NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS (NZIMA) ====== One of New Zealand's Centres of Research Excellence ====== Newsletter 20 August 2008 We're pleased to give you another bulletin from the mathematical sciences CoRE, the NZIMA. Aside from news of recent honours and notices of upcoming events, this issue contains updates on our thematic research programmes. We hope you find these interesting. And if you haven't checked out our MathsReach site, please do - see www.mathsreach.org - and we'd welcome suggestions for items to add to it. Marston Conder and Vaughan Jones Co-Directors of the NZIMA SUMMARY OF CONTENTS 1. New NZIMA programmes 2. Update on current NZIMA programmes 3. Awards and Honours 4. Profile: Jennifer Brown 5. Workshop for women researchers in the mathematical sciences 6. Other news 7. Forthcoming events in the mathematical sciences in NZ & Pacific 1. NEW NZIMA PROGRAMMES As reported in our February newsletter, we have initiated a thematic research programme on 'Energy, Wind and Water' (directed by Mike O'Sullivan and Gordon Mallinson (University of Auckland)). This programme will emphasise cross-disciplinary approaches in which simulation techniques, such as computational fluid dynamics, are combined with optimization algorithms to improve engineering designs, or with control algorithms to improve operations. We are also sponsoring a new programme in Mathematics Education, under the direction of Bill Barton (University of Auckland), Glenda Anthony (Massey University), Megan Clark (Victoria University of Wellington), Derek Holton (University of Otago), and Alex James (University of Canterbury). This programme will investigate the conditions required for producing sufficiently mathematically qualified graduates in all fields, including the qualifications of secondary school maths teachers. 2. UPDATE ON CURRENT NZIMA PROGRAMMES * Algorithmics: New Directions and Applications This programme (directed by Mike Atkinson (U Otago) and Charles Semple (U Canterbury)) centres around the design and analysis of algorithms and their applications to contemporary problems in discrete mathematics, computational biology, social sciences, and communication networks. It began with a workshop in Napier in February, in which 40 participants (including 14 students) heard expository lectures that highlighted the integral role played by algorithmics, from theoretical underpinnings to practical solutions and supercomputers. The programme includes two postdoctoral fellows: Dr Alexander Raichev (U Auckland), who is working on algorithmically deriving asymptotic approximations to coefficients of rational and algebraic functions, and Dr Chris Dowden (U Canterbury), who is working on algorithmic problems in phylogenetics. Also the programme has a new student, Reyhaneh Reyhani, who is starting her PhD studies at the University of Auckland with Mark Wilson on manipulation of social choice rules and, more generally, computational social choice. * Applications of Mathematics in the Nanosciences This programme (initiated in 2007) is continuing well, under the directorship of Shaun Hendy (IRL & VU Wellington). One of the research students supported by the programme, Dmitri Schebarchov, is working on the melting of nanoparticles using molecular dynamics and mathematical modelling, and has solved a long-standing problem in carbon nanotube synthesis. Dmitri has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to visit Tim Schulze at the University of Tennessee. Other research students engaged on the programme include VUW PhD students Nathaniel Lund (working on the derivation of effective slip boundary conditions for surfaces) and Jade Mackay (on developing a mathematical model of the growth of zinc oxide nanostructures by electrodeposition), and three further students at VUW and U Canterbury (with support from the MacDiarmid Institute). Also three postdoctoral fellows at IRL have been involved, with support from FRST: Drs Brent Walker (computational methods for calculating the optical properties of nanoparticles), Nicola Gaston (modelling techniques to study the efficiency of electrocatalytic materials, and Geoff Willmott (Navier slip boundary condition). * Conformal Geometry and its Applications The theme of this (new) programme is the use of conformal geometry and related techniques to study geometric and topological properties of manifolds and partial differential equations defined on them. The programme (directed by Rod Gover (Auckland) and Gaven Martin (Massey)) began in January 2008 with an instructional workshop (in the NZMRI summer meeting series), which attracted 40 participants. This was followed up recently by a focused research period on parabolic geometry, PDEs and prolonged systems, involving informal seminars and working groups (made up of local and international participants), and a research workshop at the University of Auckland in August. The programme's postdoctoral fellow, Dr Paul-Andi Nagy, is working on special structures and natural differential operators, conformal techniques, Lie algebra prolongations, and applications. Also several research students are involved, including Niels Bernhardt (PhD, U Auckland) on the classification of holonomy groups of spinorial connections, Howard Cohl (PhD, U Auckland) on special functions and explicit constructions of fundamental solutions for geometric PDEs, Haydn Cooper (PhD, Massey U) on computational conformal geometry, Maarten Jordens (PhD, Massey U) on conformal geometry and non-linear materials science, Geon Oh (MSc, U Auckland) on linear connections, their curvature and special frames, and Callum Sleigh (MSc, U Auckland) on the geometry of PDEs via Spencer theory. * Geometric Methods in the Topology of 3-Dimensional Manifolds This programme (nearing completion) has three research students working on various topics: Stephen Budden (PhD, U Auckland) on algebraic properties of quandles, through representations and other tools, Sunanda Dikshit (PhD, U Auckland) on differential structures on non- metrisable surfaces, and Qing Zhang (PhD, Massey U) on the discreteness of 2-generator Kleinian groups. * Modelling Invasive Species programme Three postdoctoral fellows are now working at U Canterbury on aspects of this programme: Drs Britta Basse (modelling invasive tussock, and a national weeds database, with sponsorship from Environment Southland), Richard Brown (spatial structure of invasive models, using an excellent dataset provided by Peter Williams of Landcare Research), and Joe Stover (on the effects of dumping garden waste). The programme's three PhD students (based at U Canterbury and Lincoln U) are working on modelling growth in heterogeneous landscapes and surveying weeds using GIS. The programme is also hosting two Erskine visitors, Professors Horst Malchow (Germany) and Brian Sleeman (UK), who will be working alongside them on spatial invasion problems. * Partial Differential Equations Projects developed within the first phase of this programme are providing the focus for converting theoretical advances to practical application. One such project (involving the development of semi-analytic spectral methods for complex systems) has led to improved computational models for sound transmission in timber-framed construction, allowing the design of practical timber floor-ceiling systems that outperform concrete where it matters, in the low frequency range. Another has improved quantitative monitoring of fluids in harsh industrial environments, and made practical advances in measuring unwanted air and water bubbles in oil pipe-lines, and in new automotive sensor technology. The programme involves two postdoctoral fellows: Drs Al Parker (making improvements in computing for Gaussian processes) and Hyuck Chung (on modelling sound transmission through timber-framed construction); and three research students: Erfang Ma (PhD, U Otago) on discretization and modelling errors in impedance imaging, Tiangang Cui (PhD, U Auckland) on automatic calibration of complex geothermal models, and Christian Schwarzl (Masters, TU Graz) on quantified estimation of inclusions using capacitance tomography. 3. AWARDS AND HONOURS * Bill Barton elected President of ICMI Bill Barton, director of our new programme in Mathematics Education (see above), has been elected the next President of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI), from 2010 to 2012. This is a significant honour, made all the more notable given that 2008 is ICMI's centenary year. * Hector Medal for Gaven Martin Gaven Martin (one of the NZIMA's principal investigators, and co-director of our programme on Conformal Geometry) has been awarded the Hector Medal for 2008 by the Royal Society of New Zealand. This is one of the RSNZ's longest standing medals, and is now awarded every three years in mathematical and information sciences, to a researcher who has undertaken work in New Zealand of great scientific or technological merit and has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of these branches of science. 4. PROFILE: JENNIFER BROWN Jennifer Brown is a statistician at the University of Canterbury, and co-director of our programme on Modelling Invasive Species. Her first degree, in forestry in 1986, led her to a job at the Forest Research Institute (now called Scion) in Rotorua. This stimulated her interest (and a further degree) in statistics, and later, while working for DoC (the Department of Conservation) as coastal marine manager for Canterbury, she decided to study for a PhD in ecological statistics through the University of Otago. Following her PhD, Jennifer helped set up an environmental monitoring program for an endangered butterfly in the US, and returned to NZ in 1996. Jennifer was recently promoted to Associate Professor. She is Associate editor of the Australian and NZ Journal of Statistics, and of the Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, and a member of a science technical advisory group for the Animal Health Board. The author of over 50 peer-refereed publications, Jennifer is a frequent invited speaker at international conferences, and is currently supervising four PhD students in environmental statistics. Also she has just become President of the NZ Statistical Association. 5. WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN RESEARCHERS IN THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES The NZIMA is helping sponsor a half-day workshop for women researchers in the mathematical sciences in New Zealand, on Sunday 7th December, in Christchurch (just prior to the Australia-New Zealand Mathematics Convention). This workshop is aimed at emerging researchers and PhD students, but participation by more established researchers is also welcome and encouraged. It will include a session on "Getting the most out of conferences", as well as providing opportunities for informal mentoring and networking. There will be no registration fee. If you are interesting in receiving more information about the workshop, then please send an email to Vivien Kirk . 6. OTHER NEWS Eamonn O'Brien (University of Auckland) has begun his 12-month Maclaurin Fellowship, working in computational group theory. Also two of our Visiting Maclaurin Fellows have been in New Zealand in recent weeks: Professors Michael Eastwood (Adelaide) and Edgar Knobloch (UC Berkeley). We are sponsoring a number of other visitors and conferences this year, including the 2nd NZ Maths & Stats Postgraduate Conference in November, and the 4th International Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing and the 7th Australia-New Zealand Mathematics Convention in December. See below for more details. 7. FORTHCOMING EVENTS IN THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES IN NZ & PACIFIC 18-21 November 2008, in Whitianga: New Zealand Mathematics and Statistics Postgraduate Conference See http://www.math.auckland.ac.nz/Events/2008/nzmasp08/ 24-25 November 2008, in Wellington: 43rd Annual Conference of the Operations Research Society of NZ See http://conference.orsnz.org.nz 7 December 2008, at Christchurch: Half-day workshop for women researchers in the mathematical sciences in New Zealand Contact: Vivien Kirk 8-12 December 2008, at Christchurch: 7th Australia-New Zealand Mathematics Convention (incorporating the 2008 NZ Mathematics Colloquium) See http://www.math.canterbury.ac.nz/ANZMC2008 15-19 December 2008, at Auckland: 4th International Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing See: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/research/groups/theory/4ICC/index.html 4-9 January 2009, at Napier: Annual NZMRI/NZIMA Summer Meeting, this year on algorithmic information theory, computability and complexity See http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/Events/NZMRI2009/WebHome 1-5 February 2009, at Caloundra, Queensland: ANZIAM 2009 (annual meeting of Australia & NZ Applied Mathematics) See http://www.sci.usq.edu.au/conference/index.php/ANZIAM/2009 6-10 July 2009, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia: First Pacific Rim Mathematical Congress See http://www.primath.org/prima2009/ 29 September - 2 October 2009, at Palmerston North: Biennial Conference of the NZ Association of Mathematics Teachers "Pi in the Sky: Extending Mathematical Horizons" (NZAMT11) http://www.nzamt.org.nz/nzamt11/ SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING Please forward this NZIMA newsletter to any non-subscriber to whom the material may be relevant and who may wish to receive the publication regularly. To join or to have your name removed from the mailing list, just send an email to