[Todos CMAT] noticias imu, julio-agosto

[roma]

Editor: Martin Raussen, Aalborg University, Denmark

    *1. **Editorial: Institutes and funding in the age of pandemic *
    The Clay Mathematics Institute <https://www.claymath.org/> (CMI) is
    a Private Operating Foundation dedicated to increasing and
    disseminating mathematical knowledge.  It exists to “further the
    beauty, power and universality of mathematical thought”. In normal
    times, CMI supports the work of leading researchers by awarding
    Fellowships and prizes, and by organizing or enhancing conferences,
    workshops and summer schools.  These are not normal times, so what
    should such facilitators of mathematics do now?

    Institutes built to house researchers cannot remain empty for long
    if their cost is to be justified and sustained, while funders of
    research fellowships will find the demand for the precious time that
    they buy greater than ever. CMI will be increasing the amount of
    funding it dedicates to Research Fellowships, reflecting the
    extraordinary quality of applicants that we have seen in recent
    years, as well as a desire to help alleviate the bottleneck that
    will undoubtedly develop as universities across the world freeze
    hiring. The Simons Foundation has responded to this bottleneck with
    an admirable program of Bridging Fellowships. National agencies also
    have to act, to save a generation from falling into the gap.

    Beyond fellowships and prizes, most of CMI’s budget is spent on the
    travel and accommodation associated to physical meetings.
    Face-to-face conversation and the total immersion of a conference
    are stimuli that have sustained most of us throughout our careers.
    We are now forced to consider alternatives. And we face the
    disquieting possibility that we may have to reassess the
    hitherto-commanding argument that physical meetings justify the
    environmental damage that they cause and the resources that they
    consume. Might these resources be better directed elsewhere in the
    service of mathematics?

    There is a danger of exclusion in this. If we are not to meet as
    often in person, we must devise mechanisms that allow people from
    different regions, cultures and generations to interact as freely as
    they do when drinking coffee at a meeting. Break-out rooms in zoom
    are not going to do it, particularly in terms of crossing
    generational boundaries.

    If we rely more heavily on new means of conveying recent
    mathematical ideas, we might also contemplate new means of sifting
    these new media, distinguishing the formal from the informal while
    respecting both, and lauding the exceptional ones to distinguish
    them from a sea of noise.  One can imagine a structure of archives
    with different foci and requirements, analogous to the landscape of
    journals. (Selection and custodianship would be thorny issues.) Who
    would fund this?

    Physical institutes have played a pivotal role in global mathematics
    over recent decades -- they are precious, fertile places. What now
    for them? Oberwolfach is honing a style of hybrid meeting, with
    reduced numbers on site, maintaining the luxury of a specialist
    audience. MSRI has also responded creatively to the crisis,
    honouring their commitments to postdocs, nurturing online research
    groups, and providing hardware and software to participants to
    ensure that digital exclusion does not confound their attempts to
    extend inclusivity. The increased need for suitable kit is something
    that all funders have responded to, including CMI, but it is
    remarkable how slight many of these needs are.

    Our seminars in Oxford this term featured speakers from across the
    globe – no travel, no jet-lag. Airlines and hotels will go bust,
    while seminar budgets can be put to other uses. In Oxford this is
    intriguing, but the real potential lies elsewhere: might we
    radically increase the number of people in the world with access to
    mathematical conversation at the highest level? By this I mean the
    experience of a regular seminar, with the ability to interact with
    distinguished speakers. The ability of organisations such as CMI or
    IMU to convene and lend prestige to such a program could play a key
    role, while the amounts of money required -- ensuring connectivity
    and paying honoraria – are likely to be modest.

    Grand colloquia also have an important role to play in mathematics.
    Events such as the Clay Research Conference or ICM can provide
    inspiring visions of the frontiers of mathematics. The rigour and
    care with which the topics and speakers for such events are selected
    is crucial; in the case of the Clay Research Conferences
    <https://www.claymath.org/programs> (CRC), this is the
    responsibility of CMI’s Scientific Advisory Board. If the pandemic
    curtails such large-scale gatherings beyond 2021, it will be
    incumbent on us to find a new mechanism that does justice to this
    heritage. This is not easy: the ocean of lectures online is a feast
    that can easily lead to gluttony and fatigue; how does one craft an
    event that stands above this? The excellence of the mathematical
    content is the most important feature, but we also have to come to
    terms with the importance of production, archiving and distribution.

