The Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences
(AS-SMS) is an autonomous institute affiliated
with the Government College University Lahore,
Pakistan. The school is named after the theoretical
physicist and Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam.
== History ==
Abdus Salam played an influential role in
formulating policies for the development of
science in Pakistan in the late 1960s and
early 1970s. He helped establish a number
of research institutes in Pakistan including
the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science
and Technology (PINSTECH) and the Atomic Energy
Commission.
In 2003, the Government of Punjab established
a center of excellence in mathematical sciences,
the School of Mathematical Sciences, affiliated
with Government College University, Lahore.
The idea behind the school is to create a
world-class doctoral research institute in
mathematics, but rooted in a developing country
like Pakistan. The school was later named
after Abdus Salam who was professor of mathematics
at the Government College (Lahore) from 1951
to 1954.
Eminent physician Ghulam Murtaza was appointed
as the acting director general. Then, the
board of governors appointed Alla Ditta Raza
Choudary, an emeritus professor from Central
Washington University, as the founding Director
General of ASSMS. ADR Choudary held the position
from August 2003 to August 2014. The second
director general of the school was Shahid
Saeed Siddiqi, who was a professor of mathematics
at the Punjab University, held the position
from March 2015 to March 2017. Since March
2017 the director general of the school is
again Ghulam Murtaza who also holds the Abdus
Salam Chair in Physics at the Government College
University (Lahore).
== Program overview ==
ASSMS requires an intensive two-year course
for all the students admitted. The first year
is dedicated to basic university mathematics
course, and in the second year students take
more advanced and optional courses in diverse
areas of mathematics. At the end of their
second year, students choose one of the research
groups at AS-SMS, which are geometry, algebra,
analysis, discrete mathematics, applied mathematics,
and stochastic processes. The graduation rate
at the end of fifth year is high.The institution
provides free-of-cost education to its students.
It also provides financial assistance to its
students.
== Achievements ==
Since its inception until early 2014, AS-SMS
has produced more than 100 Ph.D. This is more
than twice the total number of Ph.Ds in mathematics
produced by all other universities in Pakistan
in the same period. It has produced more than
800 publications in ISI-indexed journals.AS-SMS
has organized several international level
workshops and conferences. Some of workshops
at ASSMS has been chosen to have funding from
the ICTP, UNESCO, and CIMPA (International
Centre for Pure and Applied Mathematics).
The signature conferences of ASSMS are its
“World/International Conferences of Mathematics
in the 21st Century” series, which has been
held in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and
2013. The last conference has its proceedings
published by the prestigious Springer Publishing
by the title "Mathematics in the 21st Century";
with Pierre Cartier, A. D. R. Choudary (the
then Director General of AS-SMS), and Michel
Waldschmidt as the editors.AS-SMS was chosen
as Post-Doctoral research destination from
Ph.D holders from prestigious institutions
around the world. Young researchers from Russia,
Italy, Romania, Indonesia, and other countries
have become Post Doctoral Fellows in ASSMS.
This is something that not used to happen
in any mathematics institution in Pakistan
before the existence of ASSMS.On the recommendation
of the Committee for Developing Countries
(CDC) of the European Mathematical Society,
AS-SMS was labeled “Emerging Regional Centre
of Excellence of the European Mathematical
Society” (ERCE) for the period of 2011-2015.
Furthermore, AS-SMS and some other ERCE have
form Network of International Mathematics
Centres in 2013, where ASSMS was supposed
to be its initial secretariat.At the high
school level, the school initiated the training
camps for preparation and selection of the
national team of Pakistan to compete at the
International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).
The school continued to organize these training
camps until 2014. The national team of Pakistan
competed at IMO for the very first time in
2005, won its first medal in 2007 and its
first silver medal in 2013
