THE FINITE ELEMENT CIRCUS

The Finite Element Circus at UMBC

Spring 2006

Photos from the Circus

The final list of registered participants.

Photos by Aaptha Murthy, CIRC

Welcome

The Finite Element Circus in Spring 2006 will be held on Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 01 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). You are cordially invited to attend and I look forward to welcoming you to our campus. In the following, I am providing information on various pertinent topics, including the hotel information, lunch and dinner information, parking and directions. If anything is missing, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at gobbert@math.umbc.edu.

Matthias Gobbert

Executive Summary

The following points are a summary; see further below for more information. A list of registered participants is posted now.

The Friday session will start at 01:30 p.m. and the Saturday session at 09:00 a.m.; an optional breakfast will be available on Saturday starting at 08:00 a.m. All scientific sessions will be held in room 120 of the Biological Sciences building.

The Circus dinner will be held on the UMBC campus starting at 06:00 p.m.

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Holiday Inn BWI. The hotel has a webpage at www.bwi-hi.com and its phone numbers are (410) 859-8400 or 1-800-810-0271. To use this block of rooms, please make your reservation by February 28, 2006 and mention the Finite Element Circus; you might also need to mention Mathematics Department or UMBC/University of Maryland to help the hotel identify the contract. The rate is $85 plus tax, which should come out just under $100 at current rates.

If you plan on attending the Circus, please fill out the Registration Form provided for your convenience. If there is a problem with the form, you can also e-mail the information requested in the form. You may consult the list of registered participants later to confirm that we received your form submission and have the correct information on dinner and parking.

Please note that you must let me know no later than Monday, March 13, 2006 if you want to come to the Circus dinner or need a UMBC visitor parking hanger mailed to you! This hanger is necessary, if you want to park on Friday (without feeding a meter).

If you would like to come to the dinner, your payment must be received by Monday, March 13, 2006. The cost for the dinner will be $24.50. Please make your check payable to "UMBC", put "Finite Element Circus" in the message field, and mail it to

 Rita Helms
 Department of Mathematics and Statistics
 University of Maryland, Baltimore County
 1000 Hilltop Circle
 Baltimore, MD 21250

Link to the main Finite Element Circus webpage at http://www.math.udel.edu/~monk/FEcircus

Hotel Information

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Holiday Inn BWI, 890 Elkridge Landing Rd., Linthicum, MD 21090. The hotel has a webpage at www.bwi-hi.com and its phone numbers are (410) 859-8400 or 1-800-810-0271.

The pre-negotiated rate is $85 plus tax per night, which at current tax rates works out to just under $100 per night. This is a very competetive rate in the metropolitan Baltimore-Washington market. To guarantee this rate, please make your reservation by February 28, 2006 and mention the Finite Element Circus; you might also need to mention Mathematics Department or UMBC/University of Maryland to help the hotel identify the contract.

The main block of rooms is reserved for Friday night, but limited quantities of rooms at the same rate have also been reserved on Thursday night as well as on Saturday night, in case you want to arrive on Thursday or leave on Sunday. The hotel offers a courtesy shuttle to and from the airport terminal. If you arrive by train, take the free shuttle to the airport terminal, and then the hotel courtesy shuttle. (However, if you arrive on Friday and want to go directly to UMBC, I suggest using a taxi cab straight from the train station; see below.)

The Baltimore region is rich with tourism attractions, including Baltimore's famous Inner Harbor, the birthplace of the city and location of many attractions including, for instance, the National Aquarium, the U.S.S. Constellation, and various other museums. The Inner Harbor can be reached even without car by taking the hotel's courtesy shuttle to the airport terminal and the Light Rail from there; about $1.60 and 20 minutes later you arrive at the Convention Center stop. Walk 5 minutes to the right along Pratt Street past the Convention Center until you see water on your right.

Directions to the Room on Campus

If you arrive by car and park in the visitor lot on Administration Drive or arrive by taxi cab, you should now be at the main entrance to the campus marked by the two flag poles with the U.S. and Maryland flags. From here, walk straight into the campus, past the Administration Building on the left and the Retriever Activities Center on the right (the rec center named after our mascot, the Chesapeake Retriever; see statue of it in the plaza). For reference, the next two buildings on the right are Sondheim Hall and the Mathematics/Psychology building (in which our department is located on the fourth floor). But the Circus will actually be held in the next building on the right, the Biological Sciences building; room 120 is on the first floor, next to the underpass in the middle of the building.

