The Assessment Report of
the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto University

August, 2007

RIMS
Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences
Kyoto University

Preface
Forty four years has passed since Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (RIMS) was founded in 1963. Since then,
RIMS has tried to help research activities in mathematical sciences in Japan through RIMS conferences, workshops, etc. RIMS
has strengthened its international activities by RIMS international Project starting in 1991.
After privatization of national universities in 2004, the statusof cooperative institutes is changing.
We have asked the assessment committee to assess RIMS as
an international mathematical research center at the period ofchange in order to advance its international activities.
We asked Prof. Tadao Oda as the chair of the Assessment
Committee, Prof. J.-P. Bourguignon and Prof. A. D. D. Craik
as members from overseas, and Prof. Hitoshi Ishii and Prof. Sadayoshi Kojima. Assessment committee has presented the report in English reflecting its international nature. I would liketo thank all the members of the committee for their laborious
efforts. I especially thank Chair Oda for his efforts as a chair
and also for his efforts in its translation into Japanese.
In the report, we find numerous constructive comments, especially on the building and recruiting new faculty members at
the generation change, which will be helpful for our future trials
to advance international activities of RIMS.

Masaki Kashiwara
Director,
Research Institute forMathematical Sciences,
Kyoto University

The Assessment Reportof theResearch Institute for Mathematical Sciences,
Kyoto University

May 16–17, 2007

Contents
Introduction

1

Summary of the findings and recommendations

2

1 Assessment of the three missions of RIMS
1.1 The mission of carrying out research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2 The mission of fostering young talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3 The mission as a cooperative research institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3
4
5
6

2 Challenges and suggestions
2.1 Acute shortage of space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 A new generation of RIMS faculty members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3 Actions to foster young talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4 Preparing a new scheme for cooperative research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7
8
8
9
10

The members of the Assessment Committee

11

Appendix A: A summary of the assessment process

11

Appendix B: The Director’s presentation

12

Introduction
Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto University (RIMS, for short, as it is known
throughout the world) was established in April 1963 as a cooperative research institute attached
to Kyoto University. Its mission is1

“to carry out comprehensive research in mathematical sciences as well as to provide
services for cooperative use by researchers belonging to universities and other research
institutions throughout the country.”
Under the new national university system introduced in April 2004, however, Kyoto University is
no longer a government-owned institution and has more independence. Consequently, the status
of RIMS as a “cooperative research institute attached to a university” depends on the outcomeof the ongoing policy reexamination by the Government as well as on the policy decisions of
Kyoto University.
This uncertainty notwithstanding, RIMS continues to play increasingly important roles (1)in conducting research activities of its own, (2) in fostering young talent, and (3) as a centerfor cooperative research. Each of these three missions has taken on ever-growing international
character. As a result, RIMS has for quite some time been recognized as one of the few importantinternational research centers of excellence in the mathematical sciences.
Accordingly, this Assessment Committee was asked by RIMS toassess RIMS as an international mathematical research center.
After examining the “Report on Self-evaluation (August 2006)” and other relevant materials
provided beforehand, the members of the committee visited RIMS on May 16–17, 2007 andcarried out the activities described in Appendix A.
All discussions, presentations and interviews were conducted in English, and much of the
supporting documentation was provided in English translation. The two non-Japanese membersof the Assessment Committee are appreciative of the huge eﬀorts made for their beneﬁt andthank all concerned.

Summary of the findings and recommendations
Findings(1) The research activities of RIMS are outstanding, and the Institute has long been recognized
as one of a small number of leading international research centers in mathematical sciences.
Many current and former faculty members are internationally-known leaders in research,
bestowed with honors and prizes, sought after to speak at international conferences, andable to attract eminent international visitors to RIMS.
(2) RIMS plays an important and increasingly international role in fostering young talent,through graduate-level education, support of postdoctoral fellows, and other ”outreach”
activities.
(3) As a cooperative research institute, RIMS welcomes many reseach visitors in mathematicalsciences from Japan and overseas for conferences, symposia and workshops. The RIMS
Project Research since 1991 is the core of its activities as an international cooperative research center, and many external proposals for workshops and symposia are also accepted.
(4) The present building of RIMS is much too small and is not up to the standard of an
institute of this scientiﬁc quality. The facilities at RIMS are lagging behind those of newer
research institutes elsewhere.
2

Recommendations(1) New facilities for mathematical research being developed worldwide pose fresh challenges
and opportunities for the Japanese mathematical community. To consolidate its role asa leading international institute, RIMS is well placed to capitalize on the goodwill andrepute that has been earned over the years.
(2) For RIMS to compete successfully with comparable institutes abroad, the acute shortage ofspace for RIMS needs to be dealt with urgently. Essential needs are: (i) better conference
facilities for the many workshops and symposia; (ii) improved oﬃce accommodations, withall staﬀ, visitors, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students housed on a single site tofacilitate easy interaction; (iii) increased library space. One possibility worth investigatingis the separation of conference facilities and oﬃce space.
(3) With several forthcoming retirements of senior faculty members, the next few years willbe critical in determining the future composition of RIMS. In making new appointments,
RIMS has an opportunity to strengthen its role as an international research center. Whilecontinuing to give priority to excellence in making faculty appointments in key areas ofpure and applied Mathematics, RIMS may wish to seek new professors worldwide andalso to consider outstanding mathematicians with backgrounds in neighboring scientiﬁc
disciplines.
(4) To cope with the serious decrease of young talent entering science in developed countries,
RIMS should continue its “outreach” activities; but its most valuable role may be in
graduate-level education and acceptance of postdoctoral fellows from Japan and overseas.
(5) To eﬀectively support RIMS as an international research center, and to secure necessary
funds for development, a new and transparent design for the future might be sought,
through cooperation with the Government, Kyoto University, and the mathematical community of Japan. Important matters for consideration include (i) the space problem mentioned above, (ii) allocating a part of the cooperative research budget for international
academic exchange in connection with the RIMS Project Research, (iii) launching theplanned ”retreat style” symposia for younger researchers; (iv) more selectivity in adopting
proposals for conferences and workshops.

1

Assessment of the three missions of RIMS

Located in the attractive city of Kyoto, RIMS is one of few international research centers capableof attracting visitors from all over the world. Additional advantages are the proximity of Kyoto
University’s Department of Mathematics, with its own group of excellent pure mathematicians;
and, for applied Mathematics, the presence of many ﬁne researchers in other departments,
research institutes and graduate schools of Kyoto University, including Physics, Engineering
and Informatics.
RIMS has three missions:(1) carrying out comprehensive research in mathematical sciences,3

(2) fostering young talent through the graduate-level education as the “Division of Mathematical Sciences” of the Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University as well as by accepting
postdoctoral fellows,(3) providing services for cooperative use by researchers belonging to universities and otherresearch institutions througout the country.
RIMS currently has a maximum of 42 faculty members (13 professors, 14 associate professors,and 15 assistant professors at maximum). In addition, RIMS has three international visiting
professorship positions, which could be split up into at most twelve positions each year to inviteinternational visiting professors for periods of over three months.
The policy decisions of RIMS are made by the Executive Board, the Advisory Board, andthe Technical Board depending on their nature. The Executive Board comprises the Director
and the professors of RIMS as well as several professors of Kyoto University (currently, oneeach from the Department of Mathematics, the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics andthe Graduate Schools of Engineering and Informatics). The Director is elected every two years
by the Executive Board from among the professors of Kyoto University. The other two Boards
include members from outside Kyoto University, and deal with the activities of RIMS as acooperative research institute.

