Proposal to the AMS:

  Luis Garcia-Puente of Sam Houston State University and I
would like to propose a special session for the 2010 Joint 
Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco on the topic of
Applications of Algebraic Geometry.  Algebraic geometry
enjoys many applications outside of mathematics.
In fact, this is a growing trend in the subject, as can
be seen, for example, in the successful topical year
2006-2007 on applications of algebraic geometry at the IMA
in Minneapolis.    There is currently a proposal to the
SIAM to establish an Activity Group in algebraic geometry;
if that is approved, this might become a joint AMS-SIAM 
sepcial session.

  Our intention is to showcase some of the most important
trends in this subject at the next AMS national meeting.
This will include development of algorithms, software
implementation, theoretical work in support of applications,
as well as talks on applications to statistics, computer science,
computer graphics, bioinformatics, chemical dynamics,
and optimization.  Despite the seemingly wide range of
subjects, there are many well-established links between
these different research directions, and meetings of people
in this area form a remarkably cohesive whole.

   Our speakers will report on these different developments,
and will include internationally recognized leaders such as 
Sturmfels and Eisenbud, but also many students and postdocs.
Several institutions in the Bay Area (SFSU, UC Davis, and 
Berkeley) have research groups in this topic, which will 
ensure a large and deeply interested audience beyond
the norm of an AMS national meeting.

   For example, in 2006, Elizabeth Allmann and Seth Sullivant 
organized a special session on algebraic stististics (one of 
the applications of algebraic geometry we hope to feature) 
at the joint meetings that was extremely well attended.  
Similarly, Allmann and Rekha Thomas organized a well-attended 
special session on Applications of Algebraic Geometry at the 
Autumn 2008 AMS meeting in Vancouver.   Interest in this
topic has grown since then.