1998 Travel and Talks

January 1998

• The Ninth International Conference on Approximation Theory, Nashville, Tennessee, January 3-6, 1998, was attended by Charles K. Chui, Svenja Lowitzsch, Francis J. Narcowich, N. Sivakumar, and Joseph D. Ward.

  Charles K. Chui co-organizer of the conference.

  Francis J. Narcowich gave a plenary address on "Recent developments in approximation via positive definite functions".

  N. Sivakumar spoke on "Some recent results on cardinal interpolation by Gaussian radial-basis functions".

  Joseph D. Ward chaired a special session on Radial Basis Functions.

• Speakers at the 1998 Joint Mathematics Meetings, Baltimore, Maryland, January 7-10, 1998:

  Huai-Dong Cao spoke on "Kähler-Ricci solitons and periodic orbits" in the AMS Special Session on Recent Developments on the Laplace Operator and Its Geometric Applications.

  David R. Larson spoke on "Frames, bases and group representations" (joint work with Deguang Han) in the AMS Special Session on Recent Progress in the Theory of Operator Algebras and Their Applications that was co-organized by Roger R. Smith.

  Timur Oikhberg spoke "On products of orthogonal projections" in the AMS Special Session on Recent Progress in the Theory of Operator Algebras and Their Applications that was co-organized by Roger R. Smith.

  Corran J. Webster spoke on "Compact matrix sets and operator approximation properties" in the AMS Special Session on Recent Progress in the Theory of Operator Algebras and Their Applications that was co-organized by Roger R. Smith.

• Richard E. Ewing spoke on "Cross-cutting research issues" at the DOE Computational Science Initiative Workshop on Environmental Sciences, Germantown, Maryland, January 28, 1998.

February 1998

• Huai-Dong Cao
  Spoke on "Gradient Kähler-Ricci solitons and periodic orbits" at the Institute for Advanced Study, February, 1998.

• Richard E. Ewing
  Spoke on "Computational sciences in environmental applications" at the DOE Computational Sciences Initiative Workshop on Mathematics and Computer Science, Berkeley, California, February 9, 1998.

• Jon McCammond
  "From differential geometry to word hyperbolic groups: a combinatorial approach to an analytic idea" at the University of Kentucky, February 13, 1998.

  "The perimeter of 2-complexes and the coherence of groups" at the University of Michigan, February 16, 1998.

  "General versions of small cancellation theory" at Ohio State University, February 17, 1998.

• Emil J. Straube
  "The d-bar Neumann problem: geometry and potential theory" in the Geometry and Analysis Seminar at Ohio State University, February 20, 1998.

• Rekha R. Thomas
  "Gröbner bases in integer programming" at the conference 33 Years of Gröbner bases, Research Institute for Symbolic Computation (RISC), Linz, Austria, February 2, 1998.

March 1998

• Richard E. Ewing
  "Seismic exploration issues" at the DOE/NSF Data and Visualization Corridors for Large Scale Computation Workshop, Santa Fe, New Mexico, March 4, 1998.

• Speakers in the Special Session on Banach Space Theory at the 1998 Spring Southeastern Sectional Meeting of the American Mathematical Society, Louisville, Kentucky, March 20-21, 1998:

  Timur Oikhberg, "Relative complementation property" (joint work with William B. Johnson).

  Mark Rudelson, "MM* estimate for the sections of non-symmetric convex bodies".

• David R. Larson spoke on "Frame theory and functional analysis" in the Special Session on Linear Operators and Holomorphic Function Spaces at the 1998 Spring Central Section Meeting of the American Mathematical Society, Manhattan, Kansas, March 27-28, 1998.

April 1998

• Speakers at the 1998 Spring Eastern Section Meeting of the American Mathematical Society, Philadelphia, April 4-6, 1998:

  Siqi Fu, "On strictly pseudoconvex domains with Kähler-Einstein Bergman metrics", joint work with Bun Wong, Special Session on PDEs in Several Complex Variables.

  Anthony Giaquinto, "Aspects of the Donald-Flanigan conjecture", Special Session on Rings and Representations.

  Birkett Huber, "Certificates for deficient sparse polynomial systems", joint work with Jan Verschelde, Special Session on Sparse Elimination Methods in Polynomial System Solving.

  Edward S. Letzter, "Quantum function algebras, at roots of unity, not finite over their centers", Special Session on Rings and Representations.

  Peter F. Stiller, "Applications of various methods in elimination theory to a problem in computer vision", Special Session on Sparse Elimination Methods in Polynomial System Solving.

  Emil J. Straube, "Compactness of the d-bar-Neumann problem on convex domains", joint work with Siqi Fu, Special Session on PDEs in Several Complex Variables.

  Rekha R. Thomas, "Computing the state polytope of a toric ideal", joint work with Birkett Huber, Special Session on Sparse Elimination Methods in Polynomial System Solving.

  Philip B. Yasskin, "Calculus using Maple and Scientific Notebook", Special Session on Mathematical Pedagogy.