1.1

The mission of carrying out research

Research in mathematical sciences in Japan has been international ever since the nineteenth
century. The role of RIMS in this respect is outstanding. There are quite a number of current
and former faculty members of RIMS who are leading ﬁgures in the international arena ofmathematical research.
The list of publications, honors, prizes, and invited lectures at the International Congressesof Mathematicians indicates that impressive research is carried out by the members of RIMS.
Notable among them is the awarding to members, including emeritus members, of two Fields
medals, the ﬁrst ICM Gauss medal and two Wolf prizes.
Many RIMS members have been sought after as invited speakers at important international
conferences. As the list of international visitors testiﬁes, many international visitors come to
RIMS for fruitful mathematical discussions with RIMS members. For instance, international visiting professorship positions have been used almost fully. As a result, RIMS has been recognizedfor quite some time as one of a small number of international research centers in mathematicalsciences.
The current faculty members of RIMS could be roughly classiﬁed into two groups: namely“pure Mathematics” (9 professors, 8 associate professors, 1 lecturer, 8 assistant professors) and“applied Mathematics” (4 professors, 4 associate professors, 5 assistant professors).
Recent appointments and promotions have chosen highly-talented individuals whose futurecontributions are likely to be valuable, and some of these have been in “applied” areas.
The faculty members of RIMS are very productive in their research activities, many of which
are of world-class quality and have been recognized by honors and prizes, in the following ﬁelds:
algebraic analysis, algebraic geometry, arithmetic geometry, number theory, complex analytic
geometry, representation theory, topology, diﬀerential equations, asymptotic analysis, stochastic
4

analysis, dynamical systems, combinatorial optimization, theoretical computer science, ﬂuid
mechanics, numerical analysis, quantum ﬁeld theory and mathematical physics.
In April 2006, RIMS established the Center for Research at the Frontiers of Mathematical
Sciences, in order to respond promptly and ﬂexibly to recent trends in mathematical sciences,although it has no budgetary basis at the moment. It consists of RIMS professors and at most
two visiting professors.
RIMS has recently introduced non-tenured positions for assistant professors. These positions
are for ﬁve years, with the possibility, subject to approval, of extension for a further ﬁve years.
This new system of non-tenured positions was chosen to ensure the mobility of young faculty
members of RIMS.
RIMS and the Department of Mathematics of Kyoto University hold weekly joint colloquia.
In spite of their geographical and thematic proximity, there is less joint work between RIMS
and the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics than might be expected.

1.2

The mission of fostering young talent

Since 1975, RIMS oﬀers the graduate-level education program as “Division of Mathematical
Sciences” of the Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University. This is conducted in close
cooperation with the program of the “Division of Mathematics” of the Graduate School of
Science oﬀered by the Department of Mathematics, Kyoto University. These graduate programs
lead to the MS and DSc degrees. This graduate-level education is carried out through lecturesand seminars in small groups conducted by leading ﬁgures. There is close contact between
students and advisors. The graduate students interviewed spoke warmly of the stimulating
research environment, and conﬁrmed that they are able to live close to the campus.
In the academic year 2006, the numbers of graduate students at RIMS were: 9 (M1), 7 (M2),
3 (M others), 6 (D1), 2 (D2), 5 (D3), 5 (D others). By September 2006, RIMS has conferred
115 DSc’s altogether. RIMS could accept up to 20 Master and 10 Doctoral students each year,
but these quotas are not fully attained. As a result, the number of DSc’s conferred in the last
ﬁve years have been fewer than expected. This is probably due to the wish of RIMS to maintainhigh standards by admitting only very well-qualiﬁed students.
Involvement of RIMS faculty members in teaching Master courses both for graduate students
at RIMS and at the Department of Mathematics, Kyoto University, is commendable.
Some limited involvement in an “outreach program” to senior undergraduate courses atthe Department of Mathematics, Kyoto University, is doubtless important for recruitment ofgraduate students at RIMS, and might be beneﬁcial in stimulating students to go on to moreadvanced studies. Perhaps junior researchers at RIMS (assistant professors and postdoctoral
fellows) would most beneﬁt from doing some such teaching.
The lecture series “Modern Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences — Basic Concepts
and their applications to other disciplines” by RIMS faculty members for freshmen of Kyoto
University must be stimulating for freshmen and an interesting challenge for RIMS faculty
members.
The RIMS public introductory lecture series every summer since 1976 is a worthwhile “outreach activity” for popularizing mathematical sciences. It is commendable that ﬁrst-rate mathematicians at RIMS are engaged in such activities.
5

At present there are about ten funded posts of postdoctoral fellows available to young researchers. Some of these posts are funded by the 21st Century COE Program (see below).
RIMS also accepts postdoctoral fellows funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. RIMS is doing an excellent job in attracting able postdoctoral fellows both from Japan andfrom overseas, and in providing them with a ﬁrst-class research environment. One postdoctoral
fellow from overseas spoke of the intensive instruction in Japanese that he had undertaken, alongwith his mathematical studies. As a result, he has obtained the invaluable ability to operateeﬀectively in Japan for the rest of his life.
Since 2003, the 21st Century COE Program “Formation of an International Center of Excellence at the Frontiers of Mathematics and Fostering of Researchers in Future Generations”(Program Leader: Masaki Kashiwara) has been run jointly by RIMS and the Department ofMathematics, Kyoto University. This has greatly enhanced the ability of both RIMS and Department of Mathematics to foster future researchers in mathematical sciences. It has createdmore opportunities for students and young researchers involved in this program to have higher
educational, research, and professional experiences including international research activities.
As a result, RIMS has more postdoctoral positions than before. Also, RIMS and the Department of Mathematics, Kyoto University, together with Seoul National University, hold a joint
symposium every year for graduate students and young researchers. Thereby, students fromJapan and South Korea enjoy an environment that encourages international collaboration andjoint research.
RIMS has thus been playing increasingly important international roles in fostering young
talent.

1.3

The mission as a cooperative research institute

RIMS has each year welcomed around 4,000 researchers in the mathematical sciences in Japanand more than 200 from abroad, who either come as long-term research visitors or participate
in the many conferences, symposia and workshops held at RIMS each year, many of them withinternational character.
To meet the demand from the mathematical community, RIMS has been expanding its
activities. This has mainly been accomplished through its international Project Research (since1991), and by the 21st Century COE Program during the last ﬁve years. Those initiatives
provide links among the three a priori rather loosely connected missions of RIMS.
Each year since 1991, RIMS has supported a special topic for Project Research. This is thecore of its activities as an international cooperative research center and has typically involved
international conferences and visitor programs organized by a group of mathematicians including
RIMS staﬀ. But most of the workshops and symposia (numbering 70 or more) hosted each year
at RIMS are organized by scholars based elsewhere in Japan. Up till now, most of the proposals
received are accepted. Though each meeting receives some modest ﬁnancial support, participants
normally receive funding from their own grants for travel and accommodation. These meetings
provide an important focus for mathematical research in Japan, and many have an international
dimension.
RIMS has its own library located on the third ﬂoor of its main building. The library possesses nearly 80,000 books and 1,355 journals to meet the needs of mathematicians, theoretical
6

