(This article appears in the Alumnus magazine Fall 2004 issue)
The Future of Scientific Computation
The City College recently hosted an international conference
on the future of scientific computation that featured some of
the world's leading mathematicians and computer experts.
The speakers included Professor Bruno Buchberger from the
Austrian-based Research Institute for Symbolic Computation
(RISC-Linz); Professor Stephen Watt of the University of
Western Ontario; Michael P. Barnett, a Visiting Researcher at
Princeton University; Professor Charles S. Peskin of the Courant
Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University; and
Dr. Gilbert Baumslag, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at
The City College and Director of CCNY's Center for Algorithms
and Interactive Scientific Software (CAISS).
Dr. Baumslag was one of the conference organizers, along
with Professors Sean Cleary, Douglas Troeger and William Sit of
CAISS; as well as the CAISS Deputy Director Bernice Ravitz
and Timothy Daly. The daylong event was held in City's North
Academic Center.
City College President Gregory H. Williams congratulated
Dr. Baumslag and CAISS for organizing the conference, which he
cited as "further evidence that City is on the cutting edge of
scientific research and scholarship."
Dr. Buchberger, who developed the Groebner bases algorithm
in 1965 and the "lazy thinking method" in 2001 to invent
algorithms from given problem specifications, was the opening
speaker. His intriguing presentation was entitled "How I
Managed to Automate Myself."
A Professor of Computer Mathematics at the RISC-Linz, Dr.
Buchberger has made fundamental contributions to computer
algebra, symbolic computation, automated theorem proving and
mathematical knowledge management (MKM). His work on
Groebner bases is considered one of the most important tools
in computer algebra.
Dr. Barnett's topic was "Helping Scientific Research and
Teaching Benefit from Symbolic Calculation." A Professor
Emeritus at Brooklyn College in addition to his Visiting
Researcher position at Princeton, Dr. Barnett has compiled
extensive surveys of the use of computer algebra in chemistry
and the life sciences.
The topic of Dr. Charles Peskin's talk was "Muscle and Blood:
Computer Simulation of the Heart by the Immersed Boundary Method."
Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995, Dr. Peskin
is Professor of Computer Science at the Courant Institute. He has
been hailed for making fundamental contributions to the mathematical
and numerical analysis of physiological problems, particularly in
cardiac fluid dynamics.
The program concluded with a talk by Dr. Stephen Watt on "Interfaces
for Mathematical Components." The former chair of Computer Science
at The University of Western Ontario, Dr. Watt is now a full
Professor in the department. He designed and developed Aldor, a
strongly typed categorical programming language, and has made
fundamental contributions to Maple and Axiom, two leading
computer algebra systems. He has also made key contributions to
MathML, a standard for math on the Internet.
City College's Center for Algorithms and Interactive
Scientific Software is an outgrowth of the MAGNUS computational
group theory project. MAGNUS is a graphically driven
software package devoted to infinite group theory. It has been
developed by members of CCNY's Mathematics Department in
collaboration with a number of mathematicians and computer
scientists in many parts of the world.
The basic objectives of CAISS include the design of reusable
software to facilitate scientific computation and research; the
introduction of complicated finitely presented groups into
cryptography; new ways of disseminating information in the form
of computer books; and the further development of the computer
algebra system AXIOM.
The conference was sponsored by CAISS with support from
CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein '63; CCNY Provost Zeev
Dagan '77ME, '78MME; Dean of Science Maria Tamargo; former
Dean Mohammed Karim of CCNY's School of Engineering; and
the CUNY Faculty Development Program.