Mathematical Institutes Upcoming Events

Random Matrix Theory, Interacting Particle Systems and Integrable Systems

Monday, August 16, 2010 - Friday, December 17, 2010

Inverse Problems and Applications

Monday, August 16, 2010 - Friday, December 17, 2010

Complex Networks

Sunday, August 29, 2010 - Sunday, August 28, 2011
This year-long SAMSI program focuses on the emerging area of network science. This highly interdisciplinary field is characterized by novel interactions in the mathematical sciences occurring at the interface of applied mathematics, statistics, computer science, and statistical physics, as well as those areas with network-oriented thrusts in biology, computer networks, engineering, and the social sciences. The program is built around four interconnected research foci: •network modeling and inference •flows on networks •network models for disease transmission •dynamics of networks Through empirical, applied and analytical approaches, the researchers in the program will work toward a better understanding of the networked systems we encounter in nature or build for technological purposes.

IMA Thematic Year on Simulating Our Complex World: Modeling, Computation and Analysis

Wednesday, September 01, 2010 - Thursday, June 30, 2011
The program focuses on the role of numerical analysis, simulation and scientific computing for understanding and illuminating our complex world. The development of computational methodologies and framework has been a mainstay of the applied mathematics community for more than 50 years. The IMA has not sponsored a program in this general area since the annual year in High Performance Computation in 1996-97. We feel that the time is right to revisit this topic, and the broad community that it represents.

Evolution, Synchronization, and Environmental Interactions: Insights from Plants and Insects

Wednesday, September 01, 2010 - Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Myriad influences shape the patterns of evolution, timing, behavior and ecology of living organisms. These influences range from biochemical cues to configurations of temperature, space and light, to interactions with other organisms. This one-year program focuses on connecting influence to pattern for processes involving plants and insects. How do biotic and abiotic influences affect patterns of plants and insects? We investigate this complex question quantitatively, by focusing on specific areas where there has been recent growth, simultaneously in mathematical and statistical theories and in biological data and experiment. We propose to couple the mathematics and biology in new ways, allowing for innovative growth of both science and mathematics. The year is based around the following workshops: (i) Mathematical modeling of plant development, (ii) Circadian clocks in plants and fungi, (iii) Insect self-organization and swarming, (iv) Ecology and control of invasive species, including insects, and (v) Coevolution and the ecological structure of plant-insect communities. Our mathematical investigation of these processes will rely upon a diverse array of quantitative theory, including geometry, control, optimization, pattern formation, spatial dynamics, evolution and data-model interaction. The plant development workshop will connect biochemical mechanisms to geometric patterns, while simultaneously investigating the selection pressure for the geometric patterns. Circadian clocks will be evaluated both from the perspective of design features for feedback and control, and of robustness of these features to perturbation. Insect self-organization and swarming will employ dual perspectives of emergent self-organization properties arising from individual interactions, and optimal design of artificial swarms using diffuse (decentralized) information with implications for robotics and decentralized computer algorithms. Biological invasions will be understood, not only in terms of predictable forecasting of future invasions, but in terms of optimal control of the invasion processes. Finally, the physical and behavioral mechanisms involved in coevolution of plant-insect communities will be understood in terms of fitness advantages incurred evolution and adaptation. Thus the underlying feature throughout the workshops is simultaneous investigation of mechanism and optimality: What mechanisms give rise to observed patterns? What is the fitness or optimality associated with observed patterns? It is through this simultaneous study of mechanism and optimality in plants and insects that the workshops will provide general insight to the processes of evolution, synchronization and environmental interactions. The goals of the year program are (i) to develop, analyze and apply new mathematical models for processes of evolution, timing, behavior and ecology of living organisms that are tailored to investigate both mechanisms underlying the processes and optimality of associated patterns; and (ii) train interdisciplinary quantitative researchers at a variety of levels (graduate, postdoctoral and faculty) in the area of evolution, synchronization and environmental interactions for biological systems.

