Fall 2006
CONTENTS:
In this issue:
The 2006 summer programThe 2006 summer program Symmetries and Overdetermined Systems of Partial Differential Equations, July 17-August 4, was an extended workshop held at the IMA with almost 100 participants, many of whom stayed for the entire three weeks making new contacts and engaging in mathematical conversations. The first week of the conference was devoted to expository/overview sessions aimed at giving people new to the subject an overall view of overdetermined systems and their applications. The following two weeks were focused on more specialized research talks with one or two themes each day. These talks were intermixed with discussions, aimed at assessing what has been learned and pointing out the most promising areas for further research. The workshop was organized by Willard Miller Jr. from the School of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota and Michael Eastwood from Department of Pure Mathematics at the University of Adelaide. Mike summarized his viewpoint on Conformal Geometry during the final discussion with the following diagram.
By all accounts the workshop was very successful. Some of the participant feedback is related below. This was an exceptionally successful summer workshop. It attracted so many experts in the field of symmetry and overdetermined systems of PDE from around the world and gave me a chance to better understand my current research and also stimulated some future directions for my research. The expository talks during the week one were specially helpful to me. The talks in the following two weeks also introduced me to so many interesting research areas in the field. Although I could not appreciate all of the talks, the material presented broadened my sight and had impact on my research interests. Also I made a lot of contacts for possible collaborations, some of which are outside of my current area of research. I think there may be some results coming directly from my participation in this workshop - this is so far the best I have experienced in my academic visits. The IMA staff are very helpful - I had no problem working there. The only wish and suggestion I have is that IMA should have an independent building and the lecture room should be in that building. Thanks IMA and its staff, thanks the organizers of the conference and best wishes for the continuing success of IMA! The workshop was very helpful to me. I work in the boundary of several subjects that were well represented. Thus, I met several new people and discussed many of the questions I had in my mind about Parabolic Geometry and integrable systems. I have started a new collaboration with one of the participant and an e-mail on going discussion with another one. I also met some of my collaborators, which was nice. The 2006 Summer Program has been one of the best scientific meetings I've ever attended. The organizers have managed to bring together many disntingushed scholars in the field including the leaders. The talks I've attended have made an immediate impact on my research. I've made new contacts and reinforced the existing ones. I will apply new methods and techniques that I've learned about in my research. |
