Center for
Approximation
Theory

Conferences, Symposia and Seminars

The Center organizes an annual symposium aimed at bringing together experts from neighboring universities in Texas. Every three years since 1983, the center has hosted and/or organized the International Confenence on Approximation Theory, which originated in 1972 at UT Austin. The Center holds a weekly research seminar; this apart, distinguished visitors are invited to deliver talks as part of the Chebyshev Lecture Series.

Center Activities

CAT Technical Reports
Technical reports of all categories by CAT members and associates are regularly published in the CAT Report Series which currently comprises 379 titles. In the very near future, these reports will be available by FTP. Almost all of these articles have either appeared, or will appear, in refereed scientific journals. Due to the strong external demand for these reports, they are currently in the process of being made available through the University archives.
Courses Offered
The Center offers four graduate courses: MATH 657, 658 (Spline functions) MATH 667 (Approximation theory), and MATH 668 (Wavelet analysis).
Other Activities
The center has thus far hosted approximately 100 long- and short-term visitors, among them leading researchers from the United States and abroad. Members of the Center sit on the editorial boards of 16 scientific journals; in fact the editorial offices of two journals ( Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis and Approximation Theory and Its Applications) are located here. The director of the Center is also the editor of two book series: one by Academic Press, entitled Wavelet Analysis and Its Applications and the other by World Scientific, entitled Approximations and Decompositions.

History

The Center for Approximation Theory (CAT) was founded in September, 1981, by Charles K. Chui, L. L. Schumaker, and J. D. Ward. During the past eighteen years, it has grown into a preeminent center of research in approximation theory and related areas, notably wavelet analysis. The research interests of the various center members have covered a wide range of topics; the thrust of current research is in the areas of splines, computer aided geometric design (CAGD), radial basis functions, and wavelets.

Support

The Center for Approximation Theory is part of the Department of Mathematics and enjoys its available facilities and staff assistance. However, CAT has no budget line of its own. Its support stems from grants awarded by agencies such as NSF, ARO, AFOSR, TATP, TARP, and several industrial contracts, grants, and donations.