physicists, computer scientists, and others. The library also functions as an information centerof the literature in mathematical sciences.
RIMS issues three kinds of publications. One is the periodical journal “Publications of
the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences” founded in 1964. Four issues of the journal
constituting one volume are published each year. It has a worldwide circulation of about 800.
Another is a preprint system started in 1964 to report promptly on the studies by RIMS
members as well as visitors. Nearly 1,600 preprints have been issued through this system.
The third is a series called “Kôkyûroku”, most of which are proceedings of conferences,
symposia and workshops supported by RIMS. Some recent issues are available on the Web at
http://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/.
This series has recently expanded into another series called “Kôkyûroku Bessatsu” containingrefereed articles only, which can be purchased at bookstores.
The “Kôkyûroku” series collects a huge amount of publications (more than 25,000 articles)
and it is a valuable part of the heritages of the Japanese mathematical sciences communities.
The free on-line access to “Kôkyûroku” and other publications will be an important service tothe international mathematical sciences communities.
Jointly with the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, RIMS maintains a building foraccommodating visitors. Also, Kyoto University has apartments for housing guests in its“Shugakuin International House”: these, too, are available for visitors to RIMS, but without
special priority. For short stays, RIMS has special arrangements with a few hotels in Kyoto.
Although it is not so easy for visitors to settle down in Kyoto because of its high cost-of-living,
long term international visitors and international postdoctoral fellows seem to be having nodiﬃculty thanks to the eﬃcient help by RIMS supporting staﬀ, as we found out during theinterviews.
As a member of IMSI (International Mathematical Sciences Institutes) and PRIMA (Paciﬁc
Rim Mathematical Association), RIMS cooperates with other international mathematical sciences institutes. These bodies foster communication among participating members to share bestpractices, and to encourage cooperation, coordination, and resource-sharing.

2

Challenges and suggestions

Although the main role of this committee is to assess the activities of RIMS, we feel that it may
be helpful to look to the future also, but without wishing to infringe on the autonomy of thegoverning bodies of RIMS, who are responsible for establishing future policy.
New facilities for mathematical research are developing worldwide, and these will pose freshchallenges and opportunities for the Japanese mathematical community. Accordingly, the RIMS
Executive and Advisory Boards may wish to consider how best to capitalize on the goodwill
and repute that has been earned over the years, in order to consolidate the several roles RIMS
is playing as a leading international institute. One aspect to be faced is new competition causedby the establishment of several new institutes, particularly in Asia, with aims similar to that of
RIMS.
RIMS may wish to consider whether to have some joint ventures with some of these new
institutes as it already does with the Korean Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) in Seoul.
7

2.1

Acute shortage of space

The building that was initially designed for RIMS has now become much too small and is not
up to the standards of an institution of this scientiﬁc quality. The facilities at RIMS are lagging
behind those of newer research institutes elsewhere.
The space for oﬃces and the facilities for holding lectures, seminars, workshops and conferences at RIMS are under severe strain, and need a thorough renovation with more spacecongenial for informal discussions, as several of the institutes working on a format similar to
RIMS are now oﬀering.
At present, international visitors must share oﬃces (sometimes as many as four or ﬁve inthe same room). Some potential international visitors may be deterred from coming at all
because of the lack of individual oﬃces (in addition to the real diﬃculties of ﬁnding suitableaccommodation and schooling for accompanying children). The growing competition amonginternational research institutes, such as the new ones in China, is making RIMS less attractive
than before. Essential needs for RIMS to win such international competition are: space forinteraction among participants to conferences, oﬃce space for international visitors, adequate
accommodation for visitors.
The present building of RIMS is also too small to accommodate all the staﬀ, postdoctoral
fellows and graduate students and is in serious need of upgrading. Some fellows and students
are presently accommodated in oﬃces in other buildings, some even on another campus. The
temporary measure of housing staﬀ or students in oﬃces in other buildings is not a satisfactorylong-term solution as this detracts from the easy interaction of individuals that is so important
in Mathematics.
More space is needed for the Library as well due to the growing number of books and journals.
Dealing with this space problem has now become urgent, the more so because extending abuilding, or ﬁnding a new location, will inevitably be a lengthy process since the campus ofKyoto University is already very full. We hope that this matter will be a top priority for the
RIMS directorship, and the President of Kyoto University, to ensure that RIMS can compete
successfully with comparable institutes abroad and so maintain its worldwide reputation.
It must be said that the very many conferences that RIMS holds throughout the year areoccupying a lot of space, yet with facilities that are not totally adequate. In particular, spacefor informal gatherings during the breaks of the conferences and workshops is insuﬃcient, being
conﬁned only to small conference rooms and the small common room at the entrance. Furthermore, these spaces are not well separated from the oﬃce area. As the only such center for themathematical sciences in Japan, RIMS needs and deserves better.
Some consideration might be given to the possibility of holding the conferences and workshops
in a new facility especially devoted to such activities. Transfer of this activity would permit
renovation of existing building to provide up-to-date facilities for the research and training
missions of RIMS. Of course, the cost implications would be substantial.

2.2

A new generation of RIMS faculty members

With the forthcoming retirement of several prominent senior faculty members, the next few
years will be critical ones in determining the future composition of RIMS.

8

Currently, research interests are spread over a number of distinct ﬁelds, with several small
closely-interacting groups; but there seem to be rather few connections between these groups.
As a result, it cannot be said that RIMS supports large groups in particular areas (and suchconcentration is now the norm in many major centers). Though the RIMS ‘small-group’ model
works well in pure Mathematics, it is perhaps less well-suited to modern applied Mathematics,
where larger groups tend to predominate.
Many important areas of applied Mathematics currently beneﬁt from close collaborations
between mathematicians, physicists, engineers and biologists. (Indeed, the labels ‘mathematician’, ‘physicist’ etc. are not usually interpreted so rigidly elsewhere as they are in Japan.) It
may be that the structures and historical development of Mathematics, Physics, etc. in Japanare less encouraging for such interdisciplinary collaboration than in some other countries. But
such interdisciplinary research is of growing importance and deserves encouragement.
In making the forthcoming new appointments, RIMS has an opportunity to strengthen its
role as an international research center. While continuing to give priority to excellence in making
faculty appointments in key areas of pure and applied Mathematics, RIMS may wish to seek new
professors worldwide and also to consider outstanding mathematicians whose backgrounds may
be in disciplines other than Mathematics (e.g., Physics, Biology, Economics, Engineering, etc.).
Overseas advertisement and informal searches for candidates in the hiring process of professors
and associate professors may reveal outstanding candidates who would otherwise be overlooked.

