ILAS-Net 2026
Message Archive
| 2026 Apr 30 ILAS-NET Message no. 2637 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Froilán M. Dopico SUBJECT: 2026 ILAS BUSINESS MEETING AT 27th ILAS CONFERENCE (BLACKSBURG, VA, USA) Date-Time: Thursday, May 21, 4:15pm - 6:00pm Venue: McBryde Hall 100 (Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA) Agenda: A. Reading of Notice of Meeting. B. Review of the Minutes of Previous Meeting (see below). C. Report of President and Vice President. D. Report of Secretary/Treasurer. E. Reports of Committees. i) Education Committee (chair: Sepideh Stewart). ii) Outreach and Membership Committee (chair: Shahla Nasserasr). iii) Journals Committee (chair: Zlatko Drmac). iv) Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra (Editor in Chief: Vanni Noferini). v) IMAGE (Editor in Chief: Louis Deaett). F. Any other business G. Adjournment. Below are the minutes of the last Business Meeting held in 2025 in Kaohsiung. 2025 ILAS Business Meeting at Kaohsiung 26th ILAS conference Date-Time: Wednesday, June 25, 13:00h - 14:00h Venue: SYS Hall (National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan) Agenda: A. Reading of Notice of Meeting. B. Review of the Minutes of Previous Meeting. C. Report of Secretary/Treasurer. D. Reports of Committees. i) Education Committee (chair: Sepideh Stewart). ii) Outreach and Membership Committee (chair: Shahla Nasserasr). iii) Journals Committee (chair: Heike Fassbender replaced in the meeting by Froilán Dopico). iv) Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra (Editor: Froilán Dopico). v) IMAGE (Editor: Louis Deaett). E. Next ILAS 2026 Conference “Linear Algebra on the Blue Ridge: Panoramas of Theory and Application”, Blacksburg, Virginia, May 18-22, 2026, on the campus of Virginia Tech (Christopher Beattie). F. Report of President and Vice-President. G. Any other business H. Adjournment. President Szyld called the meeting to order at 13:00h local time in Kaohsiung. Vice-President Dopico observed that about 63 ILAS members were in attendance and that the quorum was met, as stated by ILAS Bylaws. A. Reading of Notice of Meeting President Szyld read the notice of the meeting. B. Review of the minutes of previous meeting Minutes of the 2023 Business Meeting held in Madrid (Spain) on Wednesday June 14, 2023, were approved. C. Report of Secretary/Treasurer Treasurer Catral briefly presented the ILAS Treasurer’s Report for 2024–2025, which had already been published in issue 74 of IMAGE. She noted that ILAS is in good financial state, with a balance of \$315,621.32 as of March 31, 2025. President Szyld emphasized that ILAS always has cash reserves sufficient to cover at least six years of operations. D. Reports of Committees i. Education Committee Sepideh Stewart reported that the Education Committee was composed of Anthony Cronin, Rachel Quinlan, Sepideh Stewart (Chair), and David Strong as of June, 2025. She announced that Fernando De Terán, Jephian C.-H. Lin, and Helena Šmigoc had accepted the invitation to serve on the committee. Thus, the composition of the Education Committee at the time of the Business Meeting was Anthony Cronin, Fernando De Terán, Jephian C.-H. Lin, Rachel Quinlan, Helena Šmigoc, Sepideh Stewart (chair), and David Strong. Sepideh reported that Judi McDonald had stepped down from the Education Committee at the beginning of 2025 and that the members of the Committee wanted to express their sincere thanks to Judi for her work on the committee (2021-2024). One of Judi’s ideas was to hold ILAS educational monthly seminars on Zoom, record the talks, and make them available on the ILAS education webpage so that the community could benefit. Sepideh Stewart reported that Anthony Cronin’s term as the IMAGE editor for education ended in Spring 2024 and thanked Anthony for his work as contributing editor for education. Sepideh announced that she had filled this position for now. Sepideh informed that IMAGE had published two education articles in the past year and encouraged ILAS members to contact her if they would like to contribute an education article to IMAGE. Sepideh Stewart reported on the publication in the journal PRIMUS of the special issue Linear Algebra Education: An International Perspective, promoted by the ILAS Education Committee. Sepideh explained that the Committee’s proposal for a special issue related to Linear Algebra in PRIMUS (Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies) got accepted on June 24, 2022. She also explained that, established in 1991, PRIMUS is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the teaching of undergraduate mathematics. The call for papers was due in February 2023. The special issue received 25 submitted papers, 13 of which were accepted. The ILAS Education Committee members in those days, Anthony Cronin, Rachel Quinlan, Judi McDonald, Sepideh Stewart, and David Strong acted as guest associate editors of this special issue of PRIMUS. Sepideh informed that, at the time of the Business Meeting, the Education Committee was seeking a suitable journal to submit papers from the education mini-symposium held at the 2025 ILAS Conference in Kaohsiung (and from other special sessions/workshops). As soon as the Committee chooses one, it will be announced to the ILAS Community. Sepideh Stewart concluded by stating that the Education Committee focuses on ILAS and its goals and looks forward to serving the ILAS community in the coming years. To contact the committee, please visit https://la-education.oucreate.com/. ii. Outreach and Membership Committee Shahla Nasserasr informed that the Outreach and Membership Committee is composed of Minerva Catral, Andrii Dmytryshyn, Federico Poloni, and Shahla Nasserasr (Chair). Shahla Nasserasr reported that (1) as of June 17, 2025, ILAS had 532 members; (2) the ILAS Corporate Sponsors are Birkhäuser / Springer, Elsevier Science, Inc., MathWorks, World Scientific Publishing Co., and Taylor & Francis Group – Informa UK Ltd.; and (3) ILAS is present in social media via Facebook and X. With respect to Community Engagement, Shahla Nasserasr emphasized that: (1) since the last ILAS Conference the committee had done an important effort to collect