University of British Columbia researchers at the Pacific Institute
for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) will help develop mathematical
tools and models for applications ranging from biomedical to financial
thanks to the creation of the Mathematics of Information Technology
and Complex Systems Network (MITACS).
One of three new Networks of Centres of Excellence recently announced
by the federal government, MITACS will receive close to $14.5 million
in funding over four years.
“This announcement gives some of UBC’s most outstanding researchers
an opportunity to put their expertise to work on a wide range of
ground-breaking projects which will have profound social and economic
impact in Canada and internationally,” says Bernard Bressler, UBC
vice-president, Research.
MITACS will undertake a total of 21 research projects, nine of
which will be led and administered by PIMS researchers at UBC and
PIMs’ four partner institutions — Simon Fraser University and the
universities of Victoria, Alberta and Calgary.
Researchers will focus on applications targeted at the biomedical,
information technology, industrial commercial, industrial manufacturing
and trade and finance sectors.
Projects include developments in medicine ranging from ALS (Lou
Gehrig’s disease) to hearing disorders, efficiency in modern industrial
operations, new sophisticated materials used in manufacturing processes,
and financial instruments for use in trade and finance.
MITACS is comprised of PIMS, the Montreal-based Centre de Recherches
Mathematiques and the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical
Sciences in Toronto.
In addition, PIMS will receive $1.6 million in funding over four
years from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
of Canada to become the third major mathematical sciences research
institute in Canada.
“This funding is a tribute to the vision, strength, versatility
and dynamism of the mathematical scientists in Western Canada,”
says Prof. Nassif Ghoussoub, PIMS director.
PIMS’ mandate includes promoting basic research, industrial interaction
between scientists and the business community, and the communication
and dissemination of mathematical ideas to schools and the general
public.
The new Networks of Centres of Excellence were selected through
a national competition. UBC researchers are members of all 14 networks
funded under the program. The Canadian Genetic Diseases Network
is headquartered at UBC.
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