Abdus Salam School of Mathematics

Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences
Location
68-B, New Muslim Town, Lahore, Punjab Province
Pakistan
Information
Type Research Institute
Established 2003 (2003)
Director General Dr. Shahid Saeed Siddiqi
Affiliation Government College University (GCU)
Website www.sms.edu.pk

The Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences, also known as School of Mathematical Sciences, abbreviated as ASSMS, is an autonomous research institute affiliated with the Government College University Lahore, Punjab province of Pakistan.[1] The institute is named after theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate Professor Dr. Abdus Salam.

History

Professor Dr. Abdus Salam, the only Nobel Laureate in Physics from Pakistan, played an influential role in the Science policy of Pakistan, as he was responsible for the establishment of numbers of research and educational institutes in his country, particularly the prominent institute, the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH). Salam, an alumnus of the Department of Mathematics of the Government College, played a major role in updating educational curriculum of the College and also taught Mathematics there.

At the end of 2003, the Government of Punjab created and led the establishment of a center of excellence for the Mathematical Sciences, under the aegis of Government College University.[2] This school is exclusively dedicated to higher education with no undergraduate program.[3]

Program Overview

Foreign Faculty Tiberiu Dumitrescu and Ioan Tomescu (Bucharest) with doctorands at the Abdus Salam School

The established Board of Governors appointed Professor Dr. A. D. Raza Choudary, an emeritus professor from Central Washington University, as the founding Director General of ASSMS.[4] Dr. Choudary had spent several years in Romania and Germany as a Ph.D student and postdoc, and spent his career in Mexico and USA. Using the financial support from the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (which at that time implemented the Foreign Faculty Hiring Program) and the Punjab Government, and fully exercised the autonomous status of ASSMS, Dr. Choudary made the important decision to look for Faculty entirely from outside Pakistan.[5][6] Due to his extensive experience in Europe and America, Dr. Choudary managed to call a large group of very competent mathematicians, mostly from Eastern Europe.[7] Some of the international scientists that have served as faculty in ASSMS are Josip Pečarić, Amer Iqbal, Alexandru Dimca, Olav Arnfinn Laudal, and Michel Waldschmidt.

Students were carefully selected. A first screening was carried through a written test, whose date was advertised in the major newspapers and several most frequently visited educational websites in Pakistan. About 350-450 students took the written test each year and about 50 students have been selected for an interview with an international board of examiners. On the basis of these interviews, about 20 students have been admitted each year.[8] It can be said that the students at the ASSMS are the cream of the crop of those Pakistani students that stay in Pakistan.[6]

ASSMS requires an intensive two-year course for all the students admitted. The first year is dedicated to basic university mathematics course, and in the second year students take more advanced and optional courses in diverse areas of mathematics. At the end of their second year, students choose one of the research groups at ASSMS, which are geometry, algebra, analysis, discrete mathematics, applied mathematics, and stochastic processes.[8] The graduation rate at the end of fifth year is high.[6]

The institution provides free-of-cost education to its students. It also provides financial assistance to its students.[9]

Achievements

János Pach (ETH, 3rd from right), Edy T. Baskoro (ITB), Ioan Tomescu, and doctorands at a "World Conferences of Mathematics in the 21st Century" at the Abdus Salam School

Since its inception until early 2014, ASSMS has produced more than 100 Ph.D. This is more than twice the total number of Ph.Ds in mathematics produced by all other universities in Pakistan in the same period.[10] It has produced more than 800 publications in ISI-indexed journals.[9]

ASSMS has organized several international level workshops and conferences. Some of workshops at ASSMS has been chosen to have funding from the ICTP, UNESCO, and CIMPA (International Centre for Pure and Applied Mathematics). The signature conferences of ASSMS are its “World/International Conferences of Mathematics in the 21st Century” series, which has been held in 2004,[11] 2005,[12] 2007,[13] 2009,[14] 2011,[15] and 2013.[16] The last conference has its proceedings published by the prestigious Springer Publishing by the title "Mathematics in the 21st Century"; with Pierre Cartier, A. D. R. Choudary (the then Director General of ASSMS), and Michel Waldschmidt as the editors. [17]

ASSMS was chosen as Post-Doctoral research destination from Ph.D holders from prestigious institutions around the world. Young researchers Russia, Italy, Romania, Indonesia, and other countries have become Post Doctoral Fellows in ASSMS. This is something that not used to happen before the existence of ASSMS.[9][18]

On the recommendation of the Committee for Developing Countries (CDC) of the European Mathematical Society, ASSMS was labeled “Emerging Regional Centre of Excellence of the European Mathematical Society” (ERCE) for the period of 2011-2015.[19][20] Furthermore, ASSMS and some other ERCE have form Network of International Mathematics Centres in 2013, where ASSMS was supposed to be its initial secretariat.[21]

In high school level, ASSMS initiated the training camps for preparation and selection for the National Team of Pakistan to compete at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). ASSMS continued to organize these processes until IMO 2014. The National Team of Pakistan competed at IMO for the very first time in 2005, won its first medal in 2007, and won its first silver medal in its eighth participation.[22]

Notes

  1. ↑ (GCU), Government College University. "Science Research at GCU: The Abdus Salam School of Mathematics". The Government College University Official website.
  2. ↑ ASSMS, The Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences. "Achievements". The Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences Official website.
  3. ↑ "Mathematical Foundation in Pakistan". International Centre of Theoretical Physics. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "People of ASSMS: Prof. Dr. A. D. Raza Choudary". Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "Centre: The Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences in Lahore". Newsletter of European Mathematical Society (EMS Publishing House) (81): 42–44. September 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 Tu, Loring (August 2011). "The Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences in Lahore". Notices of the American Mathematical Society (American Mathematical Society) 58 (7): 938–943.
  7. ↑ "Foreign Faculty Hiring Program: Dr. C. G. Gibson". Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  8. 1 2 Laudal, Arnfinn (June 2011). "The Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences in Lahore". Newsletter of European Mathematical Society (EMS Publishing House) (80): 3–4.
  9. 1 2 3 "Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences" (PDF). GC University Lahore. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  10. ↑ Laudal, Arnfinn; Sanz-Solé, Marta; Waldschmidt, Michel (March 2014). "A Mathematical Anniversary in Pakistan". Newsletter of European Mathematical Society (EMS Publishing House) (91): 8–9.
  11. ↑ "1st World Conference in 21st Century Mathematics". Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences. Archived from the original on May 6, 2004. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  12. ↑ "2nd World Conference in 21st Century Mathematics". Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  13. ↑ "3rd International Conference in 21st Century Mathematics". Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences. Archived from the original on August 13, 2006. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  14. ↑ "4th World Conference in 21st Century Mathematics". Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences. Archived from the original on November 7, 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  15. ↑ "5th World Conference in 21st Century Mathematics". Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  16. ↑ "6th World Conference in 21st Century Mathematics". Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences. Archived from the original on March 20, 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  17. ↑ "Mathematics in the 21st Century". Springer. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  18. ↑ "A Report of ASSMS" (PDF). Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  19. ↑ "Emerging Regional Centre of Excellence". European Mathematical Society. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  20. ↑ "Foreign Faculty Hiring Program: ASSMS". Higher Education Comiision of Pakistan. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  21. ↑ "Network of International Mathematic Centres" (PDF). The International Mathematical Union. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  22. ↑ "Pakistan Results in IMO". International Mathematics Olympiad. Retrieved 17 August 2015.

Coordinates: 31°30′47″N 74°18′54″E / 31.513142°N 74.314912°E / 31.513142; 74.314912

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