demographic data of ILAS members (see below for more information on this); (2) the committee maintains Wikipedia pages for ILAS and ELA, in a joint effort with other committees; and (3) the committee develops different activities and advertisements in large conference, as the ILAS Conferences and JMMs, with the goal of recruiting new ILAS members and advertise ILAS and its activities to other communities. Shahla Nasserasr recalled that students can join ILAS for free and suggested to the audience to encourage their students to join ILAS. Finally, Shahla Nasserasr summarized the results of the 2023 Questionnaire. The main points are: (1) Research areas: around 160 ILAS members chose “Linear Algebra and Matrix Theory” among their research areas; around 65 members chose “Numerical Linear Algebra and Matrix Computations”; around 50 chose “Graphs”; around 30 “Combinatorics”; around 30 “Operator Theory”; and around 25 “Numerical Analysis”. Other options were chosen much less frequently. (2) The region of institutions: around 100 ILAS members answered North America; around 45 answered Western Europe; around 25 Southern Europe; around 20 Southeastern Asia; and around 15 Central and South Asia. Other regions were chosen by less than 10 members. (3) Academic rank: around 80 ILAS members answered that they are Professors; around 50 Associate Professors; around 40 retired. The number of ILAS members who answered that they belong to each of the other categories is less than 20. (4) The number of years as an ILAS member: almost 160 ILAS Members answered that they were members for more than 3 years; around 50 for 1 year; around 30 for 2 years; and around 10 for 3 years. (5) The number of ILAS meetings attended: around 75 ILAS members answered that they have attended more than 3 meetings; around 65 that they have not attended any ILAS meeting; around 45 have attended 1 meeting; around 35 have attended 2 meetings; and around 25 have attended 3 meetings. (6) Gender identity: around 175 ILAS members chose male and around 70 female. The number of members who chose other gender identities was very small. iii. Journals Committee Vice-President Dopico read the following report sent by Heike Fassbender, Chair of the Committee: “Since the last ILAS Business Meeting in 2023, the Journals Committee (JC) has met online three times to review and discuss matters related to The Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra (ELA) and IMAGE. At each meeting, the annual reports for ELA and IMAGE were presented and thoroughly discussed. In addition, some issues were discussed via email. The Journals Committee is composed of Louis Deaett (for IMAGE), Froilán Dopico (for ELA), Zlatko Drmac, Shaun Fallat, Heike Fassbender (Chair), and Daniel Szyld (as ILAS president). (1) Meeting September 2023. The main focus of this meeting was ELA, particularly the implementation of the updated ILAS Bylaws with respect to ELA. This included: (a) The appointment or renewal of ELA Editors whose terms were set to end on December 31, 2023; (b) Proposals to promote Associate Editors to the Advisory Board; and (c) Recommendations for new Associate Editors. (2) Meeting of April 2024. The committee reviewed the initial feedback regarding the significant changes in ELA’s editorial team. Froilán reported a positive impact of these changes. The JC agreed that more visibility for the new team among ILAS members would be beneficial. To enhance ELA’s visibility and citation impact, Froilán invited several ILAS plenary speakers to submit review articles - a move welcomed by the committee. In addition, the JC agreed on a policy statement regarding the use of artificial intelligence and large language models (in line with policies from organizations such as SIAM). This statement was posted on the ELA website. It was also noted that Froilán’s second term as ELA Editor-in-Chief (EiC) and Managing Editor will conclude in July 2025. For IMAGE, the discussion highlighted the need for new editors for the Feature Section, Interview Section, and Problem Corner. Ideas were also shared to improve the IMAGE website and increase the discoverability of its content. (3) Email discussion at end of 2024: The JC briefly discussed renewals for some of ELA’s Associate Editors via email. (4) Meeting of June 2025. Froilán’s term as ELA Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor will officially end on July 31, 2025. Vanni Noferini will succeed him starting August 1. Vanni began his training for this role in May. The JC provided him with guidance and recommendations to support a smooth transition. The JC also took the opportunity to express its sincere gratitude to Froilán for his outstanding work and dedication as Editor-in-Chief. His leadership has played a key role in enhancing the quality and reputation of ELA, and the committee deeply appreciates his valuable contributions over the years. On the IMAGE side, a new editor for the Problem Corner has been appointed. However, editors are still needed for the Feature and Interview Sections. Several suggestions, especially regarding the Interview Section, were discussed. It was also noted that Louis’s third term as IMAGE EiC will conclude next year.” iv. Report on the Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra (ELA) The Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of ELA, Froilán Dopico, stated as introduction that ELA’s primary goals are to publish high-quality papers that support and catalyze linear algebra research and to reach prompt decisions on submissions. The EiC remarked that the Editorial Board’s efforts to raise the quality of papers that appear in ELA continue, as are the efforts to speed up the handling of submissions. Froilán Dopico reported that ELA is working well from the point of view of editorial and copyediting flow and administration. He emphasized that the very recent Journal Citation Reports (JCR) metrics of Clarivate for ELA, released on June 18, 2025, showed a significant improvement with respect to the metrics of previous years. Next, Froilán Dopico briefly discussed the replacement of the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of ELA. First, he recalled that his second