The interdisciplinary nature of many of our research projects has lead to strong connections with industry. Of particular interest is our annual Graduate Student Mathematical Modeling (GSMM) Camp, and the annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry.

GSMM Camp

The Graduate Student Mathematical Modeling (GSMM) Camp is a program at RPI.

Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry (MPI)

The Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry has been an ongoing activity of the faculty and students of the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Rensselaer for many years. MPI is a problem solving workshop that attracts leading applied mathematicians and scientists from universities, industry, and national laboratories. The objective of the workshop is to foster interaction and collaboration between scientists and engineers working in industry and applied mathematicians at universities.

The MPI Workshop is a lively, five-day interaction on problems of interest to science and industry. On the first day, the industry representatives present their problems to the whole group. These problems vary widely in nature from those requiring basic physical modeling to those requiring significant computation. For the rest of the week, the workshop participants break up into small working groups consisting of senior faculty and attending scientists, graduate students, and the industrial representatives, to discuss and tackle the problems in an informal setting. On the last day of the workshop, an academic representative from each group presents the results obtained and discusses possible future directions. A written report detailing the progress made during the workshop is prepared subsequently and sent to the industry representatives.

The first MPI workshop was held at RPI in May, 1985, and has been held annually since then. The format of the workshop was based on the long-running Oxford Study Group with Industry held annually at Oxford University at the time, but now held at participating universities throughout England. The format has proven to be a successful one and has not changed significantly over the years. The first 10 workshop were held at RPI, but since then the workshop have been held at RPI and at other participating institutes.

In 1995, the workshop was organized jointly with scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and held at the University of New Mexico, and in 1999 and 2000, it was organized jointly with the Department of Mathematical Sciences of the University of Delaware and held at that university. MPI 2001 and 2002 were held at RPI, and MPI 2003 was held at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. MPI 2004 was held at the University of Delaware. MPI 2005 was held again at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.