Annual Report 2005 - Fields Institute - University of Toronto

students at the University of Ottawa. In addition to offering
MSc and PhD degrees in traditional areas, the department
also offers an MSc program in Biostatistics, joint with the
Department of Epidemiology, as well as an MSc in High
Technology. Besides being a member of the Fields Institute,
the department is also a member of the Centre de recherches
mathématiques (CRM). The department is also proud
of its postdoctoral program, which now provides about
twelve postdoctoral positions. The University of Ottawa
is a bilingual institution in the heart of Canada’s capital.
The department benefits from its proximity to the government,
with a number of appointments of adjunct professors
who are active mathematicians affiliated with Canadian
research agencies.
University of Toronto
Research and teaching in mathematics is carried out at the
University of Toronto in the Departments of Computer Science,
Mathematics, and Statistics, with a combined total of
over one hundred and forty faculty members.
The Department of Computer Science was the first
computer science department established in Canada, and
is characterized by its breadth of research and teaching
interests, and the high quality of its faculty and graduate
students. Faculty members have won many important
prizes and awards, including the Turing Award (S.A. Cook)
the Fulkerson Prize in Discrete Mathematics (A. Lehman),
the IJCAI Award for Research Excellence (R. Reiter) and
the Order of Canada (C.C. Gotlieb). The department has
produced a large proportion of the computer science Ph.D.s
in Canada, and has contributed faculty members to many
departments in Canada and abroad. The Department of
Computer Science has strong ties with the Fields Institute.
Members of the department have played a central role in
several Fields programs, including the recent thematic
program on Numerical and Computational Challenges in
Science and Engineering (2001–2002).
The Department of Mathematics at the University of
Toronto is one of the leading mathematics research departments
in Canada. Mathematics has been taught there since
1827, and the department’s first PhD was conferred in
1915 on Samuel Beatty – a student of John Charles Fields,
whose will, established the Fields Medal and after whom
the Fields Institute is named. Research in the department
covers a broad spectrum, from mathematical foundations
to interdisciplinary applications, from number theory and
geometry to the analysis of shock waves and of financial
risks. Research excellence is recognized through the high-
G o v e r n a n c e
est research grant average in Canada, and members of the
department have delivered addresses at every International
Congress of Mathematics in the recent past. The department
is home to the winners of the first three CRM-Fields
Prizes and to the only mathematician ever awarded the
Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering. The
department is involved with the Fields Institute at all levels
– through participation in its workshops and thematic programs,
in events for high school teachers, and collaborative
research projects within MITACS.
The Department of Statistics was established in 1977, and
offers programs in actuarial science, statistics, and probability.
The department has a long history of innovation
and advance in the theory and foundations of statistics, and
is among the leading theoretical departments in the world.
It has also been for many years at the forefront of developments
in statistical computing, and maintains exceptionally
strong ties with the biostatistics research group in the
Department of Public Health Sciences. Research activity in
probability, theoretical statistics, and methods of applied
statistics is vigorous and growing, and the department has
recently established a research cluster of Canada Research
Chairs in data mining and machine learning, jointly with
the Department of Computer Science.
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Mathematics is
known for its innovation and leadership in education,
research, and technology transfer. With a population of
more than forty-six hundred full-time undergraduate and
four hundred and twenty-five graduate students, and one
hundred and eighty-five full-time professors, Waterloo
ranks as the largest centre for mathematical, statistical
and computer sciences in the world. The Faculty of Mathematics
offers a broad range of studies through five units:
Applied Mathematics, Combinatorics & Optimization,
Computer Science, Pure Mathematics, and Statistics &
Actuarial Science. Widely known for its accomplishments
in computer science, it also has exceptional strength and
stature in discrete mathematics, applied statistics, and
actuarial science. Recently, cryptography and quantum
computation have become major strengths in the Faculty.
The Faculty of Mathematics generated over $12 million
in research funding last year. With the University’s liberal
position on intellectual property, research conducted in the
Faculty has resulted in several spin-off companies founded
by professors, students, and graduates. Known for its mathematics
and computer contests, the success of its graduates,
Fields Institute 2005 ANNUAL REPORT 131