Meiji University Center for Mathematical Modeling and Applications

　In November 2019, I succeeded Prof. Kokichi Sugihara as chairperson of the Steering Committee of CMMA.

　CMMA was established in June 2013 under the Meiji Institute for Advanced Study of Mathematical Sciences (MIMS) in order to continue further developing the activities of the Meiji University Global COE Program entitled “Formation and Development of Mathematical Sciences Based on Modeling and Analysis”, which started in 2008 and lasted until the end of the 2012 academic year.

　In 2014, CMMA was officially recognized by the government (MEXT) as a "Joint Usage / Research Center". We have since been running various programs to carry out our official mission: to support the development of academic activities in our country. This official six-year project terminated at the end of the 2019 academic year, and CMMA received a top “S” rating in its end-of-term assessment by the government. Accordingly, the governmental recognition of CMMA as a Joint Usage / Research Center has been extended for another six years, until the end of the 2025 academic year. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the many people who have been supporting the activities of CMMA.

　CMMA promotes multi-disciplinary research activities that aim at deepening our understanding of various phenomena in nature and society through mathematical modeling and analysis. Much emphasis is placed on problems for which no fundamental equations are established yet, as well as problems that arise in our daily life. Our research covers a wide variety of themes that arise from the life and social sciences, medicine, human sense, and so on.

　In 2020, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, many of the activities of CMMA could not be continued the same way as before. Some of the scheduled events had to be cancelled, but we have been able to continue most of our activities online without much interruption. Naturally, one cannot expect the same outcome from online research meetings as from traditional face-to-face ones. On the other hand, there have been some positive aspects enabled through online research meetings. For one thing, online meetings can admit a much larger audience which would not be possible in traditional meetings. We are also starting a new service for distributing videos of workshop lectures on our home page that will allow the public to watch each recorded lecture on demand after the workshop is over. In 2020, we also launched a new program that aims at supporting interdisciplinary research projects involving the life and mathematical sciences.

　In the rapidly changing present era, CMMA will continue to carry out its mission through our current and new programs, and will seek to make the research results strengthen the foundation of our society. Your understanding and ongoing cooperation will be greatly appreciated.