Wayne State hosts the Finite Element Circus

Wayne State University hosted the Finite Element Circus on March 28-29, 2014. The Finite Element Circus is a national conference series dating back to the 1970s. It focuses on numerical methods, especially the finite element method and its applications. Numerical analysts from across the country attended the conference to present the most recent advances in the subject. The program consisted of randomly ordered talks volunteered by conference participants.

The finite element method plays a crucial role in simulations of engineering, physical, biological, and other scientific phenomena. A driving force for its success has been its mathematical analysis, which has led to novel competitive methods and significant improvements to existing methods.