Bootcamp in Cancer Modeling

Tuesday, September 07, 2010 - Friday, September 10, 2010
The MBI Bootcamp on Cancer Modeling is aimed at young researchers in the biological and biomedical sciences, although young researchers in the mathematical sciences will both benefit from and be accepted into the bootcamp. The bootcamp will focus on three themes surrounding cancer modeling: signaling pathways, tumor growth, and radiotherapy. Three speakers will address each theme: the first will provide the general biological background to the theme, the second will review the relevant modeling, while the third will deliver a state-of-the-art talk and suggest directions/challenges for future research. Each theme will also include a lab session where participants can experiment with pre-programmed models. The bootcamp presenters will include: * Signaling Pathways: Darryl Shibata (USC); Olaf Wolkenhauer (Rostock) * Tumor Growth: Vito Quaranta (Vanderbilt); Alexander Anderson (Moffitt); Yi Jiang (Los Alamos National Lab) * Radiotherapy: Philip Hahnfeldt (Tufts); Heiko Enderling (Tufts) The bootcamp will also have a poster session at which participants are invited to display and discuss their work. Local support is available for interested graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Please apply on the MBI website. Full consideration will be given to applications received by July 23, 2010. Applicants will be notified of acceptance by August 2, 2010.

Analysis of Object Data

Sunday, September 12, 2010 - Thursday, August 25, 2011
The 12-month SAMSI program will focus on the analysis of complex data types that are an extension of Functional Data Analysis where one considers methods to analyze data samples of complex objects. Modern science is generating a need to understand, and statistically analyze, populations of increasingly complex types. The term "Analysis of Object Data" (AOOD) is aimed at encompassing a broad array of such methods. The proposed SAMSI program seeks to bring together a diverse group of researchers (from statistics, other parts of mathematics, and related sciences) to explore the common structure that underlies such methodologies, and to use this knowledge in turn to motivate and synthesize new approaches.

Emerging applications of complexity for CR mappings

Monday, September 13, 2010 - Friday, September 17, 2010
This workshop will focus on the evolving notion of complexity in CR Geometry.

Medical Device-Biological Interactions at the Material-Tissue Interface

Monday, September 13, 2010 - Wednesday, September 15, 2010
This workshop is to bring together a group of scientists, mathematicians, and physicians to discuss the device-biological interactions at the material-tissue interfaces from the perspective of medical efficacy and scientific mechanisms. Medical, engineering, and mathematic tools will be used. The goal of the workshop is to identify challenges and opportunities in the fields to stimulate collaborations among physicians, scientists, and mathematicians.

Modern Trends in Optimization and Its Application

Monday, September 13, 2010 - Friday, December 17, 2010
This long program will be centered on the development and application of these modern trends in optimization. It will bring together researchers from mathematics, computer science, operations research, engineering, and other fields, who have a common interest in optimization. The goal is to develop and exchange ideas about modern optimization which can be influenced by, and influence in turn, progress in engineering and science.

Machine Reasoning Workshops I & II: Mission-Focused Representation & Understanding of Complex Real-World Data

Monday, September 20, 2010 - Friday, September 24, 2010
These two workshops will address two topics important for efficiently obtaining and utilizing the information inherent in complex real-world data, namely Representation and Understanding. Workshop I on Data Representation will begin on Monday, September 20 in the morning and continue until lunch on Wednesday, September 22. Workshop II on Understanding of Data commences after lunch on Wednesday, September 22 and continues through Friday, September 24.

Mathematical Modeling of Plant Development

Monday, September 27, 2010 - Friday, October 01, 2010
Plant development can be considered far beyond the original context of timing and elementary topology of organ development. We may explore its process origins in biochemistry; its mutual coupling to the environment as in energy balance and organ microclimate; the geometry of resources (rectilinear radiation, patchy and diffusive nutrients) that in turn conditions the necessary geometry of plant organs; the selection pressures that drive the evolution of diverse patterns of geometry and timing, and the population-genetic and phylogenetic constraints on such evolution; the ecological interactions with conspecifics as both competitors and mates, other resource competitors, herbivores, pollinators, diseases, and other biota that condition timing and geometry and the responsiveness of both. Exploration of these topics offers opportunities for biologists and mathematicians to meet in modes of modelling from first principles, inverse modelling, empirical modelling and data analysis, and to inform not only each other's major disciplines but also to link subfields within each discipline. Forward models may originate as functional models from basic levels of biochemistry and biophysics. One may also formulate models that begin with selection pressures to estimate how plants "should" function - simple optimization models, which must be generalized to address constraints that are variously functional, population-genetic, or phylogenetic. The workshop has a goal of addressing these topics as items of intrinsic interest. Furthermore, it has a goal of involving young researchers to continue the development of mathematical biology and to take it in new directions. Finally, the workshop should engage us in defining the major challenges that remain. As an example of this last item, we may consider the problem of non-extinction: What is the geometry of the high-dimensional niche space that allows individual species to persist despite great numbers of extreme events in abiotic and biotic conditions, and how does this particularly relate to their biology, both physiological and developmental?

