Message from the Director
That’s one of the great things about the
Fields Institute – one day you’re talking to the
winner of one of the most prestigious prizes in
mathematics, the next you’re chatting with an
aspiring young undergraduate.
This issue of Fields Notes features two major events
from somewhat opposite sides of the spectrum. First
there is the 2017 Fields Medal Symposium – an exciting
4-day event featuring the work of Martin Hairer (Fields
Medal 2014). The Symposium opened with a packed
public lecture by Martin, hosted at MaRS Discovery
District, and continued with a top-notch scientific
program and student night.
Next, we feature the 2017 Fields Undergraduate
Summer Program (FUSRP), our largest ever, with
33 students from around the world working on ten
exciting group projects. There was a nice writeup in the
Globe and Mail (Sept 22, 2017) by science writer Ivan
Semeniuk: "Where the Fields program has excelled is
in matching elite students with one another and with
the right mentors and research problems. The result
provides an early taste of mathematics at a professional
level that few non-mathematicians ever get to see or
know." Meet four of the participants in this issue and
hear their perspective on mathematics and working at
Fields.
That’s one of the great things about the Fields Institute
– one day you’re talking to the winner of one of the
most prestigious prizes in mathematics, the next you’re
chatting with an aspiring young undergraduate.
Additionally, Fields hosted its first Ada Lovelace Day
celebration in collaboration with Ryerson University.
An excellent talk on the mathematics of genomes by
Professor Lila Kari preceded a panel discussion on
equity and diversity in mathematics.
We’ve also had some changes here at the Institute.
Matheus Grasselli is the new Director of the Centre for
Financial Industries taking over from Dan Rosen. We’re
also happy to announce the renewal of our partnership
with the Perimeter Institute in supporting the African
Institute for Mathematical Sciences Next Einstein
Initiative and the launch of a new partnership with the
DMZ at Ryerson.
As our 25th Anniversary year draws to a close, I want
to thank everyone who took part in the celebrations.
Wishing you happy holidays and a wonderful start to
2018.
Ian Hambleton
Director
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