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The Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS) is accepting proposals for its 2022 program. The deadline for proposal submission is Friday, October 2, 2020.

In 2022, BIRS will again be hosting a 48-week scientific program at its station in Banff, 26 workshops at its affiliated station, Casa Matemática Oaxaca (CMO), in Mexico, in addition to the 10 workshops at the Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (IASM) in Hangzhou, China.

BIRS provides an environment for creative interaction and the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and methods within the mathematical, statistical, and computing sciences, and with related disciplines and industrial sectors. BIRS and its affiliated facilities offer full accommodation, board, and research facilities at no cost to the invited in-person attendees.

Organizers of the 2020 program workshops in Banff, Oaxaca, and Hangzhou, which had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are required to update their proposals within the same timeframe above in order to be taken into account for the 2022 calendar and beyond.

BIRS is aware of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual research programs, and especially on early-career researchers. We are committed to supporting graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior researchers during this difficult period. The BIRS scientific board welcomes suggestions on how best we can meet the needs of the research community in view of the new challenges. Applicants are also asked to take into consideration BIRS's commitment to increasing the participation of women and other underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences research and applications.

The deadline for 5-day Workshop and Summer School proposals is Friday, October 2, 2020.

Full information and updated proposal submission guidelines will be available at: https://www.birs.ca/applicants/guidelines/

In addition, BIRS will operate its Research in Teams and Focused Research Group programs, which allow smaller groups of researchers to get together for several weeks of uninterrupted work at the station. October 2, 2020, is also the preferred date to apply for these programs. However, proposals for projects involving Research in Teams or Focused Research Groups can be submitted at any time and are processed subject to availability. These proposals must be received at least 4 months before their requested start date.

All proposal submissions must be made using the online submission form at: https://www.birs.ca/proposals.

Sincerely,

Malabika Pramanik

Director, Banff International Research Station

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In view of ongoing travel advisories and physical distancing protocols related to COVID-19, all in-person BIRS-CMO workshops scheduled for this year 2020 in Oaxaca, will unfortunately be cancelled.

At this time, we offer the organizers the option of proceeding virtually, with BIRS support, to have the meetings online. BIRS will take care of archiving and broadcasting the participants' talks online.

The offer of a virtual workshop does not replace the original opportunity to conduct an in-person workshop in the future. For the time being, we invite the organizers to consider the virtual workshop as an interim meeting platform.

If organizers decide to run their workshop online, we ask them to check this link: http://www.birs.ca/organizers/online-birs-meetings to see how BIRS can help in setting it up.

The postponed and cancelled workshops from 2020 at CMO-Oaxaca will be considered to run in 2022 and beyond. We ask their organizers to update their proposals. The deadline for proposal submission is Friday, October 2, 2020.

All proposal submissions must be made using the online submission form at https://www.birs.ca/proposals.

Thank you for your understanding. I wish all of you good health in the days ahead.

José Seade
General Director, Casa Matemática Oaxaca
Professor Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Calgary, Alberta—May 25, 2020: Following an extensive international search, the Banff International Research Station (BIRS) is proud to announce Professor Malabika Pramanik as the next Director of the Station commencing on July 1, 2020. Dr. Pramanik, who is Professor of Mathematics at the University of British Columbia, was confirmed unanimously and enthusiastically by the BIRS Board of Directors for this position. The Board wishes to thank the search committee consisting of Arvind Gupta (Chair; U of T), Michael Lamoureux (U. Calgary), Ed Perkins (UBC), Jackie Sturm (Intel), and Tatiana Toro (U. Washington) for conducting such a thorough search.

Malabika Pramanik received her Masters degrees in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute, and her PhD in Mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley in 2001. Before joining UBC in 2006, Dr. Pramanik held positions at the University of Wisconsin, University of Rochester and California Institute of Technology. A mathematical analyst, her research interests cover Euclidean harmonic analysis, geometric measure theory, partial differential equations and several complex variables. She is the recipient of two UBC Killam awards one for research and another for teaching, the Ruth E. Michler Memorial Prize, the Canadian Mathematical Society Krieger-Nelson Prize, a 2018 Wall scholarship, and a 2019 Simons fellowship. Dr. Pramanik is actively involved in initiatives that promote diversity and inclusivity in STEM fields, especially through her role as Vice-President for the Pacific region of the CMS and as a co-organizer of programs such as the PIMS Diversity in Mathematics Summer School.