consecutive 3-year term as EiC will end on July 31, 2025, and that according to the ILAS-Bylaws “The Editors-in-Chiefs may not serve more than two (2) consecutive terms”. Therefore, Vanni Noferini (Aalto University, Finland) was appointed as new EiC starting on August 1, 2025, by the ILAS President at the direction of the Board of Directors and after consultation with the Journals Committee. Froilán Dopico informed that he was already working with Vanni Noferini to organize a smooth transition between EiCs. At that moment, Vanni Noferini took the floor to thank Froilán Dopico for his work as Editor-in-Chief and to express his commitment to maintaining the journal’s high standards and reputation, working for these goals in his own style. Next, the EiC reported the following data for the year 2024 (as of June 3, 2025): · ELA received 259 new submissions of which: 8 were still under review, 46 were already accepted or published, 175 were rejected outright, i.e., without sending them to reviewers, by the EiC (often in collaboration with Advisory and Associate Editors) or directly by some Editors (after discussion with the EiC), 28 were rejected after review and 2 were withdrawn by the authors. · This amounts to 78.39% of total rejections and 67.57% of outright rejections · These data were like those of previous years. · In 2024, ELA (Vol. 40) published 49 papers and 818 pages (to be compared with 43 and 660 in 2023 (Vol. 39); and 56 and 851 in 2022 (Vol. 38)). The EiC presented detailed data on rankings and impact factors taken from the JCR-Clarivate (2024 edition) on ELA and, for the sake of comparison, on other linear algebra related journals. These journals were LAA, LAMA, SIMAX, Operators & Matrices and Special Matrices. The EiC emphasized that ELA was ranked in Q2 (second quartile) in the category Mathematics for the first time since 2017 and expressed that a realistic ranking goal for ELA is to stay Q2 in a stable manner in the category Mathematics. With respect to the comparison with the other journals previously mentioned ranked in the category Mathematics (this excluded SIMAX), the EiC mentioned that ELA was, as usual, below LAA and LAMA and above Operators & Matrices. Froilán Dopico remarked that Special Matrices is now in scene and in Q2, but that it receives very few total citations per year and, so, that it is difficult to predict its evolution. The EiC emphasized that the key for improving the quality and reputation of ELA is to attract greater participation in the content of ELA by ILAS members, since this participation is currently limited. The EiC strongly encouraged the people in the audience to submit good papers to ELA since it is the research journal of ILAS. Finally, Froilán Dopico observed that this was his last ILAS Business meeting as EiC of ELA, and thanked very much (1) the previous EiC, Michael Tsatsomeros, for the great experience of working together during 2.5 years, (2) all the Editors of ELA for their great work and support, (3) the Journals Committee (JC) for its support during his years as EiC of ELA and, in particular, the two chairs of the JC he worked with, Beatrice Meini and Heike Fassbender, (4) the two ILAS Presidents of his period as EiC (Peter Semrl and Daniel Szyld) for their trust, (5) the librarians of the University of Wyoming for all the technical support and for hosting the ELA website and the server, and (6) all the referees and all the authors of ELA for making ELA possible with their reports and papers. v. Report on IMAGE The EiC of IMAGE, Louis Deaett, began his report with the following overview of IMAGE. IMAGE is the semiannual bulletin of ILAS and it seeks to publish: articles (not research papers), interviews (“with senior linear algebraists”), book reviews, conference reports and announcements, news and official ILAS pronouncements, obituary notices (and obituaries), problems and solutions in the “Problem Corner”, and, in general, anything and everything of interest to the linear algebra community. Next, the EiC reported on the new editorial staff of IMAGE: Rachel Quinlan, Managing Editor (as of Spring 2024), Mohsen Aliabadi, Book Reviews editor (as of Fall 2023), and Jeffrey Stuart, Problem Corner editor (as of Fall 2024). Louis informed of the following open positions as Contributing Editors of IMAGE: education, feature articles, interviews and news editor. As a novelty in the content, the EiC reported that IMAGE now includes a list of ongoing online seminars. With respect to the circulation statistics of IMAGE, it was reported that the number of downloads were 140 and 84, respectively, for the Spring and Fall issues of 2022, 189 and 127 for the Spring and Fall issues of 2023, and 185 for the Fall issue of 2024. The data for the Spring issue of 2024 is not available. These numbers include only clicks through the ILAS website (and not through the link in the ILAS-NET e-mail or elsewhere). In addition, the recent switch from Google Analytics to Heap for website traffic tracking was reported. Louis Deaett remarked the following near-term goals: (1) find and appoint new editors for education articles, for feature articles, for interviews and for news items; (2) include more “local” awards and accomplishments of ILAS members, e.g., in the institutions of the members; (3) promote that the Conferences section includes more special sessions on linear algebra topics at conferences not specific to linear algebra; and (4) include more information in the IMAGE portion of the ILAS website; e.g., an index of interviews that have appeared. Finally, the EiC of IMAGE listed the following actions that ILAS members, or anyone interested in linear algebra, can do to help IMAGE: (1) send photos and reports from conferences; (2) send news about colleagues; (3) send information about sessions related to linear algebra at more general conferences; (4) send information about any online seminars devoted to linear algebra topics; (5) send news of awards and honors – and anything else noteworthy; (6) write an article (or propose an idea for one); (7) volunteer to cover positions in IMAGE. Questions/suggestions/submissions should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief at louis.deaett@qu.edu (or just type “ILAS IMAGE” into Google). E. Next ILAS 2026 Conference “Linear Algebra on the Blue Ridge: Panoramas of Theory and Application”, Blacksburg, Virginia, May 18-22, 2026, on the campus of Virginia Tech. Christopher Beattie from Virginia Tech presented the 27th Conference of the International Linear Algebra Society to be held on May 18-22, 2026 in the Campus of Virginia Tech in the town of Blacksburg and began by describing the hosting institution and town. Virginia Tech was founded in 1872 as the land-grant Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. Currently, it offers more than 110 undergraduate programs and 120 master’s and doctoral degree programs taught by 2,500 instructional faculty to more than 38,000 full-time students. The town of Blacksburg is located in Virginia between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains. It is a southern town flair with a blend of natural beauty, historical attractions, and a vibrant university atmosphere. It is easily reachable via Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport (ROA), approximately 45 minutes from Blacksburg. Between 15 official scenic hiking trails and 4 local breweries, in Blacksburg there is something for everyone. The team of local organizers for the 27th ILAS Conference consists of Christopher Beattie, Paul Cazeaux, Eric de Sturler, Mark Embree, Serkan Gugercin, Agnieszka Miedlar, Mirjeta Pasha, Megan Wawro and Steffen Werner. The Scientific Committee is formed by Shreemayee Bora (IIT Guwahati), Geir Dahl (University of Oslo), Eric de Sturler (Virginia Tech), Ioana Dumitriu (University of California San Diego), Stefan Güttel (University of Manchester), Misha Kilmer (Tufts University), Agnieszka Miedlar (Virginia Tech), André Ran (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Helena Smigoc (University College Dublin), David Strong (Pepperdine University), Daniel Szyld (Temple University, ILAS President), Raf Vandebril (KU Leuven, ILAS Vice-President for Conferences) and Heather Wilber (University of Washington). Christopher Beattie concluded his presentation by encouraging attendees to participate in the 27th ILAS Conference and announcing its website. F. Report of President and Vice-President President Szyld began with a personal note. He reminded the audience that this was his last Business Meeting as President of the Society because February 28, 2026, will be the end of his second term. He admitted that it was a great honor to serve in this capacity and sail the ship of ILAS for the last six years. President Szyld said that it was great to work closely with Hugo Woerdeman and Froilán Dopico as Vice-Presidents, Leslie Hogben, Minerva Catral and Michael Tait in the Treasurer Team, and Raf Vandebril as Vice-President for conferences. According to the President, these officers, together with everyone in the different roles and the committee members and chairs were responsible of keeping the ship of ILAS in the right route. Next, President Szyld reported that a committee chaired by Apoorva Khare recommended the ILAS Address speaker at the JMM 2026. They selected Dominique Guillot, from the University of Delaware, to represent ILAS on the stage. ILAS will also have six special sessions, so there will be like 50 ILAS talks at the JMM in January 2026 in Washington DC. President Szyld expressed his desire to see many of the participants in the Business Meeting at the JMM and, of course, in May at the 2026 ILAS Conference in Virginia Tech. Next, the subject changed to the ILAS Elections coming in November to elect the next President and two new members of the Board of Directors to replace who are rotating off on February 28, 2026. President Szyld reported that in February 2025, the Board approved a change of the election method to vote using ranked choice, and that, at that time, he announced this on the ILAS-NET. President Szyld explained the ranked choice voting system as follows: “This means that each voter will rank all the candidates by order of preference 1-2-3, etc. If no candidate receives more than 50% of first votes, the candidate with fewest first votes gets eliminated and all the votes are re-evaluated without that candidate. The process is repeated until one candidate wins with more than half of first votes (the positions in each ballot are counted after all the eliminated candidates are removed) or until the number of remaining candidates is equal to the number of slots to fill”. Then, President Szyld informed that for the next elections the Nominating Committee consisted of Federico Poloni, Rachel Quinlan, Bryan Shader (Chair), Pauline van den Driessche, and Paul Van Dooren and that it was appointed according to the Bylaws of our Society. As previously announced, the Nominating Committee nominated as candidates for ILAS President to Shaun Fallat (U. Regina), Leslie Hogben (American Institute of Mathematics and Iowa State University) and Apoorva Khare (Indian Institute of Mathematics). President Szyld observed that the three candidates for president were in the audience and encouraged the ILAS members to talk to them during the 2025 ILAS conference and to look for the election materials, that will be available in a few months, with their bios and vision statements. Then, the nominees for the Board of Directors were also announced. They are Aida Abiad Monge (Eindhoven University), Andrii Dmytryshyn (Chalmers University, Sweden), Christian Mehl (Technische Universität-Berlin) and Shahla Nasserasr (Rochester Institute of Mathematics). President Szyld reminded that every ILAS member can vote in the elections and strongly encouraged all the members to vote and, in this way, be represented by the new leadership. He reminded that attendees at the Business Meeting who are not still ILAS members had the chance to become a member during the conference and have their votes influence the direction of the Society. President Szyld reminded that when the nominations for officers by the Nominating Committee are announced, the membership has the opportunity to add candidates by petition. The current Bylaws indicate that any three members can support a candidate and this suffices, together with