This award will provide support for the workshop and conference "Applied Mathematics: the next 50 years'', to be held at the University of Washington, Seattle, June 17-21, 2019. The event is a forward-looking workshop and conference on the future of applied mathematics, the new areas that will impact its future and alter the face of how the discipline is viewed and taught, and how research in applied mathematics is conducted. It consists of two parts. The first part, June 17-18, is devoted to a workshop on data science and optimization. The audience of the workshop consists of junior researchers (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows) and senior researchers who are interested in expanding their toolbox of existing methods. The second part, June 19-21, 2019 follows a more traditional conference format emphasizing the use of data science in applied mathematics as well as the use of stochastic (as opposed to deterministic) modeling: each half day will begin with a plenary lecture, followed by parallel mini-symposia on specific topics. In addition, the conference will host four panel discussions on topics of broad importance to the field: (1) how can we increase the participation of underrepresented minorities and females in the field, (2) new approaches to teaching all aspects of applied mathematics, (3) the importance of applied mathematics in industry and government, and (4) future directions for the field of applied mathematics. The outcomes of these four panel discussions will be widely disseminated. Information about the event can be found at: https://depts.washington.edu/amath/amath50/index.shtml
Applied Mathematics is an ever-evolving field, consisting of the use of methods based in profound mathematics to applications in a large variety of fields. Traditionally, the field has been dominated by the use of models based on deterministic ordinary or partial differential equations. Two major advances are changing this approach. The first one is the advent of big data and the different mathematical tools that allow for the deduction of models not based on physical principles but deduced from observations. The second is the recognition of the role played by uncertainty and the impact it has on mathematical modeling, leading to the need for stochastic analysis tools. Our forward-looking meeting combines a workshop and a conference. The workshop is a training program for junior researchers to introduce them to the field of data analysis from the applied mathematics perspective, with an emphasis on data-based modeling and optimization. The conference focuses on more diverse themes, but with a strong emphasis on data science and stochastic modeling.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
