Strengthening mathematical bonds

Dedicated to fostering new collaborations in mathematics across the hemisphere, the University of Miami has launched the Institute of the Mathematical Sciences of the Americas (IMSA), with funding from one of the foremost private supporters of mathematics and basic sciences. "Mathematics is a very international activity and we want to advance collaborations in both pure mathematics and in its applications to other fields,” said IMSA director Robert Stephen Cantrell, professor and chair of the Department of Mathematics. "Miami is the de facto intellectual capital of Latin America, so it's a natural hub. This gives us the opportunity to enhance the stature of the department and the University. The institute, which was established with a $2 million grant from the New York-based Simons Foundation , is kicking off its first year with an inaugural conference Friday, Sept. 6-8, that will showcase 14 of the world's top mathematicians. Among them: Harvard professor Denis Auroux, University of California professor Alan Hastings, UM professor Maxime Kontsevich, who also teaches at the Institute des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques in Paris, and James Simons, a distinguished mathematician who established the Simons Foundation while leading a successful hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies.