SIAM Midwest Regional
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SIAM is planning a Midwest Regional MII Workshop to be held during the weekend of October 2-3, 1998 (Friday and Saturday) on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago. See http://www.lac.uic.edu/MII/siamworkshop.html for the most up-to-date information regarding the schedule, registration, and hotel accommodations.
This is the second in a series of MII workshops organized by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) under a grant from the National Science Foundation. [Worcester Polytechnic Institute will be hosting the Northeast Regional MII Workshop, the first in the series, on May 18-20, 1998. See http://www.wpi.edu/~cims/siamworkshop.html for more information on this first workshop.]
Robert Grossman (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Bart S. Ng (Indiana Univ.-Purdue University at Indianapolis)
Fadil Santosa (IMA/University of Minnesota)
James Crowley (SIAM)
Below is an outline of the tentative plan for the Workshop developed by the Organizing Committee which I hope you will find informative. As we move ahead with the planning of the Workshop, we welcome input and suggestions for speakers from either university or industry. We would be especially grateful if you could share with us your knowledge of any successful programs or university/industrial collaborations. We will keep you informed as the program for the Workshop develops and we look forward to your participation.
To help local faculty design and implement changes to their programs consistent with the recommendation of the SIAM Mathematics in Industry (MII) Report. The emphasis of the workshop will be on facilitating local action by working directly with faculty and local industry. One of the conclusions that was reached early in the MII study is that universities and colleges need more experience and incentive in exploring interdisciplinary programs and identifying and working with industry. The workshop will provide an opportunity for university and college mathematics departments to obtain some insight into how to gain this experience.
We plan on attracting approximately 100 university faculty members and graduate students and industrial representatives from the Midwest region.
There is a limited amount of travel support available to participants, including students. An application is required and funds will be allocated according to need on on a first come first serve basis.
The general format of the workshop will be one of case studies. Speakers will be chosen from both industry and university. Speakers from university could include postdocs and graduate students where appropriate. Every effort will be made to structure the workshop in such a way that plenty of time will be available for informal interactions and networking between industrial and university participants.
The program will include:
scientific talks: We will have several well-recognized university speakers and industrial scientists to speak on their university/industry collaborations and research. The idea here is to introduce the flavor of industrial projects and show the range of projects. These talks will show how an individual makes contact with industry. Each talk will discuss the original problem and how it was posed; show how it was translated to a mathematical/computational problem (with enough details to show that it leads to real mathematics); and show by example that industrial mathematics is both attractive and possible.
presentations by managers from industry: The speaker will provide a good perspective on what industry expects and what one can be expected from industry, and the skills mathematicians need to have to interact effectively with industrial scientists and managers.
session on making contacts: We plan on devoting roughly half a day on how faculty should go about developing and maintaining industrial contacts. Several models for making contacts will be highlighted: small business model (dealing with small business in the local area); large companies with research laboratories; the "backyard" model (involving collaboration with other units within the university such as the local medical school, say). Each of these require a different approach and we hope to provide some instructive examples.
session on related departmental initiatives: An effective but often overlooked way to make contacts with industry is through former students and postdocs. We plan on devoting some time to discuss ways on how to make this happen. Ideas include a department newsletter, calling former students annually, and the department helping with networking among former students and postdocs, etc. Another seldom exploited opportunity which can lead to productive industrial contacts and research collaboration is for a department to work with industry on providing continuing education opportunities for their employees. We plan on exploring this issue in the context of some of the recent developments in distance education technology.
For questions, or comments, please contact Dr. William Kolata, Technical Director, SIAM, 3600 University City Science Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104, phone: (215) 382-9800, fax: (215) 386-7999; or e-mail: [email protected].
SIAM Conferences
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SIAM Report on Mathematics in Industry