February at ICMAT

Members of the Small Institute of Mathematics share their passion for mathematics with the President of the Government and the Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports of Spain.

Some participants from the Small Institute of Mathematics (PIM) at ICMAT brought their love for mathematics to the II Fair of Women and Girls in Science, held at the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training, and Sports. Among others, they had the opportunity to converse with Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government of Spain, and Pilar Alegría, Minister of Education, Vocational Training, and Sports.

Mathematics with a Name: Women Who Made History in Mathematics

Alba García Ruiz, a CSIC predoctoral researcher at ICMAT, conducted a workshop in ICMAT for 41 students from IES Arturo Soria in Madrid. Over an hour, they learned about some of the pioneers of mathematics in Spain, who broke barriers and changed the world of mathematics in their time.

Image: ICMAT

Maryam Mirzakhani, Explorer of Surfaces and First Fields Medalist

Javier Aramayona, a CSIC scientist at ICMAT and director of the center, gave a popular science lecture at IES El Boalo (El Boalo, Madrid) on one of the great names in international mathematical research: Maryam Mirzakhani.

Female Role Models for Achieving Gender Equality in Science

Eva Gallardo, professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, member of ICMAT, and former president of the Spanish Royal Mathematical Society (RSME), was one of the speakers at the “I Am a Woman in STEAM” panel, organized by the Ayuntamiento de Las Rozas. In this event, professionals from various scientific fields shared their work and experiences as women dedicated to science with an audience of nearly 200 students from schools in Las Rozas (Madrid).

Eva Gallardo was one of the speakers at the “I Am a Woman in STEAM” panel. Image: Ayuntamiento de Las Rozas

Ana Primo, Young Scientific Talent Award for Women: ‘It’s exciting how much there is to learn’

Ana Primo at ICMAT. Image: ICMAT

On February 11, Ana Primo, a member of ICMAT and associate professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), received the Young Female Scientific Talent Award in the ‘Mathematics’ category, granted by Mastercard and the Royal Academy of Sciences of Spain Foundation (FRACE). Primo is an expert in partial and nonlinear differential equations. The jury recognized “her research on problems with nonlocal effects, such as elasticity, water waves, crystal dislocation, obstacle problems, flame propagation, stratified materials, or quasi-geostrophic flows.”

Round table ‘STEAM Education under debate: knowledge and competences’
Claudio Vanhees: ‘If you want to reach deep levels of understanding and master the concepts of a subject you need previous knowledge’

Round table ‘STEAM Education under debate: knowledge and competences’. Image: VACC CSIC

On Monday 20 January 2025, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) organised the round table ‘STEAM Education under debate: knowledge and competences’, at the CSIC Assembly Hall in Madrid. The main objective was to analyse, in a constructive way, two approaches to the teaching of STEAM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics): the competence model, which values the application of knowledge in real contexts, and the knowledge-centred model, which defends the need for a solid and well-structured disciplinary base. The initiative, promoted by the Science Education working group of the CSIC’s Deputy Vice-Presidency for Scientific Culture and Citizen Science (VACC) and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT), served as a celebration of International Education Day.

• Javier José Murgas Ibarra (University of Stavanger), until 14/03/2025
• Dario Ascari (Universidad del País Vasco), until 14/03/2025
• Liangchen Zou (University of Science and Technology of China), until 15/04/2025
• Gonzalo de Polavieja (The Champalimaud Foundation), until 30/06/2025
• Xueting Jin (School of Mathematical Sciences Capital Normal University of China), until 01/07/2025
• Elizabeth Gillaspy (University of Montana, USA), until 31/07/2025
• Andoni de la Hera de Arriba (UNED), until 31/07/2025
• Rubén Izquierdo López (UNIR), until 31/07/2025
• Daniel Isaac Puignau Chacón (King's College London, UK), until 05/08/2025
• Nemo Sauvion (École Normale Supérieure Paris), until 20/06/2025
• Víctor Soto Larrosa (Universidad Europea de Madrid y Universidad de Alcalá), until 31/07/2025