Parameter identification in graphical models

Monday, October 04, 2010 - Friday, October 08, 2010
This workshop is devoted to identifiability problems in graphical statistical models.

Algebraic systems with only real solutions

Monday, October 18, 2010 - Friday, October 22, 2010
This workshop, sponsored by AIM and the NSF, will be devoted to the study of different versions of the B. and M. Shapiro Conjecture and related questions in real algebraic geometry.

Machine Reasoning Workshops III & IV: Mission-Focused Actions/Reactions Based on & System Integration of Information Derived from Complex Real-World Data

Monday, October 18, 2010 - Friday, October 22, 2010
These two workshops will address two topics important for efficiently obtaining and utilizing the information inherent in complex real-world data, namely Actions/Reactions and System Integration. Workshop III on Actions/Reactions will begin on Monday, October 18 in the morning and continue until lunch on Wednesday, October 20. Workshop IV on System Integration commences after lunch on Wednesday, October 20 and continues through Friday, October 22.

The geometry of the outer automorphism group of a free group

Monday, October 25, 2010 - Friday, October 29, 2010
This workshop will be devoted to the outer automorphism group of the free group, Out(F); in particular, its geometry and its inherent asymmetry.

Circadian Clocks in Plants and Fungi

Monday, October 25, 2010 - Friday, October 29, 2010
Circadian (~24-hour) rhythms control the timing of many biological processes including leaf movements in plants and sporulation in fungi. Advances in understanding the biological mechanism of plant and fungal clocks have also helped inspire clock research in higher organisms. This workshop brings together theorists and experimentalists to better understanding timekeeping in plants and fungi and how they relate to clocks in higher organisms. We plan to organize this workshop around the following themes: 1. How do multiple feedback loops within the Neurospora and aribidopsis clocks interact? How do individual feedback loops regulate circadian behavior? 2. How do circadian clocks keep a near constant period despite a widely changing environmental conditions? 3. How can mathematical models be matched to time series data? 4. How do circadian rhythms synchronize to the external world and the circadian clocks of other cells? The goals of this workshop are to bring together theorists and experimentalists, some of whom are new to mathematical modelling or circadian rhythms, to foster interdisciplinary collaborations. The workshop will begin with a 2 day tutorial focusing on theory for experimentalists one day and the basics of circadian timekeeping for theorists on the second.

2010-11 Education and Outreach Program

Friday, October 29, 2010 - Sunday, July 31, 2011

IPAM's 10th Anniversary Conference

Tuesday, November 02, 2010 - Thursday, November 04, 2010
The role of mathematics in science has been transformed over the last few decades. Emerging applications in information science, nanosystems, multiscale and multiphysics problems, bioinformatics and other fields have required new kinds of mathematics, both pure and applied. Since its inception in 2000, the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) has catalyzed the interaction of mathematics with science.

Finite Element Circus Featuring a Scientific Celebration of Falk, Pasciak, and Wahlbin

Friday, November 05, 2010 - Saturday, November 06, 2010
The Finite Element Circus is a conference series with a rich history, focusing on new developments in the finite element method (FEM) and applications. FEM plays a crucial role in simulation of engineering, physical, biological, and other scientific phenomena. A driving force for its success has been its mathematical analysis, which has led to novel competitive methods and significant improvements to existing methods. In line with IMA's annual theme, the Fall 2010 Circus will be held at the IMA.

