Conference Description

Combinatorial configurations include graphs, designs, arrays, finite geometries and codes. The subject has close ties to several other areas of mathematics, including group theory, finite fields, number theory, and combinatorial matrix theory. Over the past two decades, coincident with the advent of computer science and the age of information technology, research on combinatorial configurations has exploded. Techniques can be algebraic, geometric, computational or purely combinatorial. In recent years, this research has also become quite interdisciplinary, with researchers found not only in mathematics and computer science departments but also across the spectrum of engineering and science departments. Applications include bio-informatics, combinatorial chemistry, scientific combinatorial computing and industrial scheduling. We encourage people in the application disciplines to participate and bring their combinatorial problems.

The conference will be held in rooms 133 and 101 of Fisher Hall the newly renovated mathematics and physics building on the Michigan Technological University campus. There will be one or two 50-minute plenary talks each day of the conference. There will also be 25-minute contributed talks each day, and open problem discussion sessions will be scheduled throughout the conference. Limited graduate student support is available for students wishing to attend.