2.3

Actions to foster young talent

The decreasing number of young talent entering science in general is a serious problem in developed countries. In this respect, “outreach” activities by ﬁrst-rate mathematicians at RIMS
could be instrumental in attracting young talent to mathematical sciences. We hope that the
Executive Board will continue the present “outreach” activities by mathematicians of RIMS.
These activities can serve not only to attract youth to mathematical sciences but also to raise
public awareness of Mathematics.
The main contribution RIMS could make, however, would be to nurture young talent already attracted to mathematical sciences so that they go on to become graduate students or
postdoctoral fellows.
Students in the Master and Doctoral courses at RIMS have rather close ties with their advisors through regular seminar meetings, as is typical of the graduate-level education in Mathematics or mathematical sciences in Japan. This relation between students and advisors is
generally very beneﬁcial to students to focus and deepen their research activities, but it may
not encourage them to take a broader view of the mathematical sciences.
More teaching experience for young researchers at RIMS would broaden their view of mathematical sciences, and develop communication skills that would be helpful in their future careers.
To increase the number of graduate students, consideration might be given to relaxing theJapanese language requirements of international graduate students, if they are of suitable mathematical caliber.
It is important that RIMS continues to attract postdoctoral fellows from overseas. At their
young age, such international scholars are willing and (usually) able to learn Japanese while also
undertaking research. There is later enormous beneﬁt to be gained in having scholars familiar
9with Japan who will in later life maintain their contacts and encourage others to study here.

2.4

Preparing a new scheme for cooperative research

Maintaining the function of RIMS as a cooperative research center continues to be crucial for themathematical community in Japan and worldwide. In this role, RIMS is a precious national andinternational asset. However, the present demands on the building of RIMS are now surpassing
its current capacity. It seems to this committee that, to maintain the quality of research andeducation at RIMS, and to continue providing services to the wider mathematical community,
it will be necessary to develop a new scheme for the future. Hopefully, this will involve not only
RIMS itself, but the Government, Kyoto University and the mathematical community in Japan.
The Project Research is one of the core international research activities which attracts researchers from all over the world. Now that the ﬁnancial rules became more ﬂexible under the
new national university system, it would be beneﬁcial for further developments of the Project Research to allocate a part of the cooperative research budget for international academic exchange
in connection with the Project Research.
In addition to the successful Project Research, symposia and workshops, planned new “retreat style” symposia for younger researchers (in the style of the successful but now discontinued Taniguchi Symposia), possibly accompanied by conferences open to the wider mathematicalcommunity, could be a very eﬀective way for RIMS to extend its international role.
The many workshops and symposia held at RIMS oﬀer enormous beneﬁt to the wider mathematical community. Both domestic and international meetings provide valuable opportunities
for mathematicians to meet and exchange views and information. They reﬂect the fact thatRIMS is a valued center for cooperative research among mathematicians and mathematicalscientists in Japan. Indeed, this is a primary role of RIMS as a cooperative research institute.
The direct cost to RIMS of these meetings is not large, and most are organized by program
leaders from elsewhere. But the present lack of space is endangering this activity. It will soon benecessary to be more selective in adopting proposals. As a short-term measure, amalgamationof proposals on similar topics might be suggested to the proposers.
Some of the recent workshops and symposia are clearly interdisciplinary. Because of theincreasing importance of the interaction of Mathematics with other sciences, it is hoped thatRIMS continues to encourage interdisciplinary researches.
The published “Kôkyûroku” volumes provide a record of symposia and workshops. Thirty
free copies of each volume are made available to the organizers with the option of purchasing
additional copies directly from the printer. Also, the new “Kôkyûroku Bessatsu” series oﬀers
selected proceedings containing refereed articles only. Thirty free copies of each volume are madeavailable to the organizers with the option of purchasing additional copies at a discount fromthe distributer. Non-participants can purchase copies at low cost. For the latter, a process foruniversity library subscriptions and associated marketing should be pursued by the publishers.
The on-line availability of the recent issues of these publications is a useful service. However,
the hidden costs of preparing these volumes, in terms of adminstrative staﬀ time, must be
considerable, and dependent on continuing provision of suﬃcient administrative staﬀ posts.

10

The members of the Assessment Committee• Jean-Pierre Bourguignon
Directeur de recherche, Centre National de la Recherche Scientiﬁque;
Director, Insitut des Hautes Études Scientiﬁques, France• Alexander D.D. Craik
Professor Emeritus, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews,
United Kingdom• Hitoshi Ishii
Professor, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Education and Integrated Arts andSciences, Waseda University• Sadayoshi Kojima
Professor, Department of Mathematical and Computing Sciences, Graduate School of Information Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology• Tadao Oda (Chair)
Professor Emeritus, Mathematical Institute, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University

Appendix A: A summary of the assessment process
In the morning of May 16, Professor Masaki Kashiwara (Director of RIMS) gave a presentation on the current state of RIMS entitled “For the assessment of RIMS as an International
Mathematical Research Center” (cf. Appendix B). Professors Yoichiro Takahashi (Immediate
Past Director of RIMS), Kyoji Saito (Past Director of RIMS), Satoru Fujishige (Vice Directorof RIMS), Hisashi Okamoto (Immediate Past Vice Director of RIMS), Takahiro Kawai (Chairof the RIMS Self-evaluation Committee), Shigeru Mukai and Michio Yamada were present. In
the afternoon, the committee interviewed, individually, International Visiting Professor Ivan V.
Cherednik, Professor Akio Tamagawa, Professor Masahito Hasegawa, Associate Professor
Yoshitsugu Takei, Associate Professor Satoru Iwata, Associate Professor Tomotada Ohtsuki
and Dr. Davide Guzzetti (21st Century COE Research Fellow).
In the morning of May 17, the committee met Professors Masaki Kashiwara (Director),
Satoru Fujishige (Vice Director), Hisashi Okamoto (Immediate Past Vice Director), Takahiro
Kawai (Chair, Self-evaluation Committee) and Shigeru Mukai for questions and comments.
In the afternoon, the committee ﬁrst carried out a collective interview in English with three
graduate students: Shunsuke Tsuchioka (D1, representation theory), Kazuyuki Asada (D2,computer science) and Takuzo Okada (D2, algebraic geometry). Then the committee had thechance of brieﬂy attending the ongoing international conference “Link homology and categoriﬁcation” (organizer: Professor Hiraku Nakajima, Kyoto University) held in connection with the
RIMS Project Research “Mirror symmetry and topological ﬁeld theory” as well as the RIMS
symposium “Study on geometric univalent function theory” (organizer: Shigeyoshi Owa, Kinki
University). The committee then visited the oﬃces at the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical
Physics for informal interview in English with postdoctoral fellows present. The committee’svisit to RIMS ended with a dinner where the committee could have fruitful informal discussions.

11Appendix B: The Director’s presentation

For the Assessment of RIMS
as an
International Mathematical
Research CenterMay 16,17

2007
1

History
1963 April

Founded as a co-operative research center in Japan
Aim: Promoting research in mathematical sciences

1975〜

RIMS’s own graduate course in the mathematicalsciences at the Division of Mathematical Sciences

1991“International Research Project” started

2003-2007

21st Century Center of Excellence Program“Formation of an Int. COE in the Frontiers of Math.
and Fostering of Researchers in Future
Generations” Kyoto University, Masaki KASHIWARA(Program Leader)(2004

Reformation of national universities in Japan)

12

2

Size
・Quota of faculty members
Professors

Associate
Professors

Assistant
Professors

Total

13

14

15

42

・Number of International Visiting Researchers by Year
2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

210

217

255

229

319

・Total Budget (yen)
2004

2005

1,070,581,000

1,042,509,000
3Organization
Director

Executive Board

Advisory Board

Vice Director

Technical Committee

General Affairs Section

Administration Office

Accounting Section

Cooperative Research Service

Secretariat(Kenkyubu)

Library Section• Executive Board consists of the Director, the Professors of theInstitute, and some other Professors of Kyoto University.
• Advisory board decides and makes proposals on basic policies forthe cooperative research activities of the Institute.
• Technical committee screens the plans for cooperative research
activities proposed by researchers throughout Japan.
413

Functions of RIMS
• A center of research in mathematical sciences as
a division of Kyoto University• A part of the Graduate School of Science engaged
in graduate level education in mathematics jointlywith the Department of Mathematics (cf. “Reporton Self-evaluation (August 2006)”, p.32)• Cooperative Research Institute serving themathematical community in Japan

5

Faculty Members•

Their research activities cf. Report of Self-evaluation (August 2006), pp. 33—45
Professors, associate professors and assistant professors: their numbers and age distribution(Their numbers are authorized by the government with necessary funds allocation.)