Blackwell-Tapia Conference

Friday, November 05, 2010 - Saturday, November 06, 2010
This is the sixth in a series of biannual conferences honoring David Blackwell and Richard Tapia, two seminal figures who inspired a generation of African-American, Native American and Latino/Latina students to pursue careers in mathematics. Carrying forward their work, this one and a half day conference will: * Recognize and showcase mathematical excellence by minority researchers * Recognize and disseminate successful efforts to address under-representation * Inform students and mathematicians about career opportunities in mathematics, especially outside academia * Provide networking opportunities for mathematical researchers at all points in the higher education/career trajectory The conference will include a mix of activities including scientific talks; poster presentations; a panel discussion of career opportunities in mathematics, and another panel on recruitment and retention of a diverse mathematics workforce; and ample opportunities for discussion and interaction. 2010 Blackwell-Tapia Prize: The National Blackwell-Tapia Committee is pleased to announce that the 2010 Blackwell-Tapia Prize will be awarded to Dr. Trachette Jackson (Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan). This prize is awarded every second year in honor of the legacy of David H. Blackwell and Richard A. Tapia. Special Event: Dr. Richard Tapia will give a public lecture at the Columbus Science Museum (COSI) on Thursday evening November 4 at 7:00pm. Admission is free and the public is welcome.

Waves and multiscale processes in the tropics

Monday, December 06, 2010 - Friday, December 10, 2010
This workshop will bring university-based mathematicians and physicists together with scientists from operational climate modeling centers to discuss the new insights and the mathematical basis for tropical multiscale processes coming from observations and from theory, and the consequences of such insights for the simulation of these processes in fully complex global climate models.

Random matrices

Monday, December 13, 2010 - Friday, December 17, 2010
This workshop will focus on recent developments on limiting distributions concerning both local and global properties of the spectrum of a random matrix.

Sustainability Problems

Monday, January 10, 2011 - Friday, January 14, 2011
This workshop will bring together mathematicians, graduate students, and industry and public agency representatives to work on a wide variety of sustainability problems, including such topics as renewable energy, air quality, water management, and other environmental issues.

Algorithmic Game Theory

Monday, January 10, 2011 - Friday, January 14, 2011
This workshop will gather scientists and researchers from various communities such as mathematics, computer science, economics, game theory, information theory, from academia as well as industry to provide a joint platform to discuss fundamental issues in the emerging interdisciplinary field of Algorithmic Game Theory.

Free Boundary Problems, Theory and Applications

Monday, January 10, 2011 - Friday, May 20, 2011

Deformation theory, patching, quadratic forms, and the Brauer group

Monday, January 17, 2011 - Friday, January 21, 2011
This workshop will focus on the interaction between algebraic geometry and the structure theory of fields, particularly the use of deformation theory and patching.

Efficiency of the Simplex Method; Quo vadis Hirsch conjecture?

Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - Friday, January 21, 2011
This workshop is devoted to the simplex method and the Hirsch conjecture, bringing together researchers with a variety contemporary approaches, including the smoothed analysis of the simplex method, analogies with interior point methods, explicit constructions and the systematic search for counterexamples through computational tools, and the investigation of combinatorial-topological abstractions of polyhedra.

Random Media: Homogenization and Beyond

Monday, January 24, 2011 - Friday, January 28, 2011
One goal of the workshop is to bring current practical and numerical issues to the attention of mathematicians knowledgeable in random media techniques. Another is to address pressing issues beyond homogenization theory. These issues include random media models with slowly decaying correlations or without strong separation of scales. Other important questions to be addressed concern the stochastic stability of solutions and understanding their fluctuations and correctors.

