End of term for Olivier Lafitte

Dear colleagues at the CRM, dear colleagues at the IRL,

My term as director of the IRL (or UMI) comes to an end after an additional year, and Emmanuel Royer will take over on September 1. Emmanuel is a professor at Université Clermont-Auvergne, where he headed the Blaise Pascal Mathematics Laboratory from 2014 to 2018 before serving as deputy scientific director of the CNRS National Institute for Mathematical Sciences and their Interactions (INSMI) from 2018 to 2023. Since his PhD, prepared under Étienne Fouvry and Philippe Michel and defended in 2001, he has worked in number theory, focusing in particular on modular forms and related functions.

I wish to thank everyone, in particular the two CRM directors I had the pleasure of working with: Luc Vinet and Octav Cornea.

Luc Vinet greatly helped carry out CNRS projects to create a mathematics-computer science IRL. He secured full support from the Université de Montréal vice-rector so that two distinct entities could exist rather than one. His role was also crucial during the pandemic, allowing the CRM and the IRL to function well. The research traditions of mathematicians were maintained when activities resumed, authorizing working groups bringing together several professors, while the UdeM model proposed one research group centered on a single professor with assistants, postdocs, and students.

Octav Cornea helped me develop an overview of mathematics, giving me insight into the characteristics and uses of each branch of mathematics and their applications, including to data science and computer science, since the CRM’s scope is broader than that of the INSMI. He advised me when proposing new IRL members, including suggesting names to thematic-semester organizers, and maintained links with the CRM’s various laboratories. Octav Cornea also completely reorganized the CRM’s administration, which greatly facilitated IRL management. He was always attentive to my questions and generous with his time. My sincere thanks to him.

I also received the friendly support of the CRM administrative team: I thank Sakina, in charge of special projects; Elena, in charge of finances; Virginie, in charge of activities, assisted by Flore, Diane, and the entire team. Thanks also to Madid, the IT specialist responsible for our website, and to all the members not mentioned here who were always present. A special mention for the administrative directors, Vincent and Benoit, the latter having done much to improve the management of IRL-related activities and exchanges with France.

Over these five years, I have had many rewarding encounters with people working at the CRM, whatever their field of research. I have discovered the diversity of mathematics in Québec, across all its universities as well as at the University of Ottawa, and have formed bonds with many colleagues who will remain friends.

I wish Emmanuel every success and many new projects. For my part, I will remain a tireless advocate of international laboratories and, of course, of the CRM-CNRS IRL.

Olivier Lafitte, Professor at Université Sorbonne Paris Nord