Flow, Geometric Motion, Deformation and Mass Transport in Materials Science and Physiological Processes

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

Calderer 1261325 The investigator and her collaborators organize a Summer Graduate Program, Flow, Geometric Motion, Deformation, and Mass Transport in Materials Sciences and Physiological Processes, at the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications in July 2013. Through a series of lectures, tutorials, and hands-on lab demonstrations the summer school introduces students and junior researchers to the mathematical and scientific connections between topics of condensed matter physics and materials sciences on the one hand and physiology problems on the other, and it gives them a better grasp of the fundamentals of mathematical and computational studies in mechanisms that underlie physiological and materials processes, particularly soft materials. Speakers includes experts in applied and numerical analysis, partial differential equations and geometry, mathematical modeling in material sciences and physiology, computational mathematics, and experimental sciences. The project helps support students, junior researchers, and researchers from under-represented groups. How a system behaves over time, and the drivers of its dynamics, are central questions in every area of science and engineering. They are especially challenging when they involve phenomena that span large ranges of length or time scales. Such questions in the areas of materials, particularly soft materials, and of physiology share common features of multiscale phenomena, transport and diffusion, and energy-driven dynamics. The science and engineering communities that deal with physiological systems and those that deal with materials sciences would benefit from greater interactions and from better understanding of the mathematical methods appropriate for these problems. The purpose of this summer school is to give students and junior researchers a better grasp of the fundamentals of mathematical and computational studies in mechanisms that underlie physiological and materials processes. Improved understanding of how to model, analyze, and computationally simulate basic physiological and materials processes can lead to improved materials, advances in fundamental understanding of physiological processes with consequences for health care, and advances in bioengineering.