a good idea is that so many people Oberwolfach has always been an international find it obvious once it has been mentioned. How true treasure for the world's mathematical community, were these words of NSERC's President, Tom Brzus- which made the following comment of Ron Graham towski, at this same inauguration ceremony of BIRS (San Diego) particularly rewarding: \It is clear that in 2003. Since then, the extraordinary response to BIRS has been (and is continuing to be) a very posi- the opportunities at BIRS has led to extremely high tive force in the world on mathematics. I'm sure this quality competitions with over 450 proposed activ- will put a lot of pressure on Oberwolfach!. ities competing for the 150 available weeks in the period 2003-06. The proposals received, cover huge But it is the following e-mail from Nima Geffen areas of the basic and engineering sciences but also (Tel Aviv University) that captures why BIRS was economics, finance, psychology and scientific writing. destined to be Canada's gift to the scientific world: BIRS is an exemplary research station, the very best It is also fair to say that not everybody found the in my view. I find it fitting that it is in Canada, concept of BIRS obvious at first. But what is more where consideration, kindness and compassion have compelling than the testimonial of initial skeptics? been the order of the day (at least more than in any and it took nothing less but a major impact of BIRS other place that I know). It is an inspiring place to on Toronto's Victor Ivrii's research but also on his be developed, cherished and used, as much as feasible, son's experience at BIRS while training for the In- for the benefit of all. ternational Mathematics Olympiad. He wrote: All this because Canada is blessed with accom- Honestly I was rather reserved about BIRS when the plished scientists and extremely generous human be- idea came first. Then at the beginning of 2003 I ings like Robert V. Moody who dedicated almost 3 participated in the workshop and was converted (be- years of his professional life to BIRS establishment. cause) very important progress in my work {Sharp He kindly wrote us from his partial \retirement": I Spectral Asymptotics for Operators with Irregular think back to the creation of BIRS and I can only feel Coefficients. IV. Multidimensional Schr¨odinger op- that it was a miracle. It is a wonderful treasure for erator with a strong magnetic field. Full-rank case{ North America, Canada, and the PIMS community. was done during a BIRS workshop. Nothing much to Long may the miracle continue! add to this except: in the Summer 2003 my son Oleg was in BIRS (International Mathematics Olympiad Amen! training camps) and he and those his teammates I know were absolutely excited by their stay. Nassif Ghoussoub, BIRS Scientific Director 2 Contents 1 Robert Moody, University of Alberta 23 2 Tucker Carrington, University of Montreal 24 3 Raphael Bousso, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, University of California 24 4 Karl Petersen, Department of Mathematics, University of North Carolina 24 5 Bruce Reed, Canada Research Chair in Graph Theory, McGill University 24 6 Bruce Shepherd, Bell Labs 24 7 Robert E. Kass, Department of Statistics, Professor, Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University 24 8 Ryan Haskett, Duke University 25 9 Robert J. Elliott, RBC Financial Group Professor of Finance, University of Calgary 25 10 John R. Klein, Wayne State University 25 11 Savdeep Sethi, Assistant Professor of Physics, Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago 25 12 Antonio Sa Barreto, Professor, Department of Mathematics, Purdue University 25 13 Victor Ivrii, Professor of Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto 25 14 Andrew Park, PDF Epidemiology, Dept. Biology, Queen's University, Dept. Math and Stats, York University 26 15 Chi-Kwong Li, Professor, Department of Mathematics, The College of William & Mary 26 16 Petra Klepac, PhD Candidate, MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, Biology Depart- ment, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 26 17 Jinqiao Duan, Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics, Illinois Institute of Technology 26 18 Michael Singer, North Carolina State University 27 19 Francois Labouri´e, Membre de l'Institut Universitaire de France, President du Departement de Mathematiques de l'Universite Paris XI 27 20 Pramathanath Sastry, Associate Professor (CLTA), University of Toronto 27 21 Richard Kenyon, Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia 27 22 Matthew Hedden, Department of Mathematics, Columbia University 28 23 Anne-Gaelle Rolland-Lagan, Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary 28 24 Zhongshan Li, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Georgia State University 28 25 Adrian Butscher, Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto at Scarborough 28 26 Hamid Bolouri, Professor of Computational Biology, Institute for Systems Biology 28 27 Steve Harris, Saint Louis University 29 28 Paul Monsky, Brandeis University 29 3 29 Michael Overton, Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics, Courant Institute of Math- ematical Sciences, New York University, Chair, SIAM Board of Trustees, Scientific Advisory Board, Fields Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Board of Directors, Canadian Mathematical Society 29 30 Vilmos Totik, professor of mathematics, USF and U. Szeged, Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences 30 31 Priscilla Greenwood, Research Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Arizona State University 30 32 Lorenzo Sadun, Professor of Mathematics, University of Texas at Austin 30 33 Rebecca Tyson, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Okanagan University College 31 34 Juan Migliore, University of Notre Dame 31 35 Mengzhe Maggie Wang, Department of Math and Stat Sciences, University of Alberta 31 36 Cliff Burgress, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, McGill University 32 37 Pengfei Guan, McGill University 32 38 Bill Johnson, Department of Mathematics, Texas A&M University 32 39 Peter Russell, Department of Mathematics, McGill University 32 40 William McGowen Priestley, Professor of Mathematics, University of the South 32 41 Rene Carmona, Paul M. Wythes '55 Professor of Engineering and Finance Bendheim Center for Finance ORFE, Princeton University 33 42 Krzysztof Burdzy, Department of Mathematics, University of Washington 34 43 James Propp, Mathematics Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison 34 44 Yasha Eliashberg, Department of Mathematics, Stanford University 34 45 Rene Schoof, Universiteit van Amsterdam 34 46 Neal Madras, FRSC, Chair, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, York University 34 47 Oliver Brock, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Mas- sachusetts Amherst 35 48 Lionel Mason, Reader in Mathematics, University of Oxford 35 49 Ian Agol, University of Illinois at Chicago 35 50 Jesse Barlow, Department of Computer science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State Univer- sity 35 51 Paul Gunnells, Mathematics Department, University of Massachusetts 35 52 Eric Cytrynbaum, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia 36 53 Nora Ganter, Department of mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 36 4 54 John Labute, McGill University 36 55 Dagan Karp, Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia 36 56 David Boyd, Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia 37 57 Xiaolin Li, AMS Department, SUNY at Stony Brook 37 58 Uri Ascher, Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia 38 59 Michael Chen, IE Dept, Tech C230,