    We are currently wrestling with similar issues in the context of the
    CMI-HIMR summer school
     
<https://www.claymath.org/events/cmi-himr-integrable-probability-summer-school>,
    which Alexei Borodin and Ivan Corwin have moved online inventively,
    and the PROMYS program for gifted high-school students (extended to
    embrace Europe), which is thriving online despite losing its
    characteristic physical intensity.

    New thinking is required from us all as we strive to promote and
    enhance the beauty, power and universality of mathematical thought
    in a changed world.

    *Martin R. Bridson* FRS (/President, Clay Mathematics Institute/)


    ***2. **ICM 2022: Nomination of speakers and of laureates of IMU
    prizes**
    The Adhering Organizations of IMU and the mathematical societies
    worldwide are invited to nominate plenary and sectional speakers for
    theInternational Congress of Mathematicians 2022
    <https://icm2022.org/> in St Petersburg, Russia, 6–14 July 2022. The
    list of the ICM 2022 sections, as proposed by the ICM Structure
    Committee and decided by the Executive Committee of the IMU can be
    found here
     
<https://www.mathunion.org/fileadmin/IMU/Report/SC/2019/structure_committee_final.pdf>.
    When you make nominations for speakers please specify whether you
    suggest them as plenary speakers or sectional speakers. In case of
    proposals of sectional speakers, please indicate to which sections
    you would like the persons to be invited. Shared lectures between
    sections are also possible.

    All communication concerning the scientific program of ICM 2022 is
    handled by the Chair of the Program Committee, Martin Hairer. Please
    direct all your proposals for invited plenary and sectional speakers
    to Martin Hairer using the email address chair en pc22.mathunion.org
    <mailto:chair en pc22.mathunion.org>.
    Nominations should be received by the PC Chair no later than *1
    November 2020*.

    The Adhering Organizations of IMU are also invited to submit
    nominations for the IMU distinctions listed below, thus assisting
    the corresponding committees in their task of selecting the awardees
    who will receive their distinctions at the ICM 2022. Nominations are
    solicited for

      * the Fields Medals – Chair: IMU President Carlos E. Kenig. Email:
        chair en fields22.mathunion.org <mailto:chair en fields22.mathunion.org>
      * the IMU Abacus Medal – Chair: James Demmel. Email:
        chair en abacus22.mathunion.org <mailto:chair en abacus22.mathunion.org>
      * the Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize – Chair: Eva Tardos. Email:
        chair en gauss22.mathunion.org <mailto:chair en gauss22.mathunion.org>
      * the Chern Medal Award – Chair: Yakov Eliashberg. Email:
        chair en chern22.mathunion.org <mailto:chair en chern22.mathunion.org>
      * the Leelavati Prize – Chair: Pavel Etingof.Email:
        chair en leelavati22.mathunion.org
        <mailto:chair en leelavati22.mathunion.org>
      * the ICM Emmy Noether Lecture – Chair: Sylvia Serfaty. Email:
        chair en noether22.mathunion.org <mailto:chair en noether22.mathunion.org>

    Information about each of these awards and the Noether lecture, as
    well as lists of past laureates, can be found on the IMU website at
    https://www.mathunion.org/imu-awards/imu-awards-prizes-and-special-lecture
    .To allow the committees sufficient time for their decision process,
    the IMU has set *31 December 2020* as the deadline for nominations.

    The local organizers have issued the first ICM Newsletter, which can
    be retrieved from
    https://yastatic.net/s3/contest/icm2022/icm%20newsletter.pdf . You
    may sign up directly for future newsletters via
    https://icm2022.org (scroll to the bottom of the page for the
    sign-up field).

