African Institute for Mathematical Sciences

The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is a tertiary education and research institute in Muizenberg

Muizenberg

Muizenberg is a beach-side suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It is situated where the shore of the Cape Peninsula curves round to the east on the False Bay coast...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, established in September 2003. AIMS was formed as a partnership between the following universities: University of Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch University

Stellenbosch University is a public research university situated in the town of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Other nearby universities are the University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape....

, University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, University of Cape Town

University of Cape Town

The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...

, University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

, University of Paris-Sud, and University of the Western Cape

University of the Western Cape

The University of the Western Cape is a public university located in the Bellville suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It was established in 1960 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only...

Founder

AIMS was founded by Neil Turok

Neil Turok

Neil Geoffrey Turok is the Director of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He is the son of Mary and Ben Turok, activists in the anti-apartheid movement and the African National Congress.-Career:...

, director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics is an independent, resident-based research institute devoted to foundational issues in theoretical physics located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Perimeter Institute was founded in 1999 by Mike Lazaridis...

, but at the time Chair of Mathematical Physics at Cambridge University. Neil Turok is the son of Ben Turok

Ben Turok

Ben Turok is a former anti-apartheid activist and current South African member of parliament and a member of the African National Congress.He was born in Latvia in 1927 and came with his family to South Africa in 1934. He graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1950...

, an ANC

African National Congress

The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...

MP.

Postgraduate Diploma

AIMS's flagship programme is a 10-month Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in the Mathematical Sciences. The diploma is conferred by the three South African universities in the partnership. Students from Africa can apply for full scholarships, including travel, board & lodging, tuition, and a stipend. AIMS is committed to greater participation by women in science and a geographically representative student body from the African continent.

Visiting faculty have included David MacKay, Bernt Øksendal

Bernt Øksendal

Bernt Karsten Øksendal is a Norwegian mathematician. He performed his undergraduate studies at the University of Oslo, working under Otte Hustad. He obtained his PhD from University of California, Los Angeles in 1971; his thesis was titled Peak Sets and Interpolation Sets for Some Algebras of...

, David Aschman (Cape Town

University of Cape Town

), Alan Beardon (Cambridge

University of Cambridge

), Jordi Campos (Barcelona

University of Barcelona

The University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU, European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Vives Network...

), Jesus Cerquides (Spanish National Research Council), Patrick Dorey (Durham

Durham University

The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...

), Pedro Ferreira (Oxford), Jan Govaerts (Leuven), Barry Green (Stellenbosch), Gordon Johnson (Houston

University of Houston

The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...

), Dirk Laurie (Stellenbosch), Sanjoy Mahajan (MIT), Vincent Rivasseau (University of Paris

University of Paris

The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

), Bernd Schroers (Heriot-Watt

Heriot-Watt University

Heriot-Watt University is a university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The name commemorates George Heriot, the 16th century financier to King James, and James Watt, the great 18th century inventor and engineer....

), Robert de Mello Koch (Witwatersrand

University of the Witwatersrand

The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...

), Rob Beezer (University of Puget Sound

University of Puget Sound

The University of Puget Sound is a private liberal arts college located in the North End of Tacoma, Washington, in the United States...

), Jeff Sanders (United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology), and Tadashi Tokieda (Cambridge

University of Cambridge

). They each teach three-week-long modules.

The goal of the programme is to produce students capable of doing a high quality research-based Master's degree. Special emphasis is placed on intuitive understanding, problem solving skills, collaboration, scientific writing skills, and computer modelling using Free Software

Free software

Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

such as SAGE, SciPy

SciPy

SciPy is an open source library of algorithms and mathematical tools for the Python programming language.SciPy contains modules for optimization, linear algebra, integration, interpolation, special functions, FFT, signal and image processing, ODE solvers and other tasks common in science and...

, and R

R (programming language)

R is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics. The R language is widely used among statisticians for developing statistical software, and R is widely used for statistical software development and data analysis....

.

AIMS offers a bursary for PGD alumni studying toward a Master's degree in South Africa.

