OTICES OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY NSF's Regional Geometry Institutes page 180 AMS Planning Update: The Operational Plan page 192 Tuscaloosa Meeting (March 13-14) page 205 Springfield Meeting (March 2Q-21) page 216 MARCH 1992, VOLUME 39, NUMBER 3 Providence, Rhode Island, USA ISSN 0002-9920 Calendar of AMS Meetings and Conferences This calendar lists all meetings and conferences approved prior to the date this is possible. Abstracts should be submitted on special forms which are available issue went to press. The summer and annual meetings are joint meetings of the in many departments of mathematics and from the headquarters office of the So­ Mathematical Association of America and the American Mathematical Society. The ciety. Abstracts of papers to be presented at the meeting must be received at the meeting dates which fall rather far in the future are subject to change; this is par­ headquarters of the Society in Providence, Rhode Island, on or before the deadline ticularly true of meetings to which no numbers have been assigned. Programs of given below for the meeting. The abstract deadlines listed below should be care­ the meetings will appear in the issues indicated below. First and supplementary fully reviewed since an abstract deadline may expire before publication of a first announcements of the meetings will have appeared in earlier issues. Abstracts of announcement. Note that the deadline for abstracts for consideration for presenta­ papers presented at a meeting of the Society are published in the journal Abstracts tion at special sessions is usually three weeks earlier than that specified below. For ofpapers presented to the American Mathematical Society in the issue correspond­ additional information, consult the meeting announcements and the list of special ing to that of the Notices which contains the program of the meeting, insofar as sessions. Meetings Abstract Program Meeting# Date Place Deadline Issue 872 * March 13-14, 1992 Tuscaloosa, Alabama Expired March 873 * March 2Q-21, 1992 Springfield, Missouri Expired March 874 * April11-12, 1992 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Expired April 875 * June 29-July 1, 1992 Cambridge, England February 28 May-June (Joint Meeting with the London Mathematical Society) 876 * October 3D-November 1, 1992 Dayton, Ohio August 3 October 877 * November 7-November 8, 1992 Los Angeles, California August 3 October 878 * January 13-16, 1993 San Antonio, Texas OctoberS December (99th Annual Meeting) 879 * March 26-27, 1993 Knoxville, Tennessee January 5 March 880 * April9-10, 1993 Salt Lake City, Utah January 29 April 881 * April17-18, 1993 Washington, D.C. January 29 April 882 * May 21-22, 1993 DeKalb, Illinois February 26 May-June 883 * August15-19, 1993 Vancouver, British Columbia May 18 July-August (96th Summer Meeting) (Joint Meeting with the Canadian Mathematical Society) October 22-23, 1993 College Station, Texas January 12-15, 1994 Cincinnati, Ohio (1 OOth Annual Meeting) March 18-19, 1994 Lexington, Kentucky March 25-26, 1994 Manhattan, Kansas January 25-28, 1995 Denver, Colorado (101st Annual Meeting) March 24-25, 1995 Chicago, Illinois January 1Q-13, 1996 Orlando, Florida (1 02nd Annual Meeting) *Please refer to page 233 for listing of Special Sessions. Conferences June 13-July 24, 1992: Joint Summer Research Conferences in the July 26-August 1, 1992: AMS-SIAM Summer Seminar in Applied Mathematical Sciences, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mathematics, Exploiting symmetry in applied and numerical Massachusetts. analysis, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado. July 6-24, 1992: AMS Summer Research Institute on Quadratic forms and division algebras: Connections with algebraic K-theory and algebraic geometry, University of California, Santa Barbara. Deadlines May/June Issue July/August Issue September Issue October Issue Classified Ads* May 5, 1992 June 16, 1992 July 30, 1992 August 27, 1992 News Items April 20, 1992 June 8, 1992 July 16, 1992 August 13, 1992 Meeting Announcements** April 23, 1992 June 11, 1992 July 20, 1992 August 17, 1992 * 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. ~--····-------··-------····------------------ 1 OTICES OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY DEPARTMENTS ARTICLES 179 Letters to the Editor 199 News and Announcements 180 NSF's Regional Geometry Institutes 203 Funding Information for the The Division of Mathematical Sciences at the National Science Foundation Mathematical Sciences (NSF) has funded three Regional Geometry Institutes. Are such large-scale 205 Meetings and Conferences of projects a wise use of funds in this time of tight budgets? Three articles on the AMS the Institutes provide perspectives on this question