Cutbacks to university mathematical sciences departments

The Minister for Education, Science and Training has announced funding of $2M for AMSI and $1.2M for AGR-based approaches to mathematics teaching.
Details
(Posted 20 March 2008)

CASR Grant Success

The Minister for Education, Science and Training has announced funding of $2M for AMSI and $1.2M for AGR-based approaches to mathematics teaching.
Details
(Posted 10 May 2007)

Submission to Senate Enquiry

AMSI and ICE-EM made a joint submission to the Senate enquiry into academic standards of school education.
Details
(Posted 10 May 2007)

AMSI Deputy Director honoured

AMSI Deputy Director and Head of Mathematics and Statistics at La Trobe University, Associate Professor Grant Cairns, has been awarded a citation for outstanding contribution to student learning by the Carrick Istitute.
Citations for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning recognise and reward the diverse contributions that individuals and teams make to the quality of student learning. The 'Carrick Citations' are granted to people who have made a significant contribution to the quality of student learning in a specific area of responsibility over a sustained period, whether they are academic staff, general staff, sessional staff or institutional associates. People who are awarded Carrick Citations are widely recognised for their achievements within the nominating institution and have received strong institutional endorsement.

Grant's citation reads:

'For fostering mathematics students' development and encouraging their active engagement in mathematics, through high-level reading groups, seminars, enquiry driven research projects and joint publication.'

Submission to Senate Enquiry
AMSI and ICE-EM made a jopint submission to the Senate enquiry into academic standards of school education here.
(Posted 19 July 2007)

Win for the Mathematical Sciences!
The 2007 Federal Budget has provided an increase per full-time student in the mathematical sciences
Details
(Posted 14 May 2007)

Maths for Engineering Students
Progress report on our project 'Mathematics for 21st Century Engineering Students', funded by the Carrick Institute.
Report
(Posted 14 May 2007)

Submission to Senate Enquiry
AMSI and ICE-EM made a jopint submission to the Senate enquiry into academic standards of school education
Submission
(Posted 10 May 2007)

Members Meeting 14 February 2007
At this recent semi-annual meeting, it was announced that Associate Professor Grant Cairns from La Trobe University will be the Honorary Deputy Director of AMSI for the next 12 months. Dr Stephen Roberts (Australian National University) will represent the Full Members on the Board and Professor Tony Roberts (University of Southern Queensland) will represent the Associate Members.
(Posted 20 February 2007)

New Board Members
It was also anounced that Dr Stephen Roberts (ANU) will represent the Full Members on the Board and Professor Tony Roberts (Southern Queensland) will represent the Associate Members. (Posted 20 February 2007)

An Investment in Australia's Future: Why the Mathematical Sciences Matter - Talk transcripts available
A Forum was held in Canberra on 7 February 2007 to discuss the findings and recommendations of the National Strategic Review of Mathematical Sciences research in Australia, conducted by the National Committee for the Mathematical Sciences of the Australian Academy of Science. Some transcripts of talks are now available.
More details
(Posted 20 February 2007)

Access grid rooms
The program of honours courses and seminars for 2007 is now available.
Honours courses
Seminars
(Posted 15 November 2006)

An Investment in Australia's Future: Why the Mathematical Sciences Matter
A Forum to discuss the findings and recommendations of the National Strategic Review of Mathematical Sciences research in Australia, conducted by the National Committee for the Mathematical Sciences of the Australian Academy of Science. 9.00am - 4.00pm, Wednesday 7 February 2007, the Shine Dome, Gordon Street, Canberra.
Registration now open
(Posted 16 January 2007)

Call for theme program proposals
Members are encouraged to consider more applications for theme programs under AMSI's scientific program
See details (Posted 3 July 2005)

Appointment of AMSI/MASCOS Lecturer

AMSI and MASCOS are pleased to announce that the AMSI-MASCOS Lecturer for 2007 is Emeritus Professor Dr. Ingo Mueller of the Technical University of Berlin. Professor Mueller is a world leader in the area of extended thermodynamics and nonlinear continuum mechanics.

