The Fields Institute Turns Twenty-Five 170725 Final book with covers | Page 111

A Director Is Not a Dictator
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again. This was successful for a few years, but has now
morphed into a more general program to support long-term
visitors. (Full disclosure: I have personally benefited from the
Research Immersion Fellowships, since one early recipient is
now a colleague and collaborator.)
Another undertaking aimed at contributing to applied
mathematics by instituting a publication venue for industrial
case studies. The idea here was not mine, but I was pleased
to be able to help implement it. Having observed interactions
between academic mathematicians and industrial practitioners
whose products might benefit from some mathematical insight,
many of us have noted that one bottleneck is how to reward
the academic faculty member. Consulting agreements are
usually private transactions that may provide a small income
stream to academic mathematicians, but effectively shut them
off from communicating their results or obtaining any career
benefit from their work. With “Mathematics-in-Industry Case
Studies,” we set up a refereed journal, published online, with
the hope that it would provide a forum for describing the best
of these interactions, and for archiving their results. After a
rather slow start, the Journal appeared to have found a niche,
and was taken over by Springer. (However, as I write this I
find that the site has disappeared. I hope this is temporary.)
Engaging with the Future
Eight years have passed since I left Fields, driving out of
Toronto on a very snowy day in mid-December 2008. From
the vantage of my new academic home at Ohio State, I
watch a continuing stream of my young colleagues leave to
spend a semester at Fields. There have been several changes
of leadership, considerable turnover of support staff, and
much renewal on the Board and on all Fields committees.
I see from consulting the Fields website that I am still a
member of several committees at the Institute, and so I