The grant will support a workshop on the Boundary Element Method (BEM), "Bridging Education and Industrial Applications," to be held on the University of Minnesota campus from April 23-26, 2012. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have been identified by many agencies as key areas in research innovations that will help the US maintain its leadership in the 21st century. The BEM is a numerical method whose applications cover nearly all the STEM fields. Yet, in the recent years, the center of activity in the area of BEM has shifted away from the US. The objectives of the workshop include: to foster an ongoing dialog among the researchers, educators, and practicing engineers related to new areas in the field of BEM (such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and alternative energy); to enhance STEM education in the US via the BEM; to train a new generation of researchers in computational science and engineering; and to advance BEM applications to practical industry problems. It is anticipated that 10 University of Minnesota students and 30 US students from outside of Minnesota will take part in the workshop. The first two days of the four-day event will include poster and oral presentations by students.
As a result of the workshop, the importance of BEM in research, education, and applications will be significantly increased, including its influence on STEM education in the US. It is expected that the workshop will promote collaborative research and advanced applications of the BEM to practical industrial problems. In selecting the speakers and other attendees, the organizing committee will make sure that the audience will have participants from academia and industry. Efforts will also be made to include participants of different levels (junior, senior) and from underrepresented groups. To disseminate knowledge, the outcomes of the workshops will be published in an edited book. The presentations and notes will be available for download from the workshop's website. In addition, a website on Green's functions and the BEM will be designed.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have been identified by many agencies as key areas in research innovations that will help the US maintain its leadership in the 21st century. The Boundary Element Method (BEM) is a numerical method whose applications cover nearly all the STEM fields. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the NSF-sponsored Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) hosted a workshop on BEM in April 23-26, 2012. This workshop consisted of a two-day short course and a two-day colloquium on advances in the BEM with educational and industrial applications. This workshop brought together 48 BEM leaders from around the world to share innovative research and educational practices, as well as define new lines for future research, educational methodologies, and industrial applications of the BEM. Forty students (both graduate and undergraduate) participated in this workshop and were exposed to the fundamentals, computational implementations, and industrial applications of the BEM. The workshop gave the students and the experts a unique one-on-one interaction opportunity and helped to nurture the next generation of BEM researchers. The students participated in the competition (judged by a panel of experts) for the best poster presentations. Three winners received specially designed certificates. The names of the students have been posted on the website http://cse.umn.edu/faculty/bem/ created for the workshop. The website will help to promote the method and the people (students, researchers, educators, and practitioners) who are working in the area of BEM. The students’ participation enhanced their appreciation and interest in STEM and increased their motivation to conduct research in the BEM and other computational methods. This will help the US raise the quality of its STEM education as compared to other countries. Another website on the BEM george-and-bem.ce.umn.edu has been created. The website is designed to serve both as a guide for the students who want to learn about the simple, yet powerful, mathematical concepts of the method and as a resource for professionals who are already working in the area of BEM. Each entry in the menu of the website contains extensive list of links to various inline sources (websites, books, articles, software, etc.). The link to the website is provided as an external link in Wikipedia's article on the BEM. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_element_method. The website will have strong impact on education and pedagogical methods in the area of BEM. The intellectual merits of this workshop consist of the following: (1) BEM leaders around the world shared innovative research and educational practices and defined new lines for future research, educational methodologies, and industrial applications of the BEM, and (2) a new generation of students has been exposed to the fundamentals, computational implementations, and industrial applications of the BEM; they will be motivated to pursue studies in STEM. Direct connection between US industries and academia has been another unique feature of this NSF workshop, as this will help to promote the advanced applications of the BEM to practical industrial problems. The broader impacts of this workshop include educating US students in the STEM areas. Two developed websites will help to stimulate and motivate students through the introduction of simple, yet powerful, concepts in BEM.