     
<https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/08/more-700-german-research-institutions-strike-open-access-deal-springer-nature>


    ***3. **CEIC: Notes and Comments**
    The push for immediate open access to published papers continues to
    cause controversy, with the ERC (European Research Council)
    Scientific Council deciding to withdraw its support of cOAlition S,
    a group of funding agencies working to develop policies to promote
    open access. The ERC had been a high-profile supporter of Plan S,
    and while this loss seems unlikely to derail the plan, it
    illustrates the debates and uncertainty within the research community.

    The ERC statement focuses on researchers’ needs, particularly for
    junior researchers, as well as equity between countries and research
    areas:

     
https://erc.europa.eu/news/erc-scientific-council-calls-open-access-plans-respect-researchers-needs

    See also the cOAlition S response:
     
https://www.coalition-s.org/coalition-s-response-to-the-erc-scientific-councils-statement-on-open-access-and-plan-s/

    Meanwhile, supporters of Plan S are working on strategies intended
    to ensure that open access mandates will not restrict the ability to
    publish in non-open-access journals, by reserving the right to
    distribute preprints through open access repositories:

    https://www.coalition-s.org/rights-retention-strategy/

    The current strategy for Plan S involves releasing the “author
    accepted manuscript” under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
    license if the authors publish in a non-open-access journal. This
    license grants substantially more rights than the default license on
    the arXiv, for example, and it remains to be seen how many
    publishers will agree to such a license. Currently, in mathematics
    almost all publishers allow the arXiv license, but not necessarily a
    CC BY license, so this would represent a change in publishing practices.


    ***4. **IMU-CDC graduate scholarships GRAID awarded**
    The Selection Committee has completed during the month of July the
    evaluation of the applications to the GRAID (Graduate Research
    Assistantships in Developing Countries) program received for the
    2020 call. Three research teams from Benin, Nepal and Ivory Coast
    have been awarded a GRAID grant to support one PhD student each. A
    team from Cameroon has received a grant to support one PhD student
    and two MS students.

    The GRAID program is funded thanks to kind donations from
    mathematicians or mathematical institutions worldwide. IMU-CDC
    <https://www.mathunion.org/cdc> very much appreciates all the
    donations that are welcome, via the Friends of IMU website
    http://friends-imu.org/donate/#graid .

    The 2021 call of GRAID program will be announced in due time.

    More information:
    https://www.mathunion.org/cdc/scholarships/graduate-scholarships


    ***5. ***News from CWM***
    *a. Standing Committee for Gender Equality in Science and Gender Gap
    in Science Project*

    A major offspring of the Gender Gap in Science Project is the
    creation of a Standing Committee for Gender Equality in Science
    (SCGES), a permanent organization founded by nine unions and
    partners that will start working in September 2020. IMU is one of
    the founding members, and will be represented by Marie-Françoise Roy
    (CWM chair) and Carolina Araujo (CWM vice-chair). SCGES goals
    include following up the recommendations of the Gender Gap in
    Science project as well as to maintain and develop further the tools
    created during the three years of the project.

    Moreover, the Gender Gap in Science Book remains freely available on
    line at https://zenodo.org/record/3882609. The book is also
    available as print-on-demand and can be ordered through various
    distributors worldwide, e.g. Book Depository, at
     
https://www.bookdepository.com/Global-Approach-Gender-Gap-Mathematical-Computing-Natural-Sciences/9783000655333
    .

    Details for the book:

    /A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and
    Natural Sciences: How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?/ Editors
    Guillopé, Colette; Roy, Marie-Françoise; International Mathematical
    Union; 6 June 2020; English; Paperback; 244 pages;  ISBN-10
    3000655336; ISBN-13 9783000655333.

    More at https://gender-gap-in-science.org/ .

    *b. CWM events initially planned for 2020*

    Five of the eight events approved by CWM for funding in 2020, to
    take place in Chile, Colombia, India, Senegal, and Vietnam, have to
    be rescheduled to 2021, while the workshop “Topics in applied
    mathematics”, to take place at the Nesin Village in October with
    women lecturers in mathematics from Morocco and Iraq, is currently
    scheduled to go ahead. The “May 12th initiative” website, and the
    first phase of the exhibition project “МАТЕМАТИКА, through a land of
    mathematics”, planned for (WM)² and ICM in Saint Petersburg, will
    also go ahead with support in 2020.