• Richard E. Ewing
  "Upscaling issues in parameter estimation of models for flow in porous media" at the PICOF Conference on Inverse Problems, Control, and Shape Optimization, Carthage, Tunisia, April 8, 1998.

  Delivered the Tennessee Distinguished Lecture on "Mathematical modeling and simulation in environmental applications" at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, April 17, 1998.

• Carl Maxson
  "Forcing linearity numbers" at the Algebra Conference at the University of Southern Mississippi, April 17, 1998.

• Rekha R. Thomas
  "Associated primes of initial ideals of toric ideals" at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, April 3, 1998.

  "Applications of toric ideals" at the Schlumberger Product Center-Research, Austin, Texas, April 17, 1998.

• Jian Zhou
  "Equivariant cohomology, localization and applications" at the Texas Geometry and Topology Conference, University of Houston, April 25, 1998.

May 1998

• Huai-Dong Cao
  "Equivariant cohomology and wall crossing formulas in Seiberg-Witten theory" at Stanford University, May, 1998.

• David R. Larson
  and Roger R. Smith were principal speakers at the Canadian Operator Theory and Operator Algebras Symposium, University of Alberta, May 21-25, 1998.

• Carl Maxson
  Invited speaker at the "Day of Geometry" at the University of Hannover, May 22, 1998. His topic was "Homogeneous functions and linearity".

  Gave a colloquium lecture on "Forcing linearity numbers" at the University of Hamburg, May 25, 1998.

• Jon McCammond
  "General versions of small cancellation theory" at the Cornell Topology Festival, May 2, 1998.

  "Coherence of groups and the perimeter of 2-complexes" at the international conference on nonpositive curvature in group theory, topology, and geometry, Vanderbilt University, May 1998.

  Gave an invited talk on "Coherence of groups and the perimeter of 2-complexes" at the international conference on algorithmic problems in groups and semigroups, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, May 1998.

June 1998

• Laura Anderson
  "Matroid bundles and characteristic classes" at the Ninth Lehigh University Geometry and Topology Conference, June 11-13, 1998.

• Richard E. Ewing
  "Networking-state, nation, and world", Texas Telehealth Education, San Antonio, Texas, June 26, 1998.

• Edward S. Letzter
  Gave a series of one-hour lectures, "Representations of Affine Noetherian Algebras," at a workshop on "Rings and Representation Theory," in Morelia, Mexico. The workshop was jointly sponsored by the NSF and CONACYT (National Council of Science and Technology Research--Mexico).

• Rekha R. Thomas
  "Standard pairs and group relaxations in integer programming" at the conference Méthodes Effectives en Géométrie Algébrique MEGA-98, Saint Malo, France, June 23-27, 1998.

July 1998

• James H. Bramble
  "A negative norm least squares approach to div-curl systems in two and three dimensions" (joint work with Xuejun Zhang), session on Least-Squares Finite Element Methods: Theory and Applications, SIAM Annual Meeting, University of Toronto, July 13-17, 1998.

• Huai-Dong Cao
  Was a visiting professor at the Center for Advanced Study in Tsinghua University, Beijing, China for the month of July, 1998, and he delivered a series of lectures there "On the Ricci flow".

• Prabir Daripa
  "Some remarks on a rising plane bubble", session on Applied Mathematics (also chaired the session).
  "A novel algorithm for quasiconformal mappings of doubly connected domains", session on Numerical Analysis.
  "Recent advances in numerical algorithms for inverse design of airfoils", session on Optimization (also chaired the session), SIAM Annual Meeting, University of Toronto, July 13-17, 1998

• Richard E. Ewing
  "Iterative methods for multiphase flows in porous media" at the IMACS Conference on Mathematics, Prague, Czech Republic, July 7, 1998.

  Delivered the Dresdener Mathematisches Lecture on "Mathematical modeling and simulation in environmental application" at the Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany, July 9, 1998.

  Delivered the Berlin Distinguished Computational Sciences Lecture on "Computational sciences in energy and environmental applications" at the Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik, Berlin, Germany, July 10, 1998.

  "Domain decomposition methods in porous media simulations" at the Eleventh International Conference on Domain Decomposition Methods, University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom, July 23, 1998.

  "Scientific computations in energy and environmental applications" at the Eighth International Congress on Computational and Applied Mathematics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, July 28, 1998.

• Jon McCammond
  "The perimeter of 2-complexes and the coherence of groups" at the conference on Computational and Geometric Aspects of Modern Algebra, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, July 1998.

  Invited talk on "Extending Stallings' algorithm to 2-complexes" at the AMS-IMS-SIAM Joint Summer Research Conference on Geometric Group Theory and Computer Science, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, July 1998.

• Jian Zhou
  Visited Tsinghua University in Beijing in July, 1998 and gave a series of lectures on Chern-Weil theory. He also gave a talk "On quantum de Rham theory" at the Institute of Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Science.

August 1998

• Laura Anderson
  "The category of matroid bundles" at the conference Geometric Combinatorics in Kotor, Yugoslavia, August 29, 1998.

