Chennai Mathematical Institute
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) is a higher education and research institute in
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. It was founded in 1989 by the SPIC Science Foundation, and offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
,
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
and
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
. CMI is noted for its research in
algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which uses abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, to solve geometry, geometrical problems. Classically, it studies zero of a function, zeros of multivariate polynomials; th ...
, in particular in the area of moduli of bundles. CMI was at first located in T. Nagar in the heart of Chennai in an office complex. It moved to a new campus in Siruseri in October 2005. In December 2006, CMI was recognized as a university under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act 1956, making it a
deemed university In India, a deemed university or deemed-to-be-university is an accreditation granted to higher educational institutions by the Ministry of Education. According to the ministry's definition, the accreditation indicates, "an Institution of higher ...
. Until then, the teaching program was offered in association with Bhoj Open University, as it offered more flexibility.


History

CMI began as the School of Mathematics, SPIC Science Foundation, in 1989. The SPIC Science Foundation was set up in 1986 by Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC) Ltd., one of the major industrial houses in India, to foster the growth of science and technology in the country. In 1996, the School of Mathematics became an independent institution and changed its name to SPIC Mathematical Institute. In 1998, in order to better reflect the emerging role of the institute, it was renamed the Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI). From its inception, the institute has had a Ph.D. programme in Mathematics and Computer Science. In the initial years, the Ph.D. programme was affiliated to the BITS, Pilani and the
University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...
. In December 2006, CMI was recognized as a university under Section 3 of the UGC Act 1956. In 1998, CMI took the initiative to bridge the gap between teaching and research by starting B.Sc.(Hons.) and M.Sc. programmes in Mathematics and allied subjects. In 2001, the B.Sc. programme was extended to incorporate two courses with research components, leading to an M.Sc. degree in mathematics and an M.Sc. degree in Computer Science. In 2003, a new undergraduate course was added, leading to a B.Sc. degree in physics. In 2010, CMI launched a summer fellowship programme whereby they invited about 30 students from all over
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
to work under the faculty at CMI on various research projects. Later, in 2012, the B.Sc. degree in Physics was restructured as an integrated B.Sc. degree in Mathematics and Physics.


Campus

CMI moved into its new campus on of land at the SIPCOT Information Technology Park in Siruseri in October, 2005. The campus is located along the
Old Mahabalipuram Road State Highway 49A (SH-49A), also known as Rajiv Gandhi Salai and Rajiv Gandhi IT Expressway or just IT Expressway, is a major road connecting Chennai, Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of I ...
, which is developing as the IT corridor to the south of the city. The library block and the student's hostel were completed in late 2006 and become operational from January 2007. In 2006, CMI implemented a
grey water Greywater (or grey water, sullage, also spelled gray water in the United States) refers to domestic wastewater generated in households or office buildings from streams without fecal contamination, i.e., all streams except for the wastewater fro ...
recycling system on its campus. The system was designed for CMI by Sultan Ahmed Ismail to treat waste water produced after cleaning, washing and bathing to be used for gardening or ground water recharge. Construction is underway for a new building that will house an auditorium, accommodation for guests, as well as additional academic space - faculty offices, library and lecture halls. This construction is funded by a grant from the Ministry of Human Resource Development through the University Grants Commission. File:Buddha-CMI.jpg, Statue of Lord Buddha in Academic Block File:CMI library 4.JPG, Library File:CMI cricket ground.jpg, Cricket ground


Organisation and administration


Director

The founding director of CMI was C. S. Seshadri, who was known for his work in the area of
algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which uses abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, to solve geometry, geometrical problems. Classically, it studies zero of a function, zeros of multivariate polynomials; th ...
, especially moduli problems and
algebraic group In mathematics, an algebraic group is an algebraic variety endowed with a group structure that is compatible with its structure as an algebraic variety. Thus the study of algebraic groups belongs both to algebraic geometry and group theory. Man ...
s. He stepped down in 2010, after which Rajeeva L. Karandikar was appointed as director. Prof. Seshadri continued as Emeritus Director until his demise on 17 July 2020. Professor Madhavan Mukund was appointed as the new director in 2021.


Funding

CMI's funding comes from both private and government sources.