Prof Mueller will be available to speak at AMSI institutions initially between November 13 and November 25, after which he will attend the AMSI-MASCOS theme program, "Concepts of Entropy and their Applications" .
AMSI and MASCOS will fund domestic travel and living expenses for short visits. Please contact Graham Keen at AMSI if you are interested.

Brief CV

(Posted 25 January 2007)

Research assistant required
AMSI is advertising for a full-time fixed term research assistant.
Position description
(Posted 18 December 2006)

Industry Workshop and Short Course on the Mathematics of Electricity Supply and Pricing
This week long event will consist of a short course, invited lectures and contributed talks on the mathematics of electricity demand and pricing. The topics likely to be addressed will be: Generation modelling; Network modelling; Demand side response, Load forecasting; Power system stability; Optimal load flow; Market design; Derivative pricing; Pool market modelling; GHG reduction; Risk management; Game theory and bidding; Credit risk; Risk-return and efficient frontiers; Liquidity risk implications; Transfer pricing; Network pricing; Risk margins; Forecasting; Portfolio risk management.

Abstracts for contributed 25min talks should be submitted by email to esp07@amsi.org.au by 22nd January 2007. Abstracts should be no more than 400 words. Early bird registration is also available.
Web site
(Posted 7 December 2006)

Request for proposals re developing pest indicators
As part of the collaboration between AMSI and the Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis, AMSI is seeking proposals from those able to provide or develop statistical tools for Evaluating Pest / Disease status of sensitive species. Funding is up to $100,000 for 1 year, benning in 2007. Applications Close 12 December 2006
Request for proposal (pdf, 92KB)
(Posted 22 November 2006)

ICE-EM/AMSI Summer School 2007
The fifth annual ICE-EM/AMSI Summer School will be held at the University of Sydney from 15 January to 9 February 2007. The deadline for international applicants for travel and accommodation subsidies is 20 November 2006, and the deadline for Australian applicants is 1 December 2006.
2007 ICE-EM/AMSI Summer School website
2006 ICE-EM/AMSI Summer School report
Webstreamed lectures from previous Summer Schools
(Posted 15 November 2006)

Careers in mathematics and statistics
A Careers in Mathematics and Statistics website has been launched. ICE-EM interviewed 10 mathematics graduates to demonstrate the career possibilities a degree in mathematics or statistics can provide. The site includes interactive profiles with text, audio and video components as well as the full interview transcripts.
Careers in Mathematics and Statistics
(Posted 15 November 2006)

Access grid rooms
On 27 November at 10:30 am AEDST the first three AGRs funded by ICE-EM will be hooking up to celebrate their first semester of shared teaching. A workshop is to be held Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 December at La Trobe University to discuss a range of AGR-related issues. ICE-EM is inviting applications for the final funding round of Access Grid Rooms and this round will close Friday 16 February 2007. Videos demonstrating how to use electronic whiteboards in Access Grid Rooms are available.
More information
(Posted 15 November 2006)

ICE-EM/AMSI Vacation Scholarships 2006-2007
Heads of Mathematics and Statistics Departments of AMSI member universities have been invited to nominate their best students for an ICE-EM/AMSI Vacation Scholarship. This includes 2 days at CSIRO's Big Day In with other vacation scholars in February.
Procedure for nomination
Nomination form
Vacation Scholarship Research Projects 2005-2006
(Posted 12 October 2006)

Australian Wins Highest International Honour in Mathematics

Terence receiving the Fields Medal from King Juan Carlos of Spain, (click image to enlarge)

The Fields Medal, considered to be the Nobel Prize of Mathematics, was today awarded to Professor Terence Tao. This is the first time an Australian has won this very prestigious award.

The Fields Medal is the highest international scientific award for mathematicians and is considered to be "The Nobel Prize of Mathematics". There is no category for Mathematics in the Nobel structure. It is awarded every four years by the International Mathematical Union at the International Congress of Mathematicians to a candidate no older than 40. Professor Tao is 31 years old. He was presented with his medal this morning, (Central European Summer Time), by His Majesty, King Juan Carlos I of Spain at the Congress currently being held in Madrid, attended by some 4000 mathematicians from all over the world.

Intended to recognise exceptional achievement by young mathematicians, the Fields Medal is generally awarded for a body of work rather than for a single, isolated research result.

