Mission Statement
Since its founding in 1999, the Center for Advanced Mathematical Sciences (CAMS) has become a key player in the nucleation, stimulation, and celebration of research in the mathematical sciences in Lebanon and the MENA region. Part playground, part laboratory and part crossroads, the Center is keen on engaging multiple stakeholders in the development and dissemination of mathematics, the making and telling of its history. In addition to the research activities which it funds and organizes, the Center aims to nurture the rich and productive dialogue between mathematics, the humanities and the arts through innovative interventions that amplify the impact of mathematics across fields, and communities. Naturally, and through opportunities for collaborative, interdisciplinary research and teaching, CAMS advances AUB’s mission by attracting and retaining exceptional scholars as members of its intellectual community.
Objectives
In fulfillment of its mission, CAMS engages with a spectrum of actors within the mathematical community and its broader public, via organically structured thematic explorations. In so doing, CAMS aims to:
- act as a catalyst of mathematical research that reflects longstanding interests within AUB and collaborating Lebanese Universities [e.g., number theory/algebraic geometry, complex and differential geometry, PDEs, optimal transport, stochastic modeling, theoretical computer science, complexity andnetwork science, control theory, information theory, and increasingly statistical learning and artificial intelligence].
- stimulate the formation of research units, through targeted fellowships, and seed funding, leading to clustering around fields sustained by programmatic grants.
- act as a focal point for promoting collaborative research among scientists in the region, partly by hosting visitors, and partly by organizing thematic programs, topical meetings, workshops, and conferences in pertinent fields.
- respond to national/regional priorities by collaborating with national research centers/units around vital data and its mathematical/computational modeling (e.g. stochastic modeling of epidemics, complexity and network science at the service of resilience, modeling of hydrogeological/geophysical measurements, data driven models of ocean/atmosphere circulation).
- structure and support activities that stimulate awareness about mathematics across all levels, leading up to undergraduate and graduate research [e.g., Mathematics Olympiad, summer research programs, PhD-to-PhD conferences, CIMPA Schools, broad public talks, teacher training workshops, etc.].
History
CAMS was founded in 1999 through the efforts of an international group of scientists with the primary goal of becoming the premier center of excellence for research in the mathematical sciences in the Middle East.
By creating opportunities for top-quality research and teaching, and by encouraging academic collaboration and interdisciplinary research at AUB and in the region, CAMS has served as flagship institute within AUB's academic plan to revitalize scholarship and research in the mathematical sciences.
CAMS has a unique role to play as the leading regional institute for research in the mathematical sciences.