26th International Conference on Mathematical Geophysics: Request for student travel support
Marc Spiegelman (LDEO/Columbia), David Yuen (U. Minn) and Peter Fox (NCAR) This proposal requests funds to help support travel and meeting costs for students and early career scientists at U.S. institutions to the 26th International Conference on Mathematical Geophysics Coupling in Earth Systems: Solids, Fluids, Life to be held in June 4 - 8, 2006 near Tiberias, Israel on the Sea of Galilee. The conference website is www.weizmann.ac.il/conferences/CMG2006/. Intellectual merits This conference brings together Earth scientists from across the disciplines with physicists, applied mathematicians, and computational scientists to discuss advances in mathematical and computational techniques for understanding properties and processes in the earth. This years meeting emphasizes understanding coupled systems such as coupled convective systems (ocean-atmosphere, mantle-lithosphere), coupled fluidsolid mechanics, interactions between the biosphere and geosphere, and in particular, interactions between humans and the earth through natural hazards. Many, if not all, of these problems require techniques for investigating, multi-scale, multi-physics problems and the meeting will emphasize both analytical and advanced computational methods for such problems. This meeting provides a single multi-disciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas and techniques across the disciplinary boundaries in the Earth Sciences. Funds are requested to support travel costs for 20 students, post-docs and early career scientists which is approximately half the number attending past meetings. Broader Impacts This meeting is highly interdisciplinary and international in nature and provides an important opportunity for U.S. students and early-career scientists from across the earth sciences and applied mathematics to interact with senior scientists in a small informal setting. This year there will also be an increased emphasis on mathematical aspects of natural hazards in an attempt to understand how to merge fundamental knowledge of earth processes with risk management and societal needs.