Honours Degree in Mathematical Biology

AIMS, in conjunction with University of Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch University

, offers an honours degree in Mathematical Biology

Mathematical and theoretical biology

Mathematical and theoretical biology is an interdisciplinary scientific research field with a range of applications in biology, medicine and biotechnology...

for South African students.

Honours Degree in Mathematical Finance

An honours degree in Mathematical Finance

Mathematical finance

Mathematical finance is a field of applied mathematics, concerned with financial markets. The subject has a close relationship with the discipline of financial economics, which is concerned with much of the underlying theory. Generally, mathematical finance will derive and extend the mathematical...

is being offered for South African students in conjunction with University of Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch University

and the University of Cape Town

University of Cape Town

Masters and Doctoral Studies

In the AIMS Research Centre students, often AIMS Alumni, study towards a MSc or PhD degree under supervision of a resident researcher in Mathematical Biology

Mathematical and theoretical biology

Mathematical and theoretical biology is an interdisciplinary scientific research field with a range of applications in biology, medicine and biotechnology...

and Mathematical Finance

Mathematical finance

AIMS-NEI

AIMS was the subject of a talk by Neil Turok after he received the TED Prize in 2008. Neil Turok's TED wish was that, within his lifetime, an African Einstein would be celebrated.

The AIMS-NextEinstein Initiative (AIMS-NEI) is a plan to create 15 more AIMS centres across Africa. These centres aim to create educational conditions and scientific resources equivalent to the more developed continents in order to fulfil Neil Turok's TED wish.

The next two centres are in Senegal and Ghana. An earlier centre based at the African University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Nigeria was known as AIMS-Abuja for a while.

AIMS-NEI is a continuation of the work of the African Mathematical Institutes Network (AMI-Net).

Research Centre

AIMS hosts a research centre that opened in May 2008. Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking

Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...

visited the AIMS research centre and AIMS-NEI launch.

The centre specialises in Mathematical Biology

Mathematical and theoretical biology

Mathematical and theoretical biology is an interdisciplinary scientific research field with a range of applications in biology, medicine and biotechnology...

, Industrial Mathematics

Applied mathematics

Applied mathematics is a branch of mathematics that concerns itself with mathematical methods that are typically used in science, engineering, business, and industry. Thus, "applied mathematics" is a mathematical science with specialized knowledge...

, Mathematical Finance

Mathematical finance

, Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...

& Cosmology

Cosmology

Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...

, and Computer Algebra

Computer algebra system

A computer algebra system is a software program that facilitates symbolic mathematics. The core functionality of a CAS is manipulation of mathematical expressions in symbolic form.-Symbolic manipulations:...

. Bursaries are offered for Master's and doctoral studies.

AIMS-SEC

AIMS hosts a School Enrichment Centre which offers free learning resources and professional development courses for South African mathematics teachers.

Workshops and Conferences

AIMS regularly hosts short conferences or workshops in Mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

and its applications, especially in Physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

, Mathematical Finance

Mathematical finance

, Epidemiology

Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...

. Other topics include Scientific Modelling

Scientific modelling

Scientific modelling is the process of generating abstract, conceptual, graphical and/or mathematical models. Science offers a growing collection of methods, techniques and theory about all kinds of specialized scientific modelling...

or System Administration

System administrator

A system administrator, IT systems administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin is a person employed to maintain and operate a computer system and/or network...

using Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu (operating system)

Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...

as a platform.

Public Lectures

Regular public lectures on a wide range of topics are offered by eminent scientists at the forefront of research in their field.

Funding

AIMS is sponsored by international corporations, international development organisations, and the South African departments of Education and Science and Technology.

In February 2010 Google

Google

Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

donated $1 million to AIMS.

In July 2010 Canada committed $20 CDN million of federal funding to AIMS and the AIMS-NEI project. The funds will be administered by the International Development Research Centre

International Development Research Centre

The International Development Research Centre is a Canadian Crown Corporation created by the Parliament of Canada that supports research in developing countries to promote growth and development...

and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

.

In September 2010 AIMS-NEI was awarded US$ 2 million from Google

Google

's Project 10^100.

Individuals donate to AIMS on GivenGain.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.