This award will provide travel and local support for graduate students and senior scientists for the International Summer Program in Astrophysical Modeling. This workshop, being developed by Dr. Pascale Garaud (University of California - Santa Cruz), has a dual goal: to train graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in astrophysical modeling and to promote scientific collaborations between theorists, numericists and observers. The workshop will run for a total of six weeks, and the venue will alternate between Santa Cruz, California and an international location, the first one of which will be in France.
The format of the school is highly non-traditional, in the sense that it will not revolve around teaching the students a single particular pre-defined skill or knowledge. Instead, the program begins by presenting the students with interesting topical research problems, and leaves them to decide whichever mathematical/numerical method they are interested in developing to address these problems. Mentoring and support in a wide breadth of technical skills will be provided by the more senior faculty and postdoctoral fellows for the duration of this research program. By fostering multi-disciplinary collaboration, every person in the team will have the opportunity to learn from the others. Mini-workshops will be organized to teach whomever is interested the mathematical/numerical/statistical tools they may need for the project of their choice. The program will be run in an international setting by alternating venues between the United States and the rest of the world to promote international collaborations and introduce the students to the international research community.