Ecology and Control of Invasive Species, Including Insects

Monday, February 21, 2011 - Friday, February 25, 2011
The spread of invasive species is a key applied problem in ecology. In North America, invasive exotic species are widespread, ranging from gypsy moth to Asian longhorn beetle to weedy plants. The associated costs are immense, by some estimates exceeding $100 billion US per year. While many invasive species are introduced from Asia or Europe, others, like mountain pine beetle, are simply spreading into new areas of North America, due to processes such as climatic change. Early models for invasive species were nonlinear reaction diffusion equations such as Fisher's equation, which describes quadratic growth coupled to Brownian motion. Here the analysis of traveling waves and of the convergence of initial data to wave solutions has been a fruitful area of classical mathematical research. The traveling wave speed, interpreted biologically as the rate of spread of the introduced population, has successfully predicted spread rates of many introduced species, but has failed dramatically with others. Modifications of these equations to include long-distance dispersal, stage structure, spatial heterogeneity, stochasticity, Allee effects, and nonlinear interactions with resident species (eg, competition or predation) have driven new advances in the theory of nonlinear dynamical systems, while, at the same time, providing a more realistic framework for the study of invasions. The nonlinear dynamical systems models are not simply mathematical abstractions of key processes. They are the quantitative formulation of underlying hypotheses, and they provide the means for testing the hypotheses against data. In parallel with the development of new mathematical models, has been increasing availability of detailed spatio-temporal datasets that can be used to track actual invasion processes. These datasets can be accessed via Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and, in some cases, they show yearly changes in the extent of invaders. Classic data sets include those for mountain pine beetle in western Canada and US, gypsy moth in the eastern US, and Spartina in coastal California. New powerful statistical methods based on intensive computational algorithms such as the Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, data cloning, profile likelihood based on cascading parameters, composite likelihood and estimating functions make it possible to interface these detailed data sets with the new realistic dynamical system models. This interface allows the models to be assessed, tested and validated against the real data for the invasions. Hypotheses regarding key factors governing invasions can be evaluated, and the means for controlling the invasions/adapting to the invasions can be investigated. This interface between nonlinear dynamical systems, large datasets and statistical and computer methods has only become possible recently, with the growth of large data sets via remote sensing, with the advent of new powerful computers, and with the development of new statistical methods. This interface provides fertile ground for new mathematical, statistical and scientific advances. The purpose of the MBI workshop on invasive species is to bring together researchers from different groups: mathematicians, biologists and statisticians to develop the new interdisciplinary approaches to biological invasions described above. Possible participants are given below.

Mathematics of Information-Theoretic Cryptography

Monday, February 28, 2011 - Friday, March 04, 2011
This workshop explores recent, novel relationships between mathematics and information-theoretically secure cryptography, the area studying the extent to which cryptographic security can be based on principles that do not rely on presumed computational intractability of mathematical problems.

Navigating Chemical Compound Space for Materials and Bio Design

Monday, March 14, 2011 - Friday, June 17, 2011
Chemical compound space (CCS) is the combinatorial set which encompasses all chemical compounds. Due to the combinatorial nature of CCS, systematic screening for interesting properties or even simple enumeration is beyond any computational capacity. But CCS provides a natural framework in which to construct rigorous mathematical tools for the development of direct and inverse quantitative structure-property relationships (QSPR), which can be applied to challenges in Materials and Bio design.

Insect Self-organization and Swarming

Monday, March 14, 2011 - Friday, March 18, 2011
Insect groups generate a wide range of interesting collective patterns and behaviours, for example the formation of ant trails, the building of elaborate nests, collective movement of honey bee swarms and marching locust bands, to name just a few. The complex non-linear nature of the mechanisms underlying such collective behaviour has generated a great deal of theoretical interest from mathematicians and physicists. Collective insect behaviour is one area where mathematical modelling and experiment have lived well side by side. Collective insect behaviour is interesting from the point of view of evolution because understanding the non-linear dynamics provides insights into self-organization in natural systems which in turn serves as an inspiration for computer algorithms and robots. Many of the emergent collective phenomena involve synchronization where large numbers of individuals move in the same direction or co-ordinate their activities. Lastly, mass movement of insects such as grasshoppers and crickets involve large-scale interactions with the environment, whereby feedback between individuals within a group and their environment determine collective patterns.

Hypergraph Turan problem

Monday, March 21, 2011 - Friday, March 25, 2011
This workshop will be devoted to the study of the hypergraph Turan function ex(n,F), the maximum size of an F-free k-hypergraph on n vertices.

