Volume 48 Issue 10 December 2015
Happening Now

Annual Symposium Brings Together SIAM Chapters Across Germany

Students attend the fourth symposium of German SIAM Student Chapters.
Students attend the fourth symposium of German SIAM Student Chapters.

Since the first German SIAM Student Chapter was established at Universität Trier in 2008, there has been a rapid growth in SIAM student chapters in the country. In order to facilitate a regular exchange among students in the region as well as in various disciplines of applied mathematics, the chapter organized an annual symposium in Trier in 2012, which was followed by meetings in Heidelberg in 2013 and Magdeburg in 2014. 

The fourth symposium of German SIAM Student Chapters took place this past August in Trier. Chapters across Germany, including Aachen, Berlin, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Magdeburg, and the Czech chapter from Prague were invited to the event, as were mathematicians from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics in Kaiserslautern.

Scientific sessions covered a broad range of topics in computational optimization, discrete optimization, and numerical analysis, including mathematical models to study risk of bat populations and the cutting of gemstones in an optimal way. 

The Trier chapter also organized an excursion to Bayer AG, a life science company at Leverkusen, in September. As a large chemical and  pharmaceutical company, Bayer uses applications of mathematics in the optimization of chemical processes, as well as for financial management, and students got a firsthand look at these applications in addition to a tour of BayKomm, the company’s communication centre.

 — The SIAM Student Chapter at Universität Trier

Universität Trier chapter students on their field trip to Bayer AG in Leverkusen, Germany. (First row, from left): Martin Siebenborn, Julian Wagner, Patrick Groetzner, Martin Rupp, Dennis Kreber, and Philip Rosenthal. (Second row, from left): Van Nguyen, Laura Somorowsky, Kathrin Welker, Heinz Zorn, Christina Schenk, Bernd Perscheid, and Ulf Friedrich.
Universität Trier chapter students on their field trip to Bayer AG in Leverkusen, Germany. (First row, from left): Martin Siebenborn, Julian Wagner, Patrick Groetzner, Martin Rupp, Dennis Kreber, and Philip Rosenthal. (Second row, from left): Van Nguyen, Laura Somorowsky, Kathrin Welker, Heinz Zorn, Christina Schenk, Bernd Perscheid, and Ulf Friedrich.