TIFR, IIT-B sign MOU to set up National Centre for Mathematics

Updated on: Saturday, September 18, 2010

In a bid to promote and encourage pure and applied mathematics at various levels, a National Centre for Mathematics (NCM) will be set up at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) jointly with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).

The NCM will be the first of its kind in the country. IIT-B and TIFR signed a Memorandum of understanding today for an initial period of 10 years by the Director of IIT Prof Devan Khakhar and director of TIFR Dr Mustansir Barma in the
presence of faculty members of both the institutes.

On choosing Mumbai as the location for the NCM, which is expected to come up soon, Khakhar said the city has the largest concentration of mathematicians.

There are 100 active mathematicians and 70 research scholars spread across the city in TIFR, IIT-B and Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education.

NCM will be modelled largely on the famous Oberwolffach Mathematics Research Institute (MFO), Germany that started in 1944 and played an important role in re-establishing Germany as a leading nation in Mathematics, post second world war.

Like MFO which runs about 50-week-long international workshops and conferences every year, NCM also aims to have instructional schools, workshops and conferences throughout the year for students, young teachers and researchers, Prof J K Verma of IIT-B said presenting the objectives of the NCM.

Verma said they have already begun the activity for the centre and 15 such programmes are going on across the country. "Once NCM infrastructure comes up, it would be a great space for mathematicians and aspirants to interact and grow."

Speaking on the occasion, Khakhar said there is a huge shortage of mathematicians in the country, especially in the educational institutions.

"Research and advanced education in maths are vital for the development of science and industry in India. NCM will be a vibrant hub for discussion of new ideas to catalyse research and a vehicle to promote collaborative research," he said.

He said the building would cost around Rs 15 crore and will be contributed by IIT while the funds for running various programmes will be raised from other sources.

Barma said TIFR is looking forward to a long and fruitful collaboration with IIT Bombay in setting up and running the joint Centre.

Prof Nitin Nitsure of TIFR said the idea of setting up of National centres for mathematics in the country was mooted a meeting that was held at Bangalore in 2004 and "we are expecting few more such centres in the country at Hyderabad,
Pune, Bangalore.

Nitsure said, recently Kerala school of Mathematics was set up by the Kerala government at Calicut in collaboration with the Department of Atomic Energy, he said.

TIFR, IIT-B sign MOU to set up National Centre for Mathematics

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