CAIMS*SCMAI E-News Volume 09 Number 1 January 25, 2009 Editor: Abba Gumel (gumelab@cc.umanitoba.ca) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENT Society News: 1. Cecil Graham Doctoral Dissertation Award: Call for Nominations 2. 2009 CAIMS*SCMAI Annual Meeting Other news: 3. Third Annual Meeting of the Prairie Network for Research in Mathematical Sciences, Univ. of Saskatchewan 4. 2009 Summer School on The Mathematics of Invasions in Ecology and Epidemiology, Banff. 5. 3rd Computational Neuroscieence Summer School: Centre for Neural Dynamics, University of Ottawa. 6. CAIMS*SCMAI E-News Information = = = = Item 1 = = = = Cecil Graham Doctoral Dissertation Award: Call for Nominations: The deadline for submission of nominations for the DDA has been extended to February 25, 2009. Details about the award are as below. Objective: The award has been established by the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society (CAIMS) to recognize and to publicize an outstanding PhD thesis in Applied Mathematics defended at a Canadian University during the calendar year prior to the year of the award. The Award: The award consists of a trophy, a monetary prize, and a free one-year membership in the Society. The winner will be invited to present a communication based on the thesis at the Annual Meeting of the Society. Assistance with expenses to attend the meeting will be provided. Competition: Normally, the Award Coordinator must receive by January 31 of a given calendar year four (4) copies of the thesis together with a covering letter from the thesis supervisor indicating why the thesis is suitable as an entry in the Competition (including a description of the problem, techniques and results, potential impact, ...). A complete nomination must also include a separate letter identifying the possible applications of the work, as well as proof of the official date the thesis was accepted. Judging: The submitted theses will be evaluated by a panel of judges appointed by the President of the Society. Their decision will be final. Judging will be on the basis of the level of originality in the ideas and techniques, the possible applications and their treatment, and the potential impact on science and engineering. The panel of judges may seek advice from other experts. The panel may arrive at the conclusion that more than one or none of the submissions merits the award or an honourable mention. Nominations are due by February 25, 2009, and they should be sent to: Dr. Raymond J. Spiteri (DDA Award Coordinator), Department of Computer Science, 176 Thorvaldson Building, 110 Science Place, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 5C9, CANADA. Email: spiteri@cs.usask.ca = = = = = Item 2 = = = = = 2009 CAIMS*SCMAI Annual Meeting The 2009 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Applied Mathematical and Industrial Society will be hosted by the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario on June 10-14, 2009. The themes of this meeting are Computational Biomaterials Complex Fluids Dynamical Systems Mathematical Biology Mathematical Finance Scientific/Symbolic Computing Theoretical Physics There will be seven plenary lectures and numerous invited talks (30 minutes) on the above themes. In addition to these, we also call for minisymposia on any topics in applied mathematics. If you are interested in organizing such a symposium, please submit your proposal to us by the address given below. There will also be several contributed sessions, as well as a poster session for graduate students to present their research results. In the meeting, the annual CAIMS Research Prize and CAIMS Doctoral Dissertation Award will be presented to the receipients. In addition, student poster prizes will also be selected and awarded. The year 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of CAIMS which makes this meeting more special and more worth attending. Some activities are being planned, and this gives one a unique opportunity to know the history of this society. You are cordially invited to join us in London to celebrate the society's healthy growth and great achievements in the past 30 years. For more information about this meeting, please visit the website www.apmaths.uwo.ca/caims2009.html which will be updated in a timely fashion, or contact: Rob Corless: rcorless@uwo; Geoff Wild: gwild@uwo.ca; Xingfu Zou: xzou@uwo.ca We look forward to seeing you and welcoming you at the University of Western Ontario. = = = = Item 3 = = = = Third Annual Meeting of the Prairie Network for Research in the Mathematical Sciences (PNRMS), University of Saskatchewan. The Third Annual Meeting of the PRNMS is scheduled Aprl 29-May 1, 2009 at the University of Saskatchewan. Deadline for Submission of Abstracts for Contributed talks: February 28, 2009. Deadline for Registration: March 31, 2009. Online Registration (courtesy of MITACS): http://www.mitacs.ca/conferences/site/login/s_20001_form.php Funding available for students. The mandate of the Prairie Network for Research in the Mathematical Sciences (PNRMS) is to promote research in the mathematical sciences in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and in particular to build research connections among the five member institutions (Brandon