the approval of the nominee. President Szyld reported that at the meeting of the Board of Directors held last night it was approved to change the number of three members to “any number of members of the Society larger than or equal to the 5% of the total number of members of the Society”, thus indicating a larger minimum of support. Though this change was well received, a discussion arose in relation to Article 10.2 of the Bylaws which reads “2. The President shall circulate over ILAS Net and/or another appropriate electronic net the nominations for officers by the Nominating Committee made under Article 6 Section 2(B) and shall inform the membership of the possibility for additional nominations as provided by the said article. At least two weeks shall be allowed for the additional nominations.” Several ILAS members considered the period of two weeks too short for the additional nominations in view of the new approved requirement of getting the support of 5% of the total number of members of the Society. After a brief discussion, it was approved by consensus to replace the sentence “At least two weeks shall be allowed for the additional nominations.” in Article 10.2 by “At least four weeks shall be allowed for the additional nominations.” President Szyld then moved to talk about how the current ILAS officers are spending the money of the Society beyond the usual initiatives, including the support for non-ILAS conferences of Linear Algebra. He remarked that this would answer in part a question we had in our last Business Meeting in 2023, which was: “what would we do if we had more money?” President Szyld said that, in his perspective, ILAS is a small society, but nimble. ILAS does not have paid staff. We, i.e., all the officers and members of committees, are faithful volunteers and every new initiative we start is small. We do not want to over-reach, but we want to keep supporting ILAS members, making sure that our conferences registration fees are low and that students and early career colleagues can attend the conferences and thrive in their profession. President Szyld continued reporting that this year the Board of Directors increased the amount and the number of supported students and early career members attending the 2025 ILAS Conference in Kaohsiung. Moreover, ILAS started in 2023 to give childcare grants and four such grants had been awarded for the conference in Kaohsiung. ILAS also established in 2022 a grant program in support of Mathematicians working in Linear Algebra affected by conflicts, and this year 2025 one of such grant was awarded. President Szyld changed the subject and reminded that in the 2023 Business Meeting, ILAS officers were asked about the efforts of ILAS to have an inclusive representation. He said the following in this regard: “This is the response I should have said then. We are a diverse society, where not everyone is a white male, and this is well represented at all levels in our leadership, candidates and committees. Many young members are making important contributions to the running of the society. Many of our committees are chaired by women and in all of them women are well represented. Since that question, we took additional steps as, for instance, we rename the “ILAS Taussky-Todd prize” to “ILAS Olga Taussky and John Todd Prize” to underscore that the prize is indeed name after a woman (and her husband). We have been discussing the possibility of having a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee to help us in this regard. The process continues, so stay tuned.” President Szyld encouraged ILAS Members to contact Secretary/Treasurer Minerva Catral and Assistant Secretary/Treasurer Michael Tait about initiatives related to the DEI Committee, since they will work on the charges of that potential committee. G. Any other business President Szyld asked if somebody wanted to discuss any other issue. No other issues were discussed. H. Adjournment President Szyld thanked all participants and attendees and adjourned the meeting at 14:00h local time in Kaohsiung. Respectfully submitted by Froilán Dopico, Vice-President of ILAS. |
| 2026 Apr 23 ILAS-NET Message no. 2636 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Shaun Fallat SUBJECT: ILAS Special Sessions for the JMM 2027 - Reminder Proposals for ILAS Special Sessions at JMM 2027 are due by May 5, 2026. We encourage interested members to submit proposals through the Call for Proposals link below: https://meetings.ams.org/math/jmm2027/cfs.cgi In addition, please email the session title and proposal to the Vice-President for Conferences, Raf Vandebril (raf.vandebril@kuleuven.be). |
| 2026 Apr 9 ILAS-NET Message no. 2635 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Shaun Fallat SUBJECT: John von Neumann Fulbright Award We are delighted to share the exciting news that Chi‑Kwong has received the John von Neumann Distinguished Award in STEM, a highly prestigious honor of the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. This outstanding recognition will support his visits to the Bolyai Institute at the University of Szeged in Spring 2027 and Spring 2028, where he will engage in cutting‑edge research and inspiring educational activities in quantum information science and related areas. We congratulate Chi‑Kwong on this remarkable achievement and look forward to the impactful collaborations and discoveries that will be forthcoming. |
