About MSRI
The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) is dedicated to the advancement and communication of fundamental knowledge in mathematics and the mathematical sciences, to the development of human capital for the growth and use of such knowledge, and to the cultivation in the larger society of awareness and appreciation of the beauty, power and importance of mathematical ideas and ways of understanding the world.
From its beginning in 1982 the Institute has been primarily funded by the NSF with additional support from other government
agencies, private foundations, and academic and corporate
Sponsors. Now more than 1500 mathematical scientists visit MSRI each year, many for substantial periods.
National Science Foundation Annual Reports
MSRI is governed administratively by a Board of Trustees. The trustees are
drawn from academia, government labs, and the business world. The Board
receives input from its Committee of Academic Sponsors (CAS) that represents
over 80 of the leading research departments across the country. The Board
provides guidance through the work of 11 trustees committees:
Audit Committee: Calvin Moore, Chair; Robion Kirby, Roger Strauch (Treasurer)
Committee on Public Understanding: Dusa McDuff, Chair; Andrea Bertozzi, Ruth Charney, Dan Freed, Jeff Goodby, Julius Krevans
Committee on Women in Mathematics: Ruth Charney, Chair; Andrea Bertozzi, Jennifer Chayes, Ricardo Cortez, Tom Leighton, Dusa McDuff, Peter Sarnak
Committee on Trustees: Charles Fefferman, Chair; Sheldon Axler (ex officio), William R. Hearst III, Morris Kalka (ex officio), Lucy Sanders, Peter Sarnak, Hugo Sonnenschein
Corporate Partners Committee: Edward Baker, Chair; Jerry Fiddler, William E. Kirwan, Lucy Sanders, Myron Scholes
Development Committee: Julius Krevans, Chair; Edward Baker, Elwyn Berlekamp, Jennifer Chayes, Charles Fefferman, William R. Hearst III (ex officio), Maria Klawe, Tom Leighton, Douglas Lind (ex officio), Andrew Viterbi
Education Committee: Deborah Loewenberg Ball, Chair; William E. Kirwan, Maria Klawe, Julius Krevans, Tom Leighton
Finance Committee: Roger Strauch, Chair; Robert Bryant (ex officio), Charles Fefferman, Jerry Fiddler, Enrico Hernandez (CFO, ex officio), Julius Krevans, Sandor Straus, Julius Zelmanowitz (ex officio)
Investment Committee: William R. Hearst III, Chair; Myron Scholes, Sandor Straus
Recompetition Committee: Charles Fefferman, Chair; Robert Bryant, Roger Strauch, Robert Calderbank, Maria Klawe
Steering Committee: Charles Fefferman, Chair (Chair of the Board of Trustees); Sheldon Axler (CAS Chair, ex officio), Robert Bryant (Director, ex officio), Jennifer Tour Chayes (Secretary, Board of Trustees), Helmut Hofer (SAC Co-Chair), Carlos Kenig (SAC Co-Chair), Julius Krevans (Vice Chair, Board of Trustees), Kathleen O'Hara (Associate Director, ex officio), Roger Strauch (Treasurer, Board of Trustees), Julius Zelmanowitz (Deputy Director, ex officio)
The executive functions of the trustees are handled by the
Steering Committee, drawn from the trustees, sponsors, SAC. MSRI's scientific programs are overseen by a
Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of leading mathematical scientists. MSRI is also advised by specialized committees of experts, including the
Educational Advisory Committee (EAC) and the
Human Resources Advisory Committee (HRAC).