Doug Mitchell, Chair of the BIRS Board of Directors stated that "BIRS is excited to continue its mission as an international resource for the mathematical sciences under the leadership of Dr. Pramanik. I have full confidence in her abilities to take BIRS to new heights.” Mitchell added, “I would also like to use this opportunity to thank BIRS departing director, Dr. Nassif Ghoussoub. Guided by his vision and energy, the past fifteen years have seen BIRS grow and prosper thanks to international partnerships that created a myriad of new opportunities for mathematical scientists worldwide. It was an exciting, fruitful and fun time for me and for the other members of the Board. We shall miss him.”

“BIRS is also indebted to the University of British Columbia, the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta,” added Doug Mitchell. “The BIRS Board is particularly grateful to UBC’s Dean of Science, Meigan Aronson, for her strong support of the world’s mathematical science community through BIRS and for her total confidence in Dr. Pramanik as the new director.”

"Malabika is assuming the directorship of BIRS at a difficult time,” said Dr. Ghoussoub. “But I believe she has what it takes — in values, creativity, and commitment — to navigate this worldwide cherished institution through these rough waters. BIRS is in good hands."

"These are interesting times, when the relevance of mathematical sciences and multidisciplinary research is more central than ever,” said Professor Pramanik. “I am deeply honoured by this opportunity to serve the mathematical community at this critical juncture, when the ways in which we conduct research, teaching and outreach are being revisited. I hope that BIRS with its partners will continue to play a key role in the research landscape within Canada and abroad."

Established in 2003, the Banff International Research Station (BIRS) is a North American research infrastructure that addresses the imperatives of collaborative research and cross-disciplinary synergy, by facilitating intense and prolonged interactions among mathematical scientists from around the world. BIRS’ unique infrastructure ensures a creative environment for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and methods within the mathematical sciences and their vast array of applications in science and engineering. BIRS is located at The Banff Centre in Alberta and is supported by Canada's Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Alberta Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, and Mexico's Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT).

For more information please contact:

Danny Fan, BIRS Administrator, birs-administrator@birs.ca

In view of ongoing travel advisories and physical distancing protocols related to COVID-19, all in-person workshops in Banff and Oaxaca, scheduled in June, July and August 2020 will unfortunately be cancelled. At this time, we offer the organizers the option of proceeding virtually, with BIRS supporting, archiving and broadcasting the participants' talks online. This has been done successfully for several workshops such as 20w5025, which ran from March 04-06, though many of you have expressed the limitations and challenges that such a format presents.

The offer of a virtual workshop does not replace the original opportunity to conduct an in-person workshop. As announced earlier, we will try our best to accommodate cancelled workshops when BIRS, CMO and IAS-Hangzhou are able to resume regular operations safely. For the time being, we strongly urge the organizers to consider the virtual workshop as an interim meeting platform.

If organizers decide to run their workshop online, we ask them to check this link: https://www.birs.ca/announcements/2020-03-17/covid-19_update1 to see how BIRS can help in setting it up.

Thank you for your understanding. I wish all of you good health in the days ahead.

Nassif Ghoussoub, FRSC, OC
Scientific Director, Banff International Research Station

May 12 is The Women in Mathematics Day, in honour of Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman and first Iranian to be awarded the Fields Medal before her death at the age of 40. Join the screening of Secrets of the Surface, the Mathematical Vision of Maryam Mirzakhani, on Tuesday, May 12 at 3:00pm PDT at www.birs.ca/live to celebrate her life, her mathematical work, and her impact on future generations.

Thanks to Zala Films and womeninmaths.org for granting BIRS permission.

About the Film

Filmed in Canada, Iran, and the United States, Secrets of the Surface: The Mathematical Vision of Maryam Mirzakhani examines the life and mathematical work of Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian immigrant to the United States who became a superstar in her field. In 2014, she was both the first woman and the first Iranian to be honored by mathematics’ highest prize, the Fields Medal.

Mirzakhani’s contributions are explained in the film by leading mathematicians and illustrated by animated sequences. Her mathematical colleagues from around the world, as well as former teachers, classmates, and students in Iran today, convey the deep impact of her achievements. The path of her education, success on Iran’s Math Olympiad team, and her brilliant work, make Mirzakhani an ideal role model for girls looking toward careers in science and mathematics.
(Source: http://www.zalafilms.com/secrets/#about)