Mathematics in Berlin

BMS students benefit from the broad range of mathematics offered by the various research institutes in Berlin. Source: Kay Herschelmann

News from Oct 22, 2012

Berlin Mathematical School (BMS) has been receiving funding through the German Excellence Initiative ever since 2006. Recent approval for another five years of funding through the Excellence Initiative through 2017 means it can continue with its highly successful academic work.

Following the same international model that is used, for example, by math departments at elite universities in the United States, the graduate degree program at BMS was set up for outstanding students to enter directly following completion of a bachelor’s degree. All classes are taught in English, and it should take four to five years to earn a doctorate. The BMS degree program covers seven research areas of pure and applied mathematics. They are all represented in Berlin by a number of leading research groups and externally funded projects. Of the 170 graduate students now enrolled, almost 50 percent come from more than 30 different countries outside of Germany. The proportion of women is currently 30 percent; over the long term it is expected to increase to 50 percent.

Graduate students at Berlin Mathematical School benefit from the diversity in the mathematics research environment in Berlin. In addition to the math departments of the three participating universities, there are three DFG Research Training Groups, two international Max Planck Research Schools, the DFG Research Center Matheon, the Collaborative Research Center “Space – Time – Matter. Analytic and Geometric Structures,” the Collaborative Research Center “Discretization in Geometry and Dynamics,” the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB), and the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics (WIAS). Additionally, the Einstein Center for Mathematics in Berlin is being set up.

Up to now, more than 50 graduate students have earned a doctorate in mathematics at BMS. BMS alumni are scattered throughout the world as postdocs conducting research at major universities in Berkeley, Paris, Boston, Stockholm, Princeton, or Zurich.

Plans for the second funding period include providing financial support for German students in the program to spend a period of time studying and doing research outside of Germany. Strategic cooperation agreements have been concluded with selected universities in Jerusalem, Warwick, and Zurich, and more will follow. Additional plans include expanding the postdoctoral program, which would also benefit the graduate students by giving them a wider range of specialized courses to choose from.

Besides Berlin Mathematical School, Freie Universität is home to six other graduate schools funded through the German Excellence Initiative:

• Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies (BSRT)
• Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies
• Berlin School of Integrative Oncology
• Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies
• Graduate School of East Asian Studies
• Graduate School of North American Studies