U, U of Manitoba, U of Regina, U of Saskatchewan, U of Winnipeg). The themes of the third annual meeting include four broad areas: pure mathematics; applied mathematics & mathematical physics; statistics; industrial & computational mathematics. The first two days of the meeting will feature invited plenary talks in the four theme areas. We plan to have one plenary talk in each of the theme areas together with four parallel streams of contributed talks. Invited speakers will include researchers representing both pure and applied mathematics as well as industry experts. The meeting will promote interdisciplinary research and collaboration with industry. The third day will feature a student workshop, with the dual aims of giving graduate and senior undergraduate students a realistic sense of the nature of contemporary mathematical research, as well as encouraging them to pursue a career in the mathematical sciences. Students will be exposed to the wide array of possibilities for applying their mathematical skills to pure and applied research in both academia and industry. The topics of the student workshop will be aligned with the four theme areas of the meeting and will cover a diverse array of research pursued by faculty at the five member institutions of the Prairie Network. The conference will highlight the following topics: Pure Mathematics: Mathematics of Computer Algebra; Applications of Algebra to Cryptography; Lie Algebras and Representation Theory; Real Algebraic Geometry and Applications Applied Mathematics and Mathematical Physics: Classical and Quantum System Modeling; Signal Processing; Partial Differential Equations and their Applications; Integrable Systems and Solitons; Quantum and Classical Information; Inverse Problems; Optimization Statistics: Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Biomedical Statistics; Probabilistic Modeling of Communication Networks and Complex Chemical, Physical and Biological Systems Industrial and Computational Mathematics: Programming and Numerical Algorithms for High-Performance Computing; Rational Design of Catalytic Converters for Carbon Sequestration; Oil Reservoir Simulation This first announcement is also a call for contributed papers. We expect to have 16 contributed talks of 20-25 minutes in each of the four theme areas. If you are interested in giving a contributed talk, please contact the appropriate member of the local organizing committee. Pure Mathematics: Murray Bremner, bremner@math.usask.ca Applied Mathematics and Mathematical Physics: Artur Sowa, sowa@math.usask.ca Statistics: Christine Soteros, soteros@math.usask.ca Industrial and Computational Mathematics: Ray Spiteri, spiteri@cs.usask.ca For further information about the Third Annual Meeting and the Prairie Network, visit these websites: http://math.usask.ca/~bremner/PN2009.html http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~gumelab/PNRMS/index.html The meeting is supported by: The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences MITACS (Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems) PIMS (pacific Institute for Mathematical Sciences) The University of Saskatchewan = = = = = Item 4 = = = = = 2009 Summer School on The Mathematics of Invasions in Ecology and Epidemiology, May 10-17, 2009, Banff. The summer school is aimed at graduate students in applied mathematics, biology and epidemiology, who wish to learn important mathematical techniques for modelling biological invasions. The emphasis will be on practical, hands-on experience for building and analyzing models, coupled with lectures on key techniques. Examples will be drawn from a variety of areas including ecological invasions of so-called `pest' species, and the emergence of novel pathogens like SARS and avian influenza. A major focus will be on techniques for incorporating evolutionary change in the mathematical models. Each student will be expected to develop and analyze a model of their choosing during the period of the summer school, in collaboration with a small group of other students. These modelling projects will then be presented to the entire group at the end of the period. In this way, we aim to provide students with a solid and practical set of tools for developing their own mathematical models in these related areas in the future. Organizers: Dr Troy Day (Queen's), Dr Fred Brauer (UBC), Dr James Watmough (New Brunswick), Dr Jianhong Wu (York), Dr Rachel Bennett (Queen's) The school is sponsored by MITACS. = = = = = Item 5 = = = = = 3rd Computational Neuroscieence Summer School: Centre for Neural Dynamics, University of Ottawa. We are pleased to announce the 3rd summer School in Computational Neuroscience, which will be held from Sunday June 7, 2009 until Saturday June 20, 2009 inclusively. It is organized by the Center for Neural Dynamics at the University of Ottawa. The highly pedagogical course is directed at graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from the physical sciences (e.g. physics, applied mathematics, engineering, computer science) and the life sciences (e.g. neuroscience, biology, physiology, human kinetics) who wish to develop their skills in neural data analysis and in mathematical modeling of neural activity. The topics will range from cellular to