Last month, the 7^th International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM 2011) unfolded in Vancouver, British Columbia, with over 2,700 attendees from 70 countries worldwide participating in scientific discussion on a wide range of topics that covered everything from cancer modeling to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill. Set in the beautiful Convention Center in downtown Vancouver, math had to compete with gorgeous views of the Rockies and the serene waters of the Pacific, but going by the packed lecture halls, busy networking areas, and animated discussions over coffee breaks, it seemed to win out in the end.

Views from Vancouver Convention Center, home of ICIAM 2011

As SIAM Executive Director Jim Crowley explained in an interview with the Philadelphia-based NewsWorks (National Public Radio’s local news affiliate), the Congress spotlighted the significance of mathematics in addressing real-world problems like disease epidemics and climate change. Over 500 minisymposia, nearly 300 posters and more than 700 lectures covered the role of math in a wide range of areas, such as public health, energy efficiency, and the economic crisis, in addition to presenting the latest tools and technologies at the forefront of the field, such as programming languages for math modeling and cutting-edge methods in high performance computing.

Chris Budd’s public lecture, Math in and out of the Zoo, offered the perfect reprieve from a week of a high-level mathematical equations and formulae, as he both engaged mathematicians and entertained youngsters with his analysis of penguin egg incubation, aquarium temperatures and more. A tribute to Jerry Marsden, Co-Chair of the Scientific Program Committee who lost his battle to cancer last September, took the form of a memorial lecture and several minisymposia discussing topics of interest to the mathematician, such as geometry, mechanics and dynamics.

Poster Session at ICIAM 2011

The poster session and student networking lunch were great settings to bring together students, researchers and professionals, allowing a meeting of industry and academia, early-career professionals and seasoned scientists. Recipients of distinguished prizes given by SIAM, MITACS, and Mprime were honored at the Awards Lunch held on Thursday, July 21. Members met with the SIAM leadership at the SIAM Business Meeting to discuss changes and progress in the past year, following presentations of the annual membership and financial reports.

With the conference now behind us, you can view the many images, videos and updates that captured highlights from ICIAM 2011. Read roundups from each day of the Congress on SIAM Connect and view the photo gallery on our Flickr page. You can watch videos from the Congress on ICIAM-TV, including speaker interviews, delegate reactions and highlights from sessions and events, with many more to come. Social media use at the Congress was impressive with organizers, exhibitors, attendees and local organizations extensively using Twitter and Facebook to make announcements, share comments and feedback, and participate in scientific discussion. View a Twitter archive of the meeting here.

In the aftermath of the exciting week that was ICIAM 2011, we would like to extend a very special thanks to all exhibitors and sponsors who not only made the conference possible, but also generously extended prizes and resources to attendees. Congratulations to our two Maplesoft raffle winners, who are the happy owners of Maple 15 12-month academic term licenses.

ICIAM 2011 Student Book Giveaway

The very popular student book giveaway organized by SIAM on the final day of the conference was made possible by the following sponsors and exhibitors: CRC/Taylor & Francis; Springer; Princeton University Press; Oxford University Press; Cambridge University Press; AMS; DeGruyter; CiSE Magazine. We are also grateful to SIAM President Nick Trefethen who donated copies of his own book, published by World Scientific Publishing.

The meeting closed with a tribute to participants, attendees, and the organizing teams from MITACS, CAIMS and SIAM who made it all possible, leaving us with an exciting preview of ICIAM 2015 to be held in Beijing, China.

Looking forward to ICIAM 2015