The Year in Review
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Institute for Mathematics IMA and its Applications 2 015 2016 The Year in Review From the Director Revisiting Control Theory It has been over 20 For the 2017-18 academic year, rather than Additionally, several standalone workshops years since the IMA an annual thematic program, the IMA will are planned on topics such as phase retrieval, devoted an entire offer several programs of different lengths application of sheaf theory, and smart urban year to control theory. and scale. These programs take advantage of transportation. The 2015-2016 Annual the IMA’s flexibility, and the exciting topics Thematic Program on reflect the IMA’s nimbleness and willingness Reshaping the IMA Control Theory and its to take risks. Highlights of the programs are: Over the last two years, I have been Applications was an opportunity to revisit • The Industrial Mathematics Clinic: Tack- touched by the level of support for the IMA the topic. The field has changed remarkably ling Collaboratively Emerging Problems and encouraged by the number of people who in these two decades, as many cutting-edge in Industry will promote modern business have helped us create a plan for the future. ideas considered hot topics in 1992 are now mathematics research through collabora- After a lot of effort, I am happy to say that mature technology. Control technology is tive working groups consisting of senior I see a path forward. so well integrated in our daily lives that it is faculty, industry leaders, and junior faculty. Our vision is for the IMA to become a nearly invisible to the user. Now, as we usher • Innovative Statistics and Machine Learn- powerhouse in data science research able to in the era of the internet-of-things (IOT), ing for Precision Medicine is an emerging address challenges from industry, government, modern power systems, and autonomous practice of medicine that uses a patient’s and other disciplines. We are finalizing strate- vehicles, research in control theory becomes specific characteristics to guide treatment gic partnerships with two major corporations ever more important. decisions. The program will bring together that will pave the way towards a sustainable Reflected in the three fall workshops was statisticians, biostatisticians, data scien- model of industrial collaboration. The IMA a sustained focus on the important subject tists, and healthcare domain experts. Data Science Lab, now in its second year, will of control over networks. It is through an • Modeling, Stochastic Control, Optimi- play a central role in this development. At interdisciplinary approach, something the zation, and Related Applications brings the same time, we will leverage our strength IMA fosters, that progress could be made together a multidisciplinary community to serve the Department of Energy research in this challenging topic. The workshop on to discuss recent progress in (1) stochastic community. Implementation of these strate- Optimization and Parsimonious Modeling control, computation methods, and appli- gies will allow the IMA to continue to be a in the spring was remarkable for bringing cations, (2) queueing theory and networked global leader in the mathematical sciences. ideas from data science to control. The May systems, (3) ecological and biological appli- Opening career pathways for young math- workshop centering around the energy market cations, and (4) finance and economics ematical scientists will remain an important and the power grid was timely. It brought applications. part of our mission. The Math-to-Industry mathematicians, engineers, economists, and • Multiscale Mathematics and Comput- Boot Camp (full story on pg. 15) will con- policy-makers together to address a problem ing in Science and Engineering addresses tinue in the summers of 2017 and 2018. Not of great societal importance. emerging topics in multiscale modeling and noted in the article are two early success As is typical in an annual program, senior computational challenges in the context stories of the camp—a data scientist posi- long-term visitors served as “anchors” around of materials modeling, with the goal of tion with the Milwaukee Brewers for one which key activities revolved. Visitors and launching new collaborative research com- participant and a summer internship at the postdocs organized seminars, offered tuto- munities of mathematicians, scientists, Federal Reserve for another. New in 2017 rials, conducted research, and had many and engineers. is the Data Science Fellowship. Run as a informal discussions, creating an exciting • SageMath Coding Sprints will further partnership with Amlana, a cloud and data atmosphere at the IMA. develop this open-source, general purpose science consulting company, the eight-week Truly rewarding was the