systems neuroscience, with a focus on sensory and motor systems. The course will consist of 3 hours of lectures in the mornings, followed by 3-hour MATLAB-based computer laboratories in the afternoons. Participants will pair up for these laboratories, and an effort will be made to pair someone from the life sciences with someone from the physical sciences. All classes and laboratories will be held on the main downtown campus of the University of Ottawa. The School will be held in English, although many of the lecturers also speak French. The course can be taken for credit, since it is a University of Ottawa three-credit graduate course (NSC8104). The mark will be based on work done in the computer laboratories and on the presentation of a research project by the end of the course, with write-up to follow within a week. The first day of the school (Sunday June 7th) will be a mathematics refresher open to all participants, which will include some introduction to differential equations. Enrollment in the course will be limited to 40 participants. MATH PRE-REQUISITES: Calculus I and II, first-year university level Linear Algebra and Probability and Statistics. LIFE SCIENCES PRE-REQUISITES: first-year university level life science courses for students in the physical sciences. FACULTY Prof. Ramesh Balasubramaniam, School of Human Kinetics, McMaster University Prof. Maurice Chacron, Center for Nonlinear Dynamics, Dept. Physiology, McGill Prof. Victor LeBlanc, Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa Prof. John Lewis, Biology, University of Ottawa Prof. Tim Lewis, Mathematics, University of California at Davis Prof. André Longtin, Physics, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa Prof. Len Maler, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa TUITION see the application form at: http://www.neurodynamic.uottawa.ca/summer.html ACCOMMODATION Accommodation will be available at the Stanton Residence of the University of Ottawa, a few minutes walk away from the Biosciences Complex, cafeterias and downtown Ottawa with its restaurants, museums etc... Accommodation consists of a single or double room (with respectively one or two single beds, desks and internet access), with communal kitchen and living area and shared bathroom. The cost is approximately $40 CAN per night per person, taxes included. FINANCIAL SUPPORT Partial financial support is available for those demonstrating the need. IMPORTANT DATES February 1st , 2009: Application, including a letter of recommendation sent to compneuro09@uottawa.ca February 15, 2009: Notification of acceptance and level of financial support. March 1st, 2009: Notification of acceptance by the participant. Accommodation: as soon as possible after notification of acceptance, participants can reserve their accommodation online at reserve@uottawa.ca or by phoning 1-888-564-4545. REGISTER AT: www.neurodynamic.uottawa.ca/summer.html CONTACT US: compneuro09@uottawa.ca SYLLABUS 1) Introduction to Linear and Nonlinear Dynamical Systems -solutions of linear differential equations -qualitative analysis of nonlinear differential equations 2) Single Neuron Models -ionic models -simplified deterministic models -stochastic models 3) Neural Spike Train Analysis and Modeling -basic statistics -autocorrelation, spectrum -information theory toolbox 4) Sensory Coding -artificial and naturalistic stimuli -modeling activity along the afferent pathways -modeling feedback -population coding and information theory 5) Computational and Dynamical Approaches to Motor Control -posture control and equilibrium point approaches -movement adaptation to force fields -timing and rhythmic movements -computational approaches to movement pathologies 6) Synaptic Plasticity -short term depression and facilitation -long term plasticity -implications for information processing 7) Coupled Neurons -gap junction -excitatory and inhibitory synaptic coupling -effect of coupling on neural population behavior 8) Waves of Activity in Neural Networks -neural field models -traveling waves -spiral waves For further information, contact: Victor G. LeBlanc, Ph.D. Directeur, Chair Mathématiques et statistique, Mathematics and Statistics matchair@uottawa.ca Tél. | Tel.: 613-562-5788 Téléc | Fax: 613-562-5776 University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON Canada K1N 6N5 www.uOttawa.ca = = = = = Item 6 = = = = = CAIMS*SCMAI E-News Information CAIMS*SCMAI E-News is distributed electronically several times a year by the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society/Societe Canadienne de Mathematiques Appliquees et Industrielles (http://www.caims.ca). Past issues are available on the web at http://www.caims.ca/Society/pub.html Submissions are welcome and should be sent in plain text format to: Abba Gumel, CAIMS-SCMAI Secretary, Email: gumelab@cc.umanitoba.ca. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the Board or Membership of CAIMS*SCMAI. The editorial policy of this publication is to encourage the discussion of issues and facilitate the dissemination of information relevant to Canadian applied and industrial mathematics. If you wish to have your name removed from the e-mailing list for the CAIMS*SCMAI E-News, please send an email message to Abba Gumel as above.