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MSRI Governance

Governance Structure

MSRI, now becoming the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath) in 2022-23, is a non-profit organization governed by a Board of Trustees consisting of 16-40 elected members and seven ex-officio members: the Director of the Institute, the Deputy Director, the Chair of the Committee of Academic Sponsors, the co-Chairs of the Broadening Participation Advisory Committee and the co-Chairs of the Scientific Advisory Committee.

The Board elects its members who serve four-year terms. Candidates are nominated by the Chair of the Committee of Academic Sponsors and the Board itself. The Board leadership includes a Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer, each serving three-year terms. The Board meets twice a year.

SLMath is governed by Board committees and advisory committees.These committees meet regularly multiple times a year.

About BPAC, EAC, SAC and CAS:

  • Broadening Participation Committee (BPAC): In 1993, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) established a Human Resources Advisory Committee (HRAC), the first human resources committee established by a mathematics institute.Now called the Broadening Participation Advisory Committee (BPAC), its charge is to promote and enhance the equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts of MSRI and to broaden participation of members from historically excluded / currently underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences, such as women, Native Americans, African Americans, Latinx/Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, persons with disabilities, and members of the LGBT+ community. For example, the HRAC sponsored the first Conference for African American Researchers in the Mathematical Sciences (CAARMS), founded at MSRI in 1995; the biennial Blackwell-Tapia Conference, honoring the research of a mathematician who is deeply engaged in mentoring for diversity, founded jointly by MSRI and Cornell University; and the Modern Mathematics workshop, which takes place annually before the SACNAS meeting.

    In 2020, MSRI was honored with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM). Administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), PAESMEM recognizes individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to mentoring and thereby support the future productivity of the U.S. science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce.
  • Committee of Academic Sponsors (CAS): Over 100 universities form the Committee of Academic Sponsors (CAS). These include most of the top research universities in the United States. Academic Sponsors provide an interface between MSRI and the mathematical community. They participate in MSRI governance and take part (at MSRI's expense) in a general meeting with the other sponsors and trustees each year for this purpose. MSRI helps support visits by members to sponsoring institutions. Sponsors are offered some financial backing of conferences at sponsoring institutions. Perhaps most important: An Academic Sponsor can send up to 4 graduate students to MSRI Summer Graduate Schools each year at MSRI's expense.
  • Educational Advisory Committee (EAC): MSRI recruited an Educational Advisory Committee (EAC) from among the country’s most distinguished mathematical scientists and educators, taking care to ensure that a broad variety of views is represented in programming for math educators, with particular focus on the Critical Issues in Mathematics Education (CIME) forum. The members of the EAC serve for fixed terms, and, in the recruitment of new members, special attention is paid to representing the best current thinking on the fundamental problems facing mathematics education.

  • Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC): MSRI's research programs are governed by the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). The SAC meets twice a year in person, a total of four full days, and once a year via telephone. Its ten regular members serve four-year terms and are elected by the Board of Trustees. The Director and Deputy Director are ex officio members. The SAC selects and plans the Institute's programs and works with the organizers of these programs on selection of key participants.

To view the membership of a particular committee, please click the committee name on the list in the left-hand navigation pane.