As part of the UMBC Visitor's Guide, you can access two types of maps under the "Campus Map" link in the right bar. On the "Basic Campus Map" (as well as the printable map in PDF format), this is building 5; you can zoom in to the map by clicking on it. In the interactive map, use the building directory and then the zoom feature to get a good view.

Directions to UMBC

General Location

An interactive campus map and a regional overview map are available as part of the UMBC Visitor's Guide, but let me provide some more concrete information here. UMBC is located Southwest of Baltimore, Maryland, just to the West of Interstates I-95. Minutes to the East of I-95, along the airport access road I-195, are both the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) and the Amtrak Baltimore BWI Airport Rail Station. The Holiday Inn BWI, where the block of rooms has been reserved, is located close to the airport, also reached via I-195.

Arriving by Plane

BWI Airport is served by all major airlines as well as discount carriers such as Southwest Airlines, AirTran Airways, Frontier Airlines, and others. To get directly to campus from there, I suggest to use a taxi cab, which will cost about $15. The cab should drop you off at the main entrance to campus on Administration Drive.

Arriving by Train

Amtrak serves two train stations in the Baltimore area; you want the Baltimore BWI Airport Rail Station, which is South of the city of Baltimore close to BWI Airport. (The other station is Baltimore Penn Station in the city of Baltimore, which is not close to UMBC.) To get directly to campus from there, I suggest to use a taxi cab, which will cost about $15. The cab should drop you off at the main entrance to campus on Administration Drive.

Driving Directions

DRIVING DIRECTIONS TO THE UMBC MAIN CAMPUS: The UMBC main campus is located Southwest of the city of Baltimore, and, more precisely, in the Southwest corner of the intersection of the major North-South Interstate I-95 and the Baltimore beltway I-695 (i.e., their intersection South of the city of Baltimore, not their intersection North of the city). Therefore, you will find signs pointing to UMBC also on this beltway. But the entrance to campus and parking is easier to navigate from I-95, therefore I suggest to proceed to I-95, wherever you are coming from.

If coming from the North of Baltimore along I-95: Use the Fort McHenry Tunnel on I-95 to underpass the Baltmore harbor. Do not use I-895 Harbor Tunnel Throughway, which will re-join I-95 too far South to reach UMBC!
If coming from the Northwest of Baltimore along I-83: Proceed to the Baltimore beltway I-695, which you will join due North of the city of Baltimore. To drive around the West side of the city of Baltimore on the beltway, join I-695 West (direction Glen Burnie). As you eventually turn the corner on the Southwest side of Baltimore, you will see signs for UMBC, but I suggest to ignore them and proceed to I-95. Take I-95 South (direction Washington, D.C.) and follow the directions to campus below.
If coming from the West of Baltimore along I-70: Proceed to the Baltimore beltway I-695 and take it South (direction Glen Burnie). As you turn the corner on the Southwest side of Baltimore, you will see signs for UMBC, but I suggest to ignore them and proceed to I-95. Take I-95 South (direction Washington, D.C.) and follow the directions to campus below.

FROM I-95 TO UMBC MAIN CAMPUS: To get to the UMBC main campus from Interstate I-95, use Exit 47B for Maryland Route MD-166 to Catonsville and follow the signs for UMBC. The Exits 47A for I-195 to BWI Airport and 47B for MD-166 to Catonsville and UMBC have one joint exit ramp that splits up after leaving I-95. A little more information on this issue:

Southbound directions: If you are on I-95 heading Southbound, keep right on the exit ramp to join MD-166; stay in the accelaration lane without merging, because it becomes the exit lane for UMBC, marked by a sign.
Northbound directions: If you are on I-95 heading Northbound, keep left on the exit ramp; then merge onto MD-166 from the left, change to the right lane immediately, and use the exit on the right for UMBC, as indicated by a sign.

(I am describing the above separately and in detail, because there are also signs pointing to "UMBC Technology Ctr." on MD-166; do not follow those signs, because you want the main campus.)

As you now approach the campus, you will see all campus buildings straight ahead. Make a right onto Hilltop Circle, our loop road around the campus. You will see a parking structure across the street from you. To access the visitor parking on the upper deck of this structure, take the next left onto Administration Drive and eventually turn left onto the upper level. This description assumes that you either have a UMBC visitor parking hanger or will feed a meter on Friday afternoon.

