The National Academies' Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications (BMSA) supports and promotes the quality and health of the mathematical sciences and their interactions with science, engineering, medicine, and policy. It accomplishes that goal by organizing studies and workshops that identify research opportunities in emerging fields, build connections between the mathematical sciences and other fields, and illustrate the value of the mathematical sciences to new areas such as homeland security.
Recent activities and their impacts include:
A 2002 workshop illustrating how the mathematical sciences contribute to homeland security, which has led to productive discussions between the BMSA and the Department of Homeland Security and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Through the BMSA, both of those organizations are learning how the mathematical sciences can contribute to their missions. A 2004 workshop on Enterprise Risk Management, which provided a forum for the exchange of perspectives among a wide range of government and private-sector experts in risk modeling and analysis. This provided a forum for demonstrating the relevance of the mathematical sciences to the challenges of many federal agencies with which the mathematical sciences community has had little previous contact. A 2005 report, Mathematics and 21st Century Biology, recommended a significant broadening of the mathematical sciences research program at the Department of Energy and demonstrated to biologists more generally the value of collaborations with mathematical scientists. A 2005 report, Basic Research in Information Science and Technology for Air Force Needs, has resulted in $6 million in new funds for the AFOSR Mathematics and Space Sciences Directorate, while cementing the role of mathematical sciences in information science and technology.
More generally, the BMSA provides an interface between the mathematical sciences community and leaders in other fields of science, engineering, medicine, and public policy. In the past year, the BMSA has interacted with the heads of NSF and the National Institute for General Medical Sciences, leaders of the Federal Reserve System, and high-ranking decision-makers at NASA and at the Departments of Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services. Through such interactions, the mathematical sciences community is becoming more widely valued and involved in the early stages of development of major federal programs.