    *6. ***New Executive Committee of ICMI elected***
    On 13 July, the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction
    (ICMI <https://www.mathunion.org/icmi>), a commission of the IMU,
    hosted its quadrennial General Assembly as a web event. The event
    concentrated primarily on the election of the new ICMI Executive
    Committee.

    The newly elected Executive Committee of ICMI for the term 1 Jan
    2021 – 31 Dec 2024 is as follows:

    President: Frederick Leung (Hong Kong SAR China)
    Secretary General: Jean-Luc Dorier (Switzerland)
    Vice Presidents :   Merrilyn Goos (Australia/Ireland) and Anjum
    Halai (Pakistan).

    Members-at-large: Marta Civil (USA), Patricio Felmer (Chile), Mercy
    Kazima (Malawi), Núria Planas (Spain), and Susanne Prediger (Germany).

    In addition, Jill Adler (South Africa) will serve as Past President
    on the new EC.

    The IMU President and Secretary General also serve ex officio on the
    ICMI EC.


    *7. ***EMS Council elects Executive Committee members and selects
    site for ECM 2024***
    The meeting of the Council of the European Mathematical Society
    <https://euro-math-soc.eu/> (EMS) on 4 July had also to be carried
    out online. Apart from listening to a short report by EMS president
    Volker Mehrmann, the delegates representing member societies and
    institutions and the individual member of the EMS acknowledged the
    financial report and the budget for the next two years. The
    remaining agenda concentrated on elections with the following results:

    As of 1 January, 2021, Jorge Buescu (Lisbon, Portugal) will be one
    of the two vice-presidents, and Jiří Rákosník (Czech Academy of
    Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic) will act as secretary of the
    society. Beatrice Pelloni (Edinburgh, UK) was re-elected as
    member-at-large of the EMS Executive Committee. Newly elected
    members of that Committee are: Frédéric Hélein (Paris, France),
    Barbara Kaltenbacher (Klagenfurt, Austria), Luis Narváez (Seville,
    Spain) and Susanna Terracini (Torino, Italy).

    The 8th European Congress of Mathematicians <https://www.8ecm.si/>
    had to be postponed because of the pandemic. It will take place in
    Portorož (Slovenia) in the week 20-26 June, 2021. For the 9th
    European Congress <https://www.ecm2024sevilla.com/>, Council had to
    select between two excellent bids. It decided that this congress
    will be held in Seville (Spain) in the week 15-19 July, 2024.


    *8. ***Princess of Asturias prize for technical and scientific
    research 2020 awarded***
    First awarded in 1981, the Princess of Asturias Award for Technical
    and Scientific Research
     
<https://www.fpa.es/en/princess-of-asturias-awards/laureates/2020-yves-meyer-ingrid-daubechies-terence-tao-and-emmanuel-candes.html?especifica=0>
    is aimed at recognizing the work of fostering and advancing research
    in the field of mathematics, astronomy and astrophysics, physics,
    chemistry, life sciences, medical sciences, earth and space sciences
    or technological sciences. In 2020, the prize was awarded to Yves
    Meyer (French), Ingrid Daubechies (Belgian and American), Terence
    Tao (Australian and American), and Emmanuel Candès (French).

     From the citation: The laureates have made immeasurable,
    ground-breaking contributions to mathematical theories and
    techniques for data processing, which have extraordinarily expanded
    our sensorial capabilities of observation and which constitute the
    foundations and backbone of the modern digital age.

    For their part, Yves Meyer and Ingrid Daubechies have led the
    development of the modern mathematical theory of wavelets, which are
    like mathematical heartbeats that enable us to approach Van Gogh and
    discover his style or to listen to the music enclosed in the
    apparent noise of the Universe, among many other applications of all
    kinds. In short, they enable us to visualize what we cannot see and
    listen to what we cannot hear.

    On the other hand, in addition to the undeniable advances in medical
    imaging and other diagnostic tests derived from the collaboration
    between Terence Tao and Emmanuel Candès, their contributions to the
    techniques of compressed sensing enable us to complete
    electromagnetic signals or reconstruct melodies from which time has
    stolen notes.