FROM THE UMBC MAIN CAMPUS TO THE HOTEL: If you parked in the visitor parking at the main entrance to campus, as described above, you must make a left turn out of the parking lot. Proceed on Administration Drive until you have to make a right onto Hilltop Circle. Then make a U-turn at the next opportunity.

From Hilltop Circle, follow signs for "I-195" or "To I-95" that will lead you to UMBC Blvd. Merge onto I-195 East and underpass I-95 (do not enter I-95). After about 4.4 miles on I-195 East, take Exit 1A for MD-170 North to Linthicum. After 0.6 miles, make a left at Elm Road, then an immediate left onto Elkridge Landing Road. The hotel is on the left after 1.1 miles. Watch for the green Holiday Inn sign; the driveway entrance is before the sign.

FROM THE HOTEL TO THE UMBC MAIN CAMPUS: This is the reverse of the above direction: From the parking lot of the Holiday Inn, turn right and follow Elkridge Landing Road for 1.1 miles. Make a right at Elm Road. Make another immediate right onto MD-170 South; stay in the entrance lane without merging, because it becomes the exit lane for I-195 West. After 3.9 miles on I-195, take the exit for the UMBC main campus to the right.

Parking Information

My driving directions above guide you to a visitor lot with parking meters. If you have a UMBC visitor parking hanger, you can use any metered parking spot, but you do not have to feed the meter! If you do not have a visitor parking hanger, you will have to feed the meter ($1.00 per hour; quarters only; change machines available). All this concerns only Friday; on Saturday, you can park in any legal parking spot on campus without a hanger, including metered spots (without feeding them).

We are happy to mail you a UMBC visitor parking hanger ahead of time. To organize this, please fill out the Registration Form. To allow sufficient time for processing and mailing here, please do so by Monday, March 13, 2006.

Special note for faculty from the University of Maryland, College Park: UMBC honors your faculty parking hanger and you do not need a UMBC visitor hanger. However, you must use road-side parking (e.g., along Hilltop Circle); do not park at a meter or in any parking lot or parking structure. This only applies to faculty parking hanger from College Park, not to student parking hangers.

The Meals

Lunch on Friday

There are three choices on campus for lunch on Friday: a large food court or the Skylight Room, both in The Commons building, or a small coffee shop in the Administration Building:

A small coffee shop (made-to-order sandwiches or one warm entree choice) is located in the Administration Building that you reach directly behind the main entrance to campus at the visitor parking lot. This would the quickest option, if you run late.

In The Commons building, a large food court with all typical choices (pizza, submarine sandwiches, etc.) is located on the first floor, while the Skylight Room on the third floor offers an all-you-can-eat lunch (salad bar, soup bar, two warm entres, etc.) for about $8.50 in a nice sit-down environment. Either of these choices works, if you have sufficient time. To find The Commons, proceed straight into campus from the main entrance, passing one after the other on your right the Sondheim Hall, the Mathematics/Pschology building, and the Biological Sciences building. Make a right in an underpass through the Biological Sciences building; The Commons is on the other side of the underpass. The building is number 12 on the Basic Campus Map and the printable map in PDF format.

The Circus Dinner on Friday

The Circus Dinner will be held on Friday evening on campus in the Skylight Room on the third floor of The Commons building. Please fill out the Registration Form by Monday, March 13, 2006 to sign up for the dinner and mail your check as stated above. The price includes all food, non-alcoholic drinks, coffee, tea, and all tips. A cash bar will be available with selected beer and wine (between $3.50 and $4.00 each). If you have special dietary needs, please e-mail me at gobbert@math.umbc.edu as early as possible.

Breakfast on Saturday

A breakfast (bagels, danish, fruits, coffee, tea, juice) will be provided on Saturday morning starting at 08:00 a.m. in the hallway outside of the meeting room. The breakfast is sponsored by the department and I gratefully acknowledge its support.

Lunch on Saturday

A lunch (various sandwiches and salads, etc.) will be provided on Saturday in the Skylight Room in The Commons building. The lunch is sponsored by our Dean's office and I gratefully acknowledge its support.

Acknowledgements

I am happy to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at UMBC and by the Dean's office of the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences at UMBC.