2026 CMS Summer Meeting
Saint John, June 5 - 8, 2026
Plenary Lectures
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- JULIA GORDON, University of British Columbia
A long story of eliminated quantifiers [PDF]
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This talk is about many recent applications of classical theorems from Model Theory known as `quantifier elimination' results. The first examples of such results go back to the work of Tarski in the 1930s, and Ax-Kochen in the 1960s. In the current century, these ideas found far-reaching applications, including the proof of many cases of the Andre-Oort conjecture in Number Theory. With the development of a theory called Motivic Integration, further applications of these ideas were developed ranging from Algebraic geometry to the theory of Automorphic forms. I will survey the foundational idea of quantifier elimination, and then focus on its application to the study of properties of a certain class of morphisms between algebraic varieties, and then an application of these properties in representation theory (this part is based on the work of I. Glazer and Y. Hendel).
- NIKY KAMRAN, McGill University
A survey of the Calder\'on inverse problem. [PDF]
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The Calder\'on inverse problem in geometric analysis asks if the metric of a smooth compact Riemannian manifold with boundary is uniquely determined from the knowledge of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map, that is the map that assigns to prescribed boundary data the normal derivative of the corresponding solution of the Laplace-Beltrami equation. While the Calder\'on inverse problem is still open in its full generality, there are a number of interesting and at times surprising results that provide either an affirmative answer or counterexamples, depending on which special assumptions are made about the background geometry. The talk will be an introduction to the Calder\'on problem and a survey of some of the main uniqueness and non-uniqueness results.
- JHONEL MORVAN, Université de l'Ontario français
What Mathematics, and for Whom Exactly? [PDF]
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Who is mathematics for, and what do mathematicians look like? These two questions sit at the heart of a growing equity conversation that the mathematical community can no longer afford to leave at the classroom door. Drawing on doctoral research conducted with the Toronto District School Board, this lecture examines how the overall school experience and emotional well-being of racialized secondary students relate to their mathematics achievement. Additionally, through video excerpts of prospective teachers reflecting on their postsecondary mathematics journeys, the talk invites participants to confront some uncomfortable but important questions: Are we teaching for our own pleasure, or so a diverse student population can genuinely understand? Who gets called good at math, who does not, and what messages travel forward into the next generation? The session closes by questioning how emerging technologies may be reshaping the relationship between learners and instructors.