2007 AAAS Meeting To Feature Interdisciplinary Mathematics Program
November 19, 2006
Edward Aboufadel
The 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science will be held in San Francisco, February 15�19, with a program that features many outstanding expository talks by prominent mathematicians. Section A (Mathematics) is the sponsor of eight symposia, several of which are interdisciplinary sessions that fit the theme of the meeting: "Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being."
The symposia sponsored by Section A are:
- The Science and Modeling of Hurricanes (organized by Clint Dawson);
- New Vistas in the Mathematics of Ecology and Evolution (organized by Simon Levin);
- Prime Numbers: New Developments on Ancient Problems (organized by Dan Goldston);
- New Mathematical Methods in the Visual Arts (organized by Dan Rockmore);
- Are We a Democracy? Vote Counting in the United States (organized by Stephanie Singer);
- How Should Elementary Mathematics Be Taught? (organized by Cathy Kessel);
- Controversies in Forest Fire Suppression and Management (organized by John Braun); and
- Blockbuster Science: Math & Science Behind Movies & Entertainment (organized by Tony Chan).
Other symposia of interest to the mathematical sciences community include Decision-Making Under Uncertainty: The Challenge of Sustainable Well-Being; Climate Change: Treatment of Uncertainty in Assessment and Decision-Making; Numbers and Nerves: Affect and Meaning in Risk Information; The Digital Promise: Using Advanced Learning Technologies To Revolutionize Education; Mathematics and America's Future: A Call to Action; Examining TIMSS: Teaching and Learning Through Videos and Assessments; New Approaches to the Development of the U.S. Computing Work Force; and Internet Searching in 2017.
These symposia are only a few of the 200 or so AAAS program offerings in the physical, life, social, and biological sciences. Details about the 2007 AAAS program can be found in the October 20, 2006, issue of Science (as well as at www.aaasmeeting.org under "Program and Events").
AAAS annual meetings are showcases of American science, and AAAS encourages mathematicians and mathematics educators to participate. (AAAS acknowledges the generous contributions of AMS for travel support and of SIAM for support of media awareness.) The AAAS Program Committee is genuinely interested in offering symposia on pure and applied mathematical topics of current interest; topics of symposia at previous meetings include the changing nature of mathematical proof, models of insect flight, and mathematical oncology.
Looking ahead: The 2008 meeting will be held in Boston, February 14�18. The Steering Committee for Section A seeks organizers and speakers who can present substantial new material in an accessible manner to a large scientific audience. Readers are invited to attend the Section A Committee business meeting in San Francisco (Friday, February 16, 2007, 7:45 PM), where we will brainstorm ideas for symposia. In addition, I invite readers to send me, and encourage your colleagues to send me, proposals for future AAAS annual meetings.
The members of the Steering Committee for Section A (from February 2006 to February 2007), are Jack Cowan (University of Chicago), chair; Carl Pomerance (Dartmouth College), chair-elect; Barbara Lee Keyfitz (Fields Institute and University of Houston), retiring chair; Edward Aboufadel (Grand Valley State University), secretary; and Tamar Schlick (New York University), Walter Craig (McMaster University), Mary Beth Ruskai (Tufts University), and David Isaacson (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), members at large.
Section A secretary Edward Aboufadel can be reached at [email protected].