Terry Tao has made spectacular breakthroughs in an extraordinarily wide variety of very difficult problems, including the understanding of the very delicate behaviour of complicated equations that describe wave motion in various physical media. His work applies to the way that light can interact with itself when transmitted in a fibre-optic cable. His most famous recent discovery (in collaboration with Professor Ben Green of Cambridge University) concerns prime numbers. Prime numbers are familiar to all school children. Since at least the 18th century, mathematicians have tried to discover whether it is possible to find long strings of prime numbers that are a constant distance apart. These are called arithmetic progressions of primes. For example, 3, 5, 7 is an arithmetic progression of length 3, where the numbers differ by 2. The longest known string, discovered in 2004, shortly before the work of Tao and Green, contains 23 primes, starting at 56211383760397 and going up in jumps of 44546738095860.

Tao and Green proved that there are arbitrarily long strings of prime numbers that are a constant distance apart. They also gave ways of measuring how thickly spread such long strings are among the primes. Their work may have implications for possible new methods of encryption and security of information.

Professor Garth Gaudry, Director of the International Centre of Excellence for Education in Mathematics (ICE-EM) at The University of Melbourne, who taught Terry Tao from the age of 12 at Flinders University, was at the awards ceremony. "Terry Tao is a phenomenally creative mathematician whose ideas are having a profound impact across an unusually wide range of deep problems in mathematics. He richly deserves this award," he said. "His ideas may well have unforeseen applications. For example, the theory of prime numbers and factorisation are the basis of some of the most important codes for the protection of information, including banking information. So it is intriguing to wonder where his work will eventually lead."

Terry Tao is now Professor of Mathematics at UCLA, Los Angeles, USA, a position he gained at the age of 24. A gifted student from a very early age, he started taking high school classes when he was only 8 years old. At age 11, he was studying calculus and winning international mathematics competitions. By age 12, he was studying mathematics normally regarded as third year university material and by 14, the most challenging postgraduate material. He graduated from Flinders University in Adelaide with a BSc Hons at age 16 and an MSc at age 17, both supervised by Professor Garth Gaudry. At 21 he gained a Ph.D. from Princeton University. Prior to winning the Fields Medal, he had won virtually every top international research prize in mathematics.

"I began teaching Terry Tao when he was only 12 years old," said Garth Gaudry. " Even at that age, he exhibited stunning insight and creativity. Discovering new mathematics was such an enjoyable adventure for Terry. To be Terry's teacher was, for me, the privilege of a lifetime."

About the Fields Medal The Fields Medals are the most important international prize in the world of mathematics. The International Mathematical Union (IMU) awards them every four years at the ICM (International Congress of Mathematicians).

Andrei Okounkov, Wendelin Werner and Terence Tao at the award ceremony. (click image to enlarge)

Between two and four Fields Medals can be awarded at each ICM, and only those mathematicians below the age of 40 (on January 1st of the year in which the Congress is held) are eligible to receive them. This is because they are meant to encourage future endeavour. They are typically awarded for a body of work, rather than a single isolated achievement.

The medals, gold-minted, are named after the Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields (1863-1932) and were first awarded at the International Congress held in Oslo in 1936.

The obverse of the medals shows Archimedes facing right and the motto "Transire Suum Pectus Mundoque Potir": "To transcend one's spirit and to take hold of (to master) the world". On the reverse side, also in Latin, the inscription "The mathematicians having congregated from the whole world awarded (this medal) because of outstanding writings". The name of the Medallist is engraved on the rim of the medal.

Web Links For Further Information: For information about the Fields Medial, go to: International Mathematical Union.

For further information about the Terry Tao, go to: University of California, or the wikipedia link.

