2009 AAAS Meeting To Feature Mathematics and Applications

December 21, 2008

The 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science will be held February 12�16, in Chicago, Illinois. The theme of the meeting is "Our Planet and Its Life: Origins and Futures," which is a nod to the fact that the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection both occur in 2009. Many of the symposia sponsored by AAAS Section A (Mathematics) will be interdisciplinary sessions that fit this theme.

The annual meeting is organized into symposia that feature at least three speakers and discussion of specific topics; Section A is sponsoring six symposia this year:

* The Mathematical Twists and Turns of Data Sets. Organizer: Robert Ghrist, University of Illinois, Urbana�Champaign;
* Games People Play: Challenges of Applying Mathematics and Computers to Games. Organizer: Bob Hearn, Dartmouth College;
* Climate and Disease: Quantitative Insights and Interdisciplinary Challenges. Organizer: Mercedes Pasqual, University of Michigan;
* Green, Gene, Growing Machines: The Evolutionary Shaping of Plant Form. Organizer: David Baum, University of Wisconsin;
* Mathematical Biology, the New Frontier: Educating the Next Generation. Organizer: Bonnie Shulman, Bates College; and
* Mathematics of Origami: From the Joys of Recreation to the Frontiers of Research. Organizers: Edward Aboufadel, Grand Valley State University, and Patsy Wang-Iverson, The Gabriella and Paul Rosenbaum Foundation.

Other symposia of interest to the mathematical sciences community include:

* New Computing Platforms for Data-Intensive Science;
* A New Kind of Scientist: Professional Master's Education and U.S. Competitiveness;
* Artificial Cells: Models of the Simplest Life;
* The Grid, the Cloud, Sensor Nets, and the Future of Computing;
* Big, Small, and Everything in Between: Simulating Our World Using Scientific Computing;
* Providing Science Advice to the U.S. Congress: Is a New Paradigm Needed?;
* The Evolution of Knowledge Production: Exploring Creativity, Innovation, and Networks;
* Earth's History and Future Revealed at the Frontier of Scientific Computing;
* K�12 Engineering Education in the United States;
* Inquiry or Direct? Research-Based Practices in Science Education;
* Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Large-Scale Human Networks; and
* The Science of Kissing.

These symposia are only a few of the nearly 200 AAAS program offerings in the physical, life, social, and biological sciences. For further information, readers can go to http://www.aaas.org/meetings.

AAAS annual meetings are the showcases of American science; participation by mathematicians and mathematics educators is encouraged. Section A acknowledges generous contributions from the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America for travel support and from SIAM for support of media awareness.

The members of the Steering Committee for Section A from February 2008 to February 2009 are: Chair: William Jaco (Oklahoma State University); Chair-Elect: Keith Devlin (Stanford University); Retiring Chair: Carl Pomerance (Dartmouth College); Secretary: Edward Aboufadel (Grand Valley State University); Members at Large: Mary Beth Ruskai (Tufts University), David Isaacson (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Claudia Neuhauser (University of Minnesota), and Warren Page (City University of New York). Members of the Steering Committee encourage organizers and speakers who have the ability to present substantial new material in an accessible manner to a large scientific audience to submit proposals for 2010. AAAS attendees from the mathematical sciences community are invited to attend the Section A Committee business meeting in Chicago on Friday, February 13, 2009, at 7:45 PM.

Readers are encouraged to send proposals for future symposia to Edward Aboufadel ([email protected]) and to encourage colleagues to do so as well. The 2010 annual meeting is scheduled for February 18�22, 2010, in San Diego, California.


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