SHORT COURSE: Environmental Modeling
The MAA MathFest Short Course is presented in honor of William F. Lucas
Organized by Ben Fusaro, Florida State University
Part 1: Tuesday, August 8, 9:00am - 5:00pm
Part 2: Wednesday, August 9, 9:00am - 5:00pm
Short Course Fees
The goal of this two-day course is to introduce college teachers to a variety of topics in environmental mathematics and to the opportunities that this emerging field provides to interact with the larger society.
Ben Fusaro has been active in lecturing, writing, and organizing activities in environmental mathematics since 1984. He will do the introduction and wrap-up.
LECTURE 1: Measuring Pollution
Fred S.Roberts, DIMACS Center Rutgers University
Finding simple ways to measure the amount of pollution in the air we breath, the water we drink, or the sounds we hear, has long been a goal of environmental scientists. We will discuss pollution indices in the context of a more general discussion of the theory of meaningful and meaningless statements and scales of measurement. A statement involving scales of measurement is called meaningless if its truth or falsity can depend on the particular versions of scales which are used in the statement. We will develop the theory and apply it to measurement of air, water, and noise pollution. We will discuss the possibility of averaging different measures of pollution in a meaningful way, or of combining different measures of pollution to get a consensus measure. We will also describe the use of expert judgments to assess pollution levels and describe ways to combine these judgments in the context of mathematical models of the level of air pollution and energy use in cities.
LECTURE 2: Optimal Control of Environmental Models
Suzanne Lenhart, University of Tennessee -- Knoxville
This is an introduction to optimal control of systems of ordinary differential equations that model environmental processes. Examples will be taken from population, disease and the bacterial control of pollutants.
LECTURE 3: Rivers, Recreation and Environment
Catherine A. Roberts, College of the Holy Cross
A model will be described that captures the traffic pattern for white-water rafting in the Grand Canyon. It incorporates trade-offs between the interests of stakeholders such as commercial outfitters, private boaters and advocates for wilderness. It also reflects the interaction between recreational users and the environmental majesty of the Grand Canyon. This model was used by the National Park Service in its plan for recreational use of the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon. Starting with the collection of data, we will go through model development, calibration, and refinement. This process will demonstrate that environmental modeling requires the mathematician to engage in the historical, political and economic context of a project.
LECTURE 4: A Mathematical Look at Extinction
Roland H. Lamberson, Humboldt State University
We will explore some mathematical models in ecology with particular interest in the probability of extinction. We will look at measures of vulnerability, risky management strategies and how reliably models can predict the viability of a species. Species of interest will include blue whales, northern spotted owls and Pacific salmon.
LECTURE 5: Clutching for Survival: The California Condor Restoration Project
Thomas O'Neil, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo
Since 1999, several Cal Poly students and I have been providing support to the Ventana Wilderness Society in their effort to establish a flock of California condors in the Big Sur area.
A good recovery strategy requires an accurate population projection program. Unfortunately, there are several condor traits that make construction of such a program difficult. We will discuss these traits and how we have overcome many of the problems. Additionally, there is a lack of data. Critical to any population projection program is the survival rate data. There are estimates that can be used for first approximations but these data are based on observations of small populations of wild condors. Little was known of how the captive bred and reared birds will fare in the wild. To help in this area, we created a database of every California condor in captivity or in the wild, living or dead since 1987, the year the last wild condor was brought into captivity. We will discuss the problems encountered in creating this database and getting into a format that has made it a useful tool for the biologists in the condor recovery project.
LECTURE 6: From Mathematics to Environmental Consulting
Charles Hadlock, Bentley College
Environmental consulting includes the use of modeling and encompasses a considerable range of activities depending on both the nature of the client organization and the objective of the investigation. For example, regulatory and legal cases might be conducted very differently from scientific and engineering investigations. The speaker will discuss his experience in a wide range of consulting assignments and will also suggest ways that mathematicians can involve themselves in this kind of work.
|
Category |
by June 23, 2006 |
after June 23, 2006 |
|
MAA or AMS Member and
MathFest Participant |
$145 |
$195 |
|
Nonmember of MathFest Non-participant |
$195 |
$240 |
|
Student |
$70 |
$90 |
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