MSRI wishes to thank those who are part of its history and future…
Founders:
Calvin Moore
Shiing-Shen Chern
I. M. Singer
Chairs of the Board:
Hyman Bass (10/3/81–9/30/85)
Hugo Rossi (10/1/85–3/19/89)
John Morgan (3/20/89–3/31/94)
Elwyn Berlekamp (4/1/94–3/31/98)
Dusa McDuff (4/1/98–3/31/01)
Robert Bryant (4/1/01–3/31/04)
Donald Saari (4/1/2004-3/31/2007)
Directors:
Shiing-Shen Chern (10/1/1981–8/31/1984)
Irving Kaplansky (9/1/1984–6/30/1992)
William Thurston (7/1/1992–6/30/1997)
David Eisenbud (7/1/1997–7/31/2007)
Deputy Directors:
Calvin Moore (10/1/1981–7/1/1985)
Robion Kirby (7/1/1985–4/20/1987)
P. Emery Thomas (4/20/1987–8/30/1990)
Robert Osserman (9/1/1990–8/31/1995)
Lenore Blum (9/1/1992–6/30/1997)
Tsit-Yuen Lam (8/15/1995–7/31/1997)
Carol Wood (8/1/1996–7/31/1997)
Hugo Rossi (8/1/1997–7/31/1999 and 8/1/2003–8/1/2005)
Joe Buhler (8/1/1999–7/31/2001)
Michael Singer (8/1/2000–7/1/2002; Acting Director, 7/1/2002–7/1/2003)
Robert Megginson (7/1/2002–7/31/2004)
Matthew Miller (Associate Director, 8/11/2004–12/31/2004)
Lance Small (Associate Director, 4/1/2005–4/1/2006)
Gadiel Seroussi (Associate Director, 10/15/2005–7/31/2006)
Hugo Rossi (8/1/2003-7/31/2007)
…and many other distinguished mathematicians and scientists.
MSRI FACT SHEET
April 28,2004
I. ACTIVITIES
- Furthers mathematics and the mathematical sciences at all levels
- Runs year-long and half-year research programs across the mathematical sciences, with scientists from around the world
- Hosts about 1,500 scientific visits/year, 1,000,000 website hits/month
- Has hosted all those who won Fields Medals since MSRI’s founding
- Trains next generation of researchers: 20-40 postdocs/year and summer graduate programs for 120-200 students
- Increases access for women and minorities
- Runs conferences in K-12 math education
- Administers Bay Area Math Olympiad and Berkeley Math Circles
- Increases Public Understanding of Mathematics via conferences, lectures, videos and journalist-in-residence
- Founded 1982 by Shiing-Shen Chern (Director), Calvin Moore (Deputy Director) and Isadore M. Singer (Chair of Scientific Advisory Committee)
Banff International Research Station
- Hosts 40 week-long conferences/year plus small-group research programs
- Founded in 2002, with support from NSF, NSERC, ASRA, PIMS, MITACS, and others
- Run in partnership with Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences
K-12 Mathematics Education Program
- Conferences on critical issues in K-12 education (supervised by the Educational Advisory Committee); first conference in Spring 2004
- Bay Area Math Olympiad (about 350 contestants/year) and Math Circles for middle and high school students
- Puzzles on Wheels bus placards (starting Fall 2004) to raise public interest in mathematics
Public Understanding of Mathematics
- Lectures for the general public
- Interviews on mathematical topics (Fermat Fest, Chaotic Elections, Tomography to Toy Story, Mathematics,
Magic, and Coincidence, Steve Martin and Robin Williams, Tom Stoppard, Michael Frayn, Donald Knuth,)
- Film series
Scientific Program 2004-2005
Scientific Program 2005-2006
II. GOVERNANCE/ADMINISTRATION
- Independent nonprofit corporation
- Board of Trustees drawn from academia and industry (20 to 30 elected; 6 ex officio members)
- Corporate Affiliates Committee
- Development Committee
- Education Committee
- Evaluation Committee
- Finance and Audit Committee
- Committee on Trustees (Nominating)
- Steering Committee
- Scientific Leadership: Director, 2 Deputy Directors, and Special Projects Director
- Administrative Staff: 14 FTE headed by Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
- Scientific policy set by rotating Scientific Advisory Committee
- Human Resources Advisory Committee: Aids in selecting and recruiting minority participants and designs projects to promote minority participation in mathematics
- Educational Advisory Committee
- 75 Mathematics departments that are Academic Sponsors
- Several Corporate Partners and Affiliates
Funding
- Operating Expense Budget about $5.5M/year plus about $750K/year in-kind contribution from UC Berkeley
- Capital Campaign (target $7.3M; goal exceeded)
- Archimedes Society (annual giving)
- Major support from NSF (70% of operating budget), NSA (15% of operating budget), and a range of other government agencies
- Grants from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Hearst Foundations, Hilde Mosse Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Rosenbaum Foundation, Simons Foundation and others.
