This award will provide support to defray expenses of participants, especially junior investigators, women and mathematicians from under-represented groups in the sciences to attend the conference ``The Central Region Conference on Numerical Analysis and Dynamical Systems'' from May 3 to May 4, 2013 on the campus of the University of Kansas. The conference is motivated by the increased interaction and collaboration between numerical analysis and dynamical systems in the last decades. Numerical analysis is at the core of scientific computing and involves the study, development, and analysis of algorithms for obtaining numerical solutions to various mathematical models of real world problems. It is often cost effective to employ simulations to narrow down where expensive experimental procedures should be applied and to provide insight into the principles behind observed experimental phenomena. Dynamical systems theory is an area of applied mathematics where the behavior of complex dynamical systems is studied and qualitative methods are typically employed. Qualitative analysis has been found to be extremely useful in the development of robust and reliable numerical algorithms and in justifying numerical results, and numerical simulation has increasingly become a powerful tool in dynamical systems and has been used extensively to gain quantitative characterization of complex dynamic systems, provide necessary motivations, and verify theoretical findings.
The conference will serve several goals. In addition to facilitating greater interaction between researchers in numerical analysis and dynamical systems, The Central Region Conference on Numerical Analysis and Dynamical Systems will provide a forum in which young researchers, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the Central region of the United States can acquaint themselves with current issues at the forefront of research, present their own work, and interact with senior mathematicians in the field. Furthermore, the conference will provide strong motivation for interdisciplinary collaboration between numerical analysis and dynamical systems. Finally, the conference will play an active role in motivating applied mathematics and strengthening applied mathematics groups at universities in the region.
" held May 3 to May 5, 2013 on the campus of the University of Kansas. In addition, it provided support for a workshop "The KU Computational and Applied Mathematics Workshop" from April 18 to 19, 2014 at the University of Kansas. NA and DS are two important areas of applied mathematics. NA is at the core of scientific computing and involves the study, development, and analysis of algorithms for obtaining numerical solutions to various mathematical models of real world problems. Scientific computing has become a common tool for use in science and engineering to construct mathematical models, develop quantitative analysis techniques, and use computers to analyze and solve scientific problems. It is often cost effective to employ simulations to focus where expensive experimental procedures should be applied and to understand the principles behind observed experimental phenomena. DS (or dynamical systems theory) is an area of applied mathematics where the behavior of complex models is studied and qualitative methods are typically employed. There has been increased interaction and collaboration between NA and DS in recent decades. Investigation of complex phenomena often necessitates a combination of numerical analysis and dynamical systems techniques. Although quantitative (numerical solution) methods are typically employed in research work of NA, qualitative analysis has been found extremely useful in the development of robust and reliable numerical algorithms and in justifying numerical results. On the other hand, numerical solution has increasingly become a powerful tool in DS and has been used extensively to gain quantitative characterization of complex dynamic systems, provide necessary motivations, and verify theoretical findings. The conference provided an ideal venue for interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers in NA and DS and is strengthening the synergy between applied mathematics groups at the universities in the region. The conference and subsequent workshop brought together groups of mathematicians with interests focused on analytical issues, numerical issues, as well those focused on specific biological and physical problems. Bringing together these different groups facilitated a transfer of knowledge between mathematics and areas in applied science and engineering. The conference and workshop provided an excellent opportunity for regional researchers especially young faculty members, postdocs, and graduate students to present their results and gain experience and improve their skills in communication and presentation. The feedback on the conference and workshop was uniformly positive and a subsequent central region conference is being planned.