CAIMS*SCMAI E-News Volume 07 Number 2 February 4, 2007 Editor: Rod Edwards (edwards@math.uvic.ca) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS Society News: 1. CAIMS-SIAM reciprocity agreement 2. NSERC releases mathematics funding survey results 3. NSERC conducts Institute site visits 4. CAIMS*SCMAI 2007 - Registration deadline 5. 2nd Congress Canada-France - Call for sessions Other News: 6. Pauline van den Driessche wins ICIAM prize 7. ICIAM support for developing countries 8. New Master's in Computational Mathematics at University of Waterloo Summer Schools, Courses and Workshops: 9. Dynamic Modeling of Biological Regulatory Networks (Les Houches, France) 10. Biomedical Modeling and Cardiovascular-Respiratory Control (Graz, Austria) 11. Analysis and Control of Complex Networks (Milan, Italy) Conferences: * Links to the web pages for these and other conferences can be found by clicking on "Upcoming Meetings and Workshops" at the CAIMS*SCMAI home page: www.caims.ca. 12.* Symbolic-Numeric Computation (SNC 2007) (London, Ontario) 13.* 4th International Symposium on Voronoi Diagrams (Pontypridd, Wales) 14. CAIMS*SCMAI E-News Information -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 1 ====== From: Bill Langford Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:15:17 -0500 CAIMS - SIAM reciprocity approved. Both the CAIMS Board of Directors and the SIAM Board of Directors have approved a Reciprocal Membership Agreement between our two societies. This agreement reflects the good relations that exist between CAIMS and SIAM, marked by successful joint meetings in past years and the ICIAM 2011 world congress that our societies are co-hosting with MITACS in Vancouver. It is expected that the Reciprocal Membership Agreement can be implemented beginning with the 2008 membership year. Under the terms of this agreement, regular CAIMS members who live in Canada will be eligible for a 20% discount on regular SIAM membership dues. Regular SIAM members who live in the USA will be eligible for a 30% discount on annual CAIMS dues. (Note that, due to the large difference in the dollar amount of the dues of the two societies, this actually represents a larger saving for CAIMS members than for SIAM members.) Leah Keshet, Membership Committee Chair, is to be thanked for initiating the discussions that led to this agreement, with the SIAM President at the 2006 York Meeting. Canadian CAIMS members are advised to ensure that their 2007 membership is in good standing, so that they will be eligible for the reciprocity discount when paying 2008 SIAM dues later on in 2007. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 2 ====== From: Bill Langford Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:15:17 -0500 NSERC releases mathematics funding survey results. CAIMS members know that in 2006, NSERC consulted the Canadian mathematics community on the subject of the future funding mechanism for the mathematics research institutes. Two options were considered: One was "Distinct Budgets" in which the institutes would be funded under the Major Resources Support (MRS) program, and Discovery Grants and Research tools and Instruments (RTI) would remain independently funded as before under the GSC's. The other was the "Mathematics Envelope" in which these funds would be combined in an envelope managed by the two Pure and Applied Mathematics Grant Selection Committees (GSC's 336 and 337). The advantages and disadvantages of the two options were widely debated. The mathematics institute directors tended to prefer the envelope option. Some CAIMS members were concerned that the envelope option could disadvantage the multidisciplinary work of the institutes and they preferred the independence of the distinct budgets option. The NSERC consultation process included a survey of the current applicants to the GSC's 336 and 337, asking these researchers to indicate their preference between the two options. The results of that survey were released in January. The response rate was 48% (fairly high for an elective survey like this one). Of those responding, 53.7% voted in favour of distinct budgets, 35.6% voted in favour of the envelope option and 10.7% indicated no preference. Since a majority of CAIMS members are not funded from GSC's 336 or 337, some felt disenfranchised by the NSERC decision to survey only those funded by those GSC's. Following the NSERC presentation at the CAIMS Annual Meeting at York University in June 2006, NSERC agreed to allow CAIMS to pose the same survey questions to the CAIMS membership. This survey, conducted in July 2006 had a low response rate, only 25 replies. However, the preferences were remarkably similar to those in the official NSERC survey. In conclusion, NSERC decided to maintain "distinct budgets", with the GSC's deciding Discovery Grants and RTI and the institutes reviewed within the MRS program. The three institutes are currently undergoing this review. CAIMS has expressed its strong support for funding of the mathematics institutes in letters sent to all three institutes and to NSERC. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 3 ====== From: Bill Langford Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 12:33:49 -0500 NSERC conducts Institute Site Visits During the week of January 21 2007, an NSERC-appointed committee conducted site visits at each of the three mathematics institutes: PIMS, Fields and CRM. This Site Visit Committee will make recommendations to the new Major Resources Support (MRS) Program, on the renewal of funding of the math institutes. The Committee was made up of 7 international experts on research in the mathematical sciences and in the operation of research institutes. This is a crucial decision for the Canadian mathematics community, which has come to value the math institutes very highly. CAIMS has taken the position that all three institutes must be funded at a healthy level that will allow them to continue to enhance research in the full breadth of the mathematical sciences. This view was expressed in a letter from the President of CAIMS to NSERC and to all three institute directors. In addition, CAIMS was strongly represented at each of the site visits, by Bob Russell at PIMS, Bill Langford at Fields and Jacques Belair at CRM. More information on the new MRS Program can be found on the NSERC website: www.nserc.gc.ca -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 4 ====== From: "Roderick Edwards" Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 14:04:00 -0800 CAIMS*SCMAI 2007 Registration Deadline Please note that the deadline for early registration and accommodation at the annual CAIMS*SCMAI meeting in Banff is rapidly approaching. After Feb. 23, 2007, the registration fees increase, so register now at http://www.math.ualberta.ca/ami/CAIMS/registration.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 5 ====== From: Christiane Rousseau Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 15:16:07 -0500 Call for sessions - Second Congress Canada-France 2008 The second Congress Canada-France will take place in Montreal (UQAM) on June 2-6 2008. The Scientific Committee chaired by Octav Cornea, Nassif Ghoussoub and François Loeser has already planned the plenary talks and a large number of sessions (see attached pdf document). There remains room for a few unfunded sessions (3-4). If you decide to submit a proposal, then it should include both a Canadian and a French co-organizers, a title, a short description of the orientation and the scientific purpose of the session, the expected number of talks (no more than 16) and a potential list of speakers. Your proposal should be sent to: Octav Cornea (cornea@dms.umontreal.ca) Deadline: March 1st 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 6 ====== From: Bill Langford Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:15:17 -0500 Pauline van den Driessche wins ICIAM prize. The International Council on Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) has announced that Pauline van den Driessche, University of Victoria, has won the first Olga Taussky Todd Lecture Award. Her lecture will be presented at the ICIAM Congress in Zurich, in July 2007. This award was introduced by the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) and European Women in Mathematics (EWM). Pauline is a valued member of CAIMS and a former CAIMS Board member. CAIMS extends warm congratulations to Pauline on this well-deserved award. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 7 ====== From: Ross Moore Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:28:43 +1100 Dear ICIAM Colleague: Let me first take the opportunity to wish to all members of the ICIAM family all success and happiness in 2007. I think you will recall that the ICIAM Board has been keen to implement a policy of helping mathematics and its applications in developing countires and regions by giving support to existing conferences, in the form of ICIAM Fellowships to increase the participation of delegates from developing countries and regions. The following advertisement, which turns the promise into a reality, now appears on the ICIAM web site. (Look for "Support for developing countries" in the left hand column.) If you know of any suitable 2008 conferences, please draw the attention of the orgnaisers to this notice, and also tell me of the conference. Before I finish, let me point out, in case you missed it, that the early-bird registration period for the great Congress to be held in Zurich in July has been extended to the end of January. Don't miss out! Ian Sloan President of ICIAM _________________________________ ICIAM Conference Support for Applied and Industrial Mathematics in Developing Countries ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) has adopted the policy that in non-Congress years it will give support to existing conferences (typically to two conferences per year), with the support used to fund a number of ICIAM Fellowships for participants from developing countries and regions. For conferences in 2008 the following principles will govern this support. 1. Applications for support will be called for on the ICIAM web site at http://www.iciam.org in January, 2007. 2. Applications should be submitted by email to the ICIAM Secretary, by May 30, 2007. There is no prescribed form for the application. Applicants should give details of the conference, the organising body, and the plans for the use of ICIAM funds. 3. The decision on which conferences to support, if any, will be made by the ICIAM Board at its meeting in July 2007. The Board's decision will be final. 