DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE
I am delighted to be writing my first Fields Notes
message as Director of the Fields Institute. This
issue focuses on the exceptional activity at Fields
over the last few months including an exciting new
partnership with the National Research Council
of Canada (NRC), and highlights from the many
lectures, seminars, workshops, and symposia.
First, I must gratefully acknowledge the impressive
efforts and lasting impact of Ian Hambleton and
Huaxiong Huang during their tenure as Fields
Institute Director and Deputy Director, respectively.
Under their leadership, Fields welcomed
world-class mathematicians, launched major
partnerships that had been years in the making,
and experienced significant growth. I am grateful
for their improvements and vision, and I look
forward to carrying this momentum forward.
In May, we marked half a century of complexity
theory with a symposium honouring the
great Stephen Cook, including talks by leading
computational complexity researchers, a
round-table student lunch, and a banquet
to celebrate Cook’s phenomenal career.
An ambitious six-month Interdisciplinary Thematic
Program by Fields CQAM was completed in June.
The program provided applied research and
advanced training opportunities for students and
industry professionals. Over 1200 participants
attended collaborative and problem-solving
workshops, courses, seminars, and special
lectures on various topics, including public health,
economics, digital humanities, and social sciences.
The program activity included a machine learning
graduate course, with a very special lecture by
2019 Turing Award winner Geoffrey Hinton.
In June, Fields also welcomed the Honourable Kirsty
Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, to officially
launch the NRC-Fields Mathematical Sciences
Collaboration Centre, a joint partnership between
the NRC and the Fields Institute. The centre, which
will be housed at Fields, will establish conditions for
applied mathematics to flourish. This partnership
exemplifies our focus on collaboration: activities
will include opportunities for training, publication,
patent development, and commercialization
of technology between both organizations.
As the year progresses, we continue along
this trajectory of exciting activity at Fields. In
November, the Institute hosts the 2019 Fields
Medal Symposium, honouring the work of
Artur Avila, and the Thematic Program on
Homological Algebra of Mirror Symmetry.
Also in November, the Focus Program on Data
Science and Optimization brings together data
scientists and optimization scientists and bridges
these fields. The slate of ongoing workshops,
conferences, and special lectures continue to
keep the Fields Institute humming with activity.
I truly look forward to my term as Director
of Fields, and am grateful for the support of
everyone who engages with the Institute,
particularly of Interim Deputy Director Tom
Salisbury and Board Chair Arvind Gupta.
V. Kumar Murty, F.R.S.C.
Scientific Director
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