The Taiwan Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (TWSIAM) held its fourth annual meeting this May at the Huei-Sun Forest Resort in central Taiwan. The two-day meeting achieved record attendance and drew 240 researchers from academia and industry. The program featured plenary lectures by Professors Richard Tsai (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) and Hans Kaper (Georgetown University, Washington D.C., USA), as well as 20 minisymposia, poster presentations, and panel sessions on applied mathematics education and industry involvement.
The applied mathematics community of Taiwan is alive and well. The minisymposia covered the usual range of topics, including modeling, algorithms, and scientific computing. Practical challenges at the national level served as motivation for many applications. The semiconductor industry, an important element in the country’s economy, is a good source of mathematical problems. Because Taiwan is susceptible to global change, climate and ecology are also receiving more attention. Typhoons frequently cause landslides, which lead to major challenges in water management.
The venue of the meeting, the Huei-Sun Forest Resort, is located amidst rugged mountains covered by thick forests. It is owned by a local university and offers a large auditorium, several smaller lecture rooms, and guest facilities.