Search

A SIAM Conference on Optimization was held on May 11-13, 1992 in Chicago. Over three hundred papers were presented at the 75 sessions.

The SIAM Conference on Dynamical Systems was designed to provide a forum for the continued interdisciplinary development of the modern theory of dynamical systems. The close connections between theory, numerics, and applications has had a revolutionizing effect on the growth of dynamical systems as a field. The conference successfully met its primary goal of drawing members from the dynamical systems community together to discuss recent achievements both in the general geometric theory of dynamical systems, as well as in problem-specific developments.

The workshop was attended by sixty-five researchers, of whom thirty gave half hour lecturers, and nineteen presented posters. This was the first scientific meeting devoted to the topic of automatic differentiation of algorithms. There were many excellent talks on large scale applications - in particular weather modeling, oceanography, petroleum reservoir modeling, beam tracing in optics, satellite orbit analysis, and mechanical systems simulation. Some of the speakers delineated very clearly the remaining deficiencies of currently available automatic differentiation techniques in comparison to handcoded derivative evaluation programs. From the lively discussion that followed, it can be expected that the software developers present will accept the challenge of closing this gap in efficiency without sacrificing user convenience. In many formal and informal discussions, the participants raised the question of how potential users and the scientific community at large can be made aware of the extremely promising computational techniques presented at the workshop. Some felt that the name Automatic Differentiation sounds too mechanical and fails to indicate the wealth of intrinsic problems and ramifications.

This project approved the Symposium on Emerging Areas in Applied Mathematics held in conjunction with the SIAM 1985 Summer Meeting, June 24-26 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Eight invited speakers gave talks in four broad areas of applied mathematics: robotics, nonlinear partial differential equations and applications, scientific computing, and optimization. The meeting was very successful, with a total attendance of more than 400, including representatives of 8 nations. (Author)

The SIAM 1983 Fall Meeting held at the OMNI Hotel, Norfolk, Virginia, focused on three themes---computational aerodynamics; control, stabilization and optimization in distributed parameter systems; and parallel processing. Well known researchers were ten minisymposia which enhanced the major themes. The conference attracted a large, enthusiastic group of attendees with well over 100 contributed papers in addition to those presented in the minisymposia. (kr)

The program consisted of twelve invited lecturers, two von Karman prize recipients, and one hundred thirty-three contributed papers and poster presentations. The program was organized into three symposia: Mathematical Methods in the Atmospheric Sciences, Computational Methods in Partial Differential Equations, and Adaptive Methods for Scientific Computation. The Symposium on Mathematical Methods in the Atmospheric Sciences was held on Monday, November 12. The atmospheric and related sciences provide an abundant source of problems in applied mathematics. Often problems in these areas are characterized by their extensive use of computing resources. Those attending realized they could make substantial contributions not only to the analysis of these problems, but also to the efficient use of computing in solving them. (Author)

This conference was organized to bring together researchers and practitioners working in several geometry-based disciplines. Because of the theoretical needs of several of the applications areas, input was sought from 'pure' mathematicians whose research and general background knowledge was believed to impact on certain stalled applications efforts. In that regard the conference was successful. The communication between the pure and applied camps was good. In summary, the conference revealed that some of the subdisciplines of applied geometry, are becoming more and more dependent on carefully laid mathematical foundations. It was difficult to miss the fact that most of the practitioners are lacking in the relevant mathematical background, and the theoretical mathematical background, and the theoretical mathematicians have missed some important applications-motivated theoretical questions. It is with anticipation that we watch the next two years for important mathematical development in applied geometry, and its transfer to the engineering community. The week in Albany is viewed as a catalyst., Prepared in cooperation with Rensaelaer Polytechnic Institute.