This proposal requests funds to help support meeting costs and travel expenses of U.S. students, post docs and young scientists to the International Conference on Mathematical Geophysics to be held in the University of Edinburgh, from June 18-22, 2012. No tenured faculty will be supported with these funds, and priority will be given to underrepresented groups (women and minorities). The Conference on Mathematical Geophysics (CMG) is sponsored by the Committee on Mathematical Geophysics of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (see organizing committees below). The conference website can be found at www.cmgedinburgh2012.org.uk. The 2012 conference is titled "Confronting models with data".
This conference brings together applied mathematicians, computational scientists and Earth scientists from geophysics, physical oceanography, and atmospheric and climate dynamics, to discuss advances in Earth sciences. This year's meeting emphasizes the need to confront complex mathematical Earth-system models with increasing quantities of observations of the Earth, oceans and atmosphere. The scope of the CMG meeting is significantly extended this year to include dedicated sessions in physical oceanography, atmospheric and climate dynamics, and applied math, connecting the latter to the "Mathematics of Planet Earth" international initiative. This meeting provides a unique multi-disciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas and techniques across the disciplinary boundaries in the Earth sciences. It allows interactions among Earth scientists from disciplines that do not normally communicate, such as physical oceanographers and geophysicists. Funds are requested to support travel and lodging costs for 22 U.S. students, post-docs, and early career scientists, approximately a half of the number attending past meetings.
The proposed funding provides an important opportunity for U.S. students and early career scientists to interact with each other and with senior scientists in an informal setting. The organizers will directly contact Earth science faculty members in universities and colleges with students from under-represented groups, to encourage their students and colleagues to apply for travel and lodging grants to attend the conference. Earth science issues to be discussed in this meeting are all highly relevant not only from a scientific point of view, but especially due to their societal and economic implications. This includes the study of earthquakes, climate change and more.
Federal Award ID: 1210870 Report Submission Period: 05/01/2012 to 04/30/2013 The Committee on Mathematical Geophysics is part of the International Union on Geodesy and Geophysics. It exists since 1964 and aims to encourage exchange of ideas and information among all areas of the geosciences, with an emphasis on the application and development of methods from mathematics, statistics and computer science to Earth science problems, and to promote interaction between the Earth sciences and mathematical sciences communities. The principal activity of the CMG is to sponsor a biennial conference to address the above goals. The 29th International Conference on Mathematical Geophysics was held in June 18-22, 2010 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Detailed information can be found on the conference website www.cmgedinburgh2012.org.uk. The attendance was particularly large for this long-held meeting: about 180 participants, including senior scientists, young scientists, post docs and students. The conference was part of the mathematics of planet Earth 2013, http://mpe2013.org, and a particular and successful effort was made to incorporate mathematicians in both the organization of the conference via convening of sessions on and via encouraging their participation. The program of the conference included sessions on the Mathematics of planet Earth, Solving Geophysical Problems, Ocean processes, Earth system dynamics, Crustal dynamics, Earth observation, Rationalizing models with observations, and Mechanisms of Atmospheric-climate variability and change. The intellectual merit of the funded conference is in its inherent interdisciplinary. The meeting connects scientists both from different disciplines of the Earth sciences who would normally not interact and not attend the same meetings (e.g., climate scientists and earth quake scientists). The meeting also connects mathematicians and Earth scientists, allowing the development and application of new mathematical ideas to societally relevant problems. Finally the meeting, and NSF funding in particular, allowed young US-based scientists to be exposed to this important meeting and expand their scientific horizons. The broader impact of this funding results from the fact that this meeting dealt with many societally relevant problems, from climate change to Earth quakes, which impact people’s life across many countries and continents. The U.S. National Science Foundation, via a grant from the Geophysics program and with co-funding from the Applied Math and Climate Dynamics programs, generously provided support for travel, accommodation and registration expenses for students, post docs, and young non-tenured assistant profs from the United States. No senior or tenured scientists were funded from this grant. A special effort was made to reach in particular young scientists from minorities and underrepresented groups, by directly advertising the availability of support to over 20 colleges and universities with a large number of minorities. The funded participants included 19 students, 6 postdocs, and 5 non-tenured Asst. Profs. The total conference budget, not including the NSF support for US-based young scientists was £58,210, with funding from various other international organizations.