Terence in front of the AMSI/AustMS stand. (click image to enlarge)

Article source (Citation)
Extensive article in The Australian
Article in Sydney Morning Herald
Article in The Age
A view from UCLA
(Posted 22 August 2006)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Australian Ambassador Congratulates Terry Tao
The Australian ambassador to Spain, Ms Susan Tanner, today came to meet and congratulate Fields Medallist Terry Tao at the Australian Mathematics booth at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid. Most of the Australian delegates at the Congress were also present to celebrate the event. Terry's medal was a focus of enthusiastic interest.
(Posted 25 August 2006)

Terence in front of the AMSI/AustMS stand. (click image to enlarge)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Chairman of Industry Advisory Committee
AMSI is pleased to announce that Dr John Burgess has accepted an invitation to join the AMSI Industry Committee and to take the role as Chairman of that Committee. Dr Burgess is a distinguished Australian engineer. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a recipient of the Chemeca Medal, a joint award of the Institution of Engineers Australia, The Institution of Chemical Engineers and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. He has a long career in industry, and in industrial research in particular, as well as a number of years as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Queensland earlier in his career.
(Posted 7 August 2006)

ARC Linkage Grant Success
AMSI is pleased to announce that it has partnered with Paul Bondin, Architect and Director of the Kann Finch Group and the University of Ballarat in an ARC Linkage grant. The project will apply optimisation methodologies to architectural designs to create efficient and effective office space.
(Posted 21 July 2006)

Public Lecture: Blast Wave Model
On 25 July there will be a lecture by Dr Ejanul Haque from RMIT University, who will speak on The Expansion of High Pressure Gas into Air- A More Realistic Blast Wave Model. It will be held in the AMSI Seminar Room at 3.30pm.
(Posted 18 July 2006)

Infectious Disease Modelling
A seminar on the Mathematical and Statistical Modelling of Infectious Diseases in Hospitals will be given by Dr Emma McBryde from QUT. It will be held in the AMSI seminar room at 3.15 on Tuesday July 11. It is suitable for a general scientific audience plus those with an interest in Bayesian statistics or mathematical modelling.
(Posted 10 July 2006)

Business Breakfast Seminar - Sydney
AMSI and MASCOS are hosting a Business Breakfast Seminar Managing Financial Risks with Uncertainty on Tuesday 25 July in the Sydney CBD.
(Posted 10 July 2006)

AMSI Lecturer for 2006
The 2006 AMSI Lecturer Professor Xiao-Li Meng, Department Chair of Statistics, Harvard University, will be in Australia from 10-14 July. He will speak at UNSW on 10 July and will be at ANU 11-12 July.
UNSW lecture
(Posted 3 July 2006)

Public Lecture: Climate Change
On 23 June, AMSI and MASCOS hosted a lecture by Prof. Ian Enting, a climatologist with MASCOS and the CSIRO. He spoke on Algorithmic differentiation for analysis of global change and the carbon cycle.

Public Lecture: Flexible Polyhedra
On 27 April at St Peters College, Adelaide, ICE-EM sponsored a lecture by Dr Marcel Jackson at the annual conference of the Mathematical Association of South Australia. He dicussed polyhedra and in particular flexible polyhedra.

AMSI/ICE-EM Member Bulletin July 2006
The lastest Member Bulletin from AMSI is available.
Member Bulletin
(Posted 3 July 2006)

Participation rates in Year 12 mathematics
A new report concerning Participation in Year 12 Mathematics has been released by ICE-EM.
Report
Media release
(Posted 6 June 2006)

Crisis in mathematics in Australia
Prof. Hyam Rubinstein, Chair of the working group of the "National Review into the Mathematical Sciences", has posted an opinion piece on The crisis in maths in Australia.
(Posted 17 May 2006)

Australian Centre of Excellence in Risk Analysis
The Federal Minister of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry has announced the establishment of the Australian Centre of Excellence in Risk Analysis to be hosted by the University of Melbourne. AMSI is a partner and its member organisations will carry out much of the funded research, that DAFF expects to be mathematical in nature.
Media Release
(Posted 6 April 2006)

Submissions to the Review of Mathematical Sciences
The Review of Mathematical Sciences is taking submissions until the end of May, but earlier is preferred. See here for details.
(Updated 21 March 2006)

Directors radio talk
AMSI's Director Philip Broadbridge gave a talk on Radio National on 8 March about mathematical shortcomings in Australian engineering courses. See transcript.
(Posted 9 March 2006)