• Stephen A. Fulling attended the Foundation Coalition Faculty Conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado, August 6-8, 1998, where he helped present a workshop on developing an integrated engineering curriculum and integrated exams.

  "Graph and Group Classifications of Terms in Adiabatic and Semiclassical Expansions" at the Conference on Combinatorics and Physics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, August 10-12, 1998.

• Richard E. Ewing
  Delivered a Key Lecture on "Numerical analysis of multiphase models in reservoir simulation" at the Seventh International Colloquium on Numerical Analysis and Computer Science with Applications, Plodiv, Bulgaria, August 17, 1998.

  Delivered a plenary lecture on "Applications of domain decomposition methods to flows in porous media" at the International Conference on Numerical Methods and Applications, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria, August 19, 1998.

September 1998

• Charles K. Chui
  Invited speaker at the International Conference on Multivariate Approximation, University of Dortmund, Germany, September 27 to October 2, 1998.

• Richard E. Ewing
  "Mathematical modeling and reservoir simulation for super-K reservoirs", Mathematical Modeling of Fluid Flow in Super-K Reservoirs, 1998 Saudi Aramco Technical Meeting, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, September 13, 1998.

• Stephen A. Fulling
  "What We Should Have Learned from G. H. Hardy about QFT under External Conditions" at the Fourth Workshop on Quantum Field Theory under the Influence of External Conditions, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Leipzig, September 14-18, 1998.

• Francis J. Narcowich
  "Remarks on scattered-data surface fitting via positive definite kernels", Conference on Multivariate Approximation and Interpolation with Applications in CAGD, Signal and Image Processing, Eilat, Israel, September 7-11, 1998.

• William Rundell
  Attended the program on Inverse Wave Scattering Problems and Applications at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach, September 20-26, 1998, after which he attended a meeting at the International Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies in Vietri, Italy.

• Rekha R. Thomas
  Gave a colloquium lecture on "Algebraic methods in integer programming" at the Mathematics Department of the University of California at Berkeley, September 17, 1998.

• Joseph D. Ward
  "Convergence of interpolants generated from positive definite functions," Conference on Multivariate Approximation and Interpolation with Applications in CAGD, Signal and Image Processing, Eilat, Israel, September 7-11, 1998.

  Invited speaker at the International Conference on Multivariate Approximation, University of Dortmund, Germany, September 27 to October 2, 1998.

October 1998

• Sue Geller
  Visited Texas A&M University at Commerce on October 5, 1998, and gave one colloquium on "Hochschild and cyclic homology: What are they and what are they good for?" and another talk about our Master's program, particularly our option for teachers.

• Edward S. Letzter
  "Module extensions over classical Lie superalgebras" in the Special Session on Noncommutative Algebra at the 1998 Fall Southeastern Section Meeting of the American Mathematical Society, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, October 9-10, 1998.

• Jon McCammond
  Gave a colloquium on "Roots, Ratios, and Ramanujan" at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.

  "The geometry and topology of Artin groups and braid groups" in the Topology Seminar at Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey.

  "Biautomaticity of various Artin groups" at the SUNY-Albany Topology and Group theory conference, Albany, New York.

• Peter F. Stiller
  Organizer of the Workshop on Symbolic Computation in Geometry and Analysis, October 12-16, 1998, at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute.

• Rekha R. Thomas
  Organized the session "Algebraic algorithms in integer programming" at the Fall 1998 meeting of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences in Seattle. She spoke on "Group relaxations in integer programming" in the same session.

• Jian Zhou
  Gave a colloquium lecture "Equivariant cohomology and degenerate Chern-Weil theory" at Rice University, October 1, 1998.

November 1998

• Harold P. Boas
  "Zeroes of the Bergman kernel" at the University of California at San Diego, November 10, 1998.

• Rekha R. Thomas
  "Group relaxations in integer programming" at the Department of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Rice University, November 18, 1998.

• Mohammed Ziane
  "Renormalization group method. Application to the slightly compressible fluids" at the University of California at Irvine, November 13, 1998.

  "Renormalization group method. Application to the Navier-Stokes equations of rotating fluids" at the University of California at Irvine, November 16, 1998.

  "The perimeter of 2-complexes and the coherence of groups" in the Topology Seminar at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

  "On a certain renormalization group method" at the University of California at Irvine, November 9, 1998.

December 1998

• Harold P. Boas
  Gave lectures on "Lu Qi-Keng's problem" and on "Majorant series" at the International Conference on Several Complex Variables, Seoul, Korea, December 16-19, 1998.

• Richard E. Ewing
  Gave a keynote address on "Mathematical modeling and simulation in energy and environmental applications" at the Workshop on Scientific Computing and Applications, City University of Hong Kong, December 7, 1998.

• Jon McCammond
  Gave a colloquium on "Constructing compact cores in negatively-curved 3-manifolds" at Rice University, Houston, Texas, December 3, 1998.