Banff International Research Station

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Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery
founding 2003
Sponsorship NSERC, ASRA, NSF , CONACYT
place Banff , Alberta , CanadaCanadaCanada 
Director Nassif Ghoussoub
Networks University of British Columbia , Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences , MITACS, MPrime, MSRI
Website www.birs.ca

The Banff International Research Station (BIRS) for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery was established in 2003. As an independent research institute for mathematics, it serves as the North American counterpart to the Mathematical Research Institute Oberwolfach, which is located in Europe . The research institute, known under the abbreviation BIRS, accommodates around 2000 scientists every year in order to enable them to collaborate scientifically in mathematics and in mathematics-related sciences.

Research activity

At BIRS, research is carried out either in the area of ​​pure mathematics , applied mathematics or in other scientific fields in the area of ​​their overlap with mathematics.

“BIRS embraces all aspects of the mathematical, computational and statistical sciences from the most fundamental challenges of pure and applied mathematics, theoretical and applied computer science, statistics, and mathematical physics, to financial and industrial mathematics, as well as the mathematics of information technology , and the life sciences. "

“BIRS takes care of all aspects of mathematics, computer science and statistics - from the most fundamental challenges of pure and applied mathematics, theoretical and applied computer science, statistics, mathematical physics, to financial mathematics and industrial mathematics, as well as the mathematics of information technology and the life sciences. "

- Nassif Ghoussoub : Message from the Director . BIRS website. Retrieved April 19, 2013.

There are scientific publications that relate to lectures and meetings in the BIRS or to reports from the BIRS.

Research program

BIRS enables five types of gatherings:

  1. 5-day workshops : These form the core program of the BIRS, with up to 42 participants per workshop, 48 weeks per year. Some workshops only have 21 participants, so two such workshops can take place in parallel in the same week at BIRS.
  2. 2-day workshops : Weekend workshops with typically 25 participants, mostly from the Alberta and British Columbia area .
  3. Targeted research groups : Up to 8 people from different institutions come together for one to two weeks and work on a specific problem or bring a larger project to a close.
  4. Research teams : Two to four people from different institutions come together for one to two weeks and concentrate on their research.
  5. Summer academies and courses : Further education events for up to 40 students with a duration of up to 14 days.

The core program of 5-day workshops is drawn up two years in advance. Every summer, BIRS issues a call for proposals, asking the world's scientific community for suggestions for workshops. The competition for the time slots in the BIRS in the 48 available weeks increased: While 79 proposals for events were received for the 2003 program, there were already 168 for the 2014 program. A peer review process by experts precedes the creation of the scientific program for a given year.

Summer academies and courses are proposed and selected in the same way as the 5-day workshops. An example of such a summer academy is the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) training camp , which prepared high school students for participation in the IMO competition. Proposals for other types of meetings are less competitive against competing proposals and can be submitted at any time via the BIRS website.

Furnishing

BIRS occupies two buildings on the Banff Center campus in Banff National Park . One of the buildings, the Corbett Hall , accommodates the participants and offers guest rooms, a lounge, a library and work opportunities for smaller groups. The other building, the TransCanada PipeLines Pavilion , houses administration offices, two lecture halls and a number of rooms for work or meetings in smaller groups. As part of the Banff Center Campus, BIRS offers participating scientists full access to all Banff Center facilities and services.

The intention behind this choice of location is to create an atmosphere in which scientists can escape their everyday lives in order to immerse themselves completely in their research without distractions. Scientists compare the concept of the BIRS with that of the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach or with that of the Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz Center for Computer Science .

Automatic lecture recording

In 2012 the BIRS installed a fully automatic system for recording the presentations. This system enables the streaming and recording of videos of the lectures taking place in the main auditorium. The video recordings are automatically uploaded to the Internet on the BIRS website a few minutes after the end of the lecture. The use of the system is voluntary and can be activated by the lecturer at the beginning of his lecture via a touchscreen in the lecture hall. The BIRS recording system uses high quality cameras to ensure that formulas written in chalk on the blackboards are legible. Built-in microphones and sound processing systems in the lecture hall capture both the speaker and questions from the audience.

Recent recordings from BIRS can also be accessed via an iTunes podcast directory.

financing

The BIRS is funded by government funds from four agencies:

  1. From the Federal Government of Canada, through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
  2. From the Alberta Provincial Government, through the Alberta Science and Research Authority (ASRA)
  3. From the United States Government, through the National Science Foundation (NSF)
  4. From Mexico's Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT)

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b NSERC Grant Details . Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 22, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.outil.ost.uqam.ca
  2. ↑ World renowned mathematicians to visit Banff, study 'Whitney problems' . University of Calgary. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  3. ↑ Banff math center gets $ 10M from NAFTA partners . CBC News. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  4. ↑ a b The 2014 Scientific Program Announcement . BIRS website. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  5. ↑ The Review Process: Ensuring High Caliber Research . BIRS website. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  6. ^ Description of Facilities . BIRS website. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  7. ↑ Erica Klarreich: ... as mathematicians beat retreat to Alberta . In: Nature . No. 412, August 30, 2001, p. 846. doi : 10.1038 / 35091220 . Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  8. ↑ Testimonials: The Community in Support of BIRS . BIRS website. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  9. ↑ Automated Video Recording . BIRS website. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  10. ^ Alberta Science and Research Investments Program Annual Report 2008 . Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  11. ^ NSF funding award abstract . National Science Foundation. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  12. ^ University of British Columbia Media Release, 2005 . Archived from the original on August 29, 2006. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 19, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca