Brazilian Math Colloquium celebrates 60 years

With 40 activities distributed throughout 5 days, more than a thousand mathematicians showed up to celebrate the 31st Brazilian Math Colloquium (CBM) and its 60th birthday

Considered to be the most influent conference of the brazilian community, the CBM had a total of 11 lectures with world renowned mathematicians, 11 thematic sessions, two divulgation lectures, one panel discussion, six advanced courses and three for beginners, three poster sessions, besides the issue of the SBM award, given by the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM).

The event also had homages to recently deceased researchers: Welington de Melo and Elon Lages Lima, both from IMPA.

“The CBM is the first step in the academic life for many”, said Nancy Garcia, from Unicamp, currently the vice president of SBM and member of the organizing comitee.

The SBM award was given to Robert Morris, an IMPA researcher for his article “Independent sets in hypergraphs”, published in 2015 in the Journal of the American Mathematical Society. The researcher will receive an endowment of 20 thousand Brazilian Reais and an invitation to do a future lecture at CBM.

During this week other two events also kept IMPA crowded: The XXI Brazilian School of Probability and the already traditional Conservation Laws and Applications.

As observed by IMPA General-director, Marcelo Viana, “everything that happened in the history of brazilian mathematics was created during a CBM”. Alvaro Ramos, a math teacher at UFRGS, could not agree more. “The CBM is rooted in brazilian math community. Everyone prepares to participate every two years.” For Ramos, the event is a great opportunity ” to find new contributors and to see new techniques. Besides, it´s important for newcomers to get in touch with  more experienced researchers.”

The student Crislaine Kuster, currently graduating at UFES, was able to see that first hand. She chose to persue math after winning a medal at  OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad of Public Schools). “I really digged the begginers classes and the thematic sessions. I am surely coming for the next one”, garantees.