Sessions & Events

Scientific Sessions
Student Sessions
Contributed Sessions
Poster / Demo Exhibits
Social Events
CAIMS and MITACS Business Meetings

Scientific Sessions

The 17th Canadian Symposium on Fluid Dynamics will be held during the conference. Additionally, there will be sessions on:

  * Bioinformatics
  * Communication and Security in Ad Hoc Networks
  * Data Mining (joint with the Statistical Society of Canada)
  * Financial Mathematics
  * Image Processing and Inverse Problems
  * Industrial Mathematics
  * Nonlinear Dynamics in the Health Sciences
  * Operations Research and Optimization
  * Scientific Computing
  * Scientific Computing II
  * Symbolic Computation
  * Visual Mathematics

17th Canadian Symposium on Fluid Dynamics [top]
Organizers: Nicholas Kevlahan, Marek Stastna, Francis Poulin
Fluid dynamics is central to industrial and scientific problems ranging from aircraft design and blood flow to weather prediction and climate change. The 2006 Canadian Symposium on Fluid Dynamics has three themes, one for each day of the symposium: stratified fluids, geophysical fluid dynamics, and turbulence theory and computation. A wide range of invited talks, contributed talks and posters will showcase both Canadian and international researchers. In addition, Charles Williamson will give a special plenary talk on vortex induced vibration at the joint CAIMS-MITACS of which CSFD is a part.

Bioinformatics [top]
Organizer: Anne Condon, Peter Swain, Shelley Bull, David Tritchler
Bioinformatics is a rapidly developing discipline that is at the forefront of the quantization of molecular biology. Although the goal of bioinformatics is clear - quantitative, accurate, and biologically relevant predictions - its exact definition is often debated. In this session, we will explore the full potential of bioinformatics research. Talks will range from predicting the structure of single molecules, to the information processing properties of protein networks, to the statistical analysis of high-throughput datasets, such as simultaneous expression measurements of all genes in the genome. A common theme throughout will be the use of mathematics and its successful application to experimental biology and to clinical diagnosis.

Communication and Security in Ad Hoc Networks [top]
Organizer: Evangelos Kranakis
Ad hoc networks are autonomous, self-organizing systems of (mobile) hosts and routers connected by wireless links and forming an arbitrary graph with varying topology. Examples include city-wide communication networks, satellites in orbit, radio-linked sensors distributed randomly like seed by air-drop, vehicle mounted devices, and unmanned emergency reconnaissance platforms operating either standalone or connected to the Internet. As such wireless systems are increasingly penetrating our critical communication infrastructure and it is an ongoing challenge to keep electronic data transmissions stable, efficient and secure. This session will address fundamental communication and security issues in ad hoc networks.

Data Mining (joint with Statistical Society of Canada) [top]
Organizer: Steven Wang
Research on data mining is focused on the design of efficient algorithms to discover real patterns in large data sets. Data mining algorithms have significant impact on scientific discovery and many industrial sectors.  Applications include bioinformatics, security and electronic commerce. This session will focus on the most recent developments in data mining including novel clustering and classification algorithms and their applications.

Financial Mathematics [top]
Organizers: Matt Davison, John Walsh
Financial Mathematics is a subject, which, despite its youth, has been extremely successful in framing and solving its defining problems of characterizing and managing risk in well-developed financial markets. It has had a truly transformative impact on the financial and banking sectors of the modern economy, to the point where doctoral level training in a quantitative discipline is now necessary for many roles within these sectors.

This session showcases a variety of speakers each of who are doing interesting work on financial mathematics. This work presented here relates to the mathematical underpinnings of financial mathematics, the development of new algorithms for computing quantities of financial interest, and interesting new applications of financial mathematics.

Image Processing/Inverse Problems [top]
Organizers: Hongmei Zhu and Huaxiong Huang
This full-day session includes topics in signal and image processing and inverse problems with applications in medicine, geophysics, and industry. Although targeted problems in applications vary, essential mathematical tools used may be shared in different fields. This session is intended to bring together researchers from diverse disciplines and embark stimulating discussions and fresh research ideas.

Stochastic Models in Industrial Mathematics [top]
Organizers: Rachel Kuske, Israel Ncube
This session will highlight a number of mathematical problems, which arise from modelling used in industry. The talks demonstrate the exchange between mathematics and the private or government sectors: industry poses novel questions, which lead to new mathematical directions, while mathematics brings valuable viewpoints for solving industrial problems.

Nonlinear Dynamics in the Health Sciences [top]
Organizers: Sue Ann Campbell, Michael Mackey
Over the past decade it has become abundantly clear that mathematics is going to play an ever more central role in the basic and clinical medical sciences in the future. This one day symposium will highlight some of the areas currently of importance ranging from problems in molecular biology through clinical medicine and epidemiology.

