SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES

Symposium Celebrating New Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada
March 16, 2009

The Royal Society of Canada recently elected its new Fellows for 2008. The Fields Institute will host an event on March 16, 2009, to celebrate the achievements of of this year's new Fellows from the Academy of Sciences. Three of the newly elected Fellows will speak about their work in the mathematical sciences. A reception will follow.
Listing of new Fellows elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2008 in the Academy of Science

Schedule

1:00 p.m. .	Introduction, and acknowledgment of new Academy of Science FRSCs
1:10 p.m.	Speaker: Pengfei GUAN– Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University Geometric nonlinear partial differential equations. Nonlinear PDE is one of the central tools for studying geometric problems. The talk will discuss some recent development of the theory of fully nonlinear geometric partial differential equations and applications in differential geometry.
2:10 p.m.	Speaker: Agnes M. HERZBERG– Department of Mathematics, Queen’s University Can Public Policy Be Influenced? A series of conferences concerned with the implications of statistics and science on public policy will be discussed. Some thoughts about the influence of public policy on various matters including those on the environment will be presented.
3:10 p.m.	Speaker: Eckhard MEINRENKEN - Mathematics Department, University of Toronto Pure spinors and volume forms on conjugacy classes We describe the idea, due to Hitchin and Gualtieri, of viewing differential forms on manifolds as `spinors' for the direct sum of the tangent bundle and cotangent bundle. In particular, there is a notion of `pure spinors'. We describe a remarkable pure spinor on any semi-simple Lie group G, and use it to construct canonical invariant volume forms on the conjugacy classes of G. This talk will be aimed at a general audience.
4:10 p.m.	Reception

Speakers

	Pengfei GUAN– Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University Pengfei Guan is widely recognized as the leading researcher of his generation in the study of fully non-linear elliptic partial differential equations, a deep and central area of mathematics which has very important applications in geometry and in mathematical physics. His achievements include the solution of several long-standing open problems in geometric analysis and the regularity problem for degenerate Monge-Ampere equations.
	Agnes M. HERZBERG– Department of Mathematics, Queen’s University Recognized globally for her pioneering contributions to statistics, Agnes M. Herzberg founded, shaped and nurtured the international Conference on Statistics, Science and Public Policy held at Herstmonceux Castle, England. In this unique context, she assembles an unusual mix of scientists, politicians, civil servants and journalists from several countries who annually address significant policy issues. The outcomes of these invaluable conferences have demonstrably furthered knowledge, trust and co-operation across the divides of government, science and public policy.
	Eckhard MEINRENKEN - Mathematics Department, University of Toronto Eckhard Meinrenken has made several fundamental contributions to differential geometry and mathematical physics. His proof of the Guillemin-Steinberg 'quantization commutes with reduction' conjecture was a landmark achievement in symplectic geometry. Meinrenken’s work is closely connected with many of the recent developments in theoretical physics, such as conformal field theory and the theory of D-branes in string theory.

ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES / ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
new Fellows elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2008

Division of Applied Sciences and Engineering / Division des sciences appliquées et génie
BEHIE, Leo A. - Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary
DE SILVA, Clarence W. - Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia
GROVER, Wayne D. - Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta
HABASHI, Wagdi George - Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University
KASAP, Safa – Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan
MOUFTAH, Hussein T. - School of Information Technology and Engineering, University of Ottawa
NEALE, Kenneth W. - Department of Civil Engineering, University of Sherbrooke

Division of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences / Division des sciences de la terre, de l’océan et de l’atmosphère
CREASER, Robert A. - Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
HECKY, Robert E. - Biology Department, University of Waterloo
MUCCI, Alfonso - Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University
SUTTLE, Curtis - Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia

Division of Life Sciences / Division des sciences de la vie
AMIR, Shimon - Department of Psychology, Concordia University
BONEN, Arend – Department of Human Biology and Nutrition Sciences, University ofGuelph
BACKX, Peter – Departments of Physiology and Medicine, University of Toronto
BELOSEVIC, Miodrag (Mike) - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta
CRAIG, Ann Marie – Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia
DIAMANDIS, Eleftherios P. - Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital
KAUFFMAN, Stuart A. - Institute for Biocomplexity and Informatics, University of Calgary
MARTIN, Renée H. - Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary
McCAULEY, Edward R. - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary
PERRY, Steve - Department of Biology, University of Ottawa
SHETTLEWORTH, Sara - Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
TYREE, Melvin - Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta
VANCE, Jean E. – Department of Medicine and Group on Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids, University of Alberta
VEILLETTE, André - Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Clinical Research Institute of Montreal
WALLACE, John L. - Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, University of Calgary
ZAMPONI, Gerald Werner - Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Calgary

Mathematical and Physical Sciences / Mathématiques et sciences physiques
BURGESS, Clifford - Department of Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University
EKELAND, Ivar - Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, University of British Columbia
GUAN, Pengfei – Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University
JÄGER, Wolfgang - Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta
KASPI, Victoria - Physics Department, McGill University
LAFLAMME, Raymond - Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo
LIU, H.C. - Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council Canada
MEINRENKEN, Eckhard - Mathematics Department, University of Toronto
PRUD'HOMME, Robert Emery - Département de chimie, Université de Montréal
SANCHE, Léon - Département de médecine nucléaire et de radiobiologie, Université de Sherbrooke
SHOICHET, Molly - Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto
TSE, John S. - Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan

Specially Elected Fellow/ Membre à titre spécial
PIPER, Martha Cook – Office of the President, University of British Columbia
HERZBERG, Agnes M – Department of Mathematics, Queen’s University

A complete listing of all new Fellows elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2008 is available here.

back to top