This award will support a joint seminar between US and French mathematicians on the topic of the transfer of mathematics to industry in the US and France. The seminar will be held at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), University of Minnesota, in October 1991. The US organizers are Drs. Avner Friedman and Willard Miller of the IMA. The co-sponsoring organization is the French National Institute for Computer Science and Automation (INRIA), Roquencourt, France. Both the IMA and INRIA have extensive contacts with industry. The IMA has recently initiated a program "Postdoctorates in Industrial Mathematics" and the annual and summer programs at the IMA also bring in large number of visitors from industry. A different experience of contact with industry is going on at INRIA, which has a long tradition of multidisciplinary research, mixing computer science and applied mathematics (control and scientific computing). This research is done in cooperation with various industries, such as Dassault, Aerospaciale, Peugot and Electricite de France. It is largely performed in common projects, involving INRIA researchers, engineers from industry and PHD students, most of whom are later recruited by industry. In addition, INRIA organizes many seminars, symposia and advanced courses aimed at transferring new ideas and techniques to industry. The proposed seminar is the result of a decision by IMA and INRIA to bring together key individuals from universities and industry, who are playing roles in building bridges between the two communities. The goals of the seminar are: 1) to facilitate transfer of mathematical problems of present interest to industry, and mathematical knowledge applicable to industry, 2) to outline future mathematical research directions in industry, and 3) to discuss the best methods of educating mathematics graduate students to be successful in industry, while doing good mathematics.