- Academic Sponsors and Corporate Partners/Affiliates
Corporate Partners/Affiliates Program
- Partners ($50K/year or more) have included Hewlett-Packard, Pfizer, Microsoft
- Other Corporate Affiliates contribute $5K-$50K/year
- Benefits include:
- Corporate Affiliates Annual Meeting
- Corporate Affiliates Conferences
- Invitations to workshops
- A window on the academic math world
- Visiting Research Professor and Postdoctoral Programs (Partners)
Academic Sponsors Program
- Demonstrates community support of MSRI
- 78 Universities (four foreign)
- $3K/year dues
- Benefits include:
- Sending students to summer graduate programs
- Participation in MSRI governance (Committee of Academic Sponsors) and Annual Meeting
- Help from MSRI with local conferences
- Help from MSRI paying for colloquia/seminars by MSRI members
III. OUTPUT
Publications
- 250 papers produced by members each year during the past 4 years
- Book series: 45 volumes, Cambridge University Press
- Emissary Newsletter in the Fall and Spring
Videos/CDs
- Invitation To Discover (15-minute documentary/informational video)
- Funny Numbers: An Evening with Steve Martin in Conversation with Bob Osserman
- porridge, pulleys and Pi (biographical video on Vaughan Jones and Hendrik Lenstra, leaders of MSRI programs in 2001)
- Mathematics in Arcadia: Tom Stoppard in Conversation with Robert Osserman
- Galileo: A Dialog on Science, Mathematics, History and Drama
- Fermat’s Last Theorem: The Theorem and Its Proof An Exploration of Issues and Ideas (from the Fermat Fest)
- CDs of conferences
Web Presence
- Web site with information on programs, public outreach, development, local arrangements, visitors, governance, funding and much more
- Over a recent 6 month period: about 300,000 visits (average 13 pages each, total about 7,000,000 hits) from 90,000 different hosts in 120 countries 40 GB downloaded
- Vmath, nearly 3,000 hours of mathematics lectures, freely available
- Full text of book series, newsletters, freely available
IV. INFRASTRUCTURE
Computing
- Network of 125 workstations and servers, for members, staff, labs, library
- 100 Mbit/second Internet feed (Energy Sciences Network)
- IT staff of 3 (head, systems engineer, webmaster)
- Videography of virtually all workshop lectures (contracted out)
- Wireless Internet available throughout the building
Building
- 24,000 gross square feet
- Desks for 90 mathematicians
- Research library: 12,500 books and 8,000 journal volumes (100 journal titles); plus, the UC Berkeley libraries
- Divisible lecture hall with video facility
- Groundbreaking in June 2004 for building addition (to approximately 35,000 gross sq. ft.)
MSRI Points of Excellence
March 6,2004
- MSRI is the world’s premier center for collaborative research across the whole spectrum of the mathematical sciences.
- MSRI is an acknowledged leader of activities for the public understanding of mathematics. These popular events include interviews with playwrights (Tom Stoppard, Arcadia; Michael Frayn, Copenhagen; David Auburn, Proof) and “Funny Numbers” with Steve Martin and Robin Williams. These events are nationally distributed in a unique series of videos.
- For twenty years, MSRI has been the largest single project of the Division of Mathematical Sciences of the National Science Foundation.
- MSRI is the largest non-classified mathematics project of the National Security Agency, which supports the Institute as the best resource for strengthening the pool of mathematicians available to assist the government.
- MSRI is one of the world’s most desirable and successful centers for postdoctoral training.
- MSRI is the primary model for institutes in Canada, England, Russia, Korea, Singapore and New Zealand.
- MSRI’s “Vmath” archive of mathematical lectures in video is by far the world’s largest. It contains talks by the majority of today’s great mathematicians.
- MSRI has hosted every Fields Medalist (equivalent to the Nobel Prize) since the Institute was opened in 1982.
- Some 1500 scientific visits to MSRI each year, by mathematicians from around the world make the Institute an ideal center for sharing information and spreading ideas through the mathematical community.
- With more than 80 Academic Sponsors, MSRI has the broadest base of community support of any mathematics institute in the world.
- MSRI is one of the few world centers involved in the entire spectrum of mathematical activity with programs ranging from K-12 mathematics and public understanding of mathematics to the most advanced current research.
- MSRI has the strongest program of outreach to minorities of any United States mathematics institute. Led by a committee of distinguished minority mathematicians, its successes range from the first Conference of African American Researchers in the mathematical sciences to the recently founded series of conferences held at minority institutions to raise the awareness of upcoming MSRI programs in a group that might not otherwise participate in these activities.
- MSRI has become a magnet for private philanthropic support of mathematics, as witnessed by the successful completion in 2004 of a $10,000,000+ capital campaign for building improvements.
|
