29/12/2023

2023 Retrospective: Advances, Awards, and Conferences

Advances in Ramsey's Theorem and the impact of research developed at IMPA, the holding of the 34th Brazilian Mathematics Colloquium, the main event in the field in Brazil, and the awarding of prizes to researchers from the institute were some of the events that marked the year 2023 at IMPA. We have selected five news items from IMPA for you to remember.

Record attendance at the 34th CBM.

The 34th Brazilian Mathematics Colloquium (CBM) brought together more than 1,100 people at IMPA. The event, which took place between July 24 and 28, had the highest number of in-person participants since its first edition in 1957. The event is the most comprehensive scientific meeting of the Brazilian mathematical community and has contributed significantly to its development and strengthening.

This year, the Colloquium featured six plenary sessions led by internationally renowned researchers: Federico Ardila (University of San Francisco); Laura DeMarco (Harvard University); Claudia Polini (University of Notre Dame); Camilo De Lellis (Institute for Advanced Study); Omri Sarig (Weizmann Institute of Science); and Bernard Derrida (Collège de France). This year's edition also included outreach lectures, roundtables, poster presentations, and 23 thematic sessions – a record number in the event's history.

Advances in Ramsey's Theorem

For the past 88 years, researchers worldwide have attempted to advance the upper bound of Ramsey's Theorem, one of the earliest in combinatorics. In January of this year, during the IMPA Summer Program, a group composed of Robert Morris (IMPA), Marcelo Campos (PhD from IMPA and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford), Simon Griffiths (PUC-Rio), and Julian Sahasrabudhe (Cambridge) developed a new algorithm capable of improving the theorem's bound. This advance was the most significant in the field since 1935.

Challenging, Ramsey's theory was the subject of study by British mathematician William Timothy Gowers, winner of the Fields Medal in 1998. On social media, the mathematician acknowledged the progress of the group at IMPA and said that he had already worked on the problem, but without making any breakthroughs.

The discovery of the new algorithm was featured on the front page of the newspaper O Globo ; in Folha de S.Paulo ; in the online edition of Revista Galileu and also in Quanta Magazine .

Award-Winning Researchers

In November, IMPA researcher Robert Morris was awarded theLeroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research , which recognized the article, “Independent sets in hypergraphs,” published in the Journal of the American Mathematical Society (2015) as a work of extreme importance to the field of probabilistic combinatorics. The article is also co-authored by researchers József Balogh (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) and Wojciech Samotij (Tel Aviv University).

The distinction is awarded annually by the American Mathematical Society to work of fundamental or lasting importance in five areas of mathematics.

In July, IMPA researcher Paulo Orenstein was awarded the Google Research Award , which provides funding for early-career research by scientists worldwide. Orenstein was the only Brazilian selected for this edition of the award. His project, " Forest monitoring with satellite imagery and machine learning: diagnosis, prediction and quantification of uncertainties, " involves the development of an algorithm capable of automating the detection of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest through the use of neural network technology. The work is being carried out in partnership with the NGO Imazon (Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon), which provided satellite images of the region for the development of the tool.

In the same month, IMPA researcher Hubert Lacoin received the ISAAC (International Society for Analysis, its Applications and Computation) award , which recognizes young scientists under 40 years of age every two years for merit in analysis, its applications, and computation. The award ceremony took place during an institute congress in Ribeirão Preto (SP).

Carolina Araujo at ABC

On May 10th, IMPA researcher Carolina Araujo was inducted as a full member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC). The ceremony took place during the Solemn Session of the ABC's Magna Meeting at the Naval School in Rio de Janeiro. Applauded, Carolina received her diploma from the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos. Full members of the ABC are scientists with outstanding professional achievements. In total, 18 IMPA researchers are members of the ABC.

Felipe Gonçalves receives support from Serrapilheira.

IMPA researcher Felipe Gonçalves was one of 32 scientists chosen to have his research project funded by the Serrapilheira Institute in partnership with Faperj. He was selected through the institute's 6th public call for science support and will be able to invest R$ 700,000 in his research over five years.

Felipe Gonçalves' project, 'What is the most efficient arrangement of spheres in multiple dimensions?', seeks to find the best configuration of spheres in a multidimensional space in order to cover the largest proportion of the space.

IMPA researchers Vinicius Ramos, Luna Lomonaco, and Jethro Van Ekeren are also supported by the institute.