COMMUNICATION CeMEAI: The Brazilian Center and Its Mathematics Research for Industry E. G. Birgin, J. A. Cuminato, J. M. Martínez, and T. Pereira Introduction CeMEAI, Center for Research in Mathematical Sciences Applied to Industry, hosted at the Institute of Mathe- matics and Computer Sciences of the University of São Paulo in São Carlos, is one of seventeen cross-disciplinary research, innovation, and dissemination centers funded by FAPESP, the São Paulo state research funding agency. CeMEAI started its activities in 2011 and has received substantial financial support from FAPESP since 2013. The present funding will last until June 2018, and it can be renewed for another two periods of three years each, pending the outcome of international assessment. CeMEAI involves five research institutions in São Paulo state with twenty-five principal investigators, around forty associated researchers, fifteen postdocs, twenty-five PhD students, and some master’s students. In total more than one hundred researchers contribute directly to techno- logical innovation projects in the main concentration areas of the center: applied optimization and operational research, computational fluid mechanics, risk analysis, E. G. Birgin is professor of mathematics at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. His e-mail address is egbirgin@ime.usp.br. J. A. Cuminato is professor of mathematics at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and coordinator of CeMEAI. His e-mail address is jacumina@icmc.usp.br. J. M. Martínez is professor of mathematics at the State Univer- sity of Campinas, Brazil, and deputy coordinator of CeMEAI. His e-mail address is martinez@ime.unicamp.br. T. Pereira is associate professor of mathematics at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. His e-mail address is tiago@icmc.usp.br. This work has been partially supported by FAPESP (grants 2010/ 10133-0, 2013/03447-6, 2013/05475-7, 2013/07375-0, and 2014/ 18711-3) and CNPq (grants 309517/2014-1 and 303750/2014-6). For permission to reprint this article, please contact: reprint-permission@ams.org. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1513 and computational intelligence and software engineering. The main purpose of CeMEAI is to provide a broad and well-resourced mechanism for connecting scientists, en- gineers, mathematicians, and computer experts in order to address scientific and technological challenges in a collaborative, engaging environment, developing trans- formative new mathematical techniques and exploring their applications. CeMEAI is also highly engaged in the training of the next generation of researchers, educators, and industry and government personnel. In 2013 CeMEAI started an MSc in industrial mathematics that has taken students from the banking and hospital industries for retraining in risk technology analysis and data systems. Some research projects begin with industry visits: once industry’s problems are identified, representatives are put in contact with researchers who may be able to help address them. Other strategies like an Oxford-style study group with industry and modeling camps have been organized annually since 2015. 1 Since the center started its activities in 2011, many industrial projects have been contracted: multiscale methods for reservoir simulation, broiler house environment control in fluid dynamics, mammal cancer treatment protocol, and a computer system for helping high school sports coaches rank their students in statistics. Our researchers have also worked on projects that have made an impact on a larger community, such as the systems Packmol, PUMA, and TANGO, described in more detail in what follows. Other researchers have worked on complex systems such as power grids, lasers, and biological oscillators. Industrial Applications Building Initial Configurations for Molecular Dynamics Simulations—Packmol Molecular dynamics simulations consist of arrangements of molecules distributed in space in such a way as to approximately represent the system’s overall structure. For the simulations not to be disrupted by large Van 1 For further information on the study group reports and activities please visit the site www.cemeai.icmc.usp.br/2WSMPI. 450 Notices of the AMS Volume 64, Number 5