Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas (CIMAT)
In 1980, in an era when decentralization was an important part of Mexico’s national development, a group of academics from UNAM founded, in the city of Guanajuato, an institution dedicated to basic research and high-level education in the field of mathematics. Today CIMAT is a regional public institution, which is part of the Public Centers System of CONACYT, the National Council for Science and Technology. CIMAT’s activities are governed, in addition to its own statutes, by the provisions of the Law for Science and Technology, among others, that govern the activities of the federal public administration.
CIMAT main campus is located in the heart of beautiful central Mexico, in the City of Guanajuato, Gto.; a location most privileged for its weather and for its geographical position being in the center of the best developed area of Mexico; therefore, CIMAT has built strong links with the public, social, and business sectors of Mexican society, focusing on projects that help solve problems, particularly those related to technological innovation. In addition to its main campus in Guanajuato, CIMAT has established units in the cities of Aguascalientes, Zacatecas and Monterrey, where it contributes to the competitiveness and the growth of businesses and organizations, to the strengthening of mathematics skills in society at large, and to meeting the demand for a high-level professional and scientific workforce.
CIMAT is dedicated to the generation, transmission and application of expertise in the areas of mathematics, statistics and computer science. Oriented towards scientific research, high-level graduate education and training, the improvement of mathematical knowledge in society, and solving problems that fall within its areas of interest, CIMAT seeks to contribute to the scientific and technological development of Mexico.
CIMAT’s vision is to be a center of research recognized nationally and internationally for excellence in its fields of expertise; with an ability to attract and bring together teams of high level scientific thinkers and to be a model of efficiency, growth and social impact for other research centers.
Over the years CIMAT’s academic activity has been diversified and expanded to the point where it is now the leading research institution in its field outside of Mexico City, thanks to the high academic standards of its researchers, its vast scientific output and its ever-increasing share of the international scientific scene. CIMAT organizes conferences, symposia, seminars and workshops, and offers bachelor’s, master's and doctorate degrees that are recognized internationally for their excellence. At CIMAT you can pursue a bachelor's, a master's or a doctoral degree in a highly competitive scientific research environment working with an academic faculty which is nationally and internationally renowned. Mathematics and the application of mathematical research are fundamental tools of innovation, providing solutions for the public, private and social sectors that can help raise the living conditions for society, and even contribute towards creating a safer and better world. In the private sector, with mathematics at the heart of methodologies and processes in all business areas, companies that take advantage of mathematics can gain a significant competitive advantage.
CIMAT Students are immersed in an atmosphere of cultural and scientific diversity, which are the hallmarks of the Center. The countries of origin of our students are many: Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Kenya and Spain, among others. Olympiads and other scientific competitions are enhanced, in order to develop young scientific talent for students. Also, CIMAT has enhanced its academic environment through the organization of seminars for students and researchers, and of international conferences, workshops and research schools.
About CIMAT Expertise for this proposal
At CIMAT we have carried out research with close collaboration with CIMNE researchers on numerical modelling of continuous media by means of the PFEM and DEM methods. These techniques share come common features with a recent and alternative view of numerical modelling in Computational Materials Science. In the latter, one aims is to understand various properties and phenomena of materials and achieve designing and making better material for society.
Techniques in modern material science involve Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations and ab initio methods. The former is similar to DEM in the sense that the equations of motion for the particles involved are those of classical mechanics, but the forces in actions are modelled by potential functions. Particles are the atoms themselves. In the latter, nuclei and electrons are the basic particles and describe events in a subatomic world. These two approaches are heavily applied in new materials design. In the last couple of years we have developed at CIMAT expertise for applications. We have a few ongoing projects closely related to WP5.
CIMAT researchers have a long history on international cooperation. For instance, on oil related projects CIMAT collaborates with the Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP), Geophysics Institute of UNAM and international specialists on numerical modelling from: University of Calgary, Yale University, UPMC Sisyphe. Also for about a decade, CIMAT hosts a CIMNE Classroom, which has served as a vehicle for academic exchange.
