Progress on Difference Equations

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA

Investigators

Abstract

The international conference on the Progress on Difference Equations (PODE) 2012 will be held May 13-18 in Richmond, Virginia on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. Web site: http://www.math.vcu.edu/PODE2012index.html. The PODE 2012 conference is the latest in a series of PODE conferences that have focused on the study of difference equations. Traditionally, these conferences have been held in Europe. This will be the first of these conferences to be held in the United States. The goal of the conference is to exchange significant ideas and results in the field of difference equations, as well as to establish research contacts across borders, not only between countries, but also between different ethnic and cultural groups and between novice and seasoned mathematicians. Varied and novel ideas are shared both formally with talks and informally in casual settings. Dissemination of information throughout the mathematics community at large is to be facilitated by the posting of the slides of talks on the conference web site and by the publication of the proceedings of the conference. The field of difference equations, once primarily ancillary to differential equations, has within the past two decades evolved into an autonomous branch of mathematics, with applications to areas such as engineering, biology, medicine, physics, economics, and the social sciences. During this time it has attracted mathematicians from other areas, who have brought to difference equations their diverse set of tools. The PODE conferences are a significant means of fostering fresh ideas, enthusiasm, and collaboration to the expanding the field of difference equations both in breadth and in depth.