Dear colleagues, friends, authors, and readers of the ECMI blog,
As we conclude the year, it’s worth reflecting on the many activities and innovations we’ve experienced. The ECMI Council, Educational Committee, and Research and Innovation Committee held regular hybrid meetings throughout the year.
A workshop of the Special Interest Group on Mathematics for Big Data and AI was organized in collaboration with Siemens at the Garching-Munich campus in October 2024. This event was followed by a two-day workshop organized by ICIAM President Wil Schilders, culminating in the submission of a proposal for a COST project. Additionally, various ECMI centers organized Study Groups and Industrial Days.
In the realm of education, the first inspections of ECMI centers applying for the recognition of their master programs in Data Science as ECMI educational programs were conducted. Our signature event, the Mathematical Modelling Week, was held in Catania in June 2024 and was very successful. The 2024 ECMI students competition also saw a remarkable increase in applications. Moreover, the Erasmus Mundus joint master program MATHS-DISC has been successfully funded. Coordinated by the University of Verona, it involves six active ECMI centers (including the Polytechnic of Kiev) and over 20 leading industries and research partners. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to all colleagues who contributed to this achievement.
Our editorial endeavors included significant progress with the Journal of Mathematics in Industry, where we published over 25 scientific papers this year. Special issues dedicated to outstanding works presented at ECMI 2023 and SCEE 2022 contributed to this accomplishment. ECMI continues to support authors from ECMI nodes by covering article processing charges (APC). Although the 2023 annual report faced delays in print publication, it was distributed via email and is now accessible on the blog.
ECMI remains actively engaged with other organizations such as EMS (through the Committee for Applied and Interdisciplinary Activities), ICIAM, the Asian-Pacific Consortium for Mathematics for Industry, and EU-MATHS-IN, all to benefit the European industrial mathematical community.
In July 2024, during the EMS conference in Seville, the inaugural EMS-ECMI Lanczos Prize for Mathematical Software was awarded to the developers of MUMPS, recognizing their exceptional contributions to mathematical software development. Additionally, ECMI has joined the Initiative for Science in Europe (ISE), enabling collaboration with European societies and research organizations to influence European science policies and advocate for scientific research funding.
Another significant development is ECMI’s partnership in the Africa-Europe Cluster of Research Excellence in Mathematics, under the Eastern Africa Graduate School in Mathematics (EAGSiM) project, coordinated by Uppsala University in Sweden. This initiative aims to establish joint African-European educational and research programs in industrial mathematics. Tim Myers (CRM Barcelona) represents ECMI in this project and has also been appointed to the Committee for the Developing Countries (CDC) of the European Mathematical Society.
Our collaboration with APCMfI included Thomas Goetz’s participation in a Math for Industry conference in Malaysia in September 2024, during which plans were made to organize joint European-Asian modeling weeks in the future.
This year also marked a leadership transition at ECMI, with myself, Alessandra Micheletti, assuming the role of President and Elena Celledoni as Vice President for the next three years. I express my heartfelt gratitude to our past President, Natasa Krejic, for her exceptional work, and welcome her in her new role as Chair of the Research and Innovation Committee.
As always, I encourage you to stay engaged with our blog, support ECMI activities, and reach out with new ideas and initiatives. We are especially eager to welcome new members and ideas, as ECMI continues to celebrate cooperation and diversity across Europe. Together, we will strive to advance activities for students, joint projects with industry, and networking opportunities.
Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a successful and happy 2025!
Alessandra Micheletti, ECMI President