New Developments in Dynamical Systems Arising from the Biosciences

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - Saturday, March 26, 2011
The biosciences provide rich grounds for mathematical problems, and many questions require the development of new mathematical theory and algorithms. With this workshop we give particular attention to new ideas and developments in dynamical systems. We have chosen four themes to showcase how the biosciences inspired recent progress: systems with delays, systems with multiple scales, dynamics of networks, and stochastic bifurcation theory. The meeting will highlight and discuss new directions of fundamental research in each of the themes, how they are connected, and how they contribute to the understanding of specific questions in bioscience applications.

Unlikely intersections in algebraic groups and Shimura varieties

Monday, March 28, 2011 - Friday, April 01, 2011
This workshop will explore the recent conjectures on "unlikely intersections" due to Zilber, Pink, and Bombieri-Masser-Zannier, and related or analogous problems in model theory, diophantine geometry, and arithmetic dynamics.

Coevolution and the Ecological Structure of Plant-insect Communities

Monday, April 04, 2011 - Friday, April 08, 2011
Plant-insect interactions have played a pivotal role in the development of modern coevolutionary theory, beginning with Darwin's initial insights into reciprocal adaptation between plants and pollinators. When Ehrlich and Raven published their now classic study of coevolution between butterflies and plants in 1964, the link between the development of coevolutionary theory and plant-insect interactions was cemented. Since this time, numerous studies of plant-insect interactions have revealed an important role for coevolution, even as the perceived importance of coevolution for the overall structure of plant-insect communities has waxed and waned. Currently, much of the research on the ecology and evolution of plant-insect interactions, both mutualistic and antagonistic, is expanding from simpler two-species frameworks to consider coevoluton in the context of multispecies communities. The Geographic Mosaic Theory: The geographic mosaic theory focuses on how spatial variability in the abiotic and biotic environment shapes ecological and evolutionary dynamics of interspecific interactions. The geographic mosaic theory explicitly identifies coevolution as the driving force underlying the ecological dynamics and structure of biological communities. Much of the empirical work motivated by the geographic mosaic theory has focused on quantifying patterns of trait matching or local adaptation in interacting species, with plant-insect interactions representing several of the best studied cases. A general result that has emerged from this work is that species interactions exhibit a complex mix of local adaptation, local maladaptation, trait matching, and trait mismatching as predicted by the verbal theory. A substantial body of mathematical theory has been developed to elucidate whether these patterns are consistent with a geographic mosaic process, and if so, whether such a process is more likely than other simpler processes. The development of a robust mathematical framework for the geographic mosaic is essential for interpreting existing data and designing future empirical studies. Community Genetics: Community genetics focuses on the role the genetic structure of component species plays in shaping the ecological structure and dynamics of biological communities. Thus, community genetics represents a marriage of the traditional disciplines of quantitative genetics, population genetics, and community ecology. As it is usually articulated, community genetics does not explicitly integrate the process of coevolution, although its potential importance is generally acknowledged. Empirical studies of community genetics have relied heavily on interactions between insects and plants. For instance, the long running studies of interactions between cottonwoods and insects conducted by Thomas Whitham and colleagues have clearly demonstrated that host genetics strongly influence the community of associated insect species. A wide variety of other studies, conducted in a diverse array of taxa, support the basic argument of community genetics - that integrating the genetic structure of the interacting species is important for any cohesive theory of community ecology. From a theoretical perspective, work in community genetics has been somewhat piecemeal, although excellent models have been developed and analyzed to address particular topics (e.g., see Neuhauser et al. for a particularly nice collection of examples). The development of a general theoretical framework for community genetics is an important goal, and essential for interpreting rapidly accumulating empirical data. The importance of evolutionary history: A third area receiving increased attention recently has been the exploration of the role of evolutionary history in the assembly of communities and in the evolution of plant defense against insects, and insect adaptations. To date, there have been a few studies examining co-diversification of plants and insects. (Futuyma, Becerra, Funk), and ants and fungi (Mueller). Another set of studies explores the role of host plants in sympatric speciation and host shifts (Nosil, Feder); yet a third group examines multivariate trait space to understand constraints and tradeoffs in the evolution of defense under different biotic and abiotic conditions. The degree to which phylogenetic history predicts host use by insects varies among systems, and may benefit from broader theoretical approaches to this question. Synthesis: Neutral theory suggests that how communities are assembled is largely agnostic to evolutionary processes. In contrast, strong evidence for coevolution between interacting species flies in the face of such approaches. We seek to understand how complex biological communities are assembled, what factors contribute to their stability or instability, and why the structure of such communities is often spatially variable. Discussing profitable avenues for the development of a mathematical framework which unifies multiple approaches to understanding the interplay between coevolution and community assembly will be an important focus of this workshop. An additional focus will be the development of statistical tools that can be used to evaluate the importance of reciprocal selection and ongoing coevolution for the composition, structure, and stability of plant-insect communities.

