This award will provide partial support for scientists and engineers to participate in a workshop titled ?Patterns in Science and Technology,? which will be held March 31 through April 2, 2014 in Gainesville, Florida. The workshop will bring together experts in fluid dynamics of multiphase systems to examine pattern formation in diverse problems, including multiscale turbulence, interfacial instabilities, granular flows, and flowing suspensions. The workshop will focus on the mathematical structures and underlying physics that are common to this diverse set of multiphase systems. The workshop will feature invited and contributed research presentations as well as several poster sessions that will address important problems in pattern formation.
The formation of patterns in flowing systems is an important feature of many multiphase and interfacial processes. The development of such patterns in complex materials sometimes indicates the onset of an instability that can influence the processing of such materials. In geophysical flows, structures that develop can influence potentially catastrophic events such as avalanches in landslides. By seeking commonalities in the behavior of distinct physical systems, this workshop may aid researchers who study a broad range of materials. The workshop will also provide educational opportunities for students at a variety of academic levels. The meeting will give students a chance to interact with leaders in their research fields, which will enhance their early career development.
Flows associated with materials processing, suspension dynamics, snow avalanches, turbidity currents, falling films, and the spreading of oil films are diverse examples of applications where patterned formation plays an important role. The physical problems are all different with seemingly different physical origins, yet they have common mathematical features. In a fundamental sense these problems are examples of nonlinear dynamics, competition, and pattern formation. These common features encourages a unified approach but the disparate length scales and the presence of interfaces as well as competing nonlinearities generates complications such as subcritical patterns and interfering patterns. There has been a recent enhancement in pattern studies that includes application of self-organized patterned structures to technology. The specific purpose of the workshop is to bring experts, both senior and young scientists, from different disciplines to promote cross-fertilization of ideas and methodologies. The workshop was held at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, FL at the Harn Museum, which is an indoor facility located at the North Park and it has a large conference facility It has a maximum capacity of 75 visitors. This is an ideal setup for having the proposed focused conference and workshop. The workshop was a three-day meeting from March 31th to April 2 2014. 40 leading researchers in the area of patterns in science and technology attended the meeting. In addition to senior researchers, several of their postdocs and graduate students also attend the meeting. A total of about 60 attendees benefited from the workshop.
