President and Director of the IIGSS

 

Dr. Jeffrey Yi-Lin Forrest has served as the president and director of the Institute since its official inception in 1995, overseeing all aspects of operation of this non-profit scholastic organization. He is presently a tenured professor in the Department of Mathematics at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Dr. Forrest earned his Ph.D. in mathematics (specialized in general topology) at Auburn University, Alabama, USA, in 1988. During 1990-1991 he did post-doctoral work in statistics at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.

Since 1984, Dr. Forrest (also known as Yi Lin) has been actively involved in various scholastic activities, including

1	Co-chair of four international conferences;
2	Member of the organization committee of nine regional, national or international conferences;
3	Member of the editorial boards of seven international journals and a book series in numerical analysis;
4	Guest editor of nine special journal issues;
5	Author of a book entitled General Systems Theory - A Mathematical Approach (1999);
6	Author of four monographs, etc.

As of this date, Dr. Forrest has published over one hundred-fifty research works covering a wide range of scientific disciplines, including, but not limited to, numerical analysis, mathematical and general systems theory and applications, statistics, regional economics, nonlinear analysis and applications, management science, philosophy of science, pedagogy, etc.

During the summers of 1997 and 2001, Dr. Forrest traveled around the globe and delivered or led over twenty invited lectures and discussion sessions. These lecture tours were organized with invitations from scholars of major universities or research institutions from around the world. In the summer of 1999, Dr. Forrest defended and discussed a proposal at Institute of Mathematical and Systems Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, to establish a Center of General Systems and Interdisciplinary Research. A panel of twelve first class Chinese administrators, mathematicians and scientists unanimously approved such a proposal.