International Honor Brought to UCF Mathematics Department
Dr. Jiongmin Yong
The UCF department of mathematics has received one of the highest honors in the math world. Equivalent to winning an Oscar in the film industry, Dr. Jiongmin Yong spoke at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in August.
This congress is viewed as one of the highest honors for mathematicians, reflecting the world-wide recognition on the quality and influence of the work completed by the invited speakers.
Every four years the congress is hosted in a different location. This year, the 27th ICM was held in Seoul, South Korea. The last four congresses were held in Berlin (1998), Beijing (2002), Madrid (2006), and Hyderabad, India (2010)
About 5,000 people attended the congress as it was held from Aug. 13-21. During the week, 21 plenary talks were scheduled, each one hour in duration. A plenary talk is one where every person attending the congress was in attendance. Then, there were approximately 200 invited 45—minute talks, one of which Yong participated in. The invited talks covered all subjects within mathematics.
Of the speakers invited, about 70 of them were from the United States and Yong was the only speaker from Florida. Over 120 countries across the world were represented at the conference and some attended through one of the 51 satellite conferences.
At this ICM, four people obtained the most prestigious Fields Medals, which were awarded only to mathematicians under 40 years old. For the first time, a Fields Medal was awarded to a female mathematician. Along with the Fields Medal, the extremely prestigious Rolf Nevalinna Prize was awarded along with the Carl Friedriich Gauss Prize and the Chern Medal.
The Organization Committee placed emphasis on drawing mathematicians from developing countries to the 2014 ICM to make it a world-wide gathering. To do this, a number of fellowships were granted to such mathematicians so that they could travel to the congress.
We would like to congratulate Dr. Yong on his invitation and attendance to this prestigious congress.
For more information on the International Congress of Mathematicians click here.