SM: Five Inverse Problems Workshops targeting Computational and Applied Mathematics together with Application Areas

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY

Investigators

Abstract

McLaughlin DMS-0852516 The investigator and her collagues organize a series of five workshops in five different application areas of inverse problems. All of the represented fields are advancing rapidly and in all cases the mathematical advances, the engineering advances and the new experiments enabled by new technology or innovative ideas combine together to make a rich opportunity for new research projects at the interface of disciplines. It is expected that research projects will be inspired, and in some cases be newly developed, as a result of the workshops. The presentations include state of the art techniques in mathematical sciences and engineering; an important addition in some of the workshops is the inclusion of experimentalists who describe their latest advances, the data sets that are obtained from those experiments, and their anticipated results from that data. Early career participants, including a strong representation of participants from underrepresented groups, are targeted. The Inverse Problems Center, IPRPI, provides an ideal environment to hold these workshops. The problem areas being targeted all impact quality of life and safety of individuals. Two of the workshops specifically target medical imaging; one is in imaging of biomechanical tissue properties, a new, very fast moving area with significant success anticipated, and another considers diffusion optical tomography, which also has a great deal of promise. Successes in these two areas significantly impact human health. Two other workshops emphazize identification in geosystems and waveform tomography. Both target understanding the effects of earthquake dynamics, as well as the identification of new energy sources. As such, the safety of individuals and quality of individual life is strongly affected. Finally, the microlocal analysis workshop emphasizes a broad set of application areas, including radar imaging, which is an important homeland security component. Much of the grant supports participants who are students, postdocs, junior faculty, women, and other under-represented groups.