| 2026 Apr 9 ILAS-NET Message no. 2634 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Shaun Fallat SUBJECT: ILAS Address and Special Sessions for the JMM 2027 ILAS is beginning preparations for its participation in the 2027 Joint Mathematical Meetings (JMM), to be held in Chicago, Illinois, from January 12–15, 2027. I am pleased to announce that the ILAS Invited Address will be delivered by Professor Misha Kilmer of Tufts University. Please note that proposals for ILAS Special Sessions at JMM 2027 are due by May 5, 2026. We encourage interested members to submit proposals through the Call for Proposals link below: https://meetings.ams.org/math/jmm2027/cfs.cgi In addition, please email the session title and proposal to the Vice-President for Conferences, Raf Vandebril (raf.vandebril@kuleuven.be). 2026 Apr 9 ILAS-NET Message no. 2634 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Shaun Fallat SUBJECT: ILAS Address and Special Sessions for the JMM 2027 ILAS is beginning preparations for its participation in the 2027 Joint Mathematical Meetings (JMM), to be held in Chicago, Illinois, from January 12–15, 2027. I am pleased to announce that the ILAS Invited Address will be delivered by Professor Misha Kilmer of Tufts University. Please note that proposals for ILAS Special Sessions at JMM 2027 are due by May 5, 2026. We encourage interested members to submit proposals through the Call for Proposals link below: https://meetings.ams.org/math/jmm2027/cfs.cgi In addition, please email the session title and proposal to the Vice-President for Conferences, Raf Vandebril (raf.vandebril@kuleuven.be). |
| 2026 Apr 2 ILAS-NET Message no. 2633 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Shaun Fallat SUBJECT: Stefan Guettel SIAM Fellow Warmest congratulations to ILAS member Stefan Güttel, who has been named a 2026 SIAM Fellow! The International Linear Algebra Society is immensely proud to celebrate this well‑deserved achievement. On behalf of ILAS, I extend our heartfelt congratulations to Stefan and join SIAM in applauding the remarkable accomplishments of the entire 2026 Class of SIAM Fellows. |
| 2026 Mar 13 ILAS-NET Message no. 2632 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Shaun Fallat SUBJECT: Western Canadian Linear Algebra Meeting (WCLAM 2026) Western Canadian Linear Algebra Meeting (WCLAM 2026) Capilano University, North Vancouver, Canada May 30–31, 2026 The Western Canadian Linear Algebra Meeting (WCLAM 2026) will take place at Capilano University in North Vancouver, British Columbia, on May 30–31, 2026. WCLAM is a longstanding regional conference devoted to linear algebra and its applications. The program will feature invited plenary talks, 20–25 minute contributed talks, and a poster session. Researchers at all stages—especially graduate students and postdoctoral fellows—are warmly encouraged to participate. We are also proud to acknowledge that WCLAM 2026 will run in hybrid format welcoming both in-person and virtual participation. Confirmed Plenary Speakers: Minerva Catral (Xavier University, USA) Beatrice Meini (University of Pisa, Italy) Pietro Paparella (University of Washington – Bothell, USA) *** Updated: Additional Conference information—including registration details, abstract submission link, accommodation options have now been posted on the conference website: https://capilanou.ca/wclam-2026 Abstract submission Deadline: April 30, 2026 Organizing committee: Hadi Kharaghani, Shaun Fallat, Steve Kirkland, Mike Tsatsomeros, Sarah Plosker, and Pauline van den Driessche, together with a local organizing team at Capilano University led by Amir Amiraslani. |
| 2026 Mar 7 ILAS-NET Message no. 2631 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Shaun Fallat SUBJECT: Message from the new President of ILAS I thank the ILAS membership for giving me this special opportunity to serve the Society as President over the next three years. When I look at the past Presidents who have led ILAS throughout its existence, I am both eager to follow in their footsteps and reassured knowing the Society is in a strong position. I want to extend a huge thank you to Daniel Sylzd, the former ILAS President, who has worked tirelessly for ILAS over the past six years. I also wish to thank Daniel personally for taking me under his wing over the past couple of months. I am comforted to know he will be close by to provide guidance and support. I further want to thank everyone who has reached out to express their support as I move into this important role for ILAS. As your elected President, please feel free to contact me at any time with ideas, thoughts, or concerns. My mission is to serve you—the membership—to the best of my ability and to work with the fantastic teams on both the Executive Board and the ILAS Board over the next three years. Thank you for this incredible honor and for this opportunity. Dr. Shaun Fallat Professor Department of Math & Stats University of Regina |
| 2026 Mar 4 ILAS-NET Message no. 2630 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Angeles Carmona Mejias SUBJECT: Conference Announcement – ALAMA 2026, Huelva, Spain Dear All, On behalf of the General Foundation of the University of Alcalá, acting as the Technical Secretariat of ALAMA 2026, we are pleased to announce the IX Biennial Meeting of the Thematic Network on Linear Algebra, Matrix Analysis and Applications (ALAMA). The meeting will take place from June 17–19, 2026, in Huelva (Spain), hosted by the Faculty of Experimental Sciences at the University of Huelva. We warmly invite researchers interested in presenting their work to submit a contribution. The submission period is currently open and will close soon on March 5, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. (CET). Detailed information about submissions, the scientific program, and practical matters is available at: https://congresosalcala.fgua.es/alama2026/ficha/6351/provisionalschedule/ Contributions must be submitted exclusively through: https://congresosalcala.fgua.es/alama2026/envio_comunicaciones/6408/envio-online/ Registration is open until June 12, 2026. A reduced fee is available until April 20, 2026: https://congresosalcala.fgua.es/alama2026/inscripcion/6481/online-registration All relevant information is available at: www.alama2026.com Thank you for your attention. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further information. Kind regards, Technical Secretariat of ALAMA 2026 Departamento de Formación y Congresos Tel.: +34 91 879 74 30 (Ext. 7476) www.fgua.es |
| 2026 Mar 2 ILAS-NET Message no. 2629 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Raf Vandebril SUBJECT: Call for Proposals for the ILAS 2028 Conference Dear Colleagues, The International Linear Algebra Society (ILAS) is pleased to invite proposals to host the ILAS 2028 and ILAS 2029 Conference. Please note that there will be no ILAS conference in 2027 due to the SIAM/LA Meeting taking place that year. If you are interested in hosting the 2028 or 2029 conference, we encourage you to contact Raf Vandebril, Vice-President for Conferences, or Shaun Fallat, ILAS President, who will be happy to provide further details. We look forward to hearing from you. Best regards, Raf Vandebril Vice-President for Conferences Shaun Fallat ILAS President |