6

14

The honors and prizes awarded to current and former members
Year

Name

2000, October

Takuya OOURAAssistant Professor

The Japan Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics Best Article Award

2001, April

Masahito
HASEGAWA(Yoshihiko
KAKUTANI)

Lecturer

ETAPS2001 Best Theoretical Paper Award

2002, February

Osamu FUJINO

Assistant Professor

Inoue Award for Young Researchers

2002, February

Hisashi OKAMOTO

Professor

Inoue Science Award

2002

Masaki KASHIWARA

Professor

Paris Academie des Sciences

2003, March

Akihisa TAMURA

Associate Professor

The Operations Research Society of Japan, Fellow

2003, March

Tomotada OHTSUKI

Associate Professor

MSJ Spring Prize

2003, May

Mikio SATO

Professor Emeritus

Wolf Prize

2003, July

Huzihiro ARAKI

Professor Emeritus

Henry Poincare Prize

2003, AugustSatoru FUJISHIGE

Professor

Fulkerson Prize

2003, September

Susumu ARIKI

Associate Professor

MSJ Autumn Prize

2003, October

Shigeru MUKAI

Professor

Osaka Science Award

2003, November

Kiyosi ITOProfessor Emeritus

Cultural Merit Prize

2004, January

Heisuke HIRONAKA

Professor Emeritus

Legion d’honneur

Year

Name

Position

Prize

Position7

Prize2004, March

Takashi
KUMAGAI

Associate
Professor

MSJ Spring Prize

2004, June

Shigefumi MORI

Professor

Fujiwara Prize

2005, February

Shinichi
MOCHIZUKI

Professor

JSPS Prize

2005, March

Shinichi
MOCHIZUKI

Professor

Japan Academy Medal

2005,
September

Katsutoshi
YAMANOI

Assistant
Professor

MSJ Takebe Prize

2005,
September

Takuya OOURAAssistant
Professor

The Japan Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics
Best Article Award

2005, November

Masahito
HASEGAWA

Associate
Professor

Japan IBM Science Prize

2006, August

Kiyosi ITOProfessor
Emeritus

IMU Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize

2006,
September

Toshiyuki
KOBAYASHI

Professor

Osaka Science Award

2007, January

Toshiyuki
KOBAYASHI

Professor

JSPS Prize

2007

Satoru IWATA

Associate
Professor

Young Science Award
8

15

Members capable of attracting many international visitors
ICM Invited Speakers
2002 Beijing, 45-min. lecture, Algebraic and Complex Geometry: Shigeru Mukai
Lie Groups and Lie Algebras: Toshiyuki Kobayashi
1998 Berlin, 60-min. lecture : Tetsuji Miwa
45-min. lecture, Number Theory and Arithmetic: Shinichi Mochizuki,
Takeshi Tsuji
Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing:Hisashi Okamoto
1994 Zurich, 45-min. lecture, Algebraic Geometry : Yoichi Miyaoka
1990 Kyoto, 60-min. lecture : Yasutaka Ihara, Shigefumi Mori
45-min. lecture, Algebraic Geometry: Morihiko Saito
Lie Groups and Lie Algebras: Masaki Kashiwara
Analysis: Takeo Ohsawa, Kyoji Saito
Partial Differential Equations: Shigeo Kusuoka
Mathematical Physics: Kanehisa Takasaki
Combinatorics: Michio Jimbo
1986 Berkeley, 45-min. lecture, Real and Functional Analysis: Tetsuji Miwa

9

Invited Lectures
2006.10.26-10.29 The Korean Mathematical Society sixtieth anniversary Conference atSeoul University: Masaki Kashiwara
2006.9.8-9.14 Representation Theory and Prehomogeneous Vector Spaces at
Strasbourg University: Toshiyuki Kobayashi
2006.7.16-7.23 International Research Training Group, Summer School at Ulm Univ.,
Science Center: Toshiyuki Kobayashi
2006.5.28-6.4 Geometry and Representation Theory: A Conference in honor of George
Lusztig: Masaki Kashiwara
2006.1.1-1.6 Sixtieth Birthday Conference in honor of Roger Howe at National Univ.of
Singapore: Toshiyuki Kobayashi
2006.1.8-1.13 Sixtieth Birthday Conference in honor of Roger Howe at National Univ.of
Singapore: Masaki Kashiwara
2005.10.10-10.14 Symposium「Algebraic Geometry in East Asia. II」 at Hanoi Institute ofMathematics: Kyoji Saito
2005.7.20-7.24 Asian Mathematical Conference 2005 at National Univ.of Singapore:
Shigeru Mukai
2005.7.20-7.24 Asian Mathematical Conference 2005 at National Univ.of Singapore:
Masaki Kashiwara
2005.6.2-6.7 4th Japanese-Hungarian Symposium on Discrete Mathematics and its
Applications, at R¥'enyi Institute: Satoru Fujishige
1016Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
YEAR

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

TOTAL
(thousand yen)

38,30046,40056,60061,600 77,700

68,80066,800

24

26

32

46

43

NUMBER

39

43

11“21st Century Center of Excellence” Program
Formation of an International Center of Excellence in the
Frontiers of Mathematics and Fostering of Researchers inFuture Generations• The Program is “to cultivate a competitive academic
environment among Japanese universities by giving
targeted support to the creation of world-standard
research and education bases. …”• Joint proposal of RIMS with Dept. of Math.
“Formation of an International Center of Excellencein the Frontiers of Mathematics and Fostering of
Researchers in Future Generations” (M. Kashiwara
Program Leader) was adopted in 2003.
• See the detailed accounts in “Reports on Selfevaluation (August 2006)”, pp. 46—57.

17

12

Cooperative Research• Funds are allocated by the Government forcarrying out cooperative research.
• Proposals (for conferences, workshops, joint
researches, research visitors for at least two
weeks, etc.) are invited annually from throughout
the country. Screened by the TechnicalCommittee whose members are chosen fromthroughout the country on the basis ofrecommendations such as those from the
Science Council of Japan.
• RIMS Research Project,
13International Research Activities• International conferences, symposia and workshops– RIMS Research Project since 1991
– International conferences, symposia andworkshops related to cooperative research and the“21st Century Center of Excellence” Program.
– New style symposia modelled after the “Taniguchi
Symposia” ( planned )• International visitors• International academic exchange• Joint Mathematical Colloquia with Dept. of Math. 14

18

RIMS Research ProjectIn 1991, RIMS ran an international cooperative
research project on the general theme “Infinite
Analysis”.
The main part of the project was a three-month longworkshop, the proceedings of which consisted of 47
original papers.
Since then a project of the same kind has been
held every year at RIMS.
The Research Projects are not yet
institutionalized so that no specific funds forthem are allocated by the Government.