return of post- mathematical software system by design- program will train recent Ph.D.s and students docs from the 1992-93 annual program, now ing and implementing new algorithms and near completion in the basic techniques and established in their careers. Among them computational tools that will be of use to tools used in data science and provide them were Anders Rantzer, Mary Ann Horn, Bo academic and industrial scientists. with the opportunity to work in teams on Bernhardsson, Li Qiu, and Scott Hansen. real-world industrial projects. Lastly, the Participating Organization program remains vital to the IMA, and we are exploring ways to provide more value to our partners. They have already contributed 1 2015-2016 Annual Program Year The Year in Review in essential ways to several programs this 2 New Directions Professorship FISCAL YEAR July 1, 2015, to June 13, 2016 past year and next, and I anticipate that they 3 Collaboration will be even more involved in shaping the 4 Postdoctoral Fellowship Program PROGRAM YEAR September 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016 programs at the IMA. 7 IMA Prize Winner As my two-year extension as director comes 8 Fifth Abel Conference www.ima.umn.edu to an end, I am pleased by how far we have 9 Public Lecture Series gotten since the NSF announced its deci- 10 Industry-related Workshops Institute for Mathematics sion to ramp-down its support of the IMA. I am optimistic that with your help, support, 12 IMA Data Science Lab IMA and its Applications and engagement, the IMA will continue to Hot Topics Workshop 13 flourish. 14 New Directions Short Course 15 Research Experience Fadil Santosa Director 16 Support the IMA 2015–2016 Annual PRogram Workshops Distributed Control and Decision Making Over Networks Control Theory and Analysis and Control of Network Dynamics Biological Systems and Networks its Applications Optimization and Parsimonious Modeling Control theory has its roots in the need for feedback as a Computational Methods for Control of means of regulating physical processes, dating back to Infinite-dimensional Systems Quantum and Nano Control the industrial revolution. Control at Large Scales: Energy Markets As new technologies have emerged, the field of control theory has evolved and Responsive Grids alongside. By the time the first IMA program on control theory was held in 1992-93, the field had developed a clear identity with a common language, Other IMA Programs themes, and problems to solve. “[That year produced] some beautiful mathematics. Impactful in several HOT TOPICS WORKSHOPS important application areas,” said organizer Tryphon Georgiou (University of May 16-19, 2016 • Resource Trade-offs: Minnesota, Twin Cities). Computation, Communication, and Information The field of control theory entered a new era with the transition to wireline and wireless networking and the development of sensors, powerful computers, SPECIAL EVENTS and complex software, as this enabled new collaborations and a broader use November 2-4, 2015 • Fifth Abel in applications. Current research plays a key role as an “enabling technology” Conference: Celebrating the in a wide range of applications from autopilots, navigation, and robotics to Mathematical Impact of John F. Nash Jr. and Louis Nirenberg telecommunications, cellular phones, and power systems. “In fact, almost everywhere you turn, there is a control application,” Georgiou February 22-24, 2016 • Research Collaboration Workshop: Optimization said. “We are at a point where the field has a lot of applications and a lot of and Uncertainty Quantification in Energy open problems, but not so much the same language. We develop theory as a and Industrial Applications field, and at the same time, we’re searching for language so we can communicate June 6-10, 2016 • Frontiers in PDE- problems.” constrained Optimization An example of the language gap is the term “network,” which has different June 20—July 29, 2016 • Math-to- meanings in different disciplines—is it a communication network, a logical Industry Boot Camp network, or a graph? The first three workshops all pertained to networks, showcasing the different ways they are used. Organizer Anders Ranzter (Lund June 20-24, 2016 • IMA-MathCEP Math Modeling Camp for High School Students University) noted that the program had a strong presence of presentations demonstrating how the internet economy is interacting with control—one of June 22-25, 2016 • Dynamics and Differential Equations the reasons why the large network is becoming a predominant feature to study. Many talks also addressed problems that currently or will impact society, July 18—August 4, 2016 • PI Summer such as in transportation when city traffic comes to a standstill or biological Graduate Program: Mathematics and Climate networks where something happens to a cell