NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS (NZIMA) Newsletter 17 November 2007 We're pleased to give you another update on news from the mathematical sciences CoRE, the NZIMA. The third issue of our colourful twice-yearly bulletin "NZ-IMAges" was produced in October.ÿ We hope you like it.ÿ If you didn't get a copy and would like to, please let us know! ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Marston Conder and Vaughan Jones ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Co-Directors of the NZIMA SUMMARY OF CONTENTS 1. Unprecedented summer of conferences 2. Workshop for women in the mathematical sciences 3. Awards and honours 4. Profile: Elan Gin (PhD student) 5. Third issue of NZ-IMAges bulletin 6. NZIMA support for visitors and NZ conferences 7. Upcoming events in the mathematical sciences in Oceania 1. UNPRECEDENTED SUMMER OF CONFERENCES This summer will see an unprecedented number of conferences in the mathematical sciences being held in New Zealand.ÿ As key drivers of knowledge transfer, generation of new ideas and both establishment and consolidation of collaborative linkages, conferences are highly valuable in the mathematical sciences, and we look forward to great outcomes. Already this month two meetings have been held: a workshop for women in the mathematical sciences (see item 2 below) and the first New Zealand Postgraduate Mathematics & Statistics Conference (held in Queenstown), both sponsored by the NZIMA. In the next few weeks leading up to the end of the year, will be the 41st Annual ORSNZ Conference (in Christchurch), the 32nd Australasian Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing (in Dunedin), a workshop on Mathematical & Computational Nanoscience (co-sponsored by the NZIMA and the MacDiarmid Institute, in Wellington), and finally the First Joint Meeting of the American and New Zealand Mathematical Societies (also in Wellington). In January we have the 2008 NZMRI Summer Meeting (and NZIMA programme workshop) on Conformal Geometry (in Nelson), followed by a Conference on Finite Groups and Representations (at Kaikoura), and then in February the NZIMA programme conference on Algorithms (at Napier) and a Workshop on Multi-scale Modelling of the Respiratory System (in Auckland). See item 7 below for further details and links to the conference websites. 2. WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN IN THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES A workshop for women researchers in the mathematical sciences was held at the Vaughan Park Retreat and Conference Centre at Long Bay, Auckland, 5-7 November.ÿ This meeting drew together 35 participants (including 18 PhD and 2 Masters students, many early career researchers, and a small number of more senior women), from university departments of mathematics, statistics, computer science and engineering science (at Otago, Massey, Canterbury and Auckland), and from NIWA. The emphasis of the workshop was on providing information helpful to smooth progression into and through a career in research, and to provide opportunities for mentoring and networking. Special sessions were devoted to the PhD years, progression and promotion, work-life balance, mentoring, and cultural diversity. Participants generally enjoyed and gained a lot from the workshop, and reported that they left the workshop with renewed enthusiasm and focus on their careers, and with new skills and knowledge about how to plan their careers.ÿ They were also highly appreciative of the opportunity to make connections with other women working in similar areas. The workshop was organised by Vivien Kirk (Auckland) and Alex James (Canterbury) on behalf of the NZIMA, with additional financial support coming from the Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust. 3. AWARDS AND HONOURS * James Cook Fellowship Rod Downey (one of the NZIMA's principals and our first Maclaurin Fellow) has won a James Cook Research Fellowship from the Royal Society of New Zealand.ÿ These fellowships - widely regarded as New Zealand's most prestigious science and technology awards - are given to "forward thinking" researchers who will make a significant contribution to New Zealand's knowledge base, allowing them to concentrate on their chosen research close to full-time for two years.ÿ Rod is the fourth of our principals to win one out of 38 awardees in total since 1997 (the others being Peter Hunter (1999), Gaven Martin (2001), James Sneyd (2007)). * Thomson Medal John Kernohan, a member of the NZIMA's Governing Board, has won the Thomson Medal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, for outstanding and inspirational leadership in the management of science.ÿ John was the founding CEO of UniServices, the commercial research and knowledge transfer company for the University of Auckland, and is credited with building up its activities to the point where it now accounts for a remarkable ten percent of the University's total revenue, a higher percentage than almost any other university in the world. * FRST Technology Commendation The Optima Corporation, a spin-off company created by NZIMA principal David Ryan and his colleagues in the Engineering Science Department at the University of Auckland, has won one of four Technology Commendations from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST) in recognition of outstanding achievement in designing and applying cutting-edge technology.ÿ Optima's commendation is for software systems that maximise use of staff and resources, developed by Andrew Mason and his team.ÿ This latest award adds to the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Hi-Tech Innovation of the Year prize they won in 2006 for the SIREN system for ambulance deployment (which only two years after release is being taken up by services covering more than half the United Kingdom and is already pushing into the US and Canadian markets). * Honorary Fellowship of the RSNZ Professor Mike Saunders, of Stanford University and a member of the NZIMA's International Scientific Advisory Board, has been elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.