OTICES OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY Report on the Activities of the AMS Committee on Science Policy, 1990 page 111 FEBRUARY 1991 , VOLUME 38, NUMBER 2 Providence, Rhode Island, USA ISSN 0002-9920 Calendar of AMS Meetings and Conferences This calendar lists all meetings which have been approved prior to the date this in the issue corresponding to that of the Notices which contains the program of the issue of Notices was sent to the press. The summer and annual meetings are joint meeting, insofar as is possible. Abstracts should be submitted on special forms meetings of the Mathematical Association of America and the American Mathe­ which are available in many departments of mathematics and from the headquar­ matical Society. The meeting dates which fall rather far in the future are subject to ters office of the Society. Abstracts of papers to be presented at the meeting must change; this is particularly true of meetings to which no numbers have been as­ be received at the headquarters of the Society in Providence, Rhode Island, on signed. Programs of the meetings will appear in the issues indicated below. First or before the deadline given below for the meeting. Note that the deadline for ab­ and supplementary announcements of the meetings will have appeared in earlier. stracts for consideration for presentation at special sessions is usually three weeks issues. earlier than that specified below. For additional information, consult the meeting an­ Abstracts of papers presented at a meeting of the Society are published in the nouncements and the list of organizers of special sessions. journal Abstracts of papers presented to the American Mathematical Society Meetings Abstract Program Meeting# Date Place Deadline Issue 864 t! March 15-16, 1991 South Bend, Indiana Expired March 865 March 22-23,1991 Tampa, Florida Expired March 866 • June 13-15, 1991 Portland, Oregon March 26 May/June 867 • August 8-11, 1991 Orono, Maine May 22t July/August (94th Summer Meeting) 868 • October 12-13, 1991 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania August 1 October 869 • October 25-26, 1991 Fargo, North Dakota August 1 October 870 • November 9-11, 1991 Santa Barbara, California August 1 October 871 • January 8-11 , 1992 Baltimore, Maryland October 2 December (98th Annual Meeting) March 13-14,1992 Tuscaloosa, Alabama tt March 20-21, 1992 Springfield, Missouri June 29-July 1, 1992 Cambridge, England (Joint Meeting with the London Mathematical Society) January 13-16, 1993 San Antonio, Texas (99th Annual Meeting) August15-19, 1993 Vancouver, British Columbia (96th Summer Meeting) (Joint Meeting with the Canadian Mathematical Society) January 12-15, 1994 Cincinnati, Ohio (100th Annual Meeting) January 10-13, 1996 Orlando, Florida (1 02nd Annual Meeting) • Please refer to page 128 for listing of Special Sessions. t Please note this deadline is earlier than previously published. tt These dates are earlier than previously published. Conferences June 22-August 2, 1991 : Joint Summer Research Conferences in the August, 1991 : AMS-SIAM-SMB Symposium on Some Mathematical Mathematical Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Questions in Biology, Theoretical approaches for predicting spatial Washington. effects in ecological systems, San Antonio Texas. July 7-26, 1991 : AMS Summer Research Institute on Algebraic Groups and their Generalizations, University of Pennsylvania, University Park, Pennsylvania. Events Cosponsored by the Society February 14-20, 1991: Section A (Mathematics) Sessions at the AAAS Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. Deadlines April Issue May/June Issue July/August Issue Classified Ads* February 28, 1991 April 25, 1991 June 17, 1991 News Items February 21, 1991 April 15, 1991 June 10, 1991 Meeting Announcements** February 25, 1991 April 15, 1991 June 13,1991 • Please contact AMS Advertising Department for an Advertising Rate Card for display advertising deadlines. •• For material to appear in the Mathematical Sciences Meetings and Conferences section. OTICES OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY DEPARTMENTS FEATURE COLUMNS 99 Letters to the Editor 101 Forum 104 Computers and Mathematics Jon Barwise 113 News and Announcements This month's column consists of two reviews, one on VTEX by John L. Casti 119 Funding Information for the and one on GyroGraphics by Gustaf Gripenberg. Also, Donald E. G. Maim Mathematical Sciences discusses a number theory package for microcomputers available as mathematical freeware and shareware. 