The present annual report of the research school Thomas Stieltjes Institute for Mathematics deals with the tenth year of its existence. The tenth anniversary of the Stieltjes Institute was celebrated in The Hague on November 12, 2002. In the same month M.A. Kaashoek retired as professor of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and as Chairman of the Board of the Stieltjes Institute. He is one of the founders of the institute and his continuous leadership during ten years chairmanship have contributed much to the present state and status of the institute.
Professor C.A.J. Klaassen of the University of Amsterdam has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Board. At the same time he replaced professor T.H. Koornwinder as member of the Board representing the University of Amsterdam. However Koornwinder remains chairman of the Scientific Committee and continues to participate into the meetings of the Board. Another board member who left after ten years is dr. G. Zoutendijk. He has given many valuable advices; the Stieltjes Institute has not found a good replacement yet.
In 2002 there were important developments at a national level. The OOW, a joint venture of the five Dutch research schools for mathematics, produced in cooperation with the advising committee for mathematics of NWO a plan to strengthen the position of mathematical research in The Netherlands entitled Nieuwe dimensies, ruimer bereik. This report, written by M.A. Kaashoek and H.A. van der Vorst, was formally presented in The Hague on April 18, 2002, and well received. In line with the ideas in the report the OOW took the initiative for national coordination of Master Courses and for forming clusters of researchers getting extra support from NWO and the government. One of the fundamental concepts in the above mentioned report is that new developments are found at the borderlines of different mathematical disciplines or neighboring scientific fields. The Stieltjes Institute stimulates the cooperation with other disciplines by forming so-called theme groups. The first theme group, Financial Mathematics, was extended and therefore renamed as Mathematics and Economics. Contact has been made with the Tinbergen Institute to develop joint activities. A second theme group, Mathematical Biology, was started. Such theme groups are not restricted to Stieltjes members, but the Stieltjes Institute provides a framework to facilitate the cooperation.
In many ways the Stieltjes Institute contributed to mathematical activities. Professor A. Mikhailov (University of Leeds, United Kingdom) and professor A.J. van der Poorten (Macquarie University, Northryde, N.S.W., Australia) were special guests supported by the institute. Dr. J.M. Peng (TU Delft) was awarded the Stieltjes prize for the best thesis in 2001.
The Stieltjes Weeks with their impressive contribution to the mathematical program and several other conferences and workshops were financially supported. The institute also continued to support graduate students for participation in conferences and the publication of their theses. In order to reward good teaching a new prize was created, the Stieltjes Onderwijsprijs.
The main part of this report is devoted to the basic activities within the school, research and teaching. It is impressive to see how many publications appear every year. The quality of the research, underlined by the presence of Spinoza grant winner H.W. Lenstra and Pioneer grantees S.M. Verduyn Lunel, E. Opdam, and N.P. Landsman was confirmed by a VICI grant for R.W.J. Meester. All this and much more information can be found in this report.