Conference with a Touch of Hollywood Glamor
From July 20 – 24, 2015, two European conferences on the topics of simulation technology, applied mathematics and computational engineering took place at RWTH Aachen. The conferences hosted US star Dr. Mayim Bialik ("The Big Bang Theory“) as a guest speaker.
The ECCOMAS Young Investigators Conference (YIC 2015), the GACM Colloquium, and the Aachen Conference on Computational Engineering Science (AC.CES), all of which took place last week at RWTH Aachen, made it possible for more than 300 junior and senior researchers from all over the world to exchange ideas and information and discuss the latest research findings.
The YIC 2015 is a European conference on the topic of simulation technology and applied mathematics that is specifically targeted at doctoral candidates and postdocs. This year, the biennial conference as well as the GACM Colloquium was hosted by the Chair for Computational Analysis of Technical Systems (CATS) and the Institute of Applied Mechanics (IFAM) at RWTH Aachen University.
One major conference topic was how to make sure that current research remains relevant to practice. Against this backdrop, the conference organizers received support from seven companies as well as the Excellence Cluster “Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries”, the Collaborative Research Center “Precision Manufacturing by Controlling Melt Dynamics and Solidification in Production Processes”, the graduate school “Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science“ (AICES), and the proRWTH association.
The conference took place in combination with the Aachen Conference on Computational Engineering Science, which hosted researchers that are among the leading scholars in their fields and teach at high-profile research and educational institutions such as the University of Texas at Austin, the University of California, the University of Glasgow, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.
Main topics included “Computational Modeling of Damage and Fracture”, “Computational Reservoir Engineering”, “Mesh Generation”, “Isogeometric Analysis”, and “Parameter-Identification and Inverse Modeling”.
US Celebrity Speaks at the Conference
A special highlight of the conference was the talk by neuroscientist Dr. Mayim Bialik, who is best known for her current role as Amy Farrah Fowler in the US sitcom “The Big Bang Theory”. Dr. Bialik talked about “The Science of Big Bang”, reporting on her exploration of the two worlds of science and acting and her own experience with “nerds” as portrayed in the comedy series. The over 250 audience members were delighted by the absorbing combination of scientific content and entertaining anecdotes.