and information about Tuscaloosa, AL what the Institutes have been doing. March 13-14, 205 Springfield, MO March 20-21, 216 FEATURE COLUMNS Bethlehem, PA Apri/11-12, 231 185 Computers and Mathematics Keith Devlin Invited Speakers, 233 1992 Summer Research Institute, Three software reviews make up this month's column. MATMAN, MATALG, 237 and RK124 comprise a courseware package designed to accompany a 1992 Summer Seminar in Applied mathematics textbook. This is reviewed by William Ruckle. Then Edward Mathematics, 238 Bender and Howard Rumsey, Jr. report their findings with Perf, and Jeffrey Summer Meeting of the Canadian Augenbaum looks at FORC. Mathematical Society, 239 241 Mathematical Sciences Meetings 192 Inside the AMS and Conferences AMS Planning Update: The Operational Plan 252 New AMS Publications Over a year ago, the Society undertook the task of strategic planning to 256 AMS Reports and chart a course for the future. Since then, a great deal of work has been Communications done toward implementing the objectives set forth in the strategic planning Reports of Past Meetings, 256 report. Allyn Jackson describes some of the current projects and plans. 257 Miscellaneous 196 Washington Outlook Personal Items, 257 Deaths, 257 Lisa Thompson discusses President Bush's 1993 federal budget and how it Visiting Mathematicians, 257 affects research and development. 258 Classified Advertising 267 Forms MARCH 1992, VOLUME 39, NUMBER 3 177 ·----------------·------ From the Executive Director ... IMPLEMENTING THE STRATEGIC PLAN A strategic plan for an organization is a template for action that lays out goals AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY and objectives. However, it is the implementation of these actions that makes the plan meaningful and eventually provides the basis to evaluate its success. This issue of the Notices (page 192) has an article, "AMS Planning Update: The Operational Plan," describing the AMS 1992 Operating Plan. Many of the actions specified in the Plan are well into implementation. EDITORIAL COMMITTEE One major step is an AMS Washington Office, to open in summer 1992. Other Michael G. Crandall actions have been taken that position the Society to advocate for mathematics within Amassa Fauntleroy government circles. The February Notices contained a report on a pilot assessment of Robert M. Fossum (Chairman) Carolyn S. Gordon (Forum Editor) mathematics, undertaken by the Society at the request of the U.S. House Committee on D. J. Lewis Science, Space, and Technology, in an attempt to assist the staff of that Committee as L. Ridgway Scott they consider ways that might bring more rationalization into federal science funding. Robert E. L. Turner (Letters Editor) The leadership of the Society has been involved in several discussion groups in Washington regarding science policy, including briefings at the Office of Science and MANAGING EDITOR Technology Policy at the White House. John S. Bradley Employment is a critical issue within much of the scientific community. The ASSOCIATE EDITORS Society has an active Task Force on Employment which is studying the situation Ronald L. Graham, Special Articles in mathematics and is to make recommendations this spring. Other concerns center Jeffrey C. Lagarias, Special Articles on the apparent imbalances in our profession regarding recognition and reward for the broad scope of faculty responsibilities. The AMS has joined MAA and SIAM in SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION supporting a joint committee to study this issue and make recommendations. Subscription prices for Volume 39 (1992) are $131 list; $105. institutional member; $79 individ­ Two major Society activities, publication and meetings, are undergoing thorough ual member. (The subscription price for members review. The publication program has been reorganized, incorporating both an acqui­ is included in the annual dues.) A late charge of sition and a marketing component, which has introduced new series and placed AMS 1Oo/o of the subscription price will be imposed upon orders received from nonmembers after January 1 publications in bookstores all around the world. A new committee will plan meet­ of the subscription year. Add for postage: Surface ings activities for the Society, incorporating components on research, education, and delivery outside the United States and lndia-$15; applications of mathematics, as well as student and professional activities. to lndia-$28; expedited delivery to destinations in North America-$32; elsewhere-$67. Subscrip­ Among the strategies of the 1992 Plan are directives to various Society commit­ tions and orders for AMS publications should be tees to develop long-range plans. The AMS Committee on Science Policy has been addressed to the American