| 2026 Feb 27 ILAS-NET Message no. 2628 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Daniel B. Szyld SUBJECT: JMM 27 ILAS Address, Special Sessions, and more We are happy to announce that the ILAS Address at the Joint Mathematics Meeting 2027 will be given by Misha Kilmer from Tuft University. The meeting will take place in Chicago on January 12-15, 2027. I take the opportunity to thank the JMM ILAS Address Committee: Orly Alter, Angeles Carmona, Mark Embree, Apoorva Khare (Chair) for their work over the last three years. As always, ILAS will sponsor several special sessions at the JMM. Please consider submitting a proposal. The deadline is in two months, so it is not too early to start planning for them. Lastly, this is my last communication as ILAS President, as my second term is coming to an end. I want to express my deep appreciation to all of you, the members, for the support for the Society and its activities. For me, it was an honor to serve, and I look forward to being the Past-President for a year, under the guidance of our new President Shaun Fallat. |
| 2026 Feb 20 ILAS-NET Message no. 2627 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Daniel B. Szyld SUBJECT: Bob Plemmons (1938-2026), Beresford Parlett (1932-2026) The ILAS Community lost to dear colleagues earlier this month. Bob Plemmons, who among many contributions co-wrote with Avi Berman the classic book "Nonnegative Matrices in the Mathematical Sciences." https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/winstonsalem/name/robert-plemmons-obituary?id=60741519 https://inside.wfu.edu/2026/02/retired-faculty-member-robert-bob-plemmons-has-passed-away/ Beresford Partlett, who among many contributions wrote the book "The Symmetric Eigenvalue Problem," and who was awarded the Hasn Schneider Prize in 2010. https://eecs.berkeley.edu/news/in-memoriam-beresford-parlett-1932-2026/ https://blogs.mathworks.com/cleve/2026/02/10/beresford-parlett/ |
| 2026 Feb 20 ILAS-NET Message no. 2626 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Jephian C.-H. Lin SUBJECT: Conference announcements and reports in IMAGE Dear ILAS members, IMAGE - the ILAS' bulletin will release its next issue in June. If you are organizing or have organized an event, you are encouraged to submit the announcement or the report for it, and we would be happy to include them in the "Upcoming Conferences and Workshops" or the "Conference Reports" sections of IMAGE. If you are interested in doing so, please send your announcement / report to jephianlin [at] gmail [dot] com by April 15th. And please feel free to let me know if you have any questions through the same email address. Many thanks, Jephian C.-H. Lin Conference Editor of ILAS IMAGE |
| 2026 Feb 16 ILAS-NET Message no. 2625 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Juan-Miguel Gracia Melero SUBJECT: Ferran Puerta (1936-2026) Dear ILAS colleagues, It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Ferran Puerta on 11 February during surgery. An engineer, physicist and mathematician, he made a decisive contribution to the training of generations of researchers in Geometry, Algebra and Linear Algebra, and their applications, through his work in research and the writing of textbooks. He also played a key role in the early development of ILAS. In particular, he organised one of its first conferences, the eighth, in Barcelona in 1999. He was a vital and enthusiastic man who left a profound mark on many of us. May he rest in peace. Juan-Miguel Gracia and Ion Zaballa |
| 2026 Feb 11 ILAS-NET Message no. 2624 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Shahla Nasserasr SUBJECT: Linear Algebra Community Inclusivity Survey We are working to make our linear algebra community more inclusive and equitable, and your perspective matters! We invite you to take a few minutes to complete this Qualtrics questionnaire: https://rit.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aXBi5OZhLOY4SJU All questions are optional, so you may answer as many or as few as you wish. Responses will be used to help guide initiatives that support members and foster the continued growth of our community. Best wishes, Shahla Nasserasr on behalf of the Outreach and Membership Committee (Minerva Catral, Andrii Dmytryshyn, and Federico Poloni) |
| 2026 Jan 12 ILAS-NET Message no. 2623 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Daniel B. Szyld SUBJECT: ILAS Lectures at Non-ILAS Conferences and General Support of Non-ILAS Conferences and Seminars As part of ILAS's commitment to supporting activities in Linear Algebra, the Society maintains a program of providing some support to non-ILAS conferences. This financial support may take one of two forms (a conference may apply for only one of these two forms). ILAS Lectureships at non-ILAS conferences. It is expected that ILAS lecturers will be of the stature of plenary speakers at ILAS conferences and may be supported by up to US\$1250 for expenses, or in the case of a Hans Schneider Lecturer, US\$1500. Reimbursement guidelines may be obtained from the Secretary/Treasurer. General support of conferences of up to \$1000. Such support could be used for support of student expenses, expenses for participants from developing countries, or plenary speakers. Refreshment costs are not eligible. You are welcome to consult the President of ILAS about what you may propose. This is a reminder that there is a deadline of 30 September 2026 for receipt of proposals for sponsorship of ILAS Lectures at non-ILAS meetings and for general support of conferences taking place in 2027. Please note that we will not be able to consider applications submitted after the deadline as it is important to rank all applications in one go. Each proposal is automatically assumed to be also a request for the ILAS endorsement of the conference. A statement whether the conference will adhere to the ILAS Welcoming and Inclusiveness Statement should be included in the proposal (and appropriate statement in the conference website). Further details on the guidelines for proposals can be found at the following link: https://ilasic.org/non-ilas-guidelines/ In addition, ILAS may endorse a Non-ILAS conference, without financial support. Such endorsed meetings can list ILAS' endorsement on their website, and in turn, the conferences are listed on the website of ILAS-Endorsed Meetings: https://ilasic.org/conferences/#ilas-endorsed-meetings |