15

RIMS Research Projects (since 1991)
1991 Mathematical Analysis of Infinite Degree of Freedom
1992 Unstable and Turbulent Motion of Fluid
1993 Moduli spaces, Galois representations and L-functions
1994 Study of algebraic combinatorics-emphasizing connections
with other branches of mathematics
1995 BRS symmetry
1996 Higher dimensional algebraic varieties
1997 Analysis on homogeneous spaces and representation of Liegroups1998 Combinatorial methods in the representation theory andrelated combinatorics
1999 Geometry related to string theory16

19

2000 Reaction-diffusion systems: Theories and Applications
2001 Low-Dimensional Topology in the Twenty-first Century
2002 Stochastic Analysis and Related Topics

17

2003 Complex Dynamics
2004 Method of Algebraic Analysis in Integrable Systems
2005 Mathematics of the Navier-Stokes Equations and its
Applications
2006 (1) Arithmetic Algebraic Geometry(2) Theoretical Effectivity and Practical Effectivity of GrobnerBases
2007 Mirror Symmetry and Topological Field Theory
2008 Discrete Structures and Algorithms

18

20

International conferences in the academic year 2006
(cf. Report on Self-evaluation (August 2006), pp.10--20)•

Algebraic, Analytic and Geometric Aspects of Complex Differential Equations andtheir Deformations. Painlevé Hierarchies 2006.5.15-5.20•

Dynamical Systems and Applications: Recent Progress 2006.7.24-7.28••

KIAS-RIMS joint workshop on Computer Algebra--Efficient Computation of
Gröbner Bases and Mathematical Algorithms Based on It-- 2006.7.31-8.3
RIMS Project Research (2)Stochastic Analysis and Applications 2006.9.11-9.15•

Arithmetic algebraic geometry 2006.9.11-9.14 RIMS Project Research (1)•Arithmetic Galois Theory and Related Moduli Spaces 2006.10.23-10.31
RIMS Project Research (1)•p-adic arithmetic geometry 2006.11.20-11.22 RIMS Project Research (1)•Geometry and analysis on complex algebraic varieties 2006.12.11-12.15•

Theoretical Effectivity and Practical Effectivity of Gröbner Bases 2006.1.22-1.26
19
RIMS Project Research (2)International symposia and workshop in new stylemodelled after the “Taniguchi Symposia” (planned)

Small scale “retreat” combined with larger scale
open symposia.
As are listed below, Taniguchi Symposia since
4th in 1977 through 41st in 1997 were held in“retreat” style with about 15 top level young
participants, half from Japan and another halffrom overseas, each followed by a larger scale
symposium (very often at RIMS) open to themathematical community in general.
According to the Proceedings of the final
Taniguchi Conference on Mathematics held in
Nara 1998,

21

20

Mr. Taniguchi “was convinced that the value of limiting thenumber of participants in order to allow maximum flow ofcommunication and personal contact. ・・・・・・ it was his
dream to provide a forum where promising young scholars
the world over may gather informally to exchange theirthoughts, thereby contributing to mutual understanding,peace and the development of mankind in the world offuture”.

21

Taniguchi Symposia in Mathematics
and accompanying larger scale symposia
open to the mathematical community in general
1. “Theory of finite groups”, Hokkaido Univ. 1974.9.1--7; RIMS 1974.9.9--10.
2. “Algebraic number theory”(Takagi Centennial), RIMS 1976.3.22--29.
3. “Algebraic geometry”, RIMS 1977.1.10--14.
4. “Probability and analysis”, Katata (15 participants);
Related symposium at RIMS 1977.8.19--25.
5. “Geometric function theory”, Katata (17 participants), 1978.9.1--6;“Geometric theory of several complex variables”, RIMS 1978.9.7--9.
6. “Non-linear problems in geometry”, Katata (18 participants)1979.9.3.--8;“Global analysis and geometry”, RIMS 1979.9.10--12.
7. “Topics in singularities”, Katata (18 participants) 1980.9.3--9.
“Complex analysis of singularities”, RIMS 1980.9.10--12.
8. “Functional analysis in Markov processes”, Katata (16 participants)
1981.8.21--26;“Markov processes and analysis”, RIMS 1981.8.27--29.
9. “Commutative algebra”, Katata (16 participants) 1981.9.3--7;“Commutative algebra” RIMS 1981.9.10--12.
10. “Stochastic analysis”, Katata (15 participants) 1982.7.1--7;“Sochastic analysis and its applications”, RIMS 1982.7.8--10.

22

22

11. “Classification of algebraic and analytic manifolds”, Katata(16 participants)1982.7.7--13; “Algebraic geometry”, Kobe 1982.7.15--13.
12. “Algebraic groups and their representations”, Katata (15 participants)
1983.8.29--9.3; “Algebraic groups and related topics”, RIMS 1983.9.5--7.
13. “Automorphic forms of several complex variables”, Katata(16 participants)1983.9.5--10; “Automorphic functions and number theory”,
Univ. Tokyo 1983.8.31--9.2.
14. “Hyperbolic equations and related topics”, Katata (16 participants)
1984.8.27--31; “Hyperbolic equations and related topics”, RIMS 1984.9.3--5.
15. “Structure theory of non-linear integrable differential and difference
systems”, Katata (15 participants) 1984.9.3--6; “Topics in non-linear
analysis”, RIMS 1984.8.30--9.1.
16. “Probabilistic methods in mathematical physics”, Katata (15 participants)
1985.6.20--26;“Probabilistic methods in mathematical physics”, RIMS
1985.6.27--29.
17. “Curvature and topology of Riemannian manifolds”, Katata (17 participants)
1985.8.26--31; “Problems in Riemannian geometry in the large”, RIMS
1985.9.2--4.
18. “Analysis on homogeneous spaces”, Katata (18 participants)
1986.8.25--30;“Analysis on homogeneous spaces and representations of
Lie groups”, RIMS 1986.9.1--3, Hiroshima Univ. 1986.9.5--7.
19. “Class numbers and fundamental units”, Katata (15 participants)
1986.6.24--28;“Algebraic number theory”, RIMS 1986.6.30--7.3.
20. “Complex analytic theory of differential equations”, Katata(16 participants) 1987.8.17--22;“Complex analytic theory of differential
23
equations”, RIMS 1987.8.24--27.

21. “Geometry and analysis on manifolds”, Katata (15 participants)1987.8.24--29;“Analysis on manifolds”, RIMS 1987.8.31--9.2.
22. “Solvable models in statistical mechanics and quantum field theory”,
Katata (19 participants) 1988.10.24--28;“Integrable models in field theory andstatistical mechanics”, RIMS 1988.10.17--21.
23. “Birational geometry of algebraic varieties” Katata (19 participants)
1988.8.22--27;“Recent topics on algebraic varieties”, RIMS 1988.8.29--31.

