What is 5 x 4 – 16? The number of years Lia Bronsard will serve as president of the Canadian Mathematical Society.

Bronsard, a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, will oversee more than 1,000 academic members from across the country during her four-year term, including the majority of McMaster’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

She’s currently serving as president-elect, and will transition into her new role next year.

“I’m very pleased to have been elected, and especially to have come from McMaster,” said Bronsard. “We have one of the strongest departments in Canada.”

As part of her new role, Bronsard will help guide the general direction of the CMS while liaising with other prestigious math societies around the globe. She’ll also assist with the coordination of a number of major events and projects throughout the year.

Founded in 1945 as the Canadian Mathematical Congress, the CMS strives to promote and advance the discovery, learning and application of mathematics at all levels.

The organization serves as a communications and networking hub for many of Canada’s top educators and researchers, and publishes two prominent research journals: Canadian Journal of Mathematics  and Canadian Mathematical Bulletin along with a world-renowned problem solving journal, Crux Mathematicorum.

A strong supporter of academic development, the society contributes funding to the Canadian Undergraduate Mathematical Conference, and assembles Canada’s all-star team of high school students for the International Mathematical Olympiad.

CMS members are invited to attend two national conferences each year. The 2014 winter conference is scheduled to take place at the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel in the city’s downtown core.

Bronsard joined the University as a faculty member in 1992, and currently devotes much of her research effort towards partial differential equations and the calculus of variations. Her husband, Stanley Alama, is also a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.