Government funding

* DAE: CMI receives support for its teaching programme from the Department of Atomic Energy, through the National Board of Higher Mathematics. *
ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister o ...
: The Indian Space Research Organization also funds CMI substantially. * DST and
DRDO The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, headqu ...
: For some of its projects, CMI receives funding from the Department of Science and Technology as well as the Defence Research and Development Organization.


Private funding

* The Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC) was an important founder of CMI during its initial years. In fact, CMI started as the Spic Mathematical Institute. * Sriram Group of Companies is an important funder and also arranges for other funding for CMI. * Matrix Laboratories has made a major contribution to the new campus at the
SIPCOT IT Park SIPCOT IT Park is an Information Technology, IT park located in Siruseri in the city of Chennai, along the Rajiv Gandhi Salai, IT Corridor, Chengalpattu district, Chengalpattu District, India. It was developed on 782.51 acres (4 km2) of ...
. *
Infosys Infosys Limited is an Indian multinational corporation, multinational technology company that offers business consulting, information technology, and outsourcing services. Founded in 1981 in Pune, the company is headquartered in Bengaluru. On ...
Foundation recently donated a large corpus to CMI to enhance faculty compensation and fellowships for students.


Academics


Academic programmes

CMI has Ph.D. programmes in Computer Sciences, Mathematics and Physics. Recently, CMI has introduced the possibility of students pursuing a part-time Ph.D. at the institute. Since 1998, CMI has offered a B.Sc.(Hons) degree in Mathematics and Computer Science. This three-year program also includes courses in Humanities and Physics. Many students, after completion of the B.Sc. degree, have pursued higher studies in Mathematics and Computer Sciences from universities both in India and abroad. Some students also go into industry while others take up subjects such as finance. In 2001, CMI began separate M.Sc. programmes in Mathematics and in Computer Science. In 2009, CMI began to offer a new programme M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics, which is scheduled to be replaced with a new M.Sc. in Data Science programme in 201

. In 2003, CMI introduced a new three-year programme in the form of a B.Sc.(Hons) degree in physics. The course topics are largely in theoretical physics. CMI now has its own physics laboratory. From the academic year 2007–2008, the Physics students are having regular lab courses right from the first year. In the academic year 2005–2006, lab sessions for third-year students were conducted at
IIT Madras The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras or IIT-M) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the eight public Institutes of Eminence of India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), ...
based on an agreement. In the summer following their first year, physics students go to HBCSE (under
TIFR Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a leading research Institute under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It is a public deemed university located at Navy Nagar, Colaba in Mumbai. It also has a centres in B ...
) in
Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
for practical sessions and in the second year, they go to IGCAR, Kalpakkam. However, in 2012, the B.Sc. degree in Physics was restructured as an integrated B.Sc. degree in Mathematics and Physics. Degrees for the B.Sc. and M.Sc. programmes were earlier offered by MPBOU, the Madhya Pradesh Bhoj Open University and doctoral degrees by
Madras University The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...
. After CMI became a deemed university, it gives its own degrees. CMI awarded its first official degrees in August 2007. The batch sizes typically vary from 10 to 50 and the overall strength of CMI is about 150–200 students and 40–50 faculty members. Nearly all the CMI programmes are run in conjunction and coordination with programmes at IMSc, an institute for research in Mathematics, Theoretical Computer Science and Theoretical Physics, located in
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
.


Admission criteria

The entrance to each of these courses is based on a nationwide entrance test. The advertisement for this entrance test appears around the end of February or the beginning of March. The entrance test is held in the end of May and is usually scheduled so as not to clash with major entrance examinations. Results are given to students by the end of June. Students who have passed the Indian National Mathematics Olympiad get direct admission to the programme B.Sc.(Hons.) in Mathematics and Computer Science, and those who have passed the Indian National Physics Olympiad are offered direct entry to the B.Sc.(Hons.) in Physics programme. However, these students are also advised to fill in and send the application form some time in March. Students who pass the Indian National Olympiad in Informatics may be granted admission to the B.Sc.(Hons.) Mathematics and Computer Science programme. Admission is not guaranteed but is decided on a case-by-case basis by the admissions committee.


