When I was just launching my career in the mid-90’s, I admit to being a bit jealous of some of my friends and colleagues in the sciences who seemed to be attending small professional meetings. Although I enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) the Joint Mathematics Meetings, I longed for a smaller, more focused meeting where I could engage in deeper discourse. A flier on a bulletin board caught my eye about a conference for mathematicians, economists, ecologists, fisheries and forestry modelers, and others – the conference was run by a group called the Resource Modeling Association. Given my interests in mathematics and the environment, I decided to attend. I realized immediately that I’d found my niche – and I now gladly invite you to join us. If you have been enjoying the JMM sessions on natural resource modeling, environmental modeling, and climate change modeling, you should check out this group. I have learned so much from the interdisciplinary talks that have invited me to bring my expertise and ideas to a wide variety of projects that use mathematical modeling to contribute to our understanding about natural resources, climate change, conservation, fisheries management, forestry management, and more. The RMA meetings are held in the summer and the venues are always gorgeous. The meetings alternate between locations in North America and locations outside of North America – last year, we were in Brisbane, Australia. This year, we’ll be in Ithaca, New York. Next year, we’ll be in Vilnius, Lithuania. My association with this group has enabled me to travel all over the world, visiting locations I never would have seen otherwise.
Please join us at the World Conference on Natural Resource Modeling. This annual meeting is run by the Resource Modeling Association. In June 2013, the conference will be held at Cornell University.
Cornell University is located in Ithaca, New York, in the heart of the Finger Lakes, a beautiful area of lakes, farms, wineries, and outstanding restaurants. Keynote speakers include Evan Cooch (Cornell University) who will talk on “Inferences about Coupling from Ecological Surveillance Monitoring: Application of Information Theory to Nonlinear Systems,” Carla Gomes (Cornell University) who will discuss “Computational Sustainability,” John Livernois (University of Guelph), who will speak on “Empirical Tests of Nonrenewable Resource Modeling: What Have We Learned?,” Michael Neubert (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) who will discuss “Strategic Spatial Models for Fisheries Management,” and Steven Philips (AT&T Labs), with a talk on “Multiclass Modeling of Arctic Vegetation Distribution Shifts and Associated Feedbacks under Future Climate Change.”
These are relatively small conferences (generally around 100 people from multiple disciplines) that provide remarkable opportunities for deep discussions of issues of mutual interest. We welcome your participation and you are invited to present a 20-minute paper (abstracts due in April). Generous prizes are awarded for the best student papers.
The Resource Modeling Association was founded over 30 years ago by a group of mathematicians with interests in mathematical bioeconomics. The group started holding small workshops that quickly expanded to include ecologists, economists, and statisticians. The RMA’s mission is to encourage dialogue between scientists. The RMA works at the intersection of mathematical modeling, environmental science, and natural resource management. We formulate and analyze models to understand and inform the management of renewable and exhaustible resources. We are particularly concerned with the sustainable utilization of renewable resources and their vulnerability to anthropogenic and other disturbances.
The RMA publishes the journal Natural Resource Modeling. NRM is an international journal devoted to mathematical modeling of natural resource systems. The major theme for the journal is the development and analysis of mathematical models as tools for resource management and policy development. The analysis may be applied to a wide variety of resources: renewable and exhaustible resources, terrestrial and marine resources, energy, land and soils, water resources, problems of pollution and residuals, managed biological populations, agriculture and fisheries, rangeland and forest, wildlife and wilderness, preservation of endangered species and genetic diversity.
Any questions? Contact Catherine A. Roberts, Editor-in-Chief of Natural Resource Modeling at editor@resourcemodeling.org.