Register Now for the SIAM Conference on Nonlinear Waves and Coherent Structures

As many of us wrap up the spring semester, our thoughts turn to finalizing summer plans. This summer features the biennial SIAM Conference on Nonlinear Waves and Coherent Structures (NW14), being held at the University of Cambridge in the UK from August 11 to 14. The program has recently been posted, making this an opportune time to point out some highlights of NW14.

What immediately jumps out about NW14 is its sheer size. The number of minisymposia has doubled from 48 at NW12 to 94 in 2014! The number of contributed sessions has seen comparable growth, and the number of plenary talks has grown from five to eight. Only the size of the poster session has decreased, shrinking to 19 from 45 in 2012. Nevertheless, we expect to see a considerably larger attendance this year, well over 400 attendees.

In addition to the traditionally well-represented application areas of fluids, optics and biological systems, this year’s meeting has an increased focus on waves in materials and the geosciences. Some specific research threads that have garnered more attention include analytical and numerical extensions and applications of the Fokas transform method, phenomena exhibited by systems with parity-time (PT) symmetric Hamiltonians, and singularities and collapse in waves occurring in a variety of settings. Complex fluids, pattern formation, turbulence vs. coherence, integrability, geometric methods for studying stability, dissipative and nonlocal effects… these areas remain as vibrant at NW14 as they were at NW12.

The plenary talks, of course, often represent high points of the NW meetings, starting with the second Martin D. Kruskal Prize winner. Mark Ablowitz will be connecting his landmark work with Kruskal on the Korteweg-de Vries equation to the ubiquity of patterns such as x- and y-waves in shallow water (see figure) and to light propagation through modern metamaterials such as “photonic graphene”. Other plenaries will touch on major themes of the NWCS SIAG, including stability, integrability, modulation theory and turbulence, and explore rapidly growing areas such as neuroscience and extreme materials.

The submission deadlines have already passed, but there is still time to register before the early bird deadline of July 14. NWCS SIAG members pay a discounted rate, making this a perfect time to join NWCS or renew a lapsed membership. If you plan to stay on site at Churchill College, get your request in now since it will more than likely book up before the July 14 deadline.

If you can also spare a few days leading up to NW14, there will be a three-day summer school on the theory of water waves on August 6-8 for PhD students and early career researchers. It will be held at the Newton Institute which is across the street from Churchill College. Further information and registration information can be found here.

See you in Cambridge this August!