MPE2013-Net 4: May 2012 An Email Newsletter from Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 Editor: Christiane Rousseau, Centre de recherches mathŽmatiques 1. MPE2013 receives the patronage of UNESCO 2. The website redesigned 3. Posting on the website 4. Announcing an MPE2013 blog and call for MPE bloggers 5. Deadline of MPE competition on December 20 2012 6. Call for special sessions at MCA 2013 7. Call for abstracts for the MPE issue of "Mathematics Today" 8. Subscribing to MPE2013-NET _____________________________ 1. MPE2013 RECEIVES THE PATRONAGE OF UNESCO. MPE2013 is a world initiative to hold scientific and outreach activities on the theme of "Mathematics of Planet Earth" in 2013: www.mpe2013.org. Partners (mainly scientific institutes and learned societies) commit to organize activities related to the theme. MPE2013 received the patronage of UNESCO. This includes, in particular, the international launching of the Mathematics of Planet Earth Open Source Exhibition foreseen to take place in the beginning of 2013. UNESCO had been approached on behalf of the International Union through the Canadian and French Commissions at UNESCO. In particular, MPE2013 will work in partnership with UNESCO for the promotion of the MPE exhibition. _____________________________ 2. THE WEBSITE REDESIGNED The website has been redesigned as a content management system on WordPress, allowing more than the webmaster to enter content on the system. It is now located on the server of American Institute of Mathematics. This redesigning had become necessary because of the growth of the initiative. Not only the number of MPE events increases, but also the enthusiasm for other types of contributions to MPE2013: curriculum material, resources, an MPE 2013 blog, etc. In particular, the new platform will allow, with the help of our partners, to create home pages in several languages, each one specializing on the activities or education resources occurring in a given language. _____________________________ 3. POSTING MPE21013 ON THE WEB The MPE2013 website is posting activities, press releases or articles, education material and resources related to MPE2013. Partners will receive a message indicating them how to post their relevant activities on the website. On their own website, partners of MPE2013 are invited to highlight their MPE2013 activities by adding the MPE icon next to the activity (see for instance www.aimath.org/research/upcoming.html). They are also invited to create their own MPE webpage: you can visit some of them by clicking on the MPE icon to the right of the partner's name on the MPE2013 website. Partners will be sent again the information for finding logos, icon and web banner. _____________________________ 4. ANNOUNCING AN MPE2013 BLOG AND CALL FOR MPE BLOGGERS The MPE2013 Working Group for Public Awareness and Social Media is in the process of organizing a community of MPE2013 Bloggers. We invite you to join in this public conversation about the mathematical sciences and their relevance to studies of Planet Earth. Everyone is welcome, whether you are an old hand at blogging or a newcomer to social media. We encourage personal commentary on any topic associated with MPE2013. A contribution can be a report on a meeting, a pointer to important research results, a website recommendation, a short essay on a key issue, a book review, a news item, or any other material that might be of interest to a broad audience. A contribution can be as short as a couple of paragraphs and may include a photo or illustration or even an audio or video clip. We recommend no more than about 1,000 words of text. Here is a link to a helpful web site, http://www.maa.org/pubs/FOCUSfeb-mar12_blogroll.html, in case you are wondering how to get started. We anticipate a daily blog during the entire year 2013. You may choose your date(s) and topic(s) to blog about your favorite event(s). We understand that last-minute changes are part of the action. To register, send a message to blog@mpe2013.org, with an indication of preferred dates and topics. _____________________________ 5. CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR SPECIAL SESSIONS ON MPE AT MCA2013 The first Mathematical Congress (www.mca2013.org) of the Americas encourages proposals for special sessions that are connected with MPE2013. Proposals should be sent before July 31, 2012 to mca2013.sessions@gmail.com. __________________________ 6. THE DEADLINE OF THE MPE COMPETITION FOR AN OPEN SOURCE EXHIBITION OF VIRTUAL MODULES HAS BEEN MOVED TO DECEMBER 20, 2012. The purpose of the competition is to create a permanent Open Source exhibition of virtual exhibits (modules) related to some aspects of Mathematics of Planet Earth. This exhibition will raise the public awareness in the role of mathematics to understand our planet (geophysics, climates, how it supports life, how it is organized by humans), and to help protecting the planet and its resources for future generations. Already some museums have committed to present the winning modules in 2013 and others are contacted. We hope to have many physical exhibitions and museum installations built, also after 2013. The deadline for the competition (www.mpe2013.org/competition) has been moved to December 20 2012, in order to allow for more advertising. We call for your help in advertising this competition to all those that are likely to be interested in participating. In particular, if your organization would be ready to mail flyers announcing the competition, we could help with this. Please contact Christiane Rousseau for this: rousseac@dms.umontreal.ca __________________________ 7. CALL FOR ABSTRACTS FOR THE MPE ISSUE OF ‘MATHEMATICS TODAY’ Submissions are sought for the February 2013 issue of ‘Mathematics Today’, which will be devoted to the Mathematics of Planet Earth. ‘Mathematics Today’ is the professional magazine of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications in UK (www.ima.org.uk). Abstracts are invited on relevant topics (300-500 words) and should be sent to rebecca.waters@ima.org.uk by 30 July with ‘MPE2013 Special Issue Abstract’ as the subject line. If accepted, the final articles should be 2,000 to 4,000 words long and written for a general mathematical audience. Articles will need to be finalised by 2 December 2012. More details at http://www.ima.org.uk/activities/publications/mathematics_today.cfm __________________________ 8. SUBSCRIBING TO MPE2013-NET Click on http://www.mpe2013.org/ with a Web browser and go to the "Subscribe" button to subscribe to MPE2013-Net online. You will get an e-mail to confirm your subscription, so that misuse will be minimized. MPE2013 will not use the list of MPE2013-Net emails for any purpose other than sending MPE2013-Net, and will not make it available to others. Previous issues can be seen at: http://www.mpe2013.org/newsletters/ MPE2013-Net is the electronic newsletter of Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013: http://www.mpe2013.org