AMSI Board Changeover
At the semi-annual Members Meeting on 10 February, the annual changeover of member representatives on the Board took place. The new representative of the full members is Professor Tony Bracken of the University of Queensland. The new representative of the associate members is Professor Kok Lay Teo of Curtin University. It was also announced at the Members Meeting that Associate Professor Alan Pryde of Monash University will be the honorary Deputy Director of AMSI for the next 12 months.
(posted 14 February 2006)

Inaugural AMSI/MASCOS Industry Forum
The program for the inaugural AMSI/MASCOS Industry Forum is now available for download. The forum will be opened by the Hon. Ian Macfarlane MP, Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources.
(updated 14 July 2005)

Call for workshop proposals
Members are encouraged to consider more applications for theme programs under AMSI\'s scientific program. Financial mathematics and biological mathematics are suggested as potentially fertile fields. AMSI has the means to fund theme programs in the range $30,000 to $50,000 for activities of up to one month, more for longer programs. Contact Peter Hall, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee or click here for guidelines.
(Posted 8 July 2005)

Submission to Parliamentary Enquiry
AMSI and ICE-EM have made a submission to theHouse of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training Review of Teacher Education. The submission can now be downloaded from the aph website.
Submission (submission number 58)
(posted 10 June 2005)

Public Lecture: Philip Broadbridge
Professor Philip Broadbridge, Head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Delaware, will present a public lecture at 12 noon on Friday 29 April entitled Energising the Mathematical Sciences. It will be held in the AMSI seminar room. All are invited.
(posted 28 April 2005)

Public lectures: Philip Broadbridge and Michael Cowling
The AMSI Board announces two public seminars by eminent Australian mathematicians on strategic issues in Australian mathematical sciences. The first lecture will be given by Professor Michael Cowling, Head of the School of Mathematics at the University of NSW, at 10am on Tuesday 26 April. The second lecture will be presented by Professor Philip Broadbridge, Head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Delaware, at 12 noon on Friday 29 April. Both lectures will be in the AMSI seminar room.
(posted 22 April 2005)

Grant application
AMSI has applied for a grant under the Collaboration and Structural Reform Fund for a project to establish new ways for people working in the mathematical sciences to collaborate. With this funding, AMSI will link fundamental research in contemporary mathematics and commercially valuable applications.
(posted 28 February 2005)

Review of the Mathematical Sciences
The Review of Statistics in Australian Universities held meetings in the AMSI premises. It was an opportunity for statisticians to make personal presentations to the review panel, which is chaired by Professor Adrian Smith FRS of Queen Mary College, University of London. The review is being conducted under the auspices of the Statistical Society of Australia.
Review information
Statistical Society of Australia
(posted 22 February 2005)

Industry Workshop
The Members Meeting agreed that AMSI should hold a special industry workshop in conjunction with the next Members Meeting in June 2005. This workshop will be an opportunity for researchers who are collaborating with industry to speak about the work. Industry people will play a leading part in the workshop.
(posted 14 February 2005)

AMSI Board Changeover
At the semi-annual Members Meeting on 10 February, the annual changeover of member representatives on the Board took place. The new representative of the full members is Professor Tony Dooley of the University of NSW. The new representative of the associate members is Associate Professor David Panton of the University of South Australia. It was also announced at the Members Meeting that Professor John Hearne of RMIT University will be the honorary Deputy Director of AMSI for the next 12 months. Retiring Deputy Director, Associate Professor Geoff Prince of La Trobe University, continues as Executive Director for 12 months at three days per week.
(posted 14 February 2005)

AMSI/ICE-EM Summer School
Following discussion at the Members Meeting, RMIT University (Melbourne) has agreed to be the host university for the 2006 ICE-EM/AMSI Summer School. Dates and content details will be announced later in the year. The University of Sydney will host the 2007 Summer School.
(posted 14 February 2005)

Annual AMSI Lecturer
The Director of AMSI, Professor Garth Gaudry, announced that AMSI will be funding an annual AMSI Lecturer from 2005. He envisages that the lectureship will alternate between a statistical theme and an applied mathematics theme. Proposals will be invited from the AMSI membership. AMSI's Scientific Advisory Committee will select the Lecturer.
(posted 14 February 2005)