ÿ Mike is a world expert in the development of mathematical optimisation software for solving decision problems in large interconnected systems. * NZ Mathematical Society's Research Award for 2007 Professor Ernie Kalnins (from the University of Waikato, a member of the programme committee for the NZIMA's thematic programme on Conformal Geometry) has won the New Zealand Mathematical Society's 2007 Research Award, for his wide-ranging, prolific and significant contributions to research on symmetries of partial differential equations, separable coordinates and superintegrable systems. 4. PROFILE: ELAN GIN (PHD STUDENT) Elan Gin was a Masters student on our programme in Dynamical Systems and Numerical Analysis in 2005, and she is now a second year PhD student in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Auckland. Elan is working on modelling the mechanisms underlying saliva secretion at the cellular level, using both deterministic and stochastic models. She has recently begun work on constructing Markov models for single- channel data, which involves parameter estimation using the Markov-chain Monte-Carlo technique, and work with experimentalists and experimental data.ÿ In 2006, she spent four months at the University of Rochester in the lab of David Yule, in an attempt to get better understanding of calcium signalling in parotid acinar cells. Elan is supervised by James Sneyd, and supported by a Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarship from the Tertiary Education Commission.ÿ She has already won numerous awards for oral and poster presentations of her work (including the Aitken Prize in 2005) and has published two papers so far, both in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. 5. THIRD ISSUE OF NZ-IMAGES GLOSSY BULLETIN The latest issue of our colourful twice-yearly bulletin "NZ-IMAges" has just been published.ÿ This, the third issue, features articles on Ross Ihaka and his development (with Rob Gentleman) of the "R" statistical software system, which has taken the world by storm, the award-winning "SIREN" system (for optimal deployment of ambulances) produced by the spin-off Optima Corporation, Gaven Martin's research on tilings of curved space, and Marcus Du Sautoy (Visiting Maclaurin Fellow), plus pictures from our launch of the "MathsReach" resource in February. See http://www.nzima.org/Publications.html 6. NZIMA SUPPORT FOR VISITORS AND LOCAL CONFERENCES The NZIMA undertakes and supports a wide range of activities in New Zealand that promote excellence in the mathematical sciences.ÿ As part of this, from time to time we call for suggestions for conferences and high-profile visitors and other valuable research (or research-related) activities.ÿ We are again making such a call, with a deadline of 15th February 2008.ÿ For details, see the NZIMA website http://www.nzima.org and click the "Support Opportunities" link in the left hand menu bar. 7. UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES IN OCEANIA 22-23 November 2007, at Queenstown: NZ Mathematics and Statistics Postgraduate (NZMASP) Conference See http://www.math.canterbury.ac.nz/bio/NZMASP/ or contact Scott Graybill 30 November & 1 December 2007, at Christchurch: 41st Annual ORSNZ Conference See https://secure.orsnz.org.nz/conf/ 3-7 December 2007, in Dunedin: 32nd ACCMCC (Australasian Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing) See http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/staffpriv/mike/ACCMCC32/32ACCMCC.html 9-11 December 2007, at Victoria University, Wellington: Mathematical & Computational Nanoscience 2007 (sponsored jointly by the NZIMA and the MacDiarmid Institute) See http://www.macdiarmid.ac.nz/mcn/ 12-15 December 2007, at Victoria University of Wellington, NZ: 1st Joint Meeting of the American and New Zealand Mathematical Societies See http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~mathmeet/amsnzms2007/ 6-12 January 2008, at Nelson: 2008 NZMRI Conference on Conformal Geometry See: http://www.math.auckland.ac.nz/wiki/2008_NZMRI_Conference_on_Conformal_Geometry 14-18 January 2008, at Kaikoura: Conference on Finite Groups and Representations See: http://www.math.canterbury.ac.nz/bio/Finite_Groups/ 28 January - 1 February 2008, at Wollongong, Australia: Mathematics in Industry Study Group 2008 See: http://www.uow.edu.au/informatics/maths/research/misg/index.html 3-7 February 2008, at Katoomba (NSW), Australia: ANZIAM 2008 (Annual conference) See http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/ANZIAM2008/ 18-22 February 2008, at Napier: Conference on Algorithms See: http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/algorithmics/activities/febmeeting.html 19-22 February 2008, at Auckland: Workshop on Multi-scale Modelling of the Respiratory System See: http://www.bioeng.auckland.ac.nz/events/msmrs/index.php 14 - 18 July 2008, at Auckland: GLADE 2008 Conference on numerical methods for differential equations and related problems See: http://www.auckland-ode-2008.org 21 - 25 July 2008, at Auckland: GLADE 2008 Workshop on numerical methods for differential equations and related problems See: http://www.auckland-ode-2008.org 15-19 December 2008, at Auckland: 4th International Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing See: http://www.math.auckland.ac.nz/~bonning/4icc/index.html 13-17 July 2009, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia: First Pacific Rim Mathematical Congress See http://www.primath.org/ for updates 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. 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