Thematic Institutes : The Particle Accelerators of Mathematics
by Tom Salisbury
KEN DAVIDSON AND BRADD HART recruited me to be
Deputy Director of the Fields Institute in 2003 . I served for a year under Ken and two years under Barbara Keyfitz , stepping down in 2006 prior to starting as Canadian Mathematical Society ( CMS ) President . I had spent time at Fields before , while on sabbatical leave in 1997 – 98 and as one of the organizers of the Probability thematic program in 1998 – 99 . Since my time as Deputy Director , I have been involved in one of the Fields start-ups , the
15To ensure unbiased representation , the
Fields Institute Director changes every 3-5 years .
Quantitative Wealth Management Analytics Group ( QWeMA ), and I am currently back in a different role , as Associate Director for Industry Liaison .
Three very successful thematic year-long programs ran while I was deputy director : on partial differential equations ; string theory ( jointly with the Perimeter Institute ); and renormalization / holomorphic dynamics . Planning also took place for the two following years ’ programs . These thematic programs are the Institute ’ s flagship activity , shining a bright light on a topic ripe for special
16Fields call for program proposals is open to anyone anywhere in the world . attention , and providing an opportunity for a critical mass of researchers to move their field forward in a way that would not otherwise happen . Thematic institutes are the particle accelerators of mathematics , except that what we bring together and collide are mathematicians . They work because , unlike laboratory scientists , mathematicians are portable — they can work anywhere .
These programs are a transformative experience for the group of post-docs who attend them . I know during my own thematic program in probability , the network our post-docs established during their time at Fields had a major impact on their post-Fields careers . It is inspiring to see young researchers and post-docs eagerly working together at a blackboard long after the Institute has closed for the day ! Bringing the world ’ s leading researchers to Fields , where they interact with the Canadian research community , raises all our games . I know my own department has been able to achieve more , and to recruit outstanding people , because of the presence of the Fields Institute . … The following Fields story was told to me by Wendelin Werner . He and Greg Lawler were in an upstairs office at Fields , as participants at a 1999 conference ( that year ’ s Seminar on Stochastic Processes ), when they received an e-mail from Oded Schramm sharing a construction of a new conformally invariant random process , now called SLE . Those who know this subject will recognize that this means there is an important Fields Institute chapter in the work that eventually led to Wendelin ’ s 2006 Fields medal . ... In addition to its flagship thematic and focus programs , the array of conferences and workshops it organizes as general scientific activity , and its support for mathematical education , the Fields Institute has a long-running program in commercial and industrial mathematics ( CIM ). I ’ ve worked on that program for the past year , as Associate Director for Industry Liaison , having taken this over from Huaxiong Huang when he became Deputy Director of the Institute .
The basic goal of this program is to stimulate useful conversations and interactions between academic researchers and practitioners from the private sector . Fields has successfully done this in the finance industry for years , in part because the many mathematicians working in that sector make those conversations quite natural . The CIM program ’ s goal is to continue doing that , and to replicate this success in some of the other fields where mathematics can be applied . … We also try to develop relationships between firms and individual researchers . Sometimes these arise from the problem solving workshops mentioned above , where a workshop problem leads naturally to an ongoing research project or internship . Sometimes this develops internally , from one of the startup firms Fields incubates . In other cases , we have a conversation with an outside firm and then try to identify a researcher who might be able to help . With the other Institutes , we are attempting to do this on a national level through the website solutionscanada . com . We also work with Mitacs to expedite mathematically oriented internships .
It turns out that many firms can make use of mathematics , and many mathematicians are interested in doing some work with industry , or in exposing their students to internships . Fields is helping make these connections . �
17The Fields Institute has a start-up program that
has turned out successful names like Sigma Analysis & Management and R 2 Financial Technologies .
24
Thematic Institutes: The
Particle Accelerators of
Mathematics
by Tom Salisbury
K
EN DAVIDSON AND BRADD HART recruited me to be
Deputy Director of the Fields Institute in 2003. I served
for a year under Ken and two years under Barbara Keyfitz,
stepping down in 2006 prior to starting as Canadian Mathe-
matical Society (CMS) President. I had spent time at Fields
before, while on sabbatical leave in 1997–98 and as one of
the organizers of the Probability thematic program in 1998–
99. Since my time as Deputy Director, I have been involved in
one of the Fields
start-ups,
the
To ensure unbiased representation, the
Fields Institute Director changes every Q u a n t i t a t i v e
3-5 years.
Wealth Manage-
ment Analytics
Group (QWeMA), and I am currently back in a different role,
as Associate Director for Industry Liaison.
Three very successful thematic year-long programs ran
while I was deputy director: on partial differential equations;
string theory (jointly with the Perimeter Institute); and
renormalization/holomorphic dynamics. Planning also took
place for the two following years’ programs. These thematic
programs are the Institute’s flagship activity, shining a bright
light on a topic
ripe for special
attention, and
Fields call for program proposals is open
providing an
to anyone anywhere in the world.
opportunity for
a critical mass
of researchers to move their field forward in a way that would
not otherwise happen. Thematic institutes are the particle
accelerators of mathematics, except that what we bring
together and collide are mathematicians. They work because,
unlike laboratory scientists, mathematicians are portable —
they can work anywhere.
These programs are a transformative experience for the
group of post-docs who attend them. I know during my own
thematic program in probability, the network our post-docs
established duri ���ѡ��ȁѥ����Ё����́����������ȁ������)���ѡ��ȁ���е����́��ɕ��̸�%Ё�́�����ɥ���Ѽ�͕���չ�)ɕ͕�ɍ���́�������е���́����ɱ�ݽɭ����ѽ��ѡ�ȁ�Ё�)��������ɐ��������ѕȁѡ��%��ѥ��є���́���͕����ȁѡ�����) ɥ������ѡ��ݽɱ��é��������ɕ͕�ɍ���́Ѽ�����̰�ݡ�ɔ)ѡ�䁥�ѕɅ�ЁݥѠ�ѡ��
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