Annual Report 2008.pdf - SAMSI

oundary method as a means to impose microstructure throughout a complex fluid. The
working group on Dynamics of Infectious Diseases has made significant progress on
model validation in the context of seasonal infectious disease epidemiology.
The lists of refereed publications associated with SAMSI programs (see Section I.G. of
the full report) provide another measure of the impact on the mathematical and
disciplinary sciences.
Some examples of SAMSI’s strong commitment to the development of human resources
in the mathematical sciences are evident in Sections I.B, I.C and I.H of the full report.
Section 3 (below) of this evaluation summarizes the various types and numbers of
participants in SAMSI activities – 1100 in all. Videoconference and WebEx technologies
have now been adopted by all working groups, some with an international reach. Indeed,
in some working groups, the majority of participants engage by these means, and some
working groups continue to be active after the end of the formal program.
Participation by women and other underrepresented groups is high and rising. In
particular for 2007-2008, the percentage of female (42%), African American (26%) and
Hispanic (4%) participants rose from their 2006-2007 levels. The participation rates for
women and African Americans reflect the success of the Infinite Possibilities Conference
that SAMSI cosponsored. The conference, that was “designed to promote, educate,
encourage, and support minority women interested in the mathematical and statistical
sciences,” attracted 216 participants from 22 states. Participation by new researchers and
students also rose from last year’s level to about 50% for 2007-2008. The SAMSI
website now offers information about its diversity programs at
http://www.samsi.info/about/diversity.shtml.
The inclusion in SAMSI programs of a substantial number of participants from
institutions not heavily supported by NSF-DMS funding is detailed in the full report.
3) Is the national recognition and respect for SAMSI growing?
This year, the Institute held 2 year-long programs and 1 semester-long program. The
programs at SAMSI consistently have entirely non-local leadership, with many of the
program leaders being eminent scholars. The leaders of the year-long programs were :
Dipak Dey (University of Connecticut), Stephen Pollock (University of Michigan), David
Rios Insua (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos), Lawrence Brown (University of Pennsylvania,
National Advisory Committee Liaison), Richard Smith (UNC-Chapel Hill, Local
Scientific Coordinator), Nell Sedransk (NISS, SAMSI Directorate Liaison) for Risk
Analysis, Extreme Events and Decision Theory, and Russel Caflisch (UCLA), Maarten
De Hoop (Purdue University, Chair), Rick Durrett (Cornell University, National
Advisory Committee Liaison), Weinan E (Princeton University), Josselin Garnier
(Universite Paris VII), George Papanicolaou (Stanford University), Lenya Ryzhik
(University of Chicago), Ralph Smith (SAMSI, Directorate Liaison), Chrysoula Tsogka
(University of Chicago), Eric Vanden-Eijnden (NYU), Jack Xin (UC Irvine), Wojbor
Woyczynski (Case Western Reserve University), Hongkai Zhao (UC Irvine)for Random
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