Dedicated centre for applied mathematics in Estonia
The ‘Educational, scientific, and technological aspects of splines’ (Estspline) project was designed to given an edge in applied mathematics to the Tallinn University of Technology (TUT) in Estonia by providing funding to establish the Laboratory of Wave Engineering as a new part of the Center for Nonlinear Studies (CENS) within the Institute of Cybernetics (IoC). Specifically, the EU-funded project enabled the recruitment of Dr Ewald Quak, a prominent researcher focused on industrial application of mathematical models to problems in geometry, computer-aided design, shape modelling and simulation, to develop the lab. Aside from his technical expertise, Dr Quak has been organising annual workshops on these topics since 2003 and thus was an excellent choice to develop the new lab in Estonia. The funding enabled establishment of a two-member administration team for the Wave Lab, critically important to its function as the researchers were freed from administrative tasks and able to focus on the research at hand. The lab, formally established in January 2009, is focused on industrial application of three-dimensional (3D) geometric modelling to wave dynamics and coastal engineering. Dr Quak is the Senior Researcher among a team of 17 led by Professor Tarmo Soomere, a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Among his scientific contributions and recognition, Dr Quak co-edited a book volume for Springer and was a guest editor of a special issue of the journal ‘The Visual Computer’. Furthermore, he became a member of the Editorial Board of the newly established ‘Journal of Mathematics in Industry’ In summary, EU funding enabled the realisation of an applied mathematics laboratory at the TUT in Estonia that has blossomed and whose team has already made significant contributions to mathematical modelling.
