About the Symposium
The aim of the symposium is to bring together researchers from diverse areas of approximation theory, to stimulate international collaboration, and to promote interaction and the exchange of ideas. We welcome the participation of both pure and applied mathematicians working in approximation theory from all around the world. We especially encourage young mathematicians and graduate students to attend.


To download the symposium poster, click here.



Vanderbilt University's Kirkland Hall

The symposium will be held in conjuction with the 26th Annual Shanks Lecture, to be given by Professor Charles K. Chui (University of Missouri at St. Louis and Stanford University). The abstract of his lecture is here. The prestigious Shanks Lecture Series are organized annually by the Department of Mathematics of Vanderbilt University, honoring Baylis and Olivia Shanks. The late Professor Baylis Shanks was chairman of the Department from 1955 through 1969. Previous Shanks Lecturers can be seen here.


The symposium will also provide an excellent opportunity to celebrate Professor Larry Schumaker's recent 70th birthday. The symposium will honor his many outstanding contributions to approximation theory, his unselfish devotion to the promotion of approximation in the mathematical community, and his unceasing commitment to the education of the younger generation of mathematicians. The meeting will also be an occasion to celebrate the field of approximation theory at large, to highlight and compliment its past achievements, and to explore its future.


The meeting will feature several plenary speakers who will give survey lectures on topics of special current interest.

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
  • Abstract approximation
  • Approximation with constraints
  • Classical approximation
  • Complex approximation
  • Compressed sensing
  • Extremal problems
  • Interpolation and smoothing
  • Curves and surfaces
  • Mathematical signal processing
  • Multiresolution analysis
  • Nonlinear approximation
  • Numerical PDEs
  • Orthogonal polynomials
  • Radial basis functions
  • Scattered data modeling
  • Shift-invariant spaces
  • Univariate and multivariate splines
  • Subdivision and refinable functions
  • Image and signal processing
  • Wavelets and Frames
  • Applications of approximation theory
We invite you to contribute a talk or a poster in any of the above area. The anticipated duration of contributed talks is 20 minutes.

We also encourage the participants of the conference, especially our more senior colleagues, to consider organizing a minisymposium on a subject of current interest. Ideally, a minisymposium should consist of six or twelve speakers. The anticipated duration of minisymposium talks is 20 minutes. If you are open to the idea of organizing a minisymposium, please click here for instructions on how to submit a proposal. The deadline for doing so is March 15, 2011.

To be included in the scientific program of the conference, you must register online and we must receive a payment from you by May 1, 2011. If you would like to attend the conference, but do not plan to give a presentation, we also encourage you to register so as to take advantage of a discounted registration fee.

To learn more about the conference, please explore the links in the menu on the left.

Statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt

Last Updated: September 5, 2010
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