SIAM is conducting a conference on nonlinear waves and coherent structures to be held on October 2-5, 2004 at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. The conference is being organized by the newly formed SIAM Activity Group on Nonlinear Waves and Coherent Structures. Nonlinear waves and coherent structures is an area of applied mathematics that has many important applications, including nonlinear optics, hydrodynamics, plasmas and solid-state physics. In fact, for any physical system where the dynamics is driven by, and mainly determined by, phase coherence of the individual waves, it has applications and consequences.

The problems of the propagation of nonlinear waves have fascinated scientists for over two hundred years. The modern theory of nonlinear waves, like many areas of mathematics, had its beginnings in attempts to solve specific problems, the hardest among them being the propagation of waves in water. There was significant activity on this problem in the 19th century, including the classic work of Stokes, Lord Rayleigh, Korteweg and de Vries, Boussinesque, and Benard to name some of the better remembered examples. One particularly noteworthy contribution was the explosion of activity unleashed by the numerical discovery of the soliton by Zabusky and Kruskal in the early sixties, and the earliest theoretical explanation by Gardner, Greene, Kruskal, and Miura in the latter part of that decade, which subsequently led to the present-day theory of integrable partial differential equations.

Modern theories describe nonlinear waves and coherent structures in a diverse variety of fields, including general relativity, high energy particle physics, plasmas, atmosphere and oceans, random media, chemical reactions, biology, nonlinear electrical circuits, and nonlinear optics. For example, in the latter, the mathematics developed for describing the propagation of information via optical solitons is most striking, attaining an incredible accuracy. It has been experimentally verified and spans twelve orders of magnitude: from the wavelength of light to transoceanic distances. It also guides the practical applications in modern telecommunications. Many other nonlinear wave theories mentioned above can claim similar success.

The goals of this meeting are to provide an opportunity for the cross-fertilization among the different fields of applications and to increase the understanding and communication between the mathematicians who build the theory and the scientists who use it. It will seek to bring the various of lines of research, which currently are somewhat independent of each other, closer together, and possibly even open up new avenues of enquiry.

The organizing committee is designing the conference to facilitate presentations of advances in nonlinear waves and coherent structures, ranging from basic mathematical research to the various applications. It is expected to draw attendees from Mathematics, Physics, and Engineering communities, and thus provide a strong impetus to new and innovative work in the field. Every effort will be made to attract a large pool of members from different backgrounds and at different stages in their careers.

Mark J. Ablowitz, University of Colorado, Boulder
Peter Bates, Michigan State University
Thomas Bridges, University of Surrey, Surrey, United Kingdom
Min Chen, Purdue University
Frederic Dias, Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, France
Arjen Doelman, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ildar Gabitov, University of Arizona
Aric Hagberg, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Bernard Matkowsky, Northwestern University
Curtis Menyuk, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Alan C. Newell, University of Arizona
Bjorn Sandstede, Ohio State University
Catherine Sulem, University of Toronto, Canada
E. W. C. van Groessen, Universiteit Twente, Netherlands
Michael Weinstein, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies

D. J. Kaup, (Chair), University of Central Florida
S. Roy Choudhury, University of Central Florida
Gregor Kovacic, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Ziyad Muslimani, University of Central Florida
Constance Schober, University of Central Florida