Welcome to MCA!

Chers collègues, 
Estimados colegas,
​Dear Colleagues,
 
On behalf of Mathematical Council of the Americas, and the Canadian Mathematical Society, the Host Society for this Congress, it gives us great pleasure to welcome you all to the Second Mathematical Congress of the Americas, here in Montreal. It is a particular source of joy for us to have colleagues from all of the Americas come here to take part in the Congress, meet old mathematical friends and make new ones, learn new and wonderful things, and of course share their own new and wonderful things.  

Our Scientific Committee has assembled an outstanding array of plenary and invited talks, showing the amazing variety, and yet unity, that is modern mathematics. But even more impressive are the over 70 special sessions that colleagues from all over the Americas have put together; a truly remarkable grass roots effort, showing the great vitality of our discipline in the Americas, and the pertinence of having such a get-together every four years.

The lectures and the sessions are of course the main show; but there are a few more activities you might consider.  We will host two public lectures, by Erik Demaine and Etienne Ghys, for Monday and Wednesday evening respectively.  Before the conference proper, on the Sunday, the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) is holding two of its prize lectures, at the Centre Mont-Royal; on Thursday at noon, a lunchtime panel on Women in Mathematics; the student group of the CMS have organised a Career Fair on Wednesday, a student career panel on Thursday as well as student special sessions. During the whole conference, there will be exhibits, as well the opportunity of trying out an educational mathematics game, Math en jeu/MathAmaze in the lobby of the Centre Mont-Royal. 

In a more social vein, we have a concert on Tuesday night (the Cecilia quartet) and our banquet, with minimal speeches, on Thursday. As well, Montreal is celebrating its 375th anniversary this year (any excuse for a party), and there is a variety of activities laid on throughout the city.  

The conference is being held in several venues, in an effort to reconcile the requirements of large rooms for the plenaries and the need for a large number of smaller rooms for the special sessions. The organisational core of the conference is at the Centre Mont-Royal, opposite McGill University, downtown; the first day is being held at the Université de Montréal, taking advantage of their large Ernest Cormier hall for the opening and some of the plenaries; the rest of the week is back downtown, with plenaries and invited lectures at the Centre Mont-Royal, and the special sessions across the McGill central campus.  Maps and instructions are given below.

There are many people to thank in the organisation of an event of this scale; our sponsors, for their support; our fellow members of the Mathematical Council of the Americas, our Scientific Committee, the Special Sessions committee, our Organizing Committee, all of whose members have done sterling work; and most particularly Brian Boe at the AMS for his steadfast contributions to our collective enterprise, and the staff at the CMS, in particular Sarah Watson, for their assistance in making all of this actually happen.

Michael Bennett,
Susan Friedlander, 
Jacques Hurtubise,
Marcelo Viana.