4. The level of support for 2008 will be $3,000(US) per conference. 5. The ICIAM funds are expected to be used to fund a number of "ICIAM Fellowships" for selected delegates from underdeveloped countries and regions. 6. The selection of the ICIAM Fellows and the deterination of their level of support will be the responsibility of the conference organisers. 7. The existence of the ICIAM Fellowships should be advertised under that name on the conference web site, and the support of ICIAM acknowledged in an appropriate way on that web site and in printed materials for the conference. 8. Within six months of the end of the Conference a report should be submitted to the ICIAM Treasurer. The report should briefly describe the scientific achievements of the conference, list the ICIAM Fellows and where they travelled from, and indicate the funds expended on each ICIAM Fellow. 9. Unexpended funds must be returned to the ICIAM Treasurer. 10. Other things being equal, preference will be given to conferences held in developing countries. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 8 ====== From: Hans De Sterck Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:24:07 -0500 New Master's in Computational Mathematics at University of Waterloo The Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Waterloo announces a new one-year Master's program in Computational Mathematics. The program comprises courses in both the theory and applications of the interdisciplinary field of Computational Mathematics, and culminates in a one-term supervised research project. Core areas include discrete computational mathematics, numerical methods, computational statistics and machine learning, scientific computing, and computational optimization. The program is subject to approval by the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies. Application deadline is March 31st for entry in September 2007. The program is targeted to students with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, statistics, or computer science, or in another program with a strong mathematical component, including economics, engineering and any of the physical sciences. Funding is available for qualifying applicants. Read more about the Waterloo Computational Mathematics Master's program at www.math.uwaterloo.ca/ComputationalMathematics . -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====== ITEM 9 ====== From: Hidde de Jong Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 09:08:40 +0100 Spring School on Dynamical Modelling of Biological Regulatory Networks April 9-20 2007, Les Houches, France The principal objective of the spring school is to give an introduction to the variety of mathematical methods and computational tools available for the dynamical modelling, analysis and validation of biological regulatory networks. The school will consist of lectures and training sessions, with focus on qualitative and analytical aspects of regulatory network modelling, as well as on concrete applications. In addition to providing primers in molecular and cellular biology, the school notably covers the following modelling approaches: Dynamical systems : differential equations, symbolic dynamics,... Discrete models : graphs, logical automata,... Formal methods : temporal logic, model checking,... The lecturers address the following issues: Scalability Scope and limits of the different approaches Modelling questions : available information, abstraction level Existing tools, especially those that are freely available Much emphasis is given to practical sessions with hands-on computer exercises and mini-projects under the guidance of at least one instructor. The school is oriented towards researchers, PhD students, postdocs and faculty interested in the modelling of biological systems, with various scientific backgrounds, including mathematics, physics, biology, and computer science. For more information and pre-registration, see the url http://www.inrialpes.fr/schoolleshouches07/index.html Some financial support is available upon request for academic researchers and students, thanks to the contributions of the CNRS, INRIA, INSERM , as well as from DIAMONDS and HYGEIA EU FP6 projects. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======= ITEM 10 ======= From: Mostafa Bachar Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:09:10 +0100 Graz Summer School and Workshop Event 2007: "Biomedical Modeling and Cardiovascular-Respiratory Control: Theory and Practice" The focus of the event will be on providing the school participant with an understanding of the theory and practice of modeling physiological control systems with a primary application of studying clinical problems related to the cardiovascular and respiratory control systems. Course instructors will include mathematicians, bio-engineers, and life scientists from academia and industry as well as medical clinicians. Date: July 22 to August 4, 2007 Organizers: Mostafa Bachar, Jerry Batzel, and Franz Kappel, Institute for Mathematics and Scientific Computing, University of Graz, Austria. Scientific Focus To explore mathematical modeling techniques essential for studying human biomedical and clinical problems at primarily the organ and system level with an emphasis on control