CAIMS*SCMAI E-News Volume 06 Number 2 March 27, 2006 Editor: Rod Edwards (edwards@math.uvic.ca) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS Special Issue: 1. NSERC funding of the Mathematics institutes 2. NSERC Survey of the Mathematics Community 3. CAIMS*SCMAI E-News Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 1 ====== From: Bill Langford Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 16:39:51 -0500 NSERC FUNDING OF THE MATHEMATICS INSTITUTES Important changes are now under way at NSERC that will affect the way funds are allocated to Discovery Grants and will change the way in which the Mathematics Institutes are funded by NSERC. The issues are rather complex, and many members of the Canadian mathematics community have not had time to fully understand the issues at stake. NSERC will make a decision sometime soon that will have long lasting consequences for research funding in the mathematical sciences. NSERC officials have said that they will seek community input and thay have agreed to send a representative to our AGM in June. It is important that CAIMS members are well informed in advance of this meeting and have time to discuss what our priorities (if any) should be. Attached to this eNews you will find two documents in PDF, which present differing views on these issues. One is the Liaison Report, send in February to Mathematics Departments, representing the majority view of the Mathematics - NSERC Liaison Committee. It is duplicated here for CAIMS members because many CAIMS members are not in Mathematics Departments, so did not receive it at that time. The second is my letter to CAIMS, written as CAIMS representative on the Liaison Committee, representing my minority opinion as a member of the Committee. It is my goal to stimulate a healthy discussion of these important issues facing our community. It is my hope that this discussion will draw our community closer together and not be divisive. Please read both documents carefully and thoughtfully, and draw your own conclusions. Feel free to communicate your ideas (pro or con) to me or any member of the CAIMS Board. Bill Langford President of CAIMS CAIMS Member of Liaison Committee ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 2 ====== From: Bill Langford Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 15:58:23 -0500 BREAKING NEWS: NSERC TO SURVEY THE MATHEMATICS COMMUNITY NSERC has announced that it plans to survey the Canadian mathematics community in the near future, to determine preferences regarding the proposed funding options for the Mathematics Institutes. Recently, the timing of this survey has been clarified by NSERC. It will be held after the Society Annual Meetings in June, to allow time for the community to be well-informed on these issues. It is expected that NSERC will have representatives at the CAIMS Annual Meeting at York University in June, to answer questions and clarify issues. The format of this meeting is not yet decided. However, there is a feature of this survey that may affect many CAIMS members. NSERC says that their survey will be restricted to researchers funded by the Math GSCs 336 and 337. Many CAIMS members receive their NSERC funding from other GSCs. Many of these same CAIMS members are involved with the Mathematics Institutes. On March 19, Bill Langford wrote to Serge Villemure at NSERC about this, as follows: "I remain disappointed that you intend to restrict the NSERC Survey to only one part of the Mathematical Sciences Community in Canada, those funded by GSC 336/337. The Math Institutes serve a much larger community than just 336/337, and it seems to me that it is those outside 336/337 who would be most seriously impacted by the proposed discipine envelope. If CAIMS members outside 336/337 are not included in the survey, then there is the potential that they would be disenfranchised not once but twice. Perhaps, as you imply, NSERC may receive CAIMS input by other mechanisms." CAIMS members who have concerns about these issues should communicate them to members of the CAIMS Board of Directors. The Board will be discussing these NSERC funding questions in advance of our June meeting. Bill Langford President of CAIMS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 3 ====== CAIMS*SCMAI E-News Information CAIMS*SCMAI E-News is distributed electronically several times a year by the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society/Societe Canadienne de Mathematiques Appliquees et Industrielles (http://www.caims.ca). Past issues are available on the web at http://www.caims.ca/Society/pub.html Submissions are welcome and should be sent in plain text format to: caims@caims.ca. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the Board or Membership of CAIMS*SCMAI. The editorial policy of this publication is to encourage the discussion of issues and facilitate the dissemination of information relevant to Canadian applied and industrial mathematics. If you wish to have your name removed from the e-mailing list for the CAIMS*SCMAI E-News, please send an email message to caims@caims.ca.