Operations Research and Optimization [top]
Organizer:Tamas Terlaky, Warren Hare
Operations Research refers to the application of mathematical programming techniques to find appropriate solutions to industrial problems. In general the process takes three steps, first the problem is modeled in an optimization framework, second mathematical programming techniques are applied to the model, and the results are interpreted and applied to the original problem.  This has resulted in many interesting lines of research
in optimization.

These sessions shall cover two current streams of interest.  The first series of talks will focus on "Conic Optimization," a robust modeling style under which many useful applications can be studied.  Both new theory and new application will be discussed. The second series of talks will focus on "Routing and Design Problems," a collection of problems which includes many modern applications, such as communication networks
and VLSI design.  Of particular interest is how Operations Research has recently yielded impressive contributions to these problems, largely due to the fact that Routing Problems can be modeling as conic optimization problems.

Scientific Computing [top]
Organizer: Anne Bourlioux
Partial differential equations to model multiscale phenomena are ubiquitous in industrial applications and their numerical solution is an outstanding challenge within the field of scientific computing. On one hand, a brute force approach to attempt to resolve all the spatial and temporal scales of a typical multi-physics problem requires huge computing resources. On the other hand, simply ignoring those computationally expansive small scales can lead to very inaccurate predictions. The speakers in this session will present novel ideas to intelligently tackle this multiscale computational challenge for various applications. One class of approach to be discussed is based on adaptivity: if the problem contains many scales, adjust the computational resources locally to meet the challenge. Another class of approach is to process the mathematical model at the level of the equations, before discretization, either removing non-essential small scales when possible, or exploiting special features of the small scales such as self-similarity or
scale separation to formulate more tractable computational problems.

Scientific Computing II [top]
Organizer: Chen Greif
Scientific computation is gaining a central role as a scientific discipline at the junction of mathematics, computer science, and engineering. In this session we will provide a broad overview of current work in the field, combining algorithmic aspects and large-scale applications.

The talks illustrate how numerical linear algebra, computational partial differential equations, and optimization algorithms all interact to obtain faster and more robust computational methods for solving large scale problems. We will discuss hyperbolic and elliptic equations, preconditioning techniques, optimization formulations, and large scale applications that demonstrate the importance and necessity of robust and fast numerical algorithms.

Applications and Recent Developments in Symbolic Computation 2006 [top]
Organizers: Rob Corless, Dhavide Aruliah
Applications and Recent Developments in Symbolic Computation 2006 - This mini-symposium at CAIMS/MITACS 2006 gives an opportunity to discuss recent algorithmic developments in computer algebra and applications to diverse areas, for example mathematical biology, robotics, and computer-aided geometric design.  Recent developments in algorithms connecting polynomial systems to matrix eigenproblems allow use of numerical computation in a hybrid fashion, which can be appropriate for computer-aided geometric design; similarly, recent progress in numerical homotopy (continuation) methods allow advances for some more general problems, such as quasipolynomial (exponential polynomial) problems occurring in delay differential equation models for mathematical biology.  Theoretical developments in the study of the computational complexity of the numerical solution of DAE, together with practical advances in the use of computer algebra for set-up of DAE for application areas such as robotics, are also featured in this session.

A tentative list of speakers will be posted soon; the session will include well-established researchers and "rising stars".

Visual Mathematics [top]
Organizer: Karan Singh
Transforming a visual mental concept into a mathematical representation that is easy to refine and manipulate is a grand challenge in computer graphics today. Traditional techniques of sculpting and sketching continue to be among the quickest and most expressive ways for designers to visually manifest their ideas. This session will present recent results in interactive shape design, both in commercial software and academic research. The audience will be presented with the properties of various implicit, explicit and hybrid shape representations and the capabilities, limitations and implementation details of current algorithms for interactive shape creation and manipulation.

Student Sessions

Organized by the MITACS Student Advisory Committee

Mathematics and Space Exploration
We are pleased to announce that Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield will be speaking on "Mathematics and Space Exploration". Colonel Hadfield has the distinction of being the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm in orbit, the only Canadian to board the Mir Space Station, and the first Canadian to perform a spacewalk. All are welcome to attend this talk on June 18 at 2pm in the Computer Science & Engineering Building Lecture Hall A.

This is a unique session, do not miss it!

Career Panel
What will you do after your graduate studies?

This student session will provide valuable information on how to pursue a career in the academic, private or public sectors following graduate studies in the mathematical sciences. In an informal environment, our panellists will give an overview of their career history and will answer questions from students. They will provide valuable insights on how to proceed after graduation.