（1988 Taniguchi Conf. at Katata Lake Biwa）

23

24

24. “Non-linear partial differential equations and their applications”,
Katata (16 participants) 1989.8.23--29;“Non-linear partial differential
equations and their applications”, RIMS 1989.8.30--9.2.
25. “Prospects in complex geometry”, Katata (15 participants), 1989.7.31--8.5;“Advances and prospects in complex geometry”, RIMS 1989.8.7--9.
26. “Asymptotic problems in probability theory”, Sanda (16 participants),
1990.8.31--9.5;“Asymptotic problems in probability theory”, RIMS 1990.9.6--8.
27. “Einstein metrics and Yang-Mills connections”, Sanda (16 participants)
1990.12.6--11; OSAKA international conference on complex geometry and related
topics” held in commemoration of 50th anniversary of Osaka University,
sponsored by Osaka University and Taniguchi Foundation. Osaka 1990.12.13--18.
28. “Special differential equations”, Katata (17 participants)
1991.8.26--31;“Special differential equations”, RIMS 1991.9.1--5.
29. “Arithmetical algebraic geometry”, France (18 participants) 1991.7.7--13;“Arithmetic algebraic geometry”, Univ. Tokyo 1992.3.23--25.
30. “Spectral and scattering theory”, Sanda (15 participants)
1992.11.16--20;“Spectral and Scattering theory”, RIMS 1992.11.24--26.
31. “Field theory and low-dimensional topology”, Sanda (18 participants)
1993.1.4--10; “3-4 dimensional topology and field theory”, RIMS 1993.1.12--14.
32. “Operator algebras”, Kyoto (16 participants) 1993.7.5--10;“Operator
algebra”, RIMS 1993.7.12--14.
25

33. “Symplectic geometry and quantization problems”, Sanda (17 participants)
1993.7.11--17;“Symplectic geometry and its applications”, Keio Univ.1993.7.21--24.
34. “New trends in stochastic analysis”, England (16 participants)
1994.9.21--27;“Taniguchi symposium”, Univ. Warwick 1994.9.28--30.
35. “Moduli of vector bundles”, Sanda (17 participants)1994.12.11--16;“Moduli of vector bundles”, RIMS 1994.12.19--22.
36. “Structure of solutions of differential equations”, Katata (18 participants)
1995.6.26--30;“Algebraic analysis”, RIMS 1995.7.3--7.
37. “Topology and Teichmueller spaces”, Finland (17 participants)1995.7.24--28;“The Nevanlinna Colloquim”, Univ. of Joensuu, 1995.8.1--5.
38. “Topological field thoery, primitive forms and related topics”, Kyoto(16 participants) 1996.12.9--13;“Topological Field theory and related topics”,
RIMS 1996.12.16--19.
39. “Analytic number theory”, Kyoto (14 participants) 1996.5.12--18;“Analytic number theory” RIMS 1996.5.20--24.
40. “Analysis and geometry in several complex variables”, Katata (15 participants)
1997.6.23--28;“Analysis and geometry in several complex variables”, RIMS
1997.6.30--7.3.
41. “Integrable systems and algebraic geometry”, Kobe (14 participants)
1997.6.30--7.5;“Integrable systems and algebraic geometry”, RIMS 1997.7.7--11.
Taniguchi Conference on Mathematics, Nara '98
1998.12.15--20. Nara.

24

26

International Visitors• Three international visiting professorship
positions are authorized by the Government withallocated funds.
• Through JSPS Grants-in-Aid and 21st Century
COE program• International Post-doctoral Fellows (JSPS and21st Century COE program)
The number (at most 12) of international visiting
professors invited each for over 3 months
8 (2002), 9 (2003), 8 (2004), 9 (2005), 9 (2006)
For the list, see “Report on Self-evaluation (August 2006)”, pp. 25—30.
27

International Visitors through
JSPS Grants-in-Aid, 21st Century COE Programs, etc.
Year

‘00

‘01

‘02

‘03

‘04

‘05

‘06

Australia
CanadaChina
Denmark
FranceGermany
India
Italy
Korea
RussiaSwedenU.K.
U.S.A.
OthersTotal(people)

9
8
10
1
11
18
3
8
13
17
0
16
33
47

6
3
22
2
18
20
3
10
19
17
3
8
41
72

7
9
17
0
19
23
0
12
19
16
2
8
22
64

1
2
10
4
34
25
1
10
23
28
4
7
26
51

9
3
16
0
33
18
4
8
10
32
3
7
25
95

3
10
14
3
28
21
3
5
35
13
1
13
39
50

3
5
11
1
52
35
5
10
37
19
1
13
64
63

194

244

218

226

263

238

319

Country

28

25

The number of International Post-Doctoral Fellows
through JSPS Grants and 21st Century COE program

year
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006

JSPS
people
1
3
5
5
6
2
1
3
0
2

21st COE
2
2
3
4

29

International Speakers
at the Joint Weekly Mathematical Colloquium withDept. of Math. (Academic Year 2006)• Alexander Stoimenow （Kyoto Univ. RIMS） : May 10, 2006
• Alan Weinstein （UC Berkeley） : May 24, 2006
• Leon Takhtajan （SUNY at Stony Brook） : May 31, 2006
• Pavle Pandzic （University of Zagreb） : June 21, 2006
• Gopal Prasad （University of Michigan） : July 26, 2006
• Pawel Pilarczyk （Kyoto Univ. the Dept. of Sci.） : November 1,
2006• Raphael Rouquier （Leeds Univ.） : November 22, 2006
• Harris J. Silverstone （Johns Hopkins Univ. & RIMS, Kyoto
Univ.） ： January 31,2007
30

26

International Academic Exchange Programfor Young Mathematicians with Seoul National University
through 21st Century COE Program① November 21, 2003
at Daikaigi-shitsu, Dept. of Math., Kyoto Univ.
② September 15-17, 2004
at Sangsan building 101, Dept of Math., Seoul
National Univ.
③ February 21-22, 2006
at Daikaigi-shitsu, Dept. of Math., Kyoto Univ.
④ February 13-14, 2007
at Dept. of Math., Seoul National Univ.
31③

Seoul National Univ. ― Kyoto Univ.
Exchange Program for Young Mathematicians
Date: February 21-22, 2006
Place: Daikaigi-shitsu, Dept. of Math., Kyoto Univ.
Speakers :Dongho Byeon （Number Theory） Jaigyoung Choe （Diff. Geom.）
Hyeonbae Kang （PDE） Jongil Park （Topology）
Kazuya Kato （Number Theory） Shigeru Mukai （Alg. Geom.）
Poster Session: Japanese 13, Korean 1032

27

International Academic Exchange Agreements• Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS)
since March 10, 2000
• Seoul National University (SNU),
Dept. of Mathematical Sciences
since March 10, 2000

33

Supporting Activities and Facilities• Publications– “RIMS Kôkyûroku”– New Lecture Notes Series “RIMS Kôkyûroku
Bessatsu”– Publications RIMS
– RIMS Preprint Series– Bulletin• Library• Office Space• Research Support Sections• Accommodation

28

34

RIMS Kôkyûroku
Number of Issues
Year

Number

2002

57

2003

50

2004

60

2005

53

2006

65
35

On-line Publication of RIMS Kôkyûroku
Kyoto Univ. Repository
http://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/
RIMS web page
http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/
kyodo/kokyuroku/backnumber.html

36

29

“RIMS Kôkyûroku Bessatsu“(ISSN: 1881-6193)
Each volume will be the proceedings of a conference held at RIMS.
The Advisory Board of RIMS selects about 10 conferences to publish theirproceedings in this new series from the conferences held at RIMS every year.

