Sam Houston State University welcomes the 7th BIFD Sam Houston State University welcomes the 7th BIFD! The Woodlands, TX, USA July 11 – 14, 2017

2004, 1st BIFD – Madeira, Portugal BIFD 2017 is the seventh edition of an international conference founded more than decade ago to treat the topics of Bifurcations and Instabilities in Fluid Dynamics. Previous BIFDs: 2004, 1st BIFD – Madeira, Portugal 2006, 2nd BIFD – Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark 2009, 3rd BIFD – University of Nottingham, United Kingdom 2011, 4th BIFD – Universitat Politecnica de Catalonya, Barcelona, Spain 2013, 5th BIFD – Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel 2015, 6th BIFD – Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielle, Paris 2017, 7th BIFD – Sam Houston State University, The Woodlands, TX, USA This is the 1st time BIFD has been held in North America, in so unique place as The Woodlands. The LOC thank the participants for making effort to come to Texas and wish all of you a very productive and enjoyable conference! Web-site of BIFD Association: http://bifd.net.technion.ac.il

The first word spoken on the moon in 1969 was “Houston”. Facts about Texas: It is the second-largest state in the USA. TX is larger than many nations in the world including every country in the Europe. The word “Texas” is the Hasinai indian word meaning “friends”. The state motto is “friendship”. Texas’ nickname is the “Lone Star State” as a reminder of its struggle for independence from Mexico. The phrase “Six Flags over Texas” refers to the six countries that ruled over Texas: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States and the USA. TX is the world’s 7th largest producer of greenhouse gases, 5th largest petroleum- producing nation. The capital of TX is Austin and the largest city – Houston (4th in the country). The first word spoken on the moon in 1969 was “Houston”. Only TX entered the USA by treaty. TX retained the right to fly its flag at the same height as the national flag. TX was independent nation from 1836 to 1845.

Sam Houston (March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863 ) Most colorful and controversial figure in Texas history. SH was born in Virginia. He spent much of his youth in mountains of Tennessee. He was adopted as a citizen of Cherokee Nation and married. In 1827 was elected governor of Tennessee. In 1832 he moved to Texas and become a leader of Texas Revolution. SH was selected as Commander-in-Chief at the convention to declare Texan Independence in March 1836. “Battle of San Jacinto” – on April 21st his army defeated Santa Anna and secured Texas Independence. Later he was twice elected as a president of Texas Republic. After the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845 he was elected to the U.S. Senate. In 1859 SH was elected to serve as a governor of the State of Texas. As a governor in 1861, Houston was strongly opposed to the secession of Texas from the Union. Because he was much in the minority of this issue Houston was removed from the office in March 1861. He retired to the privacy of his home at Huntsville, TX, where now the main campus of the Sam Houston State University is located.

Sam Houston State was founded in 1879 and is 3rd oldest public institution in TX. That days as Sam Houston Normal Institute was the 1st teacher-training school in the southwestern US. After 1916 the university began to award bachelor’s degrees. In 1936 – first post-baccalaureate degree. Today it is a National Ranking University, member of the Texas State University System, has enrollment of more than 20,000 students across over 80 undergraduate, 59 masters, and 8 doctoral degree programs. SHSU is the twelfth largest university in Texas. It is classified as a Doctoral Research University by Carnegie Commission of Higher Education. 8 colleges within SHSU: - Sciences Business Administration Criminal Justice Education Humanities and Social Sciences Fine Arts and Mass Communications Health Sciences Osteopathic Medicine

Beautiful 316-acre main university campus in Huntsville + campus homes in northwest Houston and The Woodlands. Named by U.S. News & World Report as among the Best online Graduate Computer Information Technology Programs, Best Online Graduate Education Programs, Best Online Bachelor’s Programs (in Criminal Justice), and Best Online Graduate Business Programs. Criminal Justice College is ranked in U.S. Top 5. Named by U.S. News & World Report as a university “Growing Fast, Staying Friendly”. SHSU owns Planetarium and Observatory. Student-oriented cable TV and radio station. SHSU is a big name in national intercollegiate athletics. The athletic teams have been nicknamed “The Bearkats”.