120 For Your Information 122 1991 AMS Elections 111 Inside the AMS 124 Meetings and Conferences of Michael C. Reed reports on the activities of the AMS Committee on Science the AMS Policy during the past year. South Bend, IN March 15-16, 124 Tampa, FL March 22-23, 126 Invited Speakers, 128 AAAS Annual Meeting, 132 Joint Summer Research Conferences in the Mathematical Sciences, 134 1991 Summer Research Institute, 136 138 Mathematical Sciences Meetings and Conferences 149 New AMS Publications 153 AMS Reports and Communications Recent Appointments, 153 Reports of Past Meetings, 154 156 Classified Advertising 171 Forms FEBRUARY 1991. VOLUME 38. NUMBER 2 97 ···············-···-········--.. ·············-····-·········--·-······-·····-········-··-··-··-·····-·-·--·--------···.. ··-·····-·····-·---.. ·----·---··-·-·-·-··-------·-··---·-·-· From the Executive Director ... DOCTORAL PROGRAMS in mathematical sciences departments are key to AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY Doctoral programs the successful renewal of the profession and reform in mathematics education. They can attract individuals to careers in mathematics research, the applications of mathematics, mathematics education, and teaching. Successful graduate programs address the career path problems of EDITORIAL COMMITTEE the profession by attracting and retaining students (especially women Robert J_ Blattner (Forum Editor) students) and by preparing students for long and varied professional Michael G. Crandall careers. Robert M. Fossum (Chairman) Lucy J. Garnett, D. J. Lewis The AMS Committee on Science Policy has been discussing issues Nancy K. Stanton associated with ineffective doctoral and postdoctoral training. The Board Robert E. L. Turner (Letters Editor) on Mathematical Sciences (BMS), as a result of the serious problems in in its report "Renewing U.S. Mathematics: MANAGING EDITOR graduate education identified Donovan H. VanOsdol A Plan for the 1990s" (David II), has also been concerned with these issues. Individuals involved in these considerations have led BMS to ASSOCIATE EDITORS undertake an eighteen-month study, with financial support from the Ronald L. Graham, Special Articles Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, to identify features of successful graduate Jeffrey C. Lagarias, Special Articles and postdoctoral programs. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION The initial step in the study is to attempt to identify elements of a Subscription prices for Volume 38 (1991) are successful doctoral program in the mathematical sciences. It is expected $121 list; $97 institutional member; $73 individual that this process will be ongoing as the study progresses. Information member. (The subscription price for members is in­ cluded in the annual dues.) A late charge of 10% that will be considered includes: breadth of course work, programs for of the subscription price will be imposed upon or­ the retention of women and other underrepresented groups, methods used ders received from nonmembers after January 1 to qualify students for candidacy, characteristics of graduate mentorship, of the subscription year. Add for postage: Surface recruitment, role of delivery outside the United States and lndia-$15;. goals of the doctoral dissertation, graduate student to lndia-$27; expedited delivery to destinations in teaching assistants, criteria for determining graduate student financial North America-$28; elsewhere-$67. Subscrip­ support, and issues associated with postdoctoral programs. tions and orders for AMS publications should be addressed to the American Mathematical Society, Ten doctorate-granting institutions whose programs contain essential P.O. Box 1571, Annex Station, Providence, Rl elements of these criteria of a successful program will be selected. 02901-1571. All orders must be prepaid. Site visits will be conducted by teams from the study committee. The purpose of these vists will be to gather information, not to evaluate the ADVERTISING Notices publishes situations wanted and classified departments. After the site visits have been completed, the information advertising, and display advertising for publishers gathered will be analyzed and combined into composite descriptions of and academic or scientific organizations. the features of successful programs and those that are detrimental to Copyright @ 1991 by the American Mathematical successful programs. Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Individual doctoral degree granting departments in the mathematical The paper used in this journal is acid-free and falls sciences could undertake a self-evaluation using the criteria listed above within the guidelines established to ensure perma­ or determine their own set of criteria. There is another study being nence and durability. § Most of this publication undertaken by the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics Committee on was typeset using the TEX typesetting system. Preparation for College Teaching. This study is particularly concerned [Notices of the American Mathematical Society is published monthly except bimonthly in May, June, with the effectiveness of graduate programs