Fee structure and other payments

Till 2018, all students, including undergraduate students, were given a monthly stipend, subject to academic performance. The tuition was waived for students in good academic standing. In 2018, the fees were increased for all students with waivers available for students in good academic standing.


Arrangements with other Institutes

* Till 2006, students received their B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from MPBOU and their Ph.D. degrees from
Madras University The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...
. * CMI conducts its academic programmes in conjunction with IMSc, so students from either institute can take courses at the other. * CMI has agreements with
TIFR Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a leading research Institute under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It is a public deemed university located at Navy Nagar, Colaba in Mumbai. It also has a centres in B ...
(Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) and with the
Indian Statistical Institute The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a public research university headquartered in Kolkata, India with centers in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Tezpur. It was declared an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India und ...
s in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata, for cooperation on the furtherance of mathematical sciences. * The physics programmes are run in conjunction with IMSc and IGCAR. The physics students spend one summer in HBCSE (under TIFR) in Mumbai and another in IGCAR, Kalpakkam, garnering practical experience. * CMI has a memorandum of understanding with the
École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...
in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. Under this memorandum, research scholars from the ENS spend a semester in CMI. In exchange, three B.Sc. Mathematics students, at the end of their third year, go to the ENS for two months. * The institute has a similar arrangement with
École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
in Paris, whereby top-ranking senior B.Sc. Physics students spend the summer in Paris working with the faculty at École Polytechnique. * CMI has a memorandum of understanding with IFMR, the Institute of Financial Management and Research, located in
Nungambakkam Nungambakkam is a locality in downtown Chennai, India. The neighborhood abounds with multinational commercial establishments, important government offices, foreign consulates, educational institutions, shopping malls, sporting facilities, tou ...
,
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
. Students from CMI getting a CGPA of more than 8.50 are offered direct admission to IFMR's one-year programme in Financial Mathematics, which is sponsored by
ICICI Bank ICICI Bank Limited is an Indian multinational bank and financial services company headquartered in Mumbai with a registered office in Vadodara. It offers a wide range of banking and financial services for corporate and retail customers throu ...
. Faculty from CMI are involved in teaching this programme. In exchange, CMI gets its Economics professor from IFMR. * CMI is a part of ReLaX, an Indo-French joint research unit dedicated to research in theoretical computer science, its applications and its interactions with mathematics. This collaboration allows for collaborative work in computer science, academic visits for professors and graduate students, summer internship programs for students, and organizing conferences in the subject. * CMI has had two sponsored research projects with Honeywell Technology Solutions, Bangalore, both in the area of
formal verification In the context of hardware and software systems, formal verification is the act of proving or disproving the correctness of a system with respect to a certain formal specification or property, using formal methods of mathematics. Formal ver ...
.


Research

In
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
, the main areas of research activity have been in algebraic geometry, representation theory, operator algebra, commutative algebra, harmonic analysis, control theory and game theory. Research work includes stratification of binary forms in
representation theory Representation theory is a branch of mathematics that studies abstract algebra, abstract algebraic structures by ''representing'' their element (set theory), elements as linear transformations of vector spaces, and studies Module (mathematics), ...
, the Donaldson-Uhlenbeck compactification in
algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which uses abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, to solve geometry, geometrical problems. Classically, it studies zero of a function, zeros of multivariate polynomials; th ...
,
stochastic game In game theory, a stochastic game (or Markov game) is a repeated game with probabilistic transitions played by one or more players. The game is played in a sequence of stages. At the beginning of each stage the game is in some state. The players s ...
s, inductive algebras of
harmonic analysis Harmonic analysis is a branch of mathematics concerned with investigating the connections between a function and its representation in frequency. The frequency representation is found by using the Fourier transform for functions on unbounded do ...
, etc. The research activity in
theoretical computer science Theoretical computer science is a subfield of computer science and mathematics that focuses on the Abstraction, abstract and mathematical foundations of computation. It is difficult to circumscribe the theoretical areas precisely. The Associati ...
at CMI has been primarily in
computational complexity theory In theoretical computer science and mathematics, computational complexity theory focuses on classifying computational problems according to their resource usage, and explores the relationships between these classifications. A computational problem ...
, specification and verification of timed and distributed systems and analysis of
security protocol A cryptographic protocol is an abstract or concrete protocol that performs a security-related function and applies cryptographic methods, often as sequences of cryptographic primitives. A protocol describes how the algorithms should be used and in ...
s. A computer scientist at CMI extended the deterministic isolation technique for reachability in
planar graph In graph theory, a planar graph is a graph (discrete mathematics), graph that can be graph embedding, embedded in the plane (geometry), plane, i.e., it can be drawn on the plane in such a way that its edges intersect only at their endpoints. ...
s to obtain better
complexity Complexity characterizes the behavior of a system or model whose components interact in multiple ways and follow local rules, leading to non-linearity, randomness, collective dynamics, hierarchy, and emergence. The term is generally used to c ...
upper bounds for planar bipartite matching. In
theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...
, research is being carried out mainly in
string theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and intera ...
,
quantum field theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines Field theory (physics), field theory and the principle of relativity with ideas behind quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct phy ...
and
mathematical physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...
. In mathematical physics, research included developing a path integral approach to
quantum entanglement Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon where the quantum state of each Subatomic particle, particle in a group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, even when the particles are separated by a large distance. The topic o ...
. CMI string theorists study problems such as
Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...
like cosmological singularities, embeddings of BKL cosmology, dyons in super- Yang–Mills theories etc.


