The purpose of this workshop is to formally initiate a collaborative research program between two teams of researchers (one from US and the other from France) in the area Fractional Derivatives and Their Applications. The US team consists of 7 people, and they come from academia, business, and government research labs. The French team consists of 13 people and most of them come from Bordeaux University and CRONE Lab. During the period of the workshop, the US and the French teams will present their research efforts, make research proposals, and discuss as to how the two teams will collaborate on these project. The following topics have been identified for discussion at the workshop: Fractional Control of Engineering Systems; Fundamental Understanding and Explorations of Viscoelastic, Foam, Gel and other type of Materials and Their Engineering and Scientific Applications - Experimental/Theoretical; Application of Fractional Derivatives to Thermal Modeling such as Disk, Caliper and Drum Brakes, Machine Tools; Analytical and Numerical Tools and Techniques; Advancement of Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control to Fractional Dynamic Systems; Fundamental understanding of wave and diffusion phenomenon, their measurements and verifications; and Image and signal processing. Discussion will include both fundamental as well as applied research and their impact on the field. In addition, the US team will visit the research facilities at the CRONE and other laboratories, and learn how the CRONE team members are using these laboratories to advance the knowledge in the field of applications of fractional derivatives to engineering and scientific problems.
At the end of the workshop, the participants will develop a preliminary research collaboration plan that they will further develop and pursue upon their return. To facilitate this, a web-site will be created that will document the outcome of the workshop. It will also provide a mechanism for continuing discussion by the participants. In the future, it will also document progress made by the team members in the area of Fractional Derivatives and Their Applications.
