In this month’s podcast, Ilka Agricola, a mathematician at the Phillips-Marburg University in Marburg, Germany, talks about the challenges mathematicians face while producing and using electronic scientific documents for research and teaching, especially in light of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence. She also talks about innovative actions in making mathematical content more accessible for the visually impaired, and shares insights into her journey in academia. Dr. Agricola is hosted by Lynn Brandon, Executive Publisher for Mathematics at Springer.
Photo: "Ilka Agricola (Philipps-Universität Marburg) vor der Universitätsbibliothek" By Thorsten Richter (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-4.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

In this episode, Camillo De Lellis, a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study of Princeton, engages in an interview with Nicola Gigli from the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati in Trieste, Italy. They delve into Nicola Gigli's personal journey in and out of mathematics, discussing how he arrived at the topics of his research and his enthusiasm for them. Throughout the conversation, they also explore the intriguing connection between the concepts of optimal transport and curvature of a space, a discovery that has given rise to a flourishing research field at the intersection of multiple areas of mathematics, making it a fascinating and fast-growing frontier of exploration.

Nicola Gigli obtained his PhD from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, specializing in functional and geometric analysis. In recognition of his outstanding achievements in diverse areas of mathematics, he was honored with the Oberwolfach Prize in 2010. Additionally, in 2019, he received the Ennio De Giorgi prize for his remarkable and original contributions to his field of research.

Camillo De Lellis earned his PhD in mathematics from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy. His research focuses on calculus of variations, geometric measure theory, and fluid dynamics. Throughout his career, he has received numerous accolades, with the most recent being the Maryam Mirzakhani Prize awarded in the same year, recognizing his exceptional contributions to the mathematical sciences.

Originally presented by the UNITEXT Springer Nature Webinars series, this interview has been specifically adapted for the podcast format.

The International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics, or ICIAM, is known as the largest congress in applied mathematics, held only once every four years. The first ICIAM took place in Paris in 1987; and then in Washington, D.C (1991), Hamburg (1995) and Edinburgh (1999). The next venues were Sydney (2003), Zürich (2007), Vancouver (2011), Beijing (2015), and Valencia (2019). ICIAM 2023 Tokyo is the 10th congress. The number of participants for the recent ICIAM congresses exceeded 3,000, and for ICIAM 2023, more than 4,700 participants have registered including online-only participants.

Have you ever been to Japan? In this episode, two Japanese mathematicians, Ken Hayami and Hisashi Okamoto, share some interesting background information that may enrich your experience at ICIAM 2023 Tokyo.

Ken Hayami, born in 1956, obtained his master’s degree in 1981 from the University of Tokyo and began his career as a researcher at the NEC Corporation. He obtained PhD degrees from the Wessex Institute of Technology (1991) and the University of Tokyo (1993), respectively. In 1993, he joined the faculty of the University of Tokyo and later he moved to NII/Sokendai, where he is now professor emeritus. Ken Hayami has been the president of the Japan SIAM since June 2023.

Hisashi Okamoto, born in 1956, obtained his PhD from the University of Tokyo in 1985, supervised by Hiroshi Fujita. He previously held positions at the University of Tokyo and the Research Institute of Mathematics (Kyoto University), and is now at Gakushuin University in Tokyo. He was an invited speaker at the 1998 International Congress of Mathematicians in Berlin. Hisashi Okamoto has been the editor-in-chief of the Japan Journal of Industrial and Applied Mathematics since 2016.