ICMAT Newsletter #14 - 2024
March at ICMAT
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Hello!
Here is our 14th ICMAT monthly newsletter, which includes the latest news and forthcoming activities related to the Institute and its members.
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Michel Talagrand, Abel Prize 2024
Michel Talagrand. Image: Peter Bagde / Typos1 / Abel Prize 2024
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters awarded on 20 March the Abel Prize 2024 to the mathematician Michel Talagrand, who was seconded to the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, France) until 2017, the year of his retirement. He receives one of the most important awards in mathematics for an entire career "for his contributions to probability theory and functional analysis, with exceptional applications in mathematical physics and statistics", the Prize Committee emphasises.
"The depth of Talagrand's work is unquestionable, but it also has the virtue of connecting areas of mathematics that previously had limited connection. His mastery of probability and the geometry of Banach spaces has led him to solve fundamental problems in several areas," says Javier Parcet, investigador científico of CSIC at ICMAT.
Talagrand will receive the award on 21 May in Oslo (Norway) at an award ceremony presided over by King Harald V.
More info
Fibonacci sequence, Moebius band or Latin squares in contemporary art
Raúl Ibáñez, mathematician, specialist in mathematical culture and professor in geometry at the University of the Basque Country, explained the relationship between contemporary art and mathematics on 7 March as part of the series Mathematics at the Residencia, organised by ICMAT, with the collaboration of the Vicepresidencia Adjunta de Cultura Científica of CSIC and the Residencia de Estudiantes.
At the beginning of the 20th century, with the appearance of the avant-garde and abstract movements, mathematics took on a more prominent role in art. "These artists sought, and still seek, to eliminate subjectivity from the creative process, so that the work does not depend on the aesthetic preferences of the artist," says Ibáñez. In his talk, entitled "When contemporary art looks at mathematics", he showed how the Pythagorean theorem, the Moebius band, multiplication, Latin squares, permutations, the Truchet tile, the number Pi or the Fibonacci succession can be used to create works of art.
More info
Jean-François Le Gall delivers a Distinguished Lecture at ICMAT
Jean-François Le Gall. Image: Universidad París-Saclay
Jean-François Le Gall (Paris-Saclay University), specialist in probability theory, a field to which he has made important contributions, gave a talk on Brownian surfaces at the ICMAT on 15 March, as part of the Institute's Distinguished Lecture series: "Geometry of Brownian Surfaces".
"I have worked a lot on the study of Brownian motion, which describes the random motion of a particle subject to continuous changes of direction, and I have introduced several important objects related to Brownian motion," Le Gall said in an interview with the BBVA Foundation when he was awarded the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in basic sciences in 2022. In recent years, he has focused on what are known as Brownian spheres, a branch of probability that studies limits of random triangulations on the two.dimensional sphere.
More info
Latin American mathematics unites forces
Audience of the Latin American Mathematics Research Prizes ceremony. Image: Start Communications
The Institute of the Mathematical Sciences of the Americas (IMSA) was established in 2019 with the intention of “fostering dialogue between Latin America, the United States, and the world, with special attention to the Hispanic community.” It is in Miami (USA), where the Institute is located, where all efforts have been concentrated in recent years to make the excellent mathematical research carried out in countries in these areas a global reference.
This year, IMSA has launched the first edition of the Latin American Mathematics Research Prizes, with the aim to become a symbol of prestige within the mathematical community. “With these awards, we not only seek to celebrate the outstanding contributions to mathematics by Latin American researchers, who often work in adverse conditions and with limited resources, but also aim to inspire future generations,” says the organisation. These have been organised within the framework of the first Mathematical Waves Miami, a meeting for researchers in mathematics from different countries in Latin America.
Both activities have counted with the collaboration of the institutions that form the IMSAC consortium and with the funding of the Simons Foundation and the University of Miami.
Full report on this link
New members at ICMAT
In March 2024, the following people have joined the Institute:
New predoctoral researchers:
- Alejandro Calleja
- Alfredo Llosa
- Victoria Pelayo
Currently visiting ICMAT
- Ismael Morales López (Universidad de Oxford), until 05/04/2024
- Macarena Arenas (University of Cambridge), until 06/04/2024
- Josef Greilhuber (Stanford), until 22/04/2024
- Willi Kepplinger (University of Vienna), until 22/04/2024
- Pranav Pandit (International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore, India), until 22/04/2024
- Oliver Branling (UAM), until 30/04/2024
- Alberto Jiménez Serrano (Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio), until 30/04/2024
- Loic Davalo (École normale supérieure de Lyon), until 15/05/2024
- Nuria Campillo (CIB-CSIC), until 30/06/2024
- Pablo Cembellín Mazas (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid), until 30/06/2024
- David Muñoz Lahoz (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), until 30/06/2024
- Roi Naveiro Flores (CUNEF University), until 30/06/2024
- Óscar Domínguez (CUNEF University), until 31/07/2024
- Zamurat Ayobami Adegboye (Institute of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, IMSP-UAC, Dangbo, Benin), until 27/08/2024
- Víctor Manuel Jiménez Morales (UNED), until 31/08/2024
- Andrés Julián Moreno Ospina (UNICAMP), until 28/02/2025
You have more information about the people who are visiting ICMAT here.
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- Advanced mini-courses addressed to PhD students and interested researchers:
"Extrapolation in function spaces (dates to be determined)", María Jesús Carro (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
"Abstract order theory (dates to be determined)", Eugene Bilokopytov (University of Alberta)
"Tensor products of vector lattices (dates to be determined)", Vladimir Troitsky (University of Alberta)
- Focus weeks with a special emphasis on discussing open problems in the intersection of different areas:
6-10/05/2024. Phase retrieval in function spaces
13-17/05/2024. Vector lattices and ordered structures
27-31/05/2024. Interactions with descriptive set theory
- 20-24/05/2024. Workshop on Banach spaces and Banach lattices
- Seminar Lattice structures in Analysis and Applications
- 09/04/2024. Session 1: Intro to Deep Learning focusing on LSTMs and GRUs
- 16/04/2024. Session 2: Formal Algorithms for Transformers
- 23/04/2024. Session 3: BERT / GPT
- 07/05/2024. Session 4: Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF)
- 14/05/2024. Session 5: Bayes and LLMs. The security of LLMs
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Joint mobility actions within the framework of the cooperation agreement between the Carolina Foundation and CSIC. The objective of the call is to promote the mobility of research personnel (researchers, technicians and managers) assigned to the CSIC to research centers and universities in the Ibero-American Community of Nations, except Portugal, Spain and Andorra (hereinafter Ibero-America), in collaboration with the Carolina Foundation.
Deadline: 4/04/2024
Prismas and Problems FBBVA Programme. The Prismas and Problems Programme of the BBVA Foundation aims to capture and generate the best knowledge to build innovative approaches for addressing issues of social and environmental relevance. This interdisciplinary call is also open to potential participation from experts working in public agencies or other organizations, contributing to the analysis and addressing of the challenges outlined in this call.
Deadline: 30/04/2024
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ICMAT in the media
Here there is a list of some articles related to the Institute, published in March 2024 in the media.
 'Café y Teoremas', ICMAT section in El País newspaper:
 Besides, ICMAT members have appeared in the following media: |
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Keep in touch
Have we forgotten anything? Do you want to add any news, visit or upcoming activity? Please, do not hesitate to write us at communication@icmat.es and we will include the information in the next newsletter.
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