Student life


Hostel

The on-campus hostel was opened in January 2007. All students are expected to stay in the hostel. Security guards are posted in the campus round the clock, including women security guards for the girls wing on all floors. Washing machines are installed in the hostel which is managed by the students. A vehicle is parked in the campus at night for emergencies. Wi-fi facility is available in the campus.


Annual Inter-Collegiate Student Festival

The students of CMI organize an annual inter-collegiate student festival ''Tessellate'' (earlier known as Fiesta, renamed in 2018), supported by corporations, IT companies, and local businesses. Tessellate enjoys participation from students of several Chennai-based colleges including
IIT Madras The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras or IIT-M) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the eight public Institutes of Eminence of India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), ...
,
SRM Institute of Science and Technology SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST) is a private deemed university located in Kattankulathur, (near Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1985 as SRM Engineering College in Kattankulathur, it gained the deemed University status ...
,
Sathyabama University Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (SIST), formerly known as Sathyabama Engineering College and Sathyabama University, is a private, STEM-intensive, multi-disciplinary, multi-campus deemed university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. ...
,
KCG College of Technology KCG may refer to: * KCG Holdings, an American market-making and electronic trading firm ** Knight Capital Group, predecessor firm to KCG Holdings traded as KCG * Republic of Korea Coast Guard, the coast guard of South Korea * Kyoto Computer Gaku ...
. Tessellate comprises academic, cultural, technical and sports events. From 2018, Tessellate also includes a social initiative for the benefit of the underprivileged in Chennai.


S.T.E.M.S.

Also, as a part of Tessellate, a nationwide contest called S.T.E.M.S. (Scholastic Test of Excellence in Mathematical Sciences) is organised for students from 8th grade to Final year UG in different categories for the subjects: Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science. Toppers get to win exciting prizes and are invited to a fully funded 3-day camp at CMI.


Other activities

CMI faculty coordinate the training and selection of students to represent India at the
International Olympiad in Informatics The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) is an annual competitive programming competition and one of the International Science Olympiads Student competition, for secondary school students. The first IOI was held in 1989 in Pravetz, Bulgar ...
through the Indian Association for Research in Computing Science (IARCS). CMI hosts the official IARCS website. From September 2004, a monthly online programming competition has been conducted by the CMI faculty via the IARCS website. Two of CMI's faculty members, Madhavan Mukund and Narayan Kumar, lead the Indian team to the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). Madhavan Mukund is also the National Coordinator for the Indian Computing Olympiad.


Notes


External links

* *
Homepage for the annual inter-collegiate student festival Tessellate
*
Cover story for ''India Today'': "From preaching to practice"

CMI in SIPCOT IT Park map


References

* {{authority control Mathematical institutes Deemed universities in India Indian mathematics Research institutes in Chennai Universities in Chennai Mathematics education in India Research institutes in Tamil Nadu Academic institutions formerly affiliated with the University of Madras 1989 establishments in Tamil Nadu Educational institutions established in 1989