PRESIDENT'S REPORT 1995/96

This report covers the period from the last NZMS Colloquium, in August 1995, to the end of June 1996.

Mathematical and Information Sciences Council (MISC)

This body, comprising representatives of the NZMS, the NZ Statistical Association, the Operational Research Society of New Zealand, the NZ Association of Mathematics Teachers (NZAMT), the Informatics Group of the NZ Computer Society, and Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand, continues to provide a valuable forum for discussion of a wide range of matters of concern to professional mathematicians. Of particular note this year was the discussion with Professor Don McGregor, Government Chief Scientist, which may lead to a review of mathematics in New Zealand comparable to the one in Australia whose report was published in January. The NZMS is grateful to Professor Graeme Wake, the retiring Convenor of the MISC, for his sterling work in that capacity.

Interaction between Schools and Universities

At its meeting in February the NZMS Council asked me to discuss with NZAMT whether, and if so, how, the Mathematics and Statistics Departments in the universities might be of greater assistance to their counterparts in high schools. As a result of discussions with Mrs Jan Wallace, President of NZAMT, I was invited to join a working group to produce material for the ``enrichment band'' of high school students. (The other university academic of this working group is Professor Derek Holton, of the University of Otago.) The first meeting of this working group was held in Auckland in February, and led to the production of some enrichment modules for Form 4 that are currently being trialled in a number of high schools around the country, as part of a wider enrichment scheme called $M^3$. The working party will continue to meet, to produce more enrichment modules and to monitor the trials of the existing ones.

Accreditation

Perhaps the most important issue that has come before Council in the past year is accreditation: should the Society offer levels of professional accreditation, and if so, what should be the criteria for those levels? I am grateful to Professor Marston Conder for raising this issue and for carrying out much of the work leading to the paper that will be presented to the Annual General Meeting this week.

Visiting Lecturers

The extended visit of Professor Elmer Rees (University of Edinburgh) as 1995 Forder Lecturer culminated in his talks at the Aitken Meeting in Dunedin in August 1995. The 1997 Forder Lecturer will be Professor Ian Stewart (University of Warwick), whose extraordinary rate and range of publication suggest that the NZ mathematical community is in for a treat from this ``Renaissance man''. Professor Stewart's visit will be co-ordinated by Dr Rick Beatson (University of Canterbury). The Society has once again asked the British Council, which in the past has been most generous in its support, for a contribution towards the travel expenses of the Forder Lecturer. In November 1995 Professor Roger Grimshaw (Monash University) was the NZMS Visiting Lecturer. His counterpart in 1996 will be Professor Valerie Isham (University College, London). The co-ordinator of her visit, Dr Mick Roberts (AgResearch, Wallaceville Animal Research Centre), has already secured Lottery Board funding to help defray the cost of Professor Isham's return flight to New Zealand.

Financial Grants

Council has made the following grants between 1 September 1995 and 30 June 1996:

Donation to NZ Mathematical Olympiad Committee	$ 500
NZ Mathematics Colloquium 1996	                $1500
Student travel (5 students, 1996 NZ Colloquium)	$1000
Research Fund assistance (6 grants)          	$1050
Donation to NZ Mathematical Olympiad Committee	$ 500
NZMS Visiting Lecturer (Grimshaw)              	$ 750
Special grant to Professor G. Wake      	$ 300
(To help defray the cost of Professor Wake's 
participation in the symposium Mathematical Sciences: Adding to Australia, in Sydney.)

Aitken Prize

The first award of the Aitken Prize, established in 1995 for the best paper or talk presented by a student at the NZ Mathematics Colloquium, was to Chris Stephens (University of Canterbury), for his talk entitled Global Optimisation Requires Global Information, at the Aitken meeting in Dunedin. In addition, Charles Semple (Victoria University of Wellington) was highly commended for his paper Large Matroid Representation Over Partial Fields. The second Aitken Prize will be awarded later this week, at the current NZ Mathematics Colloquium. I am grateful to Professors Marston Conder, Mike Hendy, and Ernie Kalnins for acting as judges for the 1996 prize.

NZMS Research Awards

The 1994-95 Awards were presented, at the Aitken Meeting, to Dr Vladimir Pestov (Victoria University of Wellington) and Dr Neil Watson (University of Canterbury) for their outstanding research achievements in the preceding five years. The results of the 1995-96 Award round will be announced at the Colloquium Dinner. I am grateful to the judges for the time and care which they have invested in making their decisions.

Personal

On behalf of the Society, I would like to congratulate Professor John Harper (Victoria University of Wellington) on his election to a Fellowship of the Royal Society of New Zealand. It was with great sadness that we learned of deaths of two colleagues in the past year: Ken Ashton (Auckland) and Derrick Breach (Canterbury). I offer our condolences to their families and colleagues. I would like to thank all the members of Council for their service to the Society. Special thanks are due to

The retiring Vice-President, Professor Marston Conder, who has now served a total of ten years on Council, as ordinary member, President, and Vice-President;
Professor Ernie Kalnins and Dr Rick Beatson, who complete their terms of office on Council this month;
Dr Stephen Joe, who has acted as more of a Society Administrator than a Secretary and who has kept me on the right track on many occasions; and
Dr Mark McGuinness, who is retiring from Council after two years of sterling service as Treasurer.

I would also like to thank Dr John Shanks (Membership Secretary); Professor John Butcher and Dr Joel Schiff (Editor and Managing Editor of the Society's Journal); Professor Mike Hendy (Editor of the Society's Newsletter); and Professor Derek Holton (NZMS representative on the NZQA Advisory group).

Finally, I thank all others who have helped me in my first nine months as President. I look forward to serving you in the coming year.

Douglas S. Bridges
30 June 1996