mechanisms and clinical problems arising from deficiencies in these control mechanisms. The school will consider these issues using the cardiovascular-respiratory control system as the central application. Web Page http://www.uni-graz.at/math1www/graz/index.html BioMedMath 07-10: This school/workshop is the first in a series of 4 events sponsored by The Marie Curie Conferences and Training Courses Program with each event combining a summer school and an associated workshop on the same topic. These events will be held sequentially between 2007 and 2010. This series of events (BioMedMath 07-10) is organized by the University of Graz in partnership with the University of Copenhagen, the Biomathematical Laboratory Rome, and the University of Dundee. See web page: http://www.uni-graz.at/mc_training_schools/info.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======= ITEM 11 ======= From: "Societa' Italiana Caos e Complessita'" Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:03:03 -0700 Analysis and Control of Complex Networks Milan, Italy, May 24-26, 2007. International advanced course jointly organised by: SICC - Italian Society for Chaos and Complexity, and DEI, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and co-organised by FEEM - Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. The course is primarily oriented to young researchers and PhD students interested in the study of networks of nonlinear dynamical systems. The main topics of the course include networks topology, emergence of collective behaviours, various forms of synchronization, clusters and pattern formation, and control of synchronization. The aim of the course is to cover both introductory and advanced topics. The basic theory and methods will be introduced through examples and applications in various fields of Science and Engineering, by O. Popovych, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany, while specific topics dealing with particular theoretical aspects or applications will be described by the other lecturers. Lecturers: Oleksandr Popovych (Jülich, Germany) Stefano Boccaletti (Firenze, Italy) Martin Hasler (Lausanne, Switzerland) Vito Latora (Catania, Italy) Carlo Piccardi (Milano, Italy) Antonello Provenzale (Torino, Italy) Alessand! ro Villa (Grenoble, France) Participants will be allowed to download papers, manuscripts and teaching material from a reserved area of the web page, and will receive a certificate of attendance. Further information on the program and the online application form can be found on the website at http://www.elet.polimi.it/corsi/ACCN2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======= ITEM 12 ======= From: SNC 2007 Conference Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:12:14 -0500 Symbolic-Numeric Computation 2007 (SNC 2007) July 25-27, 2007 -- London Canada http://www.orcca.on.ca/conferences/snc2007 C A L L f o r P A P E R S Overview: Algorithms that combine ideas from symbolic and numeric computation have been of increasing interest over the past decade. The growing demand for speed, accuracy and reliability in mathematical computing has accelerated the process of blurring the distinction between two areas of research that were previously quite separate. The goal of the present workshop is to support the interaction and integration of symbolic and numeric computing. Earlier meetings in this series include the SNAP 96 Workshop, held in Sophia Antipolis, France, and the SNC 2005 meeting, held in Xi'an, China. Following the tradition, Symbolic-Numeric Computation 2007 will be held July 25-27 in London, Canada. SNC 2007 is affiliated with the 2007 International Symposium on Symbolic and Algebraic Computation (ISSAC 2007). Co-located with this workshop will be PASCO 2007, the 2007 International Workshop on Parallel Symbolic Computation. SNC and PASCO will be held immediately prior to the ISSAC 2007 meeting, both at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. ISSAC 2007 will be held nearby in Waterloo, Canada. Call for Papers: The program of SNC 2007 will include invited presentations, contributed research papers and posters. Specific topics include, but are not limited to: * Hybrid symbolic-numeric algorithms * Approximate polynomial GCD and factorization * Symbolic-numeric methods for solving polynomial systems * Resultants and structured matrices for symbolic-numeric computation * Differential equations for symbolic-numeric computation * Symbolic-numeric methods for geometric computation * Symbolic-numeric algorithms in algebraic geometry * Symbolic-numeric algorithms for nonlinear optimization * Numeric computation of characteristic sets and Gröbner bases * Implementation of symbolic-numeric algorithms * Model construction by approximate algebraic algorithms (e.g. numerical sparse interpolation, the approximate Buchberger-Moeller algorithm) * Applications of symbolic-numeric computation The conference invites submission of papers presenting original research, either in the form of extended abstracts (3 pages) or full papers (up to 16 pages in 11 point font). A paper template is available at http://www.orcca.on.ca/conferences/snc2007/site/submission/submission.html To submit a paper, visit http://www.easychair.org/SNC2007 . Important Dates: Submission deadline: April 2, 2007 Notification: May 28, 2007 Camera ready version due: June 15, 2007 Workshop: July 25-27, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======= ITEM 13 ======= From: "Marina Gavrilova" Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:33:00 -0700 CALL FOR PAPERS ISVD 2007 The Fourth International Symposium on Voronoi Diagrams in Science and Engineering July 9-11, 2007 University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, Wales, UK followed by the Workshop on Voronoi Algorithms in GIS Sponsored by the EU Marie-Curie Chair in GIS and the GIS Research Group, University of Glamorgan July 12th, 2007 University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, Wales, UK ISVD web site: http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/GIS/ISVD07/default.html Poster: http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/GIS/ISVD07/download/full%20poster.jpg TRAVEL BURSARIES: Under the funding of the EU Marine-Curie Chair in GIS, research students may submit claims for travel expenditure. Funding will be distributed as far as possible. OBJECTIVES: ___________ The Fourth International Symposium on Voronoi Diagrams in Science and Engineering is a continuation of the three previous ones held in Tokyo, Japan (2004), Seoul, Korea (2005) and Banff, Canada (2006). The Symposium was started because of the pressing demand for an international forum devoted exclusively to one of the most versatile and fascinating data structures in Computational Geometry - the Voronoi diagram, and due to the renewed interest in this area from many applied as well as fundamental sciences. It was intended as, and it has become, an interdisciplinary forum for leading researchers to present the latest developments and applications of the Voronoi diagrams, to discuss cutting-edge techniques, to exchange research ideas and to promote international collaboration in this field. Key topics for the Symposium are: 1) Theoretical aspects of Voronoi diagrams 2) Computational and implementation aspects of Voronoi diagrams 3) Generalization of Voronoi diagrams 4) Voronoi Art 5) Applications of the Voronoi/Delaunay methodology to all areas of science TOPICS OF INTEREST: ___________________ - Theoretical aspects of Voronoi diagrams and Delaunay triangulations - Geographic Information Systems and Voronoi diagrams - Generalizations of Voronoi diagrams and Delaunay triangulations - Algorithmic aspects of Voronoi diagrams - Mathematical properties of Voronoi diagrams - Computational and implementation aspects of Voronoi diagrams - Conceptual and logical data models based on Voronoi diagrams - Terrain modeling and meshes using Delaunay triangulation - Visualization, animation and morphing using Voronoi diagrams - Pattern analysis and recognition using Voronoi diagrams - Motion analysis and planning using Voronoi diagrams - Collision detection, navigation and obstacle avoidance using Voronoi diagrams - Network analysis and communication using Voronoi diagrams - Clustering using the Voronoi diagram - Computer modelling and simulation using Voronoi diagrams - Dynamic data modelling and simulation using Voronoi diagrams - Spatial and autocorrelation analysis using Voronoi diagrams - Image processing and Distance Transform computation using Voronoi diagrams - Molecular modelling using Voronoi diagram - Biological and Physical modeling using Voronoi Diagram - Voronoi diagrams in Bioinformatics - Voronoi diagrams in astronomy, geography, chemistry, material science, location science, solid modelling and operations research - Other applications - Voronoi art Submissions in other related areas will also be considered. IMPORTANT DATES: ________________ Submission of intention/expression of interest: as soon as possible please Submission of full paper: 02 March 2007 (Please contact the Chair if you have any specific problems) Notification of Acceptance 05 April 2007 Camera ready version of papers 20 April 2007 (conference registration required to submit final version) ISVD 2007 Symposium 9-11 July 2007 Voronoi GIS workshop 12 July 2007 CONTACT: ________ Please direct any questions to: voronoi_AT_gmail_DOT_com (with subject as :ISVD07) ISVD 2007 Chair, Prof. Christopher Gold, EU Marie-Curie Chair in GIS Department of Computing and Mathematics University of Glamorgan Pontypridd CF37 1DL Wales, UK e-mail: chris.gold_AT_gmail_DOT_com Web site: www.voronoi.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======= ITEM 14 ======= CAIMS*SCMAI E-News Information CAIMS*SCMAI E-News is distributed electronically several times a year by the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society/Societe Canadienne de Mathematiques Appliquees et Industrielles (http://www.caims.ca). Past issues are available on the web at http://www.caims.ca/Society/pub.html Submissions are welcome and should be sent in plain text format to: caims@caims.ca. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the Board or Membership of CAIMS*SCMAI. The editorial policy of this publication is to encourage the discussion of issues and facilitate the dissemination of information relevant to Canadian applied and industrial mathematics. If you wish to have your name removed from the e-mailing list for the CAIMS*SCMAI E-News, please send an email message to caims@caims.ca.