Multiscale modeling and computation of biomolecular structure, function, dynamics and transport

Monday, April 25, 2011 - Friday, April 29, 2011

The Cohen-Lenstra heuristics for class groups

Monday, June 13, 2011 - Friday, June 17, 2011
This workshop will be devoted to questions surrounding some of the various exciting recent developments on the Cohen-Lenstra heuristics.

Workshop 6: Ocean Ecologies and their Physical Habitats in a Changing Climate

Monday, June 20, 2011 - Friday, July 01, 2011
The goal of the workshop is to bring together biologists studying ocean and polar ecologies; oceanographers, biogeochemists, and climate scientists studying the changing physical habitats; and mathematicians with ecological and physical expertise. The two-way feedback interactions between ocean ecological systems and their physical environments have the potential to dramatically impact both marine biodiversity, and the planetary response to the changing atmosphere. The types of mathematics used to model ecological and physical processes are typically quite different. One of the exciting aspects of this workshop, and a reason to run it at MBI, is that we anticipate interesting new mathematical challenges arising from combining these different approaches to focus on modeling the feedback interactions between the ecological and physical systems. The workshop will focus on two (or possibly three) main themes. The two themes we are certain of are 1. Polar and sea ice ecologies 2. Phytoplankton and the carbon cycle These themes are particularly timely in that the impact of climate change on these systems has been quite pronounced. Moreover, these areas are further tied together through the interplay of a wide range of the length scales involved, from microscopic to many kilometers over oceanic regions. A third possible theme is krill and the Antarctic circumpolar current. We describe here our preliminary vision for the workshop. As with all aspects of mathematics and climate change, this is an emerging area, and part of the reason for running the workshop is to help identify the mathematical challenges and opportunities the emerging topics present. We would be grateful for any suggestions the Advisory Board may have to enrich the program.

Branching problems for unitary representations

Monday, July 25, 2011 - Friday, July 29, 2011
This workshop will focus on branching laws for the restriction of a unitary representation to a subgroup.

Graph and hypergraph limits

Monday, August 15, 2011 - Friday, August 19, 2011
This workshop will be devoted to the emerging theory of graph and hypergraph limits.

IMA Thematic Year on Mathematics of Information

Thursday, September 01, 2011 - Saturday, June 30, 2012
The Mathematics of Information program will involve invited long-term visitors, New Direction Visiting Professors, as well as postdoctoral fellows. Six workshops on rapidly growing research areas are being organized. In addition, there will be tutorials as well as short courses offered to introduce graduate students, postdocs, and other researchers in neighboring areas to the topics covered in the workshops. Each workshop is designed to be truly interdisciplinary, involving researchers from mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering, and other fields.

Instantaneous Frequencies and Trends for Nonstationary Nonlinear Data

Wednesday, September 07, 2011 - Friday, September 09, 2011
One of the main objectives of the workshop is to promote research that leads to the discovery and understanding of the underlying processes in order to provide a base for building predictive models. An extension of the trend study is the problem of regression, which is also of great interests to a broad research community, including the econometrics/finance community.

L2 invariants and their relatives for finitely generated groups

Monday, September 12, 2011 - Friday, September 16, 2011
This workshop will be devoted to the study of the asymptotic behavior of some natural invariants of finitely generated groups.

Mathematical and Computational Approaches in High-Throughput Genomics

Monday, September 12, 2011 - Friday, December 16, 2011
The goal of this long program is to bring together mathematical and computational scientists, sequencing technology developers in both industry and academia, and the biologists who use the instruments for particular research applications. This presents a unique opportunity to foster interactions between these three communities and advance the mathematics of this exciting field.