Fields Annual General
Meeting
T
he Fields Annual General Meeting is a chance for all
members, stakeholders, and University representatives to
give their feedback on the past year and suggest improvements
for the year ahead. This year, the meeting took place on a
beautiful, sunny Thursday, June 29. Highlights of this year’s
event included a preview of the next thematic program on
Geometric Analysis from organizer Spiro Karigiannis, a special
screening of the documentary “Integral Man” about Canadian
mathematician and acclaimed textbook author James Stewart,
a Q&A with the film’s director and one of the architects that built
Stewart’s famous house, and a lovely reception at th e Faculty
Club.
Meric Gertler
“[Fields] is the hub of a thriving,
ever-evolving academic community,
and a wonderful partner.”
The reception began with opening remarks from the President
of the University of Toronto, Meric Gertler, who described
the Institute’s “important role as a part of U of T’s extended
community.” Gertler noted the “breadth and extent of [Fields]
collaboration and outreach” which is responsible for “generating
world-class research, connecting students and scholars from
around the world, collaborating with industry and entrepreneurs,
and more.”
The reception also honoured the newly elected 2017 Fields
Fellows and featured a talk from new Board member Cindy
Forbes of Manulife Financial. Forbes spoke about the role
mathematics plays in her position as Chief Analytics Officer at
Manulife, from qualification for life insurance, to client retention,
to fraud detection. She likes to think of her work as “people plus
machine”, allowing both people and machines to focus on what
they’re good at.
Lisa Baiton, Cindy Forbes, Bill Janeway, Ian Hambleton
Donna Kotsopoulos, Gila Hanna
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