Berlin is regarded as a first-class address for application-oriented mathematics worldwide, and the mathematicians in Berlin have been working together across all institutions for many years. This collaboration resulted in 2019 in the founding of the joint excellence cluster MATH+, which involves the three major Berlin universities (FU, HU, TU Berlin) and the two mathematical research institutes in Berlin (WIAS, ZIB). In more than 100 research groups with more than 500 scientists, a research spectrum is covered that ranges from pure mathematical abstraction to the solution of social problems. On November 6, 2020, on the occasion of MATH+ Day, a new chair was elected, Christof Schütte from Freie Universität Berlin. The chair rotates among the three universities.
Whether it is individualized medicine in pain therapy, precise planning of public transport, the longevity of batteries, climate change, the distribution of sheep in ancient times or ancient Egyptian text linguistics; mathematical cooperation is needed in all these research projects. But mathematics also helps - very recently - to model and better understand the spread of political attitudes or the dynamics of the spread of diseases, because: There is mathematics behind everything!
In order to present the results of the completed interdisciplinary and transinstitutional research projects and to discuss them in plenary sessions, the MATH+ Day will be held at the end of the year. The MATH+ Day is therefore not only one of the highlights of the MATH+ Year, but also offers opportunities for scientific exchange. After all, there are numerous opportunities to make connections to one's own expertise through the presentation of research projects or to further develop interdisciplinary ideas, which is the great fascination of this huge research cluster.
On November 6, more than 140 participants met online for the second MATH+ Day. After months of digital events in Corona times, people had inevitably gotten used to the format; only the traditional research poster round at the end presented a small challenge with thoughts on how to create a lively discussion while NOT standing in front of a poster. But the scientists also enjoyed the exchange of ideas, suggestions for interdisciplinary cooperation and comments on their research in separate virtual rooms.
The MATH+ Day began with the meeting of the General Assembly and the annual report of the still acting MATH+ speaker, Martin Skutella from Technische Universität Berlin. He commented the end of his term as chair with a smile in one eye and a tear in the other: "It was an exciting and thrilling time, which showed how well we can work across all disciplines on common goals to solve elementary societal problems" This was followed by the election of a new board and, above all, a new chair, Christof Schütte from Freie Universität Berlin, who accepted the vote. For the next two years, he will take over the chair of the MATH+ Cluster of Excellence, whose task he sees as "discovering and exploiting even more potential for cooperation" Since the speakers rotate among the universities every two years, Humboldt-Universität will then lead the cluster with Michael Hintermüller.
Following the elections, the research groups presented their research results of the last two years in the Application Areas, the Emerging Fields and the Transfer Unit - a think tank with links to industry. Interdisciplinary and transinstitutional cooperation results in an enormous variety of topics. Mathematicians work together with colleagues from the life and material sciences as well as from disciplines dealing with networks, communication, energy, traffic and transportation. But also cooperation with the humanities and social sciences is developing at an increasing rate.
In addition to the elections and research presentations, the reports on the Graduate School "Berlin Mathematical School" (BMS), the Thematic Einstein Semesters (TES) and the sociological research project on MATH+ itself provided a comprehensive overview of the diverse activities at MATH+.
This year's MATH+ Day ended with lively discussions in the virtual poster sessions of the Application Areas, the Emerging Fields and the Transfer Unit, and it is to be hoped that MATH+ Day 2021 will again take place with personal discussions and will be concluded with a social evening...
www.mathplus.de / Programm MATH+ Day 2020
Photo material: Photo collage: Old and new chair - online meeting
For further information please contact:
Nadja Wisniewski
Managing Director MATH+
Tel.: 030 314 786 51
E-Mail: nadja.wisniewski
tu-berlin.de
