The IMA celebrates its 50th anniversary!

On January 13 and 14, 2023, UCO's Institut de Mathématiques Appliquées (IMA) invited all its students, alumni and teachers to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the course. Here's a look back at an emotional reunion with the program's founder, Jean Friant.

" How can we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the IMA without remembering the past? Brother Jean Friant, a member of the community of Saint-Gabriel brothers, addresses us as the founder of the IMA, but also as the first director of this new Institute of Applied Mathematics, founded in 1972 within the UCO. He was also quick to step aside during our meeting, to tell us about the " founding team " and the intuition - " a little crazy at the time " - that presided over the launch of this new training program. " In the early 1970s, the Catho was going through a complicated period, with the arrival of the state university in Angers, and the need to re-found itself as a professional institute . In fact, it was a major anticipation and mutation that enabled us to be 20 years ahead of the future professional university institutes, which were only created in 1991, and above all to provide students with contact and proximity to companies, in total contradiction to the spirit of the time ...".

It was in these rather special conditions, then, " that a group of five young people aged 21 to 32 " - brothers Jean Friant and Michel Morfin, Yvon l'Hospitalier, Paul Chaillou and Robert Rousseau - founded the IMA in 1972, and at the same time inaugurated a new positioning for mathematics in higher education and, ultimately, in business and society. " It was obvious to the five of us - and the preparation of my thesis in Canada had already convinced me of this - that mathematics in the future, given the development and evolution of computer science, would also be applied in the social sciences and humanities, i.e. at the very heart of many companies and institutions. It was therefore important and essential for the UCO to train mathematicians capable of understanding data - or datas - for the companies of tomorrow ". This was done in 1976, with a first class of five graduates (Armelle Cotonéa, Bruno Dillet, Isabelle Jary, Sophie Leguay and Patricia Moulin) and the recruitment of a " corporate relations manager ", Mr. Paul Collei, " to enable us to find our first outlets in companies. We had to make contacts, particularly for memory-projects and internships. At the time, it was more than original!

The IMA's closeness and openness to the business world continued to grow and strengthen, with the creation of a research laboratory in 1981, the purchase of the first PC compatibles in 1984, and the introduction of international exchanges with the United Kingdom in 1989. At the same time, the presence of the Bull Group in Angers, " very keen on continuing education ", and the growing importance of in-company internships, further strengthened this porosity, and hence the credibility of the Institute and its courses. The reputation of the diploma and the professional opportunities on offer attracted candidates, and the number of graduates rose rapidly: 22 in 1985, 35 in 1993, 45 in 2000, bringing the total number of Imaiens graduates to almost 1,250 - all of whom praise the adaptability of the company, the strength of the apprenticeship and the high quality of the training on a human scale "in a school atmosphere".

Well-educated young people, a spirit that binds the classes together, a strong alumni community, led today by Ombline de Baudinière : " Alumni are very present in the life of the Institute, both to contribute their experience and expertise, but also to attract young talent ". " We couldn't afford to overlook the 50th anniversary of the IMA, it was unthinkable ", says Pierre Chauvet, the current Director. " So we set to work, relying on our alumni and with the help of our current students, who really got into the spirit of the occasion, and I'd like to thank them for that.

As a result, some 300 former graduates gathered in Angers on January 13 and 14, 2023 for two days of festivities and friendship. The program included a "Festival soirée 4" reserved for former students and professors; a very special occasion, according to our information, during which memories, class stories and heckles were brought to the surface, with photos and videos to back them up. The following day, a packed program of activities (including an exhibition on the history of the Institute, a great IMA game for high-school students, an interactive exhibition and a computer presentation) was offered to the entire community, which was heavily mobilized and often came from far and wide. As we chatted, we discovered people from Lille, Bordeaux, Luxembourg, Niçois, Messin, Lyonnais, many from Niort, a couple from Rennes, " we met at the IMA and haven't left since ", in a way the whole of France was there, and through all these alumni a great diversity of careers, backgrounds, developments, companies and institutions represented.

A round-table discussion entitled Data science and environmental issues, with contributions from Laurent Péridy, rector of UCO (class of 1993), Bertrand Delignon, director of MACIF's "fire, accident and miscellaneous risks" division (class of 1991), Vincent Sarracanie, director of the ATOS site in Angers (class of 1993), and Hélène Grellier, director of LOGISSEO and elected member of the Maine-et-Loire Chamber of Commerce and Industry (class of 1996).

The event closed on a high note, with a magnificent Gala evening in the heart of the Terra Botanica park. The participants were grouped by table, and the "call of the different classes" once again demonstrated the level of involvement and atmosphere. The "class of 1995", around David Rivreau, was clearly the most numerous, but the " song of the evening " was performed by the class of 2014. The atmosphere was great, and Jean Friant had this to say: " I'm deeply moved and happy to see that all these young people are blossoming and feeling pretty good about themselves; it's proof that we've done a good job with all the IMA directors, and I'm proud that two of us have become rectors of the UCO: Robert Rousseau in 2002, and Laurent Péridy in 2022, the year of the IMA's 50th anniversary - how fun is that?