| 2026 Jan 12 ILAS-NET Message no. 2622 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Tin Yau Tam SUBJECT: 2026 Spring Biweekly Matrix Seminar on Zoom at UNR The 2026 Spring Biweekly Matrix Seminar at the University of Nevada, Reno, USA will be held on Zoom at 4:15-5:15pm on Fridays (US Pacific Time). All are welcome to join. The first talk will be held on January 30, 2026. For the talk schedule, see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MswSd16JqsZE294kYCXujLio4cnAiuYv6QKRc6BxvI0/edit# The Zoom link is https://unr.zoom.us/j/89946992179 Please contact Pan Shun Lau at plau@unr.edu if you have any questions. Best regards, Pan Shun Lau and Tin-Yau Tam |
| 2025 Jan 12 ILAS-NET Message no. 2621 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Fabio Durastante SUBJECT: PSCToolkit release Announcement: PSBLAS 3.9.0 and AMG4PSBLAS 1.2.0 We are pleased to announce the release of the newest versions of the two core components in the PSCToolkit suite. PSBLAS (Parallel Sparse BLAS) is the distributed sparse linear algebra library at the heart of PSCToolkit. It provides scalable and efficient support for parallel sparse matrix operations, iterative solvers, distributed memory execution, and interfaces to high-performance computing environments. Highlights in 3.9.0: - Direct support for GPU acceleration, no longer requiring PSBLAS-EXT - CMake installation support, in addition to configure/make - Improved C interface for easier C/C++ integration Download: https://psctoolkit.github.io/products/psblas/ AMG4PSBLAS is the algebraic multigrid preconditioner package designed to work seamlessly with PSBLAS. It implements highly parallel multilevel preconditioners optimized for large-scale iterative solvers. Key features in 1.2.0: - New polynomial smoothers optimized for GPU architectures - CMake support for easier building and integration - Improved C interface for better C/C++ usability Download: https://psctoolkit.github.io/products/amg4psblas/ # Getting Started Both libraries include source code, documentation, and examples. They can be built using configure/make or CMake and are designed to support HPC environments with MPI and optional GPU support. For support, documentation, and issue reporting, visit the PSCToolkit GitHub organization or the project websites. Best regards, The PSCToolkit Team Pasqua D'Ambra Fabio Durastante Salvatore Filippone |
| 2026 Jan 09 ILAS-NET Message no. 2620 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Apoorva Khare SUBJECT: Call for nominations for the 2027 ILAS JMM Lecturer Dear ILAS members, We are soliciting suggestions for the ILAS Lecturer at the 2027 Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) in Chicago, USA, during 12–15 January 2027. The ILAS JMM Lecturer will represent ILAS via an Invited Address, and could also organize one or more special sessions at the JMM. A list of past ILAS JMM speakers is available at https://ilasic.org/ilas-jmm-lecturers/. Please send your suggestions for ILAS JMM Lecturers, along with a short justification and a CV, if possible, to Apoorva Khare (khare@iisc.ac.in) by 31 January 2026. We look forward to hearing from you, and with best regards, Apoorva Khare on behalf of the ILAS JMM Speaker Committee [Orly Alter, Ángeles Carmona, Mark Embree, and Daniel Szyld] |
| 2026 Jan 08 ILAS-NET Message no. 2619 CONTRIBUTED ANNOUNCEMENT FROM: Bryan L. Shader SUBJECT: Regional Research Conference on Strong Matrix Properties and the Inverse Eigenvalue Problem NSF-CBMS Regional Research Conference on Strong Matrix Properties and the Inverse Eigenvalue Problem Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA, May 11–15, 2026 Strong properties of matrices, modeled on the Strong Arnold Property, have led to significant recent advances on the Inverse Eigenvalue Problem for Graphs (See https://www.ams.org/notices/202002/rnoti-p257.pdf for an introductory overview). These new strong properties have also energized significant progress in the study of related invariants, such as the maximum multiplicity of an eigenvalue and the minimum number of distinct eigenvalues of a graph, and they have led to new connections with graph minors and graph propagation procedures. These connections have also given rise to new matrix theory questions and results, new forbidden minor characterizations, new minor-monotone graph parameters, and new graph theoretic questions and results. The conference will provide early-career researchers and graduate students, as well as established researchers, with access to cutting edge tools and ideas needed to explore this fruitful, new, and evolving area of mathematics. The conference is one of five Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences (CBMS) Regional Research Conferences in the 2025–2026 series, each of which is partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and features a distinguished team of lecturers delivering a sequence of lectures on a topic of important current research in one sharply focused area of the mathematical sciences. The primary speakers for this conference are: Bryan Shader (University of Wyoming) Helena Šmigoc (University College Dublin) Kevin N. Vander Meulen (Redeemer University) Participation from all countries is encouraged. Support of up to US\$700 will be available for up to 30 participants affiliated with U.S. institutions with preference given to graduate students and junior faculty. The online application can be found at https://sites.google.com/emich.edu/cbms and the deadline to apply is January 23rd, 2026, with decisions available by February 1st. Questions can be directed to the organizer, Lon Mitchell (lon.mitchell@emich.edu). |