Support for US participation in Mathematics for Planet Earth 2013 events in Canada

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This proposal will support U.S. participation in the activities of the Mathematics for Planet Earth 2013 thematic program in Canada focusing on Models and Methods in Ecology, Epidemiology and Public Health. U.S. researchers and students will participate in ten workshops and three summer schools. The first workshop will be held at the Centre de recherches mathématiques in Montréal in February 2013 and is entitled "Models and Methods in Ecology and Epidemiology." Mathematical models have a long tradition in exploring dynamical aspects of ecology and epidemiology on a number of different temporal and spatial scales. While ecological and epidemiological applications are often studied separately for historical reasons, both fields are faced with similar challenges of model complexity, model-data fitting and accurate predictions. Recently, advances in data collection (e.g. GIS), availability of large-scale simulation tools (e.g. agent-based modeling), development of statistical tools to fit mechanistic models, and new mathematical techniques (e.g. multiscale methods) have highlighted the many commonalities between ecological and epidemiological models. Successful applications of these models to pressing issues in population and ecosystem health combine techniques and insights from all fields. The main goal of the pan-Canadian thematic year on Models and Methods in Ecology, Epidemiology and Public Health is to tackle pressing and emerging challenges in population and ecosystem health, to stimulate cross-disciplinary research between all the disciplines involved and to foster tighter links between the research community, government agencies and policy makers, and to train a new generation of researchers in this priority research area. The wide range of topics includes questions of how global change will impact vector-borne diseases and biodiversity, how aquatic ecosystems can be managed sustainably, or how modeling and surveillance can be integrated for public health decision-making. All of these questions are very active areas of research around the world; and the Canadian mathematics community plays a leadership role. The purpose of this pan-Canadian program is to bring together the international community of researchers who work on these topics in a series of workshops and to foster exchange between the different disciplines involved, to discuss perspectives and directions for future advances in the field, including new models and methods. In addition, several summer schools are aimed to train the next generation of researchers in the most recent tools and techniques and enable them to build novel tools in the future in these research areas. The funds from this grant will allow promising junior researchers from a diverse set of backgrounds, including early career professors, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, from the United States to participate in the workshops and summer schools of this program. Understanding the mechanisms and effects of ecosystem function, ecosystem service, disease transmission and disease spread rests on mathematical models on different spatio-temporal scales. Effective and efficient management and policy decisions are based on these insights. Advancing research into the required tools, techniques and applications will provide us with better understanding and guidance for policy makers and management.