CIMAT researchers organize and participate on school and workshops on modelling and numerical methods for practical applications. Attendants learn simulation tools, developed partly at CIMAT. Some recent events are:
School of modelling and numerical methods (annually).
Workshop for solution of Industrial Problems (annually).
Noteworthy, in the last workshop we started training on Computational design of materials with the industrial problem: 'Computational Design and Screening of Li-ion Battery Materials using Quantum and Atomistic Simulations'.
CIMAT provides the infrastructure to support research for its students. Graduate students work in cubicles with computers and internet access. All students have access to computer labs specially equipped for assignments and research projects in the areas of mathematics, computer science and probability and statistics. The services and resources of the CIMAT’s library, which is the best library of its kind outside of Mexico City, are accessible to all students. The collection of books and magazines is complemented by access to electronic journals, scientific databases and interlibrary loans from the most important institutions in Mexico.
CIMAT’s multidisciplinary teams of researchers, working with the participation of technical staff and students, provide expert solutions in technology transfer projects with applications such as:
Mathematical Modeling. Engineering teams, in conjunction with business process teams, develop models to predict the behavior of processes and carry out diagnostics, analysis, design and development of proprietary technology by applying mathematical optimization techniques.
Statistical Inference and Stochastic Modeling. These kind of projects range from the acquisition and organization of information all the way to the interpretation of data related to phenomena and processes that impact organizations in many areas such as the design of new products, production and strategic planning. Modeling strengthens the evaluation process and facilitates decision making, which is applicable in broad areas such as in the design of public policies, in new product development, and manufacturing.
Pure Mathematics, the Pure Mathematics area at CIMAT is one of the most important in Latin America. It is composed of researchers who are internationally recognized for their scientific work. These researchers develop and organize various outreach programs that benefit the general public.
Probability and Statistics, the activities of the Probability and Statistics area include the following: conducting pure and applied research, participating as professors in undergraduate and graduate programs, and collaborating on projects in the academic, social and business sectors. We specialize in analysis, description, stochastic modeling, statistical inference, optimization and other mathematical aspects of complex systems as well as processes that involve a random component or some uncertainty.
Computer Science, the Computer Science area at CIMAT consists of leading national and international researchers working in research, education, specialized training, and technology development. The Computer Science area conducts research in the following main areas: Signal processing and computer vision, in particular, algorithms for filtering and segmentation, perceptual process modeling (stereo vision, motion perception, color perception, etc.), image registration, robust transmission of images and video (in collaboration with the University of Illinois and INAOE ), image analysis from optical experiments (in collaboration with the Center for Research in Optics), calibration and camera positioning, etc. Applications have been developed in biomedicine in collaboration with the Institute of Neurobiology at UNAM, with Cuba’s Neurosciences Center, with the Department of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania and with the University of Florida.
Numerical methods and optimization, this includes multi-objective optimization with applications to practical engineering problems, evolutionary algorithms and algorithms for the estimation of distribution with applications to design and global and restricted optimization, numerical solution of partial differential equations, and numerical modeling using finite elements, application on solutions of grade problems using parallel computing. We have a partnership with the International Center for Numerical Methods in Engineering, Barcelona, Spain. Robotics, this includes motion planning and perception for mobile robots, feasibility conditions for the movement of mobile robots outdoors and visual control of robots. We have partnerships with the University of Illinois, the Laboratory of Analysis and Architecture of Systems (LAAS-CNRS) in Toulouse, France, the University of Liege in Belgium, the University of Zaragoza in Spain and ITESM, Mexico State campus. CIMAT is developer of the following codes: Optimate, CALSEF2010, IMAGENCIMAT, DIAS and FEMT.
Category: CIMAT
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme, Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES) under grant agreement n° 612607
For futher information contact us at
infotcainmand@cimat.mx