About | PIMS - Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences

The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) is a consortium established by universities in western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. Our mandate is to promote research in and applications of the mathematical sciences, to facilitate the training of highly qualified personnel, to create an equitable, diverse and inclusive community, to enrich public awareness of and education in the mathematical sciences, and to create mathematical partnerships with similar organizations in other countries (with a particular focus on the Pacific Rim). PIMS funds Collaborative Research Groups, Post-Doctoral Fellowships and individual events on a competitive basis.

PIMS activities are funded by the member universities, by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and by private donors.

PIMS strongly believes that equity, diversity and inclusion strengthen the mathematical community by increasing the impact and relevance of research; widening the pool of qualified potential participants; and enhancing the integrity of the programs. The programs and groups we support should promote and develop a rich research community, accessible to every member of our network.

PIMS At-A-Glance

The following "2-pager" highlights many of PIMS programs and activities. A PDF version of PIMS At-A-Glance is also available for download.

Download PIMS At-A-Glance

About PIMS Activities

Scientific Activities

PIMS has built an international reputation for excellence and transformed the conditions of mathematical research in Canada. The following is a partial list of current scientific activities:
The innovative PIMS Collaborative Research Groups and their training and focused activities over a multi-year period aim to develop permanent research and training networks, establishing lasting interdisciplinary links between geographically separate groups of researchers at member universities. PIMS has developed 42 CRGs since its inception, in areas ranging across all the mathematical sciences. This has served as a catalyst for producing mathematical research of the highest quality in Western Canada and attracting outstanding faculty to PIMS universities.
PIMS Research Networks (PRNs) are large scale collaborations between academic, industrial and public sector partners. These partnerships are intended to help the mathematical science community address grand challenges such as the ongoing climate emergency, sustainable resource management, resilience to future epidemics and fairness and justice in human society. PIMS has run PRNs in the areas of Optimal Transport (the Kantorovich Initiative) and Mathematical Biology (the Maud Menten Institute), with more planned.
Every year PIMS sponsors numerous postdoctoral fellows, attracting outstanding young scientists who contribute to PIMS' research programs and some of whom later become faculty members at leading Canadian and international universities. They are distributed throughout PIMS sites on a competitive basis.
In 2007 PIMS launched the International Graduate Training Centre in Mathematical Biology. This is a graduate training program focused on strategic topics of great current interest (such as the mathematical modelling of ecosystems, disease spread and intracellular dynamics). Special fellowships are awarded to students and there are training events and research summits connected to the program. Students at PIMS universities obtain common course credits through the Western Deans' Protocol.
PIMS organizes international summer schools to train the new generation of mathematical scientists in emerging areas of mathematics and its applications such as seismic imaging, the mathematics of sustainability, string theory, atmospheric modelling and climate change, quantum information and cryptography, environmetrics, probability and mathematical finance.
PIMS has a lively suite of programs in industrial mathematics, including our successful Math to Power Industry program. We organize, industrial workshops, short courses, mini-courses, summer schools and seminar series with topics of interest to both industry and academia, which serve to disseminate newly developed mathematical tools that can be of use in industry. Our Lunchbox Lecture series - in partnership with Shell Canada - connects mathematicians across sectors with its focus on mathematical techniques and applications relevant to the oil and gas industry, demonstrating the utility and beauty of applied mathematics.

National and International Collaborations

PIMS has taken a leadership role in the national and international mathematical community. Together with the two other mathematical institutes in Canada, it created major national programs such as Mprime (formerly known as MITACS -- Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems) and AARMS (Atlantic Association of Research in the Mathematical Sciences). Together with the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley, it created the Banff International Research Station (BIRS), which is now the premier mathematical research station in North America. PIMS has been working together with the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute to promote progress in statistics. Our partnership with the Institute for Mathematics and Applications (USA) allows us to provide new opportunities in industrial mathematics for students via the annual Mathematical Modelling in Industry Workshops. PIMS has built close partnerships with mathematical institutes in Mexico and Chile, and has been instrumental in creating the Pacific Rim Mathematical Association (PRIMA), a network of mathematical institutes in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, China, Korea, and Japan, bound by a cooperative agreement.

PIMS has a special collaboration with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS): CNRS-PIMS (formerly PIMS-Europe) is a CNRS International Research Laboratory (IRL #3069), playing an integral role in facilitating research collaborations between mathematical scientists at PIMS member universities and researchers in France.

PIMS Educational and Outreach Activities

PIMS has a mandate to vigorously promote mathematics in Canada, and takes upon itself the mission to help provide the elements for success that are necessary for current and future generations of teachers, scientists and engineers. In addition, the educational programs at PIMS advocate strongly for, and find models and activities to facilitate, the participation of people of all backgrounds in the mathematical endeavour. PIMS is actively involved in promoting mathematical outreach events in schools throughout Western Canada. They involve students, teachers and parents and seek to convey the excitement of discovery that underlies mathematics and its applications. PIMS has developed a partnership with First Nations schools in British Columbia which is supported by the BC government as well as private donors. The activities under this program include: summer camps for students, teacher training sessions and a coordinated mentorship program where undergraduate students from universities work with local teachers and students to provide support in mathematics. Teacher training sessions have been held in Kamloops, Lytton, Barriere and Port Alberni and currently there are nine partnering schools in British Columbia. PIMS also runs math fairs in Calgary, and Math on the Move brings educational activities to schools in Saskatchewan. On the college level, the PIMS Educational Associates program strives to improve the educational experience for teachers, students, and the community by facilitating the sharing of ideas and resources among its members. The resulting enhanced collaboration will stimulate improvements in best practices in teaching, outreach efforts and professional development. To date PIMS has 7 Educational Associates in British Columbia and 4 in Alberta.