The Fields Institute Turns Twenty-Five 170725 Final book with covers | Page 93

CHAPTER 15
The Mathematical Community
and Public Resources
Walter Craig
“The Fields Medal Symposium ... is a brilliant star in the
Institute’s activities, really contributing to its international profile
as well as its outreach to the public.”
The Fields Institute is approaching its twenty-fifth birthday.
As a past Director, I have been asked to give my impressions
of Institute activities and the role of the Institute in the
mathematical sciences community in Canada, and for that
matter, more broadly in the international scientific community.
It certainly has influenced my own career as a scientist,
including support for my research program—both moral
support as well as resources for research activities. And
indeed the Institute influenced my decision to come to
work at McMaster. In my mind it is clearly the premier
mathematics institute in Canada, and it is one of the top
handful of mathematical institutes worldwide as measured