[cmath] Alejandro Adem Named New PIMS Director

[Breeonne Baxter]

The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences is pleased to 
announce that Alejandro Adem has been appointed the new Director of 
PIMS. He will commence his five-year term on July 1, 2008.

Presently the PIMS Deputy Director, Professor Adem is a Professor of 
Mathematics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, 
and holds the Canada Research Chair in Algebraic Topology. He received 
his BSc in 1982 from the National University of Mexico, and his PhD from 
Princeton University in 1986. After holding a Szego Assistant 
Professorship at Stanford University and spending a year at the 
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, he joined the faculty of the 
University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1990, where he remained until 2004. 
Professor Adem has held visiting positions at the ETH-Zurich, the Max 
Planck Institute in Bonn, the University of Paris VII and XIII, and at 
Princeton University.

Professor Adem's mathematical interests span a variety of topics in 
algebraic topology, group cohomology and related areas. He has authored 
and co-authored numerous research articles as well as two highly 
regarded monographs, "Cohomology of Finite Groups" and "Orbifolds and 
Stringy Topology." He has given over 200 invited talks on his research 
throughout the world, and has supervised several PhD students and 
postdoctoral fellows. He was awarded the US National Science Foundation 
Young Investigator Award in 1992, a Romnes Faculty Fellowship in 1995 
and a Vilas Associate Award in 2003. He has extensive editorial 
experience and is currently an editor for the Memoirs and Transactions 
of the American Mathematical Society.

Professor Adem brings extensive administrative experience to PIMS. He 
served as Chair of the Department of Mathematics at the University of 
Wisconsin-Madison during the period 1999-2002 and since 2005 he has been 
the Deputy Director at PIMS. Professor Adem has outstanding credentials 
as a scientific organizer. He served for four years as Co-Chair of the 
Scientific Advisory Committee at the Mathematical Sciences Research 
Institute at Berkeley (MSRI) and as member of their Board of Trustees. 
Since 2005 he has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the 
Banff International Research Station (BIRS).

"The process of looking for the next PIMS Director started with a call 
for applications in January, 2007," said Ivar Ekeland, current PIMS 
Director. "I am very grateful to the Search Committee to have come up 
with such an outstanding candidate, and for UBC to have made this 
appointment possible. This is excellent news for PIMS and I am looking 
forward to working with my successor, both before and after July 1."

Professor Adem said, "It is a great honour for me to assume the position 
of Director of PIMS. Under the leadership of Ivar Ekeland, PIMS has 
developed into a world-class centre for mathematical research, 
industrial collaboration and educational outreach. The recent 
designation of PIMS as a Unite Mixte International of the French CNRS is 
a recognition of PIMS' high standing in the international community. I 
am extremely grateful to all of my colleagues in the PIMS community for 
their support and look forward to working with them to further develop 
PIMS as one of the leading mathematical institutes in the world."

Professor Adem brings a wealth of experience in organizing international 
collaborations connecting Canadian mathematical scientists with 
colleagues abroad. This includes his leadership in organizing the first 
joint meeting between the Canadian and Mexican mathematical societies in 
2006, as well as his crucial role in the development of the Pacific Rim 
Mathematical Association (PRIMA). He will continue to build on PIMS' 
outstanding record of mathematical collaboration between academic, 
industrial and international partners.

On the web: 
http://www.pims.math.ca/The_News/Latest_News/Alejandro_Adem_Named_New_PIMS_Director/

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For more information, please contact:
Breeonne Baxter
PIMS Communications Manager
e/ bbaxter at pims.math.ca
t/ 604.822.0402
f/ 604.822.0883
w/ http://pims.math.ca/
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