Thursday, February 18, 2010

In Search of Mathematics at the AAAS Annual Meeting: A PREVIEW

Watching the ocean views, graffiti, and tract housing of So Cal pass by my window, I am headed to The American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting in San Diego. There I will join over 10,000 scientists, journalists, and members of the public as we attend symposia ranging in topic from Astrobiology to Zoology. My mission is to attend as many mathematical Symposia as possible at this years meeting, whose theme is "Bridging Science and Society". Here is a list of the symposia I plan on attending. Each is about three hours long with several speakers from all over the United States and beyond.
Tune in tomorrow to learn about the "ice-albedo" feedback loop, and how we can model the melting of our polar ice caps. And yes, "albedo" and "albino" have the same root --meaning "white". The albedo of an object is a measure of how reflective it is. And I hopethat there will be some reflection by readers on my writing this week. Feel free to comment!

2 comments:

  1. I think what we as Mathematicians fail to do well is demonstrate, rigorously, how math applies to the "real world." John and Jane Q Public need to see how it touches their lives.

    One of the best ways to make it meaningful is for others to see our lives engulfed with the flames of passion about mathematics. I hope to see some passion in this blog in the days ahead. Have fun.

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  2. I'm glad to see that I have a reader, and I'll try to provide some "passion" in the days to come! Let me know what you think.

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