This award supports travel for U.S. participants in the international conference "Symmetry Plus Integrability 2010," held in South Padre Island, Texas, on 10-14 June 2010. The conference is jointly organized by the Department of Mathematics at the University of Texas - Pan American and the Faculty of Mathematics, Kyushu University.
The conference focuses on current research in integrable systems and nonlinear waves, including work in two-dimensional nonlinear wave equations and soliton interactions; nonlinear water waves; nonholonomic dynamics; nonlinear equations with randomness; integrable systems and combinatorics; nonlinear wave phenomena in nonlinear optics and physics; and applications of integrable systems in random matrix theory, physics, and engineering. The conference features plenary talks and other invited lectures by leading researchers, as well as a poster session for presentations by students and junior researchers.
The meeting will foster the scientific interaction of an international community of scientists working in these subjects and will provide an opportunity for junior researchers in these fields to interact with more experienced researchers and scientists from Japan and other countries. Participation of members of groups underrepresented in mathematics is encouraged and supported.
Conference web site: www.math.utpa.edu/kmaruno/SPI2010.html
The Department of Mathematics at the University of Texas -- Pan American(UTPA), together with Kyushu University in Japan jointly organized the conference ``Symmetry Plus Integrability - SPI 2010" on South Padre Island, Texas. The conference was for 4 days, including the participation of 65 people, 18 of whom were from Japan. Funding was obtained primarily from the National Science Foundation, Division of Mathematical Sciences, and the Global COE program - Mathematics for Industry at Kyushu University. The Graduate College and the College of Science and Engineering at UTPA also provided funds, and non-monetary support was obtained from the University of Texas -- Pan American Bookstore. The conference contributed to the long standing record of scientific cooperation and collaboration between the US and Japan. This was a large gathering of experts in nonlinear waves and integrable systems from both countries. The conference subjects, nonlinear waves and integrable systems, represent a field of mathematics with a diverse range of applications in many physical systems. The first plenary talk by Mark Ablowitz gave a series of interesting applications from water waves to lasers where the subjects being discussed at the conference appeared. There were presentations dealing with internal water waves, a subject of relevance to the British Petroleum Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill; and there were presentations dealing with the nonlinear wave nature of tsunami waves. The impact of the activity included: Participation of women, minorities, young researchers and students. The conference included many participants from Japan, and was an opportunity for a broad interaction between mathematicians and physicists working in Nonlinear Waves and Integrable Systems in Japan and the United States to work together. A poster session for students and young researchers to present their work in a relaxed atmosphere. A variety of talks in nonlinear waves and integrable systems. The conference consisted of: 6 hour-long plenary talks, 34 shorter presentations, 9 posters, and 1 special talk by Yuji Kodama. Of the 64 participants: 30 were US citizens or permanent residents, 10 were graduate or undergraduate students, 11 were young researchers, 7 were women, 6 were US citizens of Hispanic or Latino descent. NSF money supported 9 of the students and was fundamental to their being able to attend the conference, 22 others were supported partially by the NSF funds. The funds were key to the participation of a number of young researchers. We are proud to note that with the funds from the NSF, Kyushu University, the UTPA Graduate College, and UTPA College of Science and Engineering, we were able to conduct this conference without charging a registration fee of the participants. An informal survey of participants and their comments indicated that the conference was very successful. Participants found both the program and the setting to be well matched. The conference accomplished its major objective of bringing many researchers in nonlinear sciences and integrable systems together. Particularly bringing together scientists from the US and Japan. The conference was successful with the inclusion of a number of minorities, women, and students.