Our panellists will include:
Dr. Jean-Marie De Koninck, Professor, Université Laval, Département de mathématiques et de statistique
Dr. Karan Singh, Professor, University of Toronto, Dynamic Graphics Project
Dr. Philippe Zaugg, Research Director, Quantitative Investments for PSP Investments
Dr. Gerald Robertson, Industry Canada

Contributed Sessions

  * Mathematical outbreaks: epidemics and invasions
  * Recent advances in algorithms and software for the numerical solution of differential equations
  * Use of unstructured grid methods for ocean modelling
  * Contributed papers

Mathematical outbreaks:  epidemics and invasions [top]
Organizers: James Watmough, University of New Brunswick; Huaiping Zhu, York University
Mathematical ecology and epidemiology have been a wonderful inspiration to mathematics for over a century now, and  the spatial spread of invading organisms and infectious disease agents remains an important topic in ecology, public health and economics.  Many new and interesting mathematical questions have arisen in recent years.  In particular, new results on asymptotic rates of spreads have been proven. This minisymposium will showcase a variety of topics related to spatial spread in ecology and epidemiology.  The choice of speakers is intended to reflect the breadth of current research on this topic, both mathematically and biologically.

Recent Advances in Algorithms and Software for the Numerical Solution of Differential Equations [top]
Organizers: Paul Muir, Math. and Comp. Sci., Saint Mary's University; Ray Spiteri, Department of Computer Science, University of Saskatchewan
The wide use of computational modelling as a key tool in all areas of scientific investigation has placed unprecedented importance on the development of robust, efficient numerical algorithms and software for the effective treatment of the complicated systems of partial differential equations arising from these models. A widely used solution technique is the method-of-lines (MOL), and it has become apparent that many of the techniques for solving boundary value ordinary differential equations (ODEs) are relevant to the spatial discretization phase of the MOL, while techniques for the numerical solution of initial value ODEs are relevant for the solution of the large initial value systems that result from the spatial discretizations. Use of high-order, adaptive, variable mesh and stepsize techniques allow much larger and more difficult problems to be handled in a manner which makes efficient use of available computing power. The implementation of such techniques in high quality, user-friendly numerical software packages is a key step in allowing applications specialist to take advantage of the latest numerical techniques. This mini-symposium brings together experts who will discuss recent algorithmic and software developments in the numerical solution of differential equations.

Use of unstructured grid methods for ocean modelling [top]

Poster / Demo Exhibits

We encourage students and postdoctoral fellows to display posters to present their recent work and results. This gives a chance for media, professors, and students of all levels to gain an appreciation for the type of projects being undertaken in the field of mathematics. Participants are welcome to interact with the students and get an in-depth appreciation of the technical issues involved in the research. For some helpful tips about creating your poster, see poster tips.

Students may also provide an accompanying computer demo, which ties into their poster presentation. Demos are meant to be a complement to the poster, rather than a supplement.  This means that demos are to be submitted in addition to a poster, not in lieu of.  You must indicate you require demo space when registering your poster. This allows us to provide sufficient table space and power sources for the computer demos.

Social Events

All social events are included in your registration fee. A limited number of additional tickets are available for purchase. Preference will be given to early registrations. To accommodate catering requirements, you must be registered to attend these social events (RSVP on your registration form).

Friday June 16
Opening Reception 18:00 – 20:00            
Enjoy light refreshments while viewing the student posters in the TEL Foyer. Additional tickets are available for $35 each. Cash bar.

Saturday June 17
Student Social 18:30 – 23:00
Get reacquainted with old friends, or make new ones at the student social. Dinner will be served.

Sunday June 18
Awards Banquet 18:30 – 22:00    
Awards will be presented to the winners of the poster competition. Sumptuous dinner will be served. Additional tickets may be ordered for $60 each. Cash bar.

Refreshment Breaks
Light refreshments will be served during the conference.

CAIMS and MITACS Business Meetings

Friday June 16

MITACS Research Management Committee
Schulich Executive Learning Centre           
8:00 – 12:00 Meeting, Room S123
12:00 – 13:00 lunch with International Scientific Advisory Board, ELC Executive Dining Room

CAIMS Board Meeting
Schulich ELC Room N201
10:00 – 16:00 Meeting, (lunch will be served)

MITACS International Scientific Advisory Board Meeting,
Schulich Executive Learning Centre
11:00 – 12:00 with RMC, Room S123
12:00 – 13:00 lunch with Research Management Committee, ELC Executive Dining Room
13:00 – 16:00 Meeting, Room S123

Saturday June 17

Schulich Executive Learning Centre
9:00 – 12:00 MITACS International Scientific Advisory Board Meeting, Room S123
12:00 – 13:30 lunch with Research Management Committee, ELC Executive Dining Room

Sunday June 18

CAIMS AGM
The Underground
13:00 – 14:00 (lunch served)

MITACS Board Meeting
Schulich Executive Learning Centre 
11:00 – 17:00 Meeting (lunch served), ELC Private Dining Room

Monday June 19

MITACS Project Leaders Meeting
Schulich Executive Learning Centre  
8:00 – 10:30 Meeting (breakfast served), ELC Private Dining Room

MITACS AGM
Accolade East 102
14:00 – 14:30

All theme leaders, project leaders, network investigators, network partners and students are invited to attend.

[Printer Friendly Version]