The Fields Institute Turns Twenty-Five 170725 Final book with covers | Page 32

10
W.F. Shadwick
called a snap provincial election and lost resoundingly to the
New Democratic Party.
I spoke with Tom shortly after the election to see if there
were any possibility of our funding surviving the change of
governments. He told me that, as Deputy Minister, it was
his job to present the new Minister with a report on existing
initiatives with some implicit ranking of their importance.
Moreover, he said we could expect to be near the top of the
list.
The new Ontario Minister for Colleges and Universities
was Richard Allen, MPP for Hamilton West (Hamilton was
the birthplace of John Charles Fields). After consulting with
his Deputy Minister and meeting with us, Allen decided to
give us his support. We were on to the final phase.
The Institute’s Scientific Advisory Panel
At the IAS, the permanent Members steer the scientific
activity, deciding upon the focus of the year’s program in
the School of Mathematics to which visiting members are
invited. An institute with no permanent members has to rely
on volunteers to carry out this critical task. Our plans for the
Fields Institute included a Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) to
be charged with this responsibility.
From the outset, Jerry and I had the view that the
Institute’s research programs should cover mathematical
sciences, not simply mathematics. Our joint research interests
covered a wide range of pure and applied mathematics,
engineering, and theoretical physics, but we knew that was just
the tip of the iceberg and were determined to have a Scientific
Advisory Panel that could broaden our horizons further. Our
hope was that, given a guarantee that scientific excellence
would always be the criterion for decisions, serious people
would be willing to volunteer their time to serve on the SAP.