RIMS Kôkyûroku Bessatsu B1:
Kyoto Conference on the Navier-Stokes Equations andtheir Applications(Y. Giga, H. Kozono, H. Okamoto and Y. Shibata, eds.)
March, 2007, 408 pages, 1600 Yen+shipping

RIMS Kôkyûroku Bessatsu B2:
Algebraic, Analytic and Geometric Aspects of Complex
Differential Equations and their Deformations. Painlevé
hierarchies(Y. Takei, ed.)March, 2007, 269 pages, 1000 Yen+shipping
37

Publications RIMS
(on-line versions and special issues)
Project Euclid Vol. 37 (2001)-Vol. 42 (2006)
http://projecteuclid.org/Dienst/UI/1.0/HomeTo Appear in J-STAGE Vol. 1 (1965)
http://www.journalarchive.jst.go.jp/japaneseSpecial Issues• “40th Anniversary Commemorative Articles”
Vol.40, No.3, September 2004 and No.4, December 2004, 826 pp, 28 articles• “Thirty Years of the Double Exponential Transforms”
Vol.41, No.4, December 2005, 186 pp, 10 articles• “Hironaka Special Issue”
Vol.44, No.1, March 2008, in preparation• “Arithmetic Algebraic Geometry”
38

Vol.45, No.1, March 2009, in preparation

30

RIMS Preprint Series(since 1964)

Year
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006

Issues
39
47
45
38
42
51
43
42
50

39

Bulletin (published annually)in English

in Japanese31

40

Library
2002
An annual increase (copies)
837
Expenditure ofbooks purchased (yen)10,249,533
A number of collection books (copies) 77,824

2003
1,187

2004
959

2005
609

2006
2,097

13,954,977
78,024

12,332,958
78,9838,807,784
79,592

11,030,889
81,68941

2002
the number ofjournal purchased
417
expenditure ofjournal purchased (yen) 59,562,000

418
416
414
412
410
408
406
404
402
400
398
396

2003

2004

2005

2006

417

404

409

408

59,632,000

the number of journal purchased

62,827,000

70,703,000

78,934,000

expenditure of journal purchased
80000
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000

2002

2003

2004

2005

0

2006

32

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

42

Office Space and Accomodations
SECTIONRIMS Main Building

BUILDING

LAND

Built area

㎡
1,310

Floor space

㎡
777

㎡
3,923

Yukawa Inst. (rented)

130（4 rooms）

Former Fac. of Eng. Bldg. No.7 ＊（provisional use）
（till June 2007）325（7 rooms）

Former Fac. of Eng. Bldg. No.5 ＊（in renovation）（permanent use）
（from February 2008 on）

360（8 rooms）
4,378（till June 2007）

TOTAL

Kitashirakawa Guest House

4,413（from February 2008）
262

137

＊ The University made annex space on campus available to RIMS in
connection with the adoption of the 21st COE program.

453

43

Required space according to the “Government standard”

7,285㎡

44

33

Research Support Sections
1. “Cooperative research service section” supports
cooperative research activities including accounting andvarious publications.
2. The Secretariat is a section which provides secretarial
services for the RIMS members and deals with the
Publications and preprints. The website at
http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp is maintained by this section.
3. The Scientific Exchange Program Office (SEPO) handles
international relations and offers secretarial services tooverseas visitors as well as to those who attend theinternational symposia or workshops held at RIMS.
45

Accommodation
1. Shugakuin International House
Housing for visitors to Kyoto University
2. Kitashirakawa Guest House(Kitashirakawa Gakusha)
for visitors to RIMS or YITP only.
Very inexpensive. (¥2,570/ day)
46

34

Shugakuin International House(RIMS, 2006)
month

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

1

2

3

International
visiting
professors

International
visitors

47

Kitashirakawa Guest House (RIMS, 2006)
RIMS, jointly with the Yukawa Institute of Theoretical Physics,
provides inexpensive accommodations.
Number of International visitors
Nights

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Total 448 nights(43 visitors)

4

5

6

7

8

9

35

10

11

12

1

2

Outreach activities
RIMS lectures to the public--- Introduction to mathematics --(since 1976)
The 26th August 2 -- August 6, 2004 participants 95 (total 322)
T. Ohtsuki : Can you undo this knot ?
T. Ooura : Formulas and algorithms for computing pi
S. Mukai : Topics on invariant polynomials
The 27th August 1 -- August 5, 2005 participants 71 (total 260)
K. Habiro : Topology of 3-manifolds
T. Suzuki : Mathematics of braids
S. Fujishige : Submodular structures and discrete convexity
The 28th July 31 -- August 4, 2006 participants 74 (total 237)
K. Ohkitani : Vector analysis, differential equation and fluid
dynamics
M. Abe : Topics on Kunz rings
A. Tamagawa : Galois theory and its development

49

Lectures for freshmen of Kyoto Univ. 2006
Modern Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences--- Basic Concept and its application to other disciplines --April 14 K. Habiro Jones polynomials of knots
April 21 T. Kumagai Martingale program and its application --optimal
strategy of games and pricing of optional transactions
April 28 H. Okamoto Topics on Newton(-Raphson) method: from numericalsolutions to the existence of solutions of differential equations
May 12 K. Saito Periods of integrals
May 19 S. Fujishige Discrete algorithms and their mathematical analysis
May 26 T. Kobayashi Symmetries
June 2 S. Ariki Why do so many enumerations coincide?
--Introduction to Kashiwara crystal
June 9 M. Hasegawa Recurrent programs
June 16 K. Ohkitani Geometric properties of fluid equations
June 23 T. Kawai Birth and growth of the theory of hyperfunctions --from
Dirac‘s delta to micro-local analysis
July 7 M. Kawakita Introduction to algebraic geometry
July 14 A. Tamagawa Finite fields and arithmetic geometry
50

36

CRFMS・ Center for Research at the Frontiers ofMathematical Science:・a center in RIMS created in 2006 to meet
promptly recent trends in mathematicalsciences・two professors in Japan on sabbaticalleave were accepted in 2006

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Incompatibility of the functions under the new
system of national universities introduced in 2004
・The existence of RIMS is guaranteed only if it is mentioned in the 6-yearplan of the university submitted to the Government.
・As a cooperative research institute it aims at maximizing benefit for themathematical research community at large, while each university aims
at maximizing benefit for its own specific interests.
・The budget request of RIMS to the Government can be proposed only
through the university.
・The government allocates funds for RIMS as parts of the funds for theuniversity without earmarking. The university may (and really does)
subtract some portion to balance funding for other divisions of theuniversity.
・In the current budget system, RIMS has difficulty in getting funds toenlarge the buildings of RIMS, which is indispensable for it to functionsmoothly and effectively not only as a cooperative research institutebut also as an international research center of excellence.
52

37

Future Prospects
・ Closer relations with international
institutions
・ Balance of faculties in “Pure mathematics”
and “Applied mathematics”
・ Have a new building (700 ㎡ increase in
two years)
・ Establish a more solid researchsupporting structure
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