[Geometry, analysis, and computation in mathematics and applied science]. Progress report

The principal investigators` work on a variety of pure and applied problems in Differential Geometry, Calculus of Variations and Mathematical Physics has been done in a computational laboratory and been based on interactive scientific computer graphics and high speed computation created by the principal investigators to study geometric interface problems in the physical sciences. We have developed software to simulate various physical phenomena from constrained plasma flow to the electron microscope imaging of the microstructure of compound materials, techniques for the visualization of geometric structures that has been used to make significant breakthroughs in the global theory of minimal surfaces, and graphics tools to study evolution processes, such as flow by mean curvature, while simultaneously developing the mathematical foundation of the subject. An increasingly important activity of the laboratory is to extend this environment in order to support and enhance scientific collaboration with researchers at other locations. Toward this end, the Center developed the GANGVideo distributed video software system and software methods for running lab-developed programs simultaneously on remote and local machines. Further, the Center operates a broadcast video network, running in parallel with the Center`s data networks, over which researchers can access stored video materials or view ongoing computations. The graphical front-end to GANGVideo can be used to make ``multi-media mail`` from both ``live`` computing sessions and stored materials without video editing. Currently, videotape is used as the delivery medium, but GANGVideo is compatible with future ``all-digital`` distribution systems. Thus as a byproduct of mathematical research, we are developing methods for scientific communication. But, most important, our research focuses on important scientific problems; the parallel development of computational and graphical tools is driven by scientific needs