S.05-11
.
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
Senate Committee on University Priorities
?
Memorandum
TO: Senate
RE: Interdisciplinary Research in the
Mathematical and Computational
Sciences (IRMACS)
FROM: ?
John Waterh9use
Chair,
SCUR —
^,
Vice-PresidénVAcademic
DATE:
?
December 16, 2004
is
Attached is a proposal from Dr. Peter Borwein of IRMACS for the establishment of
Interdisciplinary Research in the Mathematical and Computational Sciences (IRMACS)
as a Schedule B Centre.
The Senate Committee on University Priorities reviewed the proposal at its December
15, 2004 meeting. The proposal was unanimously approved.
Once approved by Senate, the proposal is to be submitted to the Board of Governors.
MOTION
"That Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the proposal to
establish Interdisciplinary Research in the Mathematical and Computational Sciences
(IRMACS) as a Schedule B Centre."
Attach.
c: B. Pinto
M. Plischke
B. Lewis
P. Borwein
G. Nicholls
0
Li
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT, RESEARCH
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Memorandum
TO: Glynn Nicholls, Secretary
?
FROM: B. Mario Pinto
Senate Committee on University ?
Vice-President, Research
Planning (SCUP)
RE: Interdisciplinary Research in the Mathematical
?
DATE: ?
November 25, 2004
and Computational Sciences (IRMACS)
Attached is a proposal from Dr. Peter Borwein of IRMACS for the establishment of IRMACS as
a Schedule B Centre.
The Governing Committee for Centres and Institutes recommends that the Centre be granted
approval by SCUP. Once approved by SCUP, the proposal is to be forwarded to Senate,
followed by submission to the Board of Governors.
Governing Committee:
• (I
/Dr. John Waterhouse
Vice-President, Academic and Provost
Dr. B. Mario Pinto
Vice-President, Research
Attachment
Cc: ?
Dr. Michael Plischke, Dean of Science
Dr. Brian Lewis, Dean of Applied Science
L-]
IRMACS Centre Document
0. Schedule B Centre
The IRMACS Centre will be a Class B University Centre. As such, the decision-making and
policy-making process for IRMACS will follow the Policies and Procedures (R 40.01) set
forward for University Centres and Institutes (see www.sfu.ca!policies/research!r40-0l .htm).
The IRMACS Centre will have a university-wide mandate within the portfolio of the Vice
President, Research. IRMACS recognises its obligation to conduct activities in accordance with
University policies.
1. Description
/
Vision
The principal vision of the IRMACS Centre is to provide a flexible, collaborative,
computationally sophisticated environment at SFU for more than one hundred scientists whose
primary laboratory tool is the computer. The intention is to provide an environment that removes
traditional boundaries between scientific disciplines, in order to promote novel initiatives. The
IRMACS Centre will capitalise on SFU's strengths in ground-breaking and interdisciplinary
research, together with the expertise of its computationally sophisticated researchers.
The IRMACS Centre will fulfill the critical need to house diverse groups of scientists for
variable periods of time, by creating a reconfigurable open research facility that will be able to
efficiently incorporate the community of scientists, research associates, students, and visitors in
an adaptive manner.
The IRMACS Centre will house research projects for varying periods, providing physical
workspace, state-of-the-art computational and communications resources, and expert technical
support. A proportion of the assignable space will be set aside for short-term and sabbatical
visitors.
It is expected that some or all of the following areas will lead to successful interdisciplinary
projects: collaborative communications, computational algebra, health informatics, statistical
genetics, telecommunications, signal processing, computational genomics, modeling and
prediction, optimisation, proteomics, cryptography and computational number theory.
The IRMACS vision is to help SFU:
• to attract and retain high quality faculty
• to attract and promote high quality research interaction
• to attract and support high quality graduate students
• to attract short-term and sabbatical visitors
to alleviate some space pressures
to create new linkages between researchers in different Departments, Schools and
Institutions
to provide a springboard for future large initiatives and grant applications
is
December 21, 2004
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Centre Document p.1
2.
Activities
• support, promotion and housing of high-quality interdisciplinary research groups in the
mathematical and computational sciences
• promotion of new scientific projects and collaborations
• provision of state-of-the-art communications resources for scientific collaboration
• provision and co-ordination of significant computational and visualisation resources
• housing of visiting Highly Qualified Personnel for weeks or months
• co-ordination and provision of space for lecture series
• provision of facilities for moderate-sized meetings, workshops, research conferences and
related activities
3.
Management
See Management Structure document below.
4.
Funding Sources
Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF)
Simon Fraser University
In-kind contributions from vendors
Granting Agencies - long term
5.
Budget implications
/
Library needs
Ongoing funding development / Minimal
December 21, 2004
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Centre Document p.2
IRMACS Management Structure
The accompanying diagram shows the management structure of IRMACS.
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I
Management Committee
The Management Committee is responsible for overall running, policy setting, and decision-
making on allocation of resources (including space) to projects and to visitors. This committee
comprises 8 members:
Project Leader & Executive Director
Scientific Director
Project Manager
Network Architect
plus 4 elected faculty members, at least one of which is from each of the Faculty of Science, the
Faculty of Applied Sciences and the Faculty of Health Sciences. The electorate is the
Membership (see below).
The initial Management Committee is made up of:
Peter Borwein
Project Leader & Executive Director
Rob Ballantyne
Network Architect
Pam Borghardt
Project Manager
Felix Breden
Faculty of Science
position vacant
Scientific Director
Wade Parkhouse
Faculty of Applied Sciences
Ljiljana Trajkovic
Faculty of Applied Sciences
Les Vertesi
Faculty of Health Sciences.
The Management Committee may obtain advice on the scientific merit of proposals, devising its
own procedures to consult disinterested scientific advisors. It then makes recommendations to
the Board of Trustees.
The Management Committee can set up groups to deal with specific tasks as required, for
example identifying new interdisciplinary opportunities.
Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees has an oversight role, particularly regarding University interests. It does
not make policy but can require the Management Committee to reconsider decisions. The initial
voting members of the Board are:
Dean of Science
Dean of Applied Sciences
Dean of Health Sciences
VP Research
December 21, 2004
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Centre Document p.3
The Project Leader and the Scientific Director, together with other appropriate staff, may attend
meetings of the Board to assist information flow, but will not have a vote.
The Board members themselves will determine any changes to the composition of the Board, in
consultation with the Management Committee.
VP
Research
IRMACS will formally be constituted as a Class B University Centre reporting to the VP
Research.
Membership
The Membership of IRMACS will ratify important decisions such as appointment of a new
Scientific Director, changes to the composition of the Board of Trustees, or significant changes
of direction for IRMACS.
The Membership of IRMACS comprises all faculty members with a direct interest in IRMACS
(as determined by the Management Committee) together with non-faculty from each current
IRMACS project as appropriate.
.
?
IRMACS Management Structure
VP Research
Mario Pinto
Board of
Trustees
Management ?
Committee
Scientific Director
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IRMACS
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Project Leader
Membership
